How can I keep my rats from being bored when they're in a cage????

Question

I have 3 girl rats, and when in the cage they seem bored. We take them out a ton, and we have toys and tubes and bedding and huts and treats for them. The toys include a plastic hanging rat with a bell that rings when they hit him, a jingly ball that is made of woven straw, and a coffee can that still has some scent. The tube is called a chube, they can chew it and crawl through it, and it has fluff inside of it that they can remove and use elsewhere for bedding, they have a straw hut to sleep in. Sometimes we also give them clean rags to lay in. Their cage is 3' high and 2' wide and has 3 levels not including the bottom which always has 3" of bedding for them to burrow in. Every week when we clean the cage we mix things around, moving toys and buying them new ones, but they still seem bored. So how can I keep my little girls from being bored?

Answer 1

You could try a wheel but sometimes they will or won't run on it.

Put a tinkly ball in there! You know the kind you buy for cats that are plastic and have little bells on the inside. Personally my girls love them, and I can hear it tinkling at night when I go to bed, its so cute.

:D Or put some mardi-gras beads in there, sometimes they play with them. Or non-toxic bird feathers, they'll flip.

:) Hope I helped

Answer 2

Well, it seems as though you are taking great care of them and making sure that they have plenty of toys (and rat buddies) to entertain themselves. If they still seem bored, I could only suggest handling them more or giving them supervised "floor time" in a room in which they could roam freely and safely with their buddies. I always enjoyed hiding little treats in different areas of the cage when I had rats. I would also make sure the cage was big enough that they could have plenty of "play room" in their cage as well. Other than that... maybe they are just relaxing or lazying around and not necessarily bored? Hope my suggestions helped. It is obvious you are a good pet owner and care very much about their well being.

Answer 3

You can always mix up the stuff AND if possible, try to connect their cage with a tube or something to another cage, or a medium sized container that you put together. It's not much, but you have more room to mix things around in!

You can always split all those things in half and you can alternate between sets so your rats will never know what will be where!

I am not too sure what else to do, but I guess that could help you! Hope this helps and good luck with providing fun with your rats!

Answer 4

I'd love to be your rats. :D Try making little change once in a while. Since you make too many changes, they just expect them.

Answer 5

I wondered the same thing, and after some web browsing came upon this site. It's PACKED with wonderful ideas that will keep your rats busy, and most of them are cheap!!

http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm

Answer 6

try putting a snake in the cage with them they wont be bored then lol

Answer 7

Have you tried a wheel? Do they have ones big enough for rats? You should look into it running should give them something to focus on and make them tired. I've seen mice but I'm not sure about rats.