Help! My rats keep chewing through my tubs!

[Snake Den]

I plan on changing to cement mixer tubs in the next couple of weeks (it is coming into finals week for me in vet school, so I am a little busy!). I will post a picture of the rack once I get them all installed. Thanks for all the help. I also plan on culling the chewers once I wean off their current litters. The babies will also be fed to get rid of that line of genetics.

[MrLang]

The babies may be OK to keep actually, provided the parents don't teach them to chew before they are weaned. This could be a way to re-start your colony without having to buy new rats.

[Inknsteel]

I found that even with the cement tub racks, a chewer will find the hole in the end of the tub (presumably to hang on a nail) and they will use that as the starting point to chew through the concrete tubs. I started making a little home made solution in my cement tubs using a nut, bolt, two washers and a small piece of hardware cloth and haven't had a single issue since. I can try to post a pic later if you'd like...

[Darkbird]

I pop-rivet a piece of aluminum flashing over that hole after trimming off the little raised portion around the hole. I have started doing this to all the mortar tubs when I start using them. Seems like if I don't, it will go for months without an issue, then I come down to find wood and plastic shavings in a pile with, hopefully, a couple rats staring out a hole at me. Otherwise, it's an empty tub with a hole and I now have to locate it's former occupants.