Your invited to the RodentFest

rodentclub.com Calendar 2005: "What is RodentFest? A big gathering of the region's small pet fanciers. It started out as a way for local breeders to meet and exchange ideas and animals. It has grown to include judging, presentations, rescues, and more."

Your invited to the RodentFest - is there one in your captial city?

Wobbly men for Pet Rats

Fancy Rats | Information | Play:

Some rats will totally ignore toys that you buy them, some will chew them to pieces while others will never leave them alone.

- Balls with bells in (cat toys)
- Wobbly men (budgie toys)
- Ladders with spinning beads on top (budgie toys)
- Bunny tunnels (for rabbits)
- Ropes (rodi rope sold for rodents)
- Mirrors with bells on (budgie toys)
- Igloos (plastic rodent houses)
- Activity ball filled with food (see 'Hide and Seek')
- Cardboard boxes (food packaging)

All of the above are from pet shops around my local area, most large pet stores have a good supply of suitable toys. If your rat chews plastic, then I think you are going to find it difficult to supply them with toys, wooden toys will not survive long either.

My rats do play with them, they really look comical running around holding a ball in their mouths. They are always putting their wobbly men in their food dishes, or their beds. They spin the beads on their ladders which looks really funny, they look like they are running along but not getting anywhere."

Rats and their toys, you just have to be creative about it.

Rats Fishing For Peas

Squeak! Fishing For Peas: "Because we'd tried a couple of different water containers and didn't have one that seemed to fit the needs of the rats, we bought a paint roller pan. This provides a shallow end with ridges that their little paws can grip, so the more fearful ratties can enter the water with more confidence.

After thoroughly cleaning the tray, we fill it with lukewarm water and place it in the middle of the floor. We sprinkle some thawed frozen peas into the water to entice the rats.

Trixie goes wadingEach group of our rats approaches the swimming pool in a different way. The girl rats mainly just jump in and go straight for the peas. It's funny to watch, because they can't actually see the peas properly if they're under the surface of the water. So they grope about with their paws until they find one. Some of them also dunk their heads under the water to grab the peas in their mouths. Usually they come out of the water to eat the peas, but not always. The boy rats tend to not like getting their faces wet, and mainly fish around with their hands. Sometimes they wait until one of us takes mercy on them and finds a pea for them."

The Boy rats "oh I dont want to get my hair wet"

More Rat Toys...Catnip for Rats?

Squeak! Catnip for Rats?: "I bought my cats a catnip mouse, just a plain old cloth type. They took little interest in it. I put the mouse in with my rat and she immediately took the little newcomer and carried it around with her for quite a long time. She would cuddle it and hug it and roll around with it. Eventually it made great nestling material.

Moral: If the cats don't like it, try the rat."

Squeak! Try it on the Rat..

Squeak! Rat Feathery Toys

Squeak! Feathery Toys: "You can use any feather, but try to avoid dyed types since the dye can rub off onto the rat. I found this out the hard way. Pope, my albino ratty, wound up with a neon pink belly for several days. You can begin by stoking them with it -- gently, and don't get near the eyes! They will try to chase and grab it. For a real good time for both you and your ratty, you can tie the feather to a string and pull it around for them to run after. You can also buy feather 'fishing line' made for cats as they work easily as well for ratties. My rats occasionally eat the feather afterwards, so, as a general rule, it isn't a vary long-lasting toy when left in your rat's paws!"

Rats like to play with feathers, cats like to play with feathers, dogs like to play with feathers too...

Squeak! Recycled Rat Toys

Squeak! Recycled Rat Toys: "'Ive seen a lot of ideas for rat tunnels, and would like to contribute another idea. I use pringles cans with the ends cut off for my tunnels, they stand up to more use than the normal cardboard rolls, and because of the material they're made of tend to last longer when wet ."

Intelligent Rats...intelligent owners :-)