My rat is huge! He is three and a half years old. We are the best of friends. His cage mate Bear died about two months ago and it didnt affect him too much. At first he was a little lonely but thats when i stepped in and spend on average three hours a day with him. On top of that he is so trained that i took off the cage door on his cage because he never leaves his cage. He only stepps out, looks around and sniffs the air and returns to his cage. This has been going on for two months. He loves going on drives with me, and he loves cuddle time. But I want to know of something new and exciting I could do with him to make his time seem more exciting. . something he would love and really enjoy. I normally take him into the garden beside my appartment and he leaps around and digs and runs into bushes and comes out when hes done, but winter is coming and I cant do this anymore because its too cold for him now. Any good activities, places I can being him too. Any thoughts are appreciated.
You can make him a digging box! just take plastic container and get some sterilized dirt and plant some sprouts (you can use parrot feed ). He will love diggings and munching on the sprouts:) You could also try pea bobbing! Take a paint tray (its good because ether is traction and it goes from shallow to deep) Or you can just use a bowl if you want and put in frozen peas corn or strawberries. Make sure the water is warm since it will be in the winter. He will love the snack and a nice warm bath! You could also take him to the local pet store with you to pick out some new toys. Let him sit on you shoulder while you look around, he can help you pick out toys and treats!
Have you ever let him swim? Some rats love to swim, they are supposedly all good swimmers, you could put some water in the bathtub, since generally one end is deeper than the other, and see if he likes it, that might be enjoyable for him. 3 1/2 is a pretty old rat! My oldest has been 3, and Ive had 3 so far.
teach him so tricks! I heard they do really good tricks! but it might not work to well if he's old cause he may have gone retarded .....
God bless you for taking care of your pet rat so much. people don't take care of their pet rodents as much as they should and people abuse their pets but what you're doing is beautiful work.
My brother bred rats and we had rats for forever. They liked to have toilet paper and paper towel tubes to crawl through. And vegetables and yummy foods. We used those papery wood shavings in the cage and our raties loved that. Try playing with little toys like a ball. I remember our rats liked to just climb on things and run around. And they liked Christmas trees because of the shiny ornaments and stuff. It was so long ago we had rats I can't exactly remember everything we did with them. Just that they loved playing on obstacle-y things .
i second the digging box idea. you could even put little plants in it or hide treats in the dirt. i hear they like to chew wheat grass or cat nip as well so you could plant that for him.
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i used to make treat boxes for my rats. i would take little treats and tidbits and wrap them in bits of paper towel and then stuff a toilet paper or paper towel tube full of them with extra paper towel or newspaper on the ends to make it a challenge. some times i would also tape the ends shut ... or use a cardboard box, like an old popcorn box and tape that shut ... i used the boxes when i had several rats and the tubes for just one or two . they really kept busy with that and enjoyed tearing things up.
i also had a little metal ball, like a circular cage hanging from a chain that you could stuff treats or veggies in and they had a real challenge getting the food from that because it would swing and they'd have to figure out how to make it hold still while they worked the food out.
if your rat is 3 1/2 that's pretty impressive! i would say any one on one time you spend with him is fantastic and anything that keeps his brain working is sure to help him and entertain him as well.
