litter training

[dr del]

Hi,

I got asked this question on friday by someone and, since I have no clue, am asking the experts.

She has two male rats and wanted to know if it was possible to train them to poop in one corner as opposed to all over the place.

Is it possible and, if so, how would you go about it?


dr del

[Michelle.C]

Rats will actually learn very easily to use a litter box. Although, in my opinion it's all about the brand of litter.

It seems Yesterdays News is fun to hide treats in, they seem to make a bed out of the aspen, etc.

Anyway, theres a litter called Super Pet's Critter Litter. Get her to buy a corner litter box and a bag of the Critter Litter. She will have to keep the enclosure spotless, removing the poo and placing it in the litter box every time she sees any.

Oh and by the way, it took me 4 days to train 16 rats. It may take longer to train different rats, but tell her to stick with it and in no time they'll be litter trained!

[littleindiangirl]

I have one large cage with 9 females in it. Only two are adults, but they poo all over the place! In te beginning they were good about not going on the shelves, but they have no qualms about doing it now.

How would I train all of these girls to go in the litter box when they will be moved out of the cage periodically to go into the rack for birthing?

[Michelle.C]

I have one large cage with 9 females in it. Only two are adults, but they poo all over the place! In te beginning they were good about not going on the shelves, but they have no qualms about doing it now.

How would I train all of these girls to go in the litter box when they will be moved out of the cage periodically to go into the rack for birthing?

Now that's a tough one, but actually once you get them all trained, even removing them from the cage shouldn't make them forget to go in the litter box.

Baby rats are very difficult to litter train. I suppose it is possible to train them, but they will always have accidents. Which might I add might make your adults slip up.

I would completely scrub out your entire cage (have to remove that bathroom smell), remove all of the youngsters (place them in a temporary enclosure and return the adults back into the cage with the litter and litter box. Take a couple of days to train the adults, getting good litter that they naturally like to poo on is the key to success. Then, return the youngsters gradually back to the cage, training as you go.

Remember, when you are training them to place all of their poo in the litter box. This will give them a subtle hint.

Keeping the cage spotless during training is mandatory! Making sure there are as little bathroom smells as possible.

I've never trained such a large group of younger rats or ones that were removed from their cage, but I hope that helps.

[littleindiangirl]

Okay, well today was cleaning day, and I use chlorhexidine to sanitize and scrub everything down, I just got done a few hours ago. Would it be too late to get a litter box tomorrow? Or should I wait until next saturday?

Also, the girls are about.... 3 months old. The oldest are yearlings. The young girls just look so small compared to the others They are still my babies.

[Michelle.C]

Okay, well today was cleaning day, and I use chlorhexidine to sanitize and scrub everything down, I just got done a few hours ago. Would it be too late to get a litter box tomorrow? Or should I wait until next saturday?

Also, the girls are about.... 3 months old. The oldest are yearlings. The young girls just look so small compared to the others They are still my babies.

You can give it a shot.

What I like to do is wipe down their cages daily with baby wipes, it makes the scrub down much easier. I'd give it a quick wipe down and try and add the litter box, see what happens.

Place all the little rat raisins in the litter box.

At three months old they should be a little bit harder to train than an adult, but it's doable.

Having that Super Pet Critter Litter helps a bunch too. You can find it online and sometimes at local pet stores. I tried a half dozen other litters and none worked like it does.

I've got my fingers crossed for you!

[littleindiangirl]

Awesome thanks! I'm hoping this works, because then I won't have to scrub down their shelves daily, or deal with smushed rat raisins in the crevace of the shelves.

I'm pretty certain I know which corner they prefer, so here's hopin they get the hang of it.

[GirDance]

Mine were litter trained. I just used the non-scented clumping cat litter that my roommate had for his cat - it had more of a large sand texture than a gravel one. I just trained them the same as I did the cat... If I saw one going or looking to go, I put it in the litter pan, I put all their stuff in the litter pan, and for three days I fully cleaned the cages both out - that was about all it took, and I found that my youngest (also around three months) was the easiest for me, but he was just the easiest in all respects from the day I got him home.

I found they would only use the 'litter box' if it was a corner one shaped like a triangle.... One of them chewed the original down once and I could only find a rectangle replacement - only the youngest would use that one and I had to scower for another triangular one!

[Michelle.C]

I couldn't agree more about how rats seem to love the triangle litter boxes. They are also a lot more difficult for the rats to dump over.

Some cat litters work great, but I wouldn't suggest using a silica clay based litter with anything. Clay is very difficult for the body to eliminate, and breathing clay dust has long been associated with diseases in people such as Farmer's Lung. So imagine what it would do to something with even more delicate lungs than us.

Not to mention, rats like to taste everything and clay litters can be fatal if ingested.