She Makes Me So Mad - Chewer

The same female that only had 2 out of 13 babies live is now one of my worst rats. She chewed through her water bottle. There is a gaping hole in her water bottle. NONE of my other rats chew through their water bottles but she is completely psyco. She is the only one that spends her entire day and night trying to figure out how to get out of her cage. She will jump and hang onto the wire top over and over and over and she only gives up to sleep, eat and drink. None of my other rats do this. The only one that comes close is Monk and all he does is sit on top of his water bottle and give me that look that says "take me out and play with me."

I don't bother with second chances on my breeders. Eat a litter, chew a hole, wreck a bottle, and you're food. No more contributions to the gene pool.

what do you offer them to play with? wheels, chew blocks, paper towel tubes, etc...? sounds like she's bored and stressed

I normally give them chew sticks, cardboard and things like that to chew on. On second look in her cage I didn't find any so I guess I forgot to give her some when I cleaned out her cage a few days ago. :rolleyes:

I'm giving her a second chance with being a breeder. She's in with Roo, my berkshire dumbo male. How long does it take for her to go into estrus after weaning off her litter? Since she only raised two babies (the others died before even opening their eyes) I'm not giving her much of a break between litters.

Side-note: The two babies she did raise are eating like champs and are friendly little buggers. They great me at the front of their cage when I enter the room and they love to be held and fussed over. :D

Solution: Glass water bottle ;)

Give her a introduction to a hungery snake.

We had a female who was in a tub with another female that had a litter that was about 1 week old when she had her babies. All of her babies except one got ate by one of the two moms except one that we found suffocated to death under the litter of the other moms pups. She also had some marks on her that looks like she lost a fight with the other mom. We moved her to a seperate tub and while at the local reptile show we picked up three pups that were about 1 week old and brought them home and put them in with her as an experiment. She is now happily nursing them and fussing over them. Only thing is she has became extremely protective of them. She bit me when I tried to touch one. We are going to give her another cycle to see how she does, but this time we will seperate her for delivery and nursing and see how she does!

Mom's can be the sweetest girls with no litter, but give her space and caution when she is nursing. Some of my best moms really don't like their pups handled or intruded upon.

As to the bad first litter, always best to give her a second try. Some females just don't know what to do with the rush of hormones.

As to the chewing and trying to get out, after the first litter females tend to calm down a lot. I give my girls a long break in a nice vacation cage, they get a wheel and the companionship of many other females. I spoil my rats I know, but they are awesome moms and give me great plump feeders.

One interesting thing I've seen with chewed water bottles is that once one of them figures it out, the rest in the cage instantly learn how to do it too. Try to set up your water bottles so they are either outside the cages, or wrap them in hardware cloth or tin cans. Those 'protective' water bottle holders you can buy in pet stores are usually not enough.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

One interesting thing I've seen with chewed water bottles is that once one of them figures it out, the rest in the cage instantly learn how to do it too. Try to set up your water bottles so they are either outside the cages, or wrap them in hardware cloth or tin cans. Those 'protective' water bottle holders you can buy in pet stores are usually not enough.

---

I'm with ya.... I had a tub chewer :rage: After watching to see what female it was, I introduced her to a snakie... and what do you know? I juvi that I was holding back that was in her tub started chewing as an adult.... :rolleyes: She actually escaped before I noticed the hole... but then she was accounted for :cool: Anyway, I never would have expected them to be able to go through those ODDJOB tubs... but they do!

LOL, I'm still waiting for my first tub chewer.... Am I lucky or what? :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

LOL, I'm still waiting for my first tub chewer.... Am I lucky or what? :P

---

Girl... you betta knock on some wood! :8:

I'm knockin i'm knockin! :8:

Technically, I do have a chewer, just he hasn't yet succeeded. This retarded boy rat of mine will try and chew the flat side of a tub, and it's funny as hell to watch him try to get a grip on a clear flat surface. I'll have to tape it someday lol.

I don't know WHY they do that!?!?!?!? :confused: Ugh... I felt really horrible when the female rattie chewed out, there was a 99.9% chance that she was prego... well after a few days of trying to catch her the old fashion way, we had to put down some help... :( I know our neighbors would probably get a little upset if there were ratties waddeling across to their yard.... :weirdface Even cute little dumbos... :oops:

I've been pretty lucky, I've only had one tub chewed out. Everybody in the tub got to meet a snake friend. It hasn't happened since (knock wood) But thats one reason I have my rodents in a separate locked and sealed room, if they get out of the tub, they still can't get out of the room. I've spent too much already fixing stuff that escaped rats have chewed up.

Yea, I'm hoping that no one else learned they habit! :rolleyes: I've been checking the back of the tubs every day for teeth marks... lol

What kind of tubs do you use Mark? When we built the rat rack, we made it for the ODDJOB concrete tubs... I've seen pics of large cat litter pans being used, I wonder if they work better?

I really like the concrete tubs. We made the fitting between the rim and the wood really close. There isn't any room for them to get a tooth anywhere. While it took some time to make the pushing or pulling of the tub smooth, it has worked out really well for us. BUT then again I haven't noticed any of them chewing anything except their wood blocks and pasta. :P

I don't know the brand name, but for my main breeding rack I used black concrete mixing tubs. None of them even have a single tooth mark on them. For my maternity and grow out racks I'm using Van Ness jumbo cat litter pans. This is the one that got chewed out and a few of the others have a few tooth marks on them. They have more edges and angles and are slightly thinner so it makes sense that they would have more available surfaces for chewing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I really like the concrete tubs. We made the fitting between the rim and the wood really close. There isn't any room for them to get a tooth anywhere. While it took some time to make the pushing or pulling of the tub smooth, it has worked out really well for us. BUT then again I haven't noticed any of them chewing anything except their wood blocks and pasta. :P

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

I don't know the brand name, but for my main breeding rack I used black concrete mixing tubs. None of them even have a single tooth mark on them. For my maternity and grow out racks I'm using Van Ness jumbo cat litter pans. This is the one that got chewed out and a few of the others have a few tooth marks on them. They have more edges and angles and are slightly thinner so it makes sense that they would have more available surfaces for chewing.

---

Yea, I'm using the black concrete tubs too... The CRAZY thing is that they chewed into the flat part of the back! :O

Brats! :rolleyes: I probably haven't given them enough chew stuff.... :oops: I'll be getting some blocks for them to focus on, but hopefully I won't have any other tub chewers!

Thanks for the feed back! :)

i keep 12 levels of rats in concrete mixing tubs (1.3 or 1.4) and have had 1 chew out in about 3 years.i fed out the entire level and started over and have been good ever since,i believe one member of a group will influence the others with chewing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laooda

Yea, I'm using the black concrete tubs too... The CRAZY thing is that they chewed into the flat part of the back! :O

Brats! :rolleyes: I probably haven't given them enough chew stuff.... :oops: I'll be getting some blocks for them to focus on, but hopefully I won't have any other tub chewers!

Thanks for the feed back! :)

---

a herp friend of mine had a rat chew out on a flat spot also,after putting her down he discovered she had crooked teeth,he put down her offspring as that trait may have been passed along.