My "Creations"

Rats love to play. They enjoy having a variety of toys in their cage. It keeps them stimulated and happy. I make most of my rat toys. I thought I would share some of my ideas here:

                     Papier Mache' Cheerio Holder

                                                           

Step 1: Gather supplies: newspaper, paper clips, etc... I used a push up popsicle container as my cheerio holder but any small container will work as long as it can hold treats.



Step 2: Push plastic tray (this is part of the popsicle) in the center of the popsicle tube.

 


Step 3: Make a thin flour/water paste.



Step 4: Wet a newspaper strip with the mixture and wrap it around popsicle tube.



Step 5: Continue to wrap wet strips of newspaper around the tube until the entire surface of the tube is covered  (make sure that the strips are not too wet).



Step 6: After the newspaper has dried (let it dry overnight) fill holder with cheerios/treats and then hang it in your rat cage. Secure to the side of cage with paper clips, pins, etc... pretty much anything will work. Just be creative!




Rat Hotel

There is no certain formula for making this. I simply attached boxes of different sizes and cut small openings so my rats could get from one level to the next. I then filled the 'hotel' with different items (scraps of paper, old socks, ping pong balls, etc...) for my rats to play with. My rats really enjoy their little hotel! By the way, I used small pieces of wood for ladders.



Treat Straw

My rats love this one! After eating the treats they enjoy playing with the straw.

Ratty Maze

Rats love mazes; they are able to zip through them in no time at all! As you can see from the picture, I created a rather simple maze for my rats by using books of varying sizes. After putting a small pile of treats at the very end of the maze, I put Peppermint and Patty inside this new, interesting place. They thoroughly enjoyed twisting this way and that and it didn't take them long to discover the 'booty' at the end of the maze. I ended up timing them. It took Peppermint 6.5 seconds to find her way through and it took Patty 8.5 seconds.

Cheerio Chain

As with most of my food related 'creations', this one involves cereal (my rats adore any and every type of cereal). The cheerio chain really is a great one for rats. It gives them the chance to work for their treats, which they thoroughly enjoy doing. Here is how I made my chain: (1) I cut a large piece of twine and knotted one end of it (string also works well). (2) I strung my twine with lots of cheerios. (3) I knotted the other end of the twine and inserted large pins into each knot. (4) I secured the finished product to the side of my rat cage. My rats were very excited after the last step was completed!

Sticky Treat

This is very easy to make. I simply spread a small amount of honey on a piece of scrap cardboard. Next, I stuck a few different types of cereal onto the sticky surface and then hung the finished product in my rat cage. I used paper clips to attach it to the side of the cage.

Warning: Do not use too much honey. It can present a choking hazard for rats.


Papier Mache' Treat Tube

Step 1. Gather supplies: toilet paper roll, newspaper, and treats.

Step 2: Using a thin flour/water mixture, wet newspaper strips and wrap around tube. Keep wrapping until the whole surface is covered. Let dry overnight.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 a few times until tube is hard. As you can see in the picture, one end of the tube is covered with newspaper. Be sure that the closed end is hard by the time all the layers have dried.

Step 4: Fill tube with treats.

Step 5: Once the tube is filled with treaties, carefully cover the open end with wet newspaper pieces. Let dry overnight. Repeat this a few times until the covered end is hard.

Step 6: Give the finished toy to your rat! When your rat smells those treats in the tube he/she will work to shred that paper right off! It took little Maria a minute to realize the ends were easier to break through. But once she did realize it those treats were gone in no time at all. :-)