i have just bought my first 2 rats (females, 2 months old). At the moment they poo all over the place, including on the carpet when I let them out to explore. As they get older do they learn to go to the toilet in a controlled way in a certain place or will they always just "poo as they go"? I don't know if you can litter train them like you do cats, by picking them up and putting them in a litter tray when you see them about to go to the toilet?
Answers:
Rats are highly intelligent creatures and can be trained to do many simple tasks. Litter training is something that is well worth a little effort on your part, as it can save you lots of time in cleaning up and also money in buying bedding.
The whole training methodology works on the premise that rats are clean creatures and will go to the toilet where they smell that they, or other rats, have already gone. The procedure is as follows:
1. Find the corner of the cage that your rats usually go to the toilet, then place a tray filled with litter there. I use flat tupperware containers available from discount stores for about AUD$2 as a litter tray.
2. Toss in any raisins or wet litter you can find in the cage to make it smell like a rat toilet area.
3. Now this is the most important part... Remove all litter from the rest of the cage, or use a different bedding. It's essential that your rats can distinguish between the toilet area and the living area. e.g. I use Breeders Choice recycled paper pellets in the litter tray, and old towels and fabric strips elsewhere as bedding.
4. Place your rats in the tray to show them it's there. If they go elsewhere in their cage, say "No!" and place the rat (and the raisins) in the litter tray. If they go in the tray, praise them like crazy and give them their favourite treat. They'll soon get the idea.
Often this training method will only work for raisins, not pee... especially with male rats who are determined to keep their cage well scented. You can try removing pee smells by using products like Nilodor or vanilla, but often it just makes them more determined to re-scent it. Of course, there's also those stubborn rats who simply will not use a tray no matter how hard you try. Persist... after all, every raisin in the tray is one less you have to pick up later.
Litter training makes things so much easier on you. It's much simpler to clean out the cage (just scoop out soiled litter and replace as needed) and certainly cheaper. I think the rats much prefer the fabric and towels to live on anyway... it's less dusty, cleaner, softer on ratty feet, more fun to dig in and much quieter during those midnight skirmishes.
It's a good idea to have a litter tray for their use when outside their cage too... either as a separate play area tray, or simply access to their cage. When you get them out to play, place them in the tray so they know where it is. Every half hour or so, place them back in the tray to remind them it's there. If they use it, praise them like crazy and offer them treats.
No effence but isnt that werid!!
are you kidding me, their rats....
dont they live in a cage??
As they get older and gain a little more control, if you handle them a lot you'll all sort of "get used" to each other, and they won't poop on you AS MUCH. It might still happen, though.
Some rats, when they're older, have a little behaviour they do, sort of a backing up or moving in a certain way, just before they poop. If you figure out when it's about to happen, you'll be able to put them down in time, wait a minute, and pick them back up.
I have had pet rats for most of my adult life. If you place a litterbox in the corner of their cage, some will use it. Some wont. You can use either the fancy litterboxes they sell at the store, or even just a small plastic container. Just make sure that it is flat and easy for them to get in %26 out of. It helps when you first put it in there to put some of their droppings in with the new litter so they can kinda get the idea of what to do there. And I have heard others say that they never completely change the litter, just leave a little bit of the old so the scent stays.
Rats, like many other animals, can be "clicker" trained. I'm sure that this could be adapted to change a rat's pooing behaviour although all the videos I've seen are of rats trained to do tricks using the clicker technique. (Cats, dogs, rabbits, and so on can be toilet trained in this way.)
Clicker training uses a small device which makes a "click click" sound when the rat or other animal does the desired behaviour. The clicking is always followed by a treat during the training phase. The rat learns to associate the desired behaviour with the pleasurably experience of eating! The clicking speeds up the learning process because it is a consistent stimulus and allows more precise timing to be used. (The websites about it explain this in detail.)
There are some great YouTube videos of rats who have been clicker trained:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9f1ajyb7...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2jerupotzb...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rlqazt0l...
If you google [clicker train rats] you'll find some useful info, or just look up "clicker train" on its own for useful general info. There's also a Clicker Training wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/clicker_tra...
hi =], i dont think toilet training rats is weird, rats are very cleqan and inteligent so as they get older they can learn not to poo everywhere lol, i have had lots of rats and i have a 2 montyh old and n 8 month old bucks and the smallest one poos more because they donbt have any controll at a young age (like a baby) but my prievious rats used to go back in their cage to poo, so its worth a try, =]
we had rats and never really trained them as such. their cage was almost always open and they could come and go as they pleased, but they tended to go into their cage to poo.
the only thing we did was if we did find poo anywhere about the house we picked it up and put it in the corner of their cage.
after they started going back into their cage to poo they seemed to pass this on to other rats we got.
lol. i love how you put that 'poo as they go' lol
iv had 8 rats by the way and to train mine i just seperated part of the cage or brought a litter tray, every patch of wee and evry poo they did i put into that one area. this let them know that that was the area to do that in. it took about 3 weeks for them to be completely litter trained. if you let them run outside of the cage make sure a litter tray with the same substance is in the room, and also leave their cage open. hope this helps x
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