"Smelly Rat"(like Phoebe's 'Smelly Cat')
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<<Why is it the rats I have seen and held tend to be mean and bite when
held?
Can rats be trained to use litter boxes or are they like hamsters in that
respect that they go in a corner but basically all over the cage. How
are
they on smell, hamster cages stink! TIA, Lynn F>>
Like someone already said you have probably been seeing pet store rats
and/or rats that aren't played with enough.
Rats can be litter trained by from what I've read it's more a case of
encouraging a natural tendency. Some rats are more likely to be
selective in where they go potty than others.
Our rats don't smell bad as long as we clean their cage AT LEAST once a
week. We use aspen bedding, it still helps with odor but doesn't have
the nasty oils in pine and cedar. We tried the recycled newspaper
bedding once but it was awful, it almost smelled like a dirty cage new in
the bag.
One good breeder uses alfalfa pellets, she says that since her ratties
always use the same corner to pee she just scoops up the pellets that
have disintegrated from being wet every day. Then she dumps the whole
cage of litter every week, I'm going to try this next time.
We also give our girls a bath about once a month. We put them in a deep
rubbermaid storage bucket with just a couple inches of warm water and bit
of mild soap, this way they can still touch bottom. It's not their
favorite activity but they don't seem to suffer from PTSD either. We
just rub them a bit (especially their tails) and then rinse them off with
warm water. We all hold one of them, rub it dry and then put them back
in their clean cage where they fluff and dry themselves the rest of the
way.
A friend of our would take his ratties into the shower with them, they
seemed to love that.
Kris
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held?
Can rats be trained to use litter boxes or are they like hamsters in that
respect that they go in a corner but basically all over the cage. How
are
they on smell, hamster cages stink! TIA, Lynn F>>
Like someone already said you have probably been seeing pet store rats
and/or rats that aren't played with enough.
Rats can be litter trained by from what I've read it's more a case of
encouraging a natural tendency. Some rats are more likely to be
selective in where they go potty than others.
Our rats don't smell bad as long as we clean their cage AT LEAST once a
week. We use aspen bedding, it still helps with odor but doesn't have
the nasty oils in pine and cedar. We tried the recycled newspaper
bedding once but it was awful, it almost smelled like a dirty cage new in
the bag.
One good breeder uses alfalfa pellets, she says that since her ratties
always use the same corner to pee she just scoops up the pellets that
have disintegrated from being wet every day. Then she dumps the whole
cage of litter every week, I'm going to try this next time.
We also give our girls a bath about once a month. We put them in a deep
rubbermaid storage bucket with just a couple inches of warm water and bit
of mild soap, this way they can still touch bottom. It's not their
favorite activity but they don't seem to suffer from PTSD either. We
just rub them a bit (especially their tails) and then rinse them off with
warm water. We all hold one of them, rub it dry and then put them back
in their clean cage where they fluff and dry themselves the rest of the
way.
A friend of our would take his ratties into the shower with them, they
seemed to love that.
Kris
________________________________________________________________
Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
Only $9.95 per month!
Visit www.juno.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/26/02 10:55:09 PM Central Daylight Time,
louisam1@... writes:
pool out with about an inch or so of water in it and put things in the pool
so they could get out of the water and sun too. I did have one that hated
water, but for the most part I think rats like to swim.
~Nancy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
louisam1@... writes:
> A friend of our would take his ratties into the shower with them, theyMy ratties always loved to swim. In the summer I would put a plastic wadding
> seemed to love that.
>
> Kris
pool out with about an inch or so of water in it and put things in the pool
so they could get out of the water and sun too. I did have one that hated
water, but for the most part I think rats like to swim.
~Nancy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]