advice

I keep my rats in 66q rubber maid totes .. and I have one female that jumps on the handle part on the inside and chews thru the plastic .. I keep gluing things to it to stop her but she keeps finding a way .. have any of u had this problem if so what did udo to fix? .. she is the only one .. I have 11 females all 2 in a tub except 1 has three but there still young .. but none of my others do this ... if I had something big enough id feed her off thats how much its become annoying .. but I don't n she dropped a decent 1st litter n she was a real good mom ... so im stuck ... some help please ...

Thanks

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Originally Posted by steve_r34

I keep my rats in 66q rubber maid totes .. and I have one female that jumps on the handle part on the inside and chews thru the plastic .. I keep gluing things to it to stop her but she keeps finding a way .. have any of u had this problem if so what did udo to fix? .. she is the only one .. I have 11 females all 2 in a tub except 1 has three but there still young .. but none of my others do this ... if I had something big enough id feed her off thats how much its become annoying .. but I don't n she dropped a decent 1st litter n she was a real good mom ... so im stuck ... some help please ...

Thanks

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Try to put some hot sauce there. Rub it all over where she wants to. Or you could put some wire there (zip tie it in place). Vinegar could also do the trick. I have used all those.:)

Unfortunately once they learn to chew, they'll pretty much continue to do it. I had a tub of rats in my rack that figured out how to chew escape holes in the mortar tubs by starting at the nail hole that's in there when you buy them. I ended up fashioning a guard from 1/2" hardware cloth to cover the hole so they can't get to it, but they still try. So, either you'll have to figure out something you can use to cover the spot so she can't keep chewing on it, or you'll have to eliminate her from the colony. I'm afraid that if you can stop her from chewing that spot, she might just find another...

I was thinking about hot sauce .. removing her from the colony is the last option I think I might of stopped her for a while will see but I did come up with some ideas so will see what happens and if all fails ... then she gotta go

Ask your vet for one tablet of Metronidazole. Mix 1/4 tablet with a teaspoon of sterile lube. The bitter taste will keep any rodent from chewing. I've tried it on many rats and mice and it works very well. I have also tasted it and I will tell you that it was pretty bad.

Thanks I will look into that as well

Like what was said before, once they learn to chew, they will continue to chew. And they will teach others. Best to cull her or remove her from a plastic enclosure.


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I saw a DIY rat bin project where any ridges, handles, etc inside the bin were caged off with hardware cloth. Seemed excessive but there was no way to chew. Still, if you have one chewer it might teach others to chew via learned behavior. Then you have a much bigger problem!

Yea I know they learn from each other ... I only have one other girl in there with her ... and others can't see .. i was looking in to hardware cloth ... where did u see that diy @

I'm sorry, it was a link I found on Google and I don't recall the site. When I get home I'll check browser history and pull it for you. The project used huge bins, easily 100+ quart.