Entertaining Your Rats

I'm going to talk about entertainment OUT of cage here. If you let your rats out of their cage for a good while every day, then you won't need to put many toys in the cage itself. There are bars to climb and ladders to negotiate inside a cage, with hammocks to rest in. You don't have to spend a lot of money on toys and games. As with young children, rats will find the packaging very exciting. Cardboard boxes and tubes make great Apartment blocks if you build them up and out. 

Here is the lovely Sally, standing guard outside The Ratatorium, which was a collection of boxes, stuck together - on top and side by side - with holes cut through for access to each section. A few bits of vinyl for some floor covers and a mound of cozy bedding - I'm surprised Sally ever came out. No wonder she wants to keep out intruders! 

To the right we have Sir Bobalot, my big, fat, neutered buck - Oliver-Robert Bear. He's demonstrating the Wine Rack Climbing Frame with little Foxglove. Oh! Foxglove obviously got to the end way ahead of Ollie! You can pile them on top of one another for a change - the wine-racks, not the rats!

Here is the Ratty Gymnasium, which you can make from virtually anything. Use your imagination. I've attached a couple of wooden wine-racks to a wooden base (for stability) A wooden ladder, made from an old dish drainer, a lightweight plastic ball on plastic chain (from a joke shop) and a cardboard tunnel (an old poster cover) Tie them together and nail firmly to the wooden base board. This is to prevent falls and accidents if your rats get over excited!

This is a home-made Rat Scratch Pole. Again, a base board of wood with a gate post nailed firmly to it. A flat wooden top, all covered with old cut-off carpet, and the remaining part of the wooden dish drainer as a ladder. A little wooden house at the top, and it's all ready for The Bear to attempt his first climb.

Now we come to our famous Fishing for Peas. There is much mention of this on other web sites since we told you all about it, but remember ... you saw it here first! It's still one of the best ideas for a hot day, and Aunty Phoebe shows little Foxglove and the lovely Jezebel just how it's done here on the right. A cat litter tray or other similar container, filled to around 2cm with cool water. Scatter some frozen peas, corn or fruit in the water to add some interest. They even get a good run when they dash about stashing their treasure.

OK, so this isn't the best photo of Morpheus, but he's demonstrating the Stashing game, which is probably THE favourite of all. Very simply, buy a box of dog biscuits, shapes and small bonios. Let your rat find the treasure and he'll run away to stash it in his very own hidey-hole. Morphy's dashing off to hide this rather large Bonio biscuit. The most treasure I've found in one place was 48 dog biscuit shapes behind the sofa - thanks Morphy!

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