Help with chew outs

I'm new to breeding rats, just had my first litter. I kept 1.2 in a commercial cage that I already had. I have another female in a separate cage since she still needs a bit more weight before breeding. They are being kept as pets/breeders. I found two small holes today that the 1.2 were in. It's not big enough for them to escape through but I don't know how to prevent them from chewing. I gave them boxes, toilet rolls, and they did have a hammock but they chewed the hooks. Would they need a wheel? Should I use a big bin instead? I'm only going to keep 1.3 total. Thanks.

I usually give mine a little block of wood, or if I have really bad chewers I'll put a little bit of mesh around the top of the tub so they can't chew it.

Hope it helps!

I would cull the chewer before it becomes a bigger problem.

I moved a bin of chewers to a tank and they're first on the list to be culled when I have plenty of breeders.

Unless you line with metal or wire they can't chew, once there's a chewer, it will just chew. Even in the tank, the worst chewer has gnawed the silicone from every inch of the seams and managed to jump up and hang from the edge to chew at the top edge sometimes. She's also the best mom for nursing babies though.

I thought about giving them bones to chew, thinking maybe they need more minerils. I dunno though.

two things I don't tolerate.... Biters and chewers. Cull them..

Chewing is a learned habit. So this female could potentially teach the rest to chew as well. Not a good situation. I'd personally cull her off as well. I've only had one chewer and she quickly got bopped and fed.


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i have had good luck with dish soap or hand soap where she is chewing , if that don't work give hew a little olive oil on her foods, or a nurti-cal. alot of time they are chewing on platic for the oil in it so i give them a liitle extra oil (a teaspoon every two weeks) and it curves the platic chew and use apple sticks they love them better then just wood sticks.

hope this helps

I only have a small scale breeding group also (1.3). I bought a tub deep enough to fit a wheel in, threw some 1" PVC fittings and elbows in aswell. Never had a chewing problem yet. If you got the space, use it. If not, cull the chewers quick.