Rattie toys from junk

Rats are highly intelligent animals, and one way of enhancing their environment and providing stimulation is to create rattie toys out of ordinary household waste objects. These toys are designed to be chewed and are disposable. New toys can be added with each cage clean, or more frequently.

All that is necessary for an item to be turned into a plaything is an eye for safety, and a wild imagination! Stay away from glues, and when using wire or string make sure that there is no way the rats can catch toes, legs or other body parts. Gaffa tape is a huge asset when making toys.

Paper bag games

Paper bags come in all shapes and sizes, and they have many different uses. You can just scrunch them up a little and put into the cage, or pop in a few treats and sew up or otherwise seal the end. Larger bags can be filled with shredded paper or scrunched up tissue/newspaper.

Milk bottle hideout

So easy! Take a big 6 pint plastic milk bottle. Cut the neck end off and voila… a little rattie hideout that can be stuffed with shredded paper

Toilet roll cracker

Again this takes seconds to throw together. Take a toilet inner, and a few rattie treats, plus a sheet of A4 paper. Fill the roll with treats, and wrap around with the paper, twisting the ends to make a cracker. Alternatively, wrap the treats loosely in kitchen roll and stuff into the inner.

Toilet roll piñata

Take one toilet roll tube. Make a small hole in the middle of the tube with sharp scissors. Thread some string through the hole and knot the string on the inside. Fold one end of the tube into the tube opening so it seals off that end. Fill the tube with ratty treats and close of the other end of the tube. Tie the string to the top of the rat cage.

Toilet roll treat ball

Cut a toilet roll inner into rings (about a fifth of the length of the inner). Take two rings and thread one into the other. Place a hazelnut inot the centr of the two interwoven rings and wrap over the remaining space with a third ring. What about making one for each rat?

Yellow pages curtains

Take a wad of around 10 sheets form an old telephone directory. push the point of a pair of scissors through the top left hand corner of the whole pile. Insert a cable tie through the wad but don't close. Now using sharp scissors cut up from the bottom of the pages (through all of the layers) to about 2-3 cm from the top edge. Make these cuts at 2 cm intervals right accross. Use the cable tie to hang from the cage. Hours of nest building fun.

Box of treats

A variation of the piñata. Take any small box and fill with treats. Close. Either simply offer to the rats, or hang from the cage bars.

Egg box delights

Take a clean empty egg box, and fill each compartment with a small amount of a different food (e.g. pieces of fruit and vegetables, cooked pasta, chicken, broken cream crackers). Close the lid and give to rats.

Rattie pass the parcel.

scrunch up a sheet of newspaper loosely around a treat. Build up until it is several layers thick, placing a small treat between every layer. It should end up like a rough ball. Give to the rats to demolish.

Drink bottle tube

Take a large plastic drinks bottle and cut off the neck and the base. Fold over about a cm at each end and stick down with Gaffa tape – this will make safe and give more structure to the tube.

Creating levels

Any plastic container (for instance those used to contain fruit and veg) can be converted into a temporary bed/level. Simply poke or melt a couple of holes in it and wire into the cage. By twisting medium weight garden wire one can make safe hanging ‘arms’ to suspend a box from the roof. And a large plastic punnet makes a great temporary cover and sleeping space for the top (small) shelf in a terenziani/critter cage. A loop of wire will secure it to the cage wall.

Quick hammocks

The quickest hammocks can be made from more or less any item of baby clothing, baby vests, babygros and hats are the easiest, and can be secured with large paper clips. Alternatively save old trousers and cut off the legs, then use paperclips or thread over dowel rods. These can be enhanced by stuffing an open-ended box down the leg! Any old towel, t-shirt etc can potentially become a hammock.

Box of tissues

Take a really cheap box of tissues and use the first few as bedding, to loosen the flow. Then put the rest of the box into the cage.

Easy ropes

Alternatively soft items like t shirts can be cut into strips and plaited… then hung across the cage. Excellent for weaving treats into.

Big box fun

If you are lucky enough to come across a huge high-sided cardboard box, then make a rattie paradise by literally just throwing in as many cardboard boxes, tubes etc., as you can , adding a few handfuls of shredded paper will add to the fun.

Toilet roll

Give your ratties a half used toilet roll, which they will ecstatically demolish! DIY bedding.

These are just a few suggestions… safety and your imagination are the only limiting factors.