Chew through this

[travisjara]

After 5 tubs and several escapes something had to be done! This was our answer to hopefully all our problems. Tell me what you think.

[lord jackel]

I think within a month you will be ripping it out and throwing it away...as the bottom will rust (and will be a pain in the butt to clean - everything will get stuck in it).

Those tubs have smooth bottoms so how are the rats chewing through them...might be simpler to fix the way the tubs meet the top of the rack...I assume you have too much of a gap so the rats are able to get their teeth over the edge and start chewing.

Just an idea.

[travisjara]

this isnt in the bottom of the tub they havent chewed through the bottom so i didnt put it there there is no gap we have tried everything a little of the bedding does get stuck but most of it comes right out i think we are going to put flashing on the rest of the tubs so believe me this was a last ditch effort

[atp151415]

i use concrete mixing tubs and have never had one chew out

maybe you just have some chewers

[travisjara]

We didnt have our fist chew through for six months and then two weeks later we had another chew through in another tub with different rats. I think one set figured it out and then relayed the message to the other colonies.
Also they are good breeders i just wanted to keep them in there tubs so we had to do something. We didnt understand how we were the only ones having problems we used the same plans and the same tubs as other breeders so i have no idea i just had to keep them from getting out. Also this is aluminum gutter screen which really isnt suppose to rust i know the urine is probably worse but hey its worth a shot

[littleindiangirl]

Do you give them anything to chew on? i give all my rats blocks of wood. Zero chew outs.

[travisjara]

yes several block we thought it was helping then it happened again

[Argentra]

Yep, that's a big factor in chewing - things to chew OTHER than the tub. Even with my mice I give them wooden houses and bird toys to chew on and have never had even a tooth mark on the plastic...and I use normal rubbermaid tubs.

Hmm... well, rats are very smart. Once they figured out that their homes could be chewed out of it took off from there. Sorry...

[littleindiangirl]

Once one does it, they all will. Something to keep in mind for the future. Rats learn by copying others.

[xdeus]

I have a group of three females that went through three or four tubs by chewing a hole in the corner. After I saw the last tub I realized that they never escaped and only chewed the hole to around the size of an egg. I've kept that tub with the hole for about 3 months now and haven't had any problems with them or their young trying to escape, but I make sure not to move them to other tubs so they can teach other rats.

I guess they just wanted a room with a view.