It would have made a hilarious picture if you could have caught her dragging off those ornaments! How cute! :smug:

Hey, why shouldn't rats decorate their homes for the holidays, too? :xcheer:

That is really one of the cutest things I've ever heard -- running off with tree decorations! I wonder if I could make a little edible Christmas tree for their cage...?

Okay, I think I'm getting rat-happy now :dizzy: !

Funny thing happened to me today when I opened the rat cage...

A rat came out, cruised around the table, and sniffed at me. I ASSUMED it was Hector because he's the only one who has ever come out. But then I caught sight of the rat's little belly and there was a black splotch there :) . It was PARIS!!! What a brave little boy!

And here's my question of the night...it's going to sound really idiotic, so remember I'm a rattling newbie ;) . Do you "tidy" their cages for them? I don't mean actual cleaning. I mean in the morning after they've had a rat party in the middle of the night and totally trashed their cage, do you neaten things up for them?

I do. :)

Should I? Or should I let them do their own "decorating?" Or doesn't it matter?

I generally only do tidying if they've done something particularly drastic like yanked a hammock down or flipped their house completely upside down - otherwise I usually let the girls use their own decorating sense...they're just going to go back and untidy everything the minute I'm done if I get nitpicketty about it :) .

Keep on Truckin!
Erin :carrot:

I know what you mean, and I was a tidier too. I did learn to lighten up about it, especially when they showed a definite preference (pulling a piece of rat "furniture" into the same spot repeatedly told me that I was "undoing" their decorating).

Normally, I redectorated after a cage cleaning. It seemed good exercise for them, because they always did some adjusting on their own. And when I was having company over and planned on showing off the little guys, I'd tidy up a bit.

You have to pay attention too, because sometimes something that looks like just the remnants of a late-night rat party, is actually meticulously planned rat home renovations, such as creating elaborate little (and not so little) burrows in the bedding.

After rebuilding several times, I finally got the hint. Boy they must have been frustrated with me!

Colleen

I dont tidy, but my dd's rat has the Taj Mahal! my hubby built it a great big... house that barely fits in its cage! it has a platform on top to sleep on, 2-3 "rooms" and everyone laughes that my hubby made it for the rat! its food tray is ceramic and non movable, and mostly it hides anything in the house, so i just leave it! it is fun to watch the rat storing food, if i give it a handfull of something, like pumpkin seeds , it will take them one at a time, and stash them , then sit and eat them.

When the cage is cleaned it is layed with paper then sawdust (stops the smell) then i put a handfull of shredded newspaper in. it then spends all day making itself a "nest", and won't stop until all the paper is used, sometimes when i do not put enough paper in, it will start tearing the paper lining the bottom of the cage into strips to use. I think they like to make their cages homely, and do deliberately change things to their likings.

The rat palace sounds adorable!

One quick health note, though - sawdust is actually toxic to rats. Any bedding product made from pine or other soft woods should be avoided. The only exception to this is products made only from aspen, as it doesn't contain the harmful oils (called phenols, I think) that damage the ratty respiratory system over time. Some suggestions for sawdust alternatives are alfalfa pellets, yesterday's news, biocatolet cat litter, any paper based product like carefresh (although some people think it's too dusty and makes the rats sneeze), shredded newspaper or cardboard squares, or corncob litter/bedding (which is what I use - I get it from the horsey supply store in big bags).

Keep on Truckin!
Erin :carrot:

Thankyou for the sawdust info! I deliberately was only getting non treated timber sawdust, but a lot is probably pine, i will go today and get something else. I will look at the cat litters, or maybe seeing what the local produce store has. paper products don't keep the smell down as much as i would like
( the rats cage is in our lounge room, and i like to keep the smell down. and not have to clean it daily)
I appreciate the info!

No problem Icedragon! I really like the corncob based stuff - I find that it does a good job of keeping the ratfunk at a manageable level, although it has a slightly sweet smell all its own that some people don't like. I have also used timothy hay in the past and liked the way it smelled (also sweet), but it is very dusty and takes a long time for me to shake the dust out so there aren't nasty little particles getting in the girls' lungs.

Keep on Truckin!
Erin :carrot: