Rats Chewing Through Bins?

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Originally Posted by adam_c

i am going to try using blocks. thanks! and it cant be the food because they always have plenty of food and water. and i can't feed them off because its my breeders doing it haha

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And they will keep doing it from now own they have learn that behavior and will show other to do the same, trust me on that culling that entire tub is what's best.

There are few things very important when breeding rats

Zero tolerance on chewing.
Zero tolerance on biting.

I've had a couple who chewed out and they were promptly served to the snakes.

I give mine bones left over from cooking, which they chew just as readily as they do wood. The bones last longer too.

I agree with culling them. Once they learn to chew you usually cant stop them from doing it. They might stop for a little while but they will do it again. just wait until they chew out then chew holes in the water lines and flood the rest of you tubs that really fun.

I save most cardboard boxes (smaller boxes mostly), paper towel/TP rolls and cardboard egg cartons for my rats. They also get bones, corn cobs (both fresh and dried) and branches and other wood. If you do use wood blocks/ 2 x 4's make sure it is not treated. You can also give them most chew treats for dogs and bird toys. I give them new things to chew on when I clean the tubs, cardboard seems to be a favorite. I always make sure they have a few different things to chew and rotate toys so they don't get bored. So far I have not had any chew out. Also always make sure to have food and water, as long as they have everything they need the shouldn't feel the need to look for it elsewhere.

Generally if there's chewing it's because the tubs don't fit the slots tight enough. Try adjusting your rails.

I made a few racks right before I had my eyeglass prescription updated a few years ago and had nothing but chewouts on those few racks, which, at the time looked fine. Low and behold, new glasses came in and I was left wondering why they bothered to chew at all with the gaps I left for them to simply crawl out of.

Check your fits front and back and make any necessary adjustments. Then cull the ones who have learned to chew.

You are probably using tubs from Home Depot. I use the same tubs. They come with a hole in it :( I bought 1/4-20 screws that were only 1/4 long and nylock nuts and screwed them together. The head of the screw is just big enough to cover the hole and prevent them from getting there teeth on them. Screws are gold and come in packages of 4 for $1.18 and the nuts are packages of 2(I think).

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if i kill them all i will wipe out the majority of my colony. i am just going to try the mesh or sheet metal. i don't see how it could fail. they wont chew through metal like that. if i have the tubs lined with the mesh, wood blocks, and shims, i just don't see anything going wrong. and my colony isn't THAT big so i still use bottles. not water lines.

but thanks for all the help and suggestions! i really appreciate it!

and i have had others that made holes and i had just plugged them and nothing has happened (this was a while ago) so that's another reason why i don't see the need to kill them.

but then again, i could be totally wrong. i just don't want to jump to that solution first because like i said, i would be wiping out the majority of my colony.

Cleaning the tubs will suck if it is lined with mesh or sheet metal. Peices of pine can get in between anything! lol And so can pee/smeered poop. I'd do what everybody else is saying.

i mean yes, cleaning would be a bit harder. but still, pressured water and disinfectant/deodorizer should do the job.

i am going to try it and see how it goes, if it doesn't work i will have no choice other than to euthanize them. but they are all pregnant right now and about to have their litters pretty soon so like i said before, i don't want to jump to that solution right away.

but again, thanks for all the help everyone and wish me luck! haha

I kill off chewers. I did take some chewers and put them into tanks(they can't chew glass tanks!) and got plenty of use out of them while non-chewing replacements grew up. Now I don't have chewers, as almost all of the chewing rats have died off.

Oddly, my super friendly pet/breeder Norma had babies and one of those chewed the bin it ended up in. I culled the whole bin, just in case, but since no one else had ever chewed in the bin, I'm assuming that it was that one. Norma likes to chew on the metal bars of her cage, and I'm certain the babies see her chewing the bars, although I've never seen a baby/weanling chewing the bars. I'll be watching to see if any other babies of hers chew as well.