help with litter training!

[eriin]

ive been trying to litter train for a while now before i moving into the critter nation but nothing id working! she got the hang of it for a few days,but then is all went down hill.
does anyone have any ideas or advise for what they have done id love to hear it

 

[Fidget]

What are you using for litter in the cage as a whole and what in the litter boxes? It should be different. And you could try wiring a piece of corn on the cob to the bars over the litter box to encourage her to be in there.

 

[jorats]

I wrote about my experience with it here:http://ratshackforum.com/ratroom/health/litter-training-your-rat/

 

[Kaput33]

I have a question: My rats are roughly 6 months old right now. I tried to train them when I first got them, but I figured they were too young. At the time they were in a cage with shredded paper bedding, so it wasn't a problem. I recently had an experience where one of my ratties had an accident on me, and thus I want to start training them that they can't just go wherever they want. Anyways, I started doing what you had mentioned.

The problem lies in keeping the litter pan on the floor in an upright position. Whiskey is pretty good with it, she would sit in the tray and I would give her a treat, it became a little game for a half hour. Sake unfortunately had an ear infection and is a little tipsy from it, and is clumsy when it comes to the tray - leaning on the sides and causing the whole thing to topple over. Sometimes Whiskey will add to the mess by flipping it and playing with the litter. How do I stop this from happening? I bought one of those corner trays with a tie to attach to the side of the cage - but Sake still manages to move it and litter falls out. I like using a small tupperware container because they can fit their whole body in it and it seems more comfortable.

Any suggestions?

 

[RKEM]

Honestly, I've found that it's not so much "training" as inciting rats to use a litter pan. Whatever the age, whatever the background, if you persistently put the poops that you find in the litter pan and keep the rest of the cage cleaned of pee daily, eventually they will use it; to varying degrees because, I suppose, it smells like a toilet. Some rats (especially some females) are completely 100 percent clean and won't even pee outside the pans while others will still pee wherever they please. But I'd say I always get about 90% of the poops in the pan.

I recommend getting a corner litter pan (the larger ones) because they hook to the sides of the cage. Alternatively, you can just poke holes in the sides of your tupperware and tie the litter pan to the cage.

Another option is a rock. For whatever reason, my rats seem to prefer to pee and poop from a height. I noticed that there was a lot of pee and poop around the two rocks in the cage. So I popped those in the litter pan and the pee and poop ended up in the pans. I don't know why but they just prefer it that way and the weight of the rock keeps the pan from toppling. Some pee end up in on the rock though so they have to be cleaned daily.

And yet another tip is to have a pan on every main floor. This means the rat doesn't have to travel far when he just has to go and it helps with litter pan usage.

 

[victoria]

I've had problems with rats tipping litter boxes, even the ones that hook on. I also had a group of rats that destroyed two plastic litter boxes the first night in my home. I use glass or ceramic baking pans instead plastic ones and it works great.

As far as ''accidents" go... I don't think it's possible to completely train rats to pee only in the box. Rats naturally urine mark everywhere they go and have poor bladder control, so it's always a good possibility they will pee anywhere they go. If they pooped while on you, they may do the same if they were litter trained if the litter box wasn't easy to get to. I have litter boxes on every level in their cage and in their play area so they don't have to go too far out of their way.

 

[MiniFrog]

I have had good luck with my babies, they are a little over 2 months old now, and since there are so many in there (7) I have to clean their litter box every day, if I do not clean it, they will empty their food dish and use that instead. My secret was paper towel! I lined their cage with cheap paper towel, and then the poop was easy to spot, I would just put it in the litter box, which had some ripped paper towels in it, just so it was not empty, and then when they peed out side of the litter box I was able to spot that as well right away and would rip off the wet part and place it in the litter box as well. And as for the tipping litter box, mine has a small hole between the hooks, so I use a twist tie to tie it to the bars.

Some of the adults used to be litter trained, but once they moved into the RUUD and in with other adults that are not litter trained, they don't always bother, so I will have to work with them again, once I can figure that out.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

I just didn't bother, I have a litter tray in the cage for some use it but most don't and it make's like a toy..they love pushing the litter out of the tray and on the shelf!