R
ratnewbie
Guest
wasn't sure where to post this but i thought maybe this experience i had might help others in not make the same mistakes i had or give you a new idea to try for trying to potty train your ratties.
i had successfully litterbox trained my rats and never had an issue using a bag of stones from dollar tree. it is a simple litter box costs $2 and something cents to make. i bought a small rectangular container from dollar tree and some stones and put about half the bag of stones in the litter box. either i got lucky with my ratties and they learned extremely fast or they were previously trained by the breeder i acquired them from but within two days my 6 week old boys were already trained and knew this was their bathroom.
the cage i have has wide spaced bars on the bottom so it is essential i have some type of base so the little ratties legs don't fall through and they injure themselves. i had previously had a piece of cardboard cut to fit the bottom. however they started chewing the corners making a bunch of nesting material debris fall onto the floor in those hard to vacuum corners that just stuck to the carpet. i opted to go to homedepot and buy something that is inexpensive that i could use to line the bottom of the cage with. i promise this has to do with the litter training just keep reading lol i decided to buy tile to line the bottom of the cage. i bought the exact amount of tiles i needed for the dimensions of the cage thinking this was going to be a great idea and easy to clean and sweep. for the dimensions of my cage i had to purchase two sizes of tiles to cover the entire bottom, it was made up of 12" tiles and 6" tiles. I MADE THE WORST MISTAKE!!!!
after spending over an hour thoroughly cleaning out their cage and setting up the tile and making everything all pretty everything seemed fine. the next day i woke up to the entire bottom floor to be covered in urine and feces everywhere. and not a single dropping in their litter box. i was horrified! THE HORROR!!!!!! LMFAO i threw away all the long 12" pieces of tile as they were completely soiled and opted to keep the smaller ones that were about the length of my hand (i only had about 4 or 5 of these) and after lining the bottom of the cage with old advertisements so they don't fall through the wire bars i realized. let me try an experiment.
i threw away the pebbles in their litter box and opted to put an ad as a liner and 1, 6" tile in their litter box to see if they would continue using the litter box still without the pebbles. IT WORKED. i no longer have to meticulously wash each tiny pebble by hand when i clean their litterbox everyday. now i just clean 1 small tile slab. although i didn't get to use the tile as planned I'm ecstatic to find that i still have use for the small tiles i had previously purchased. now cleaning the litterbox will be no fuss and quick and easy which I'm all about! so I'm posting this incase you also are using pebbles and know how annoying and tedious it is. try a small piece of tile, i got mine from home depot for 19 cents.
For anyone wondering, my primary bedding in the cage is felt or fleece with advertisements over the felt or fleece to minimize the scent markings on the felt. i don't have any loose bedding anywhere in my cage. i provide microfiber towels in their hammocks and lots of fleece craps. every now and again i will put in tissue paper for them to rip off and take into their nests. I'm not by any means an expert as my username implies. these are my first boys and they are approximately 9 weeks now. and I'm learning a lot along the way from them and from all you guys in this forum. this is just my recent experience with the boys.
i had successfully litterbox trained my rats and never had an issue using a bag of stones from dollar tree. it is a simple litter box costs $2 and something cents to make. i bought a small rectangular container from dollar tree and some stones and put about half the bag of stones in the litter box. either i got lucky with my ratties and they learned extremely fast or they were previously trained by the breeder i acquired them from but within two days my 6 week old boys were already trained and knew this was their bathroom.
the cage i have has wide spaced bars on the bottom so it is essential i have some type of base so the little ratties legs don't fall through and they injure themselves. i had previously had a piece of cardboard cut to fit the bottom. however they started chewing the corners making a bunch of nesting material debris fall onto the floor in those hard to vacuum corners that just stuck to the carpet. i opted to go to homedepot and buy something that is inexpensive that i could use to line the bottom of the cage with. i promise this has to do with the litter training just keep reading lol i decided to buy tile to line the bottom of the cage. i bought the exact amount of tiles i needed for the dimensions of the cage thinking this was going to be a great idea and easy to clean and sweep. for the dimensions of my cage i had to purchase two sizes of tiles to cover the entire bottom, it was made up of 12" tiles and 6" tiles. I MADE THE WORST MISTAKE!!!!
after spending over an hour thoroughly cleaning out their cage and setting up the tile and making everything all pretty everything seemed fine. the next day i woke up to the entire bottom floor to be covered in urine and feces everywhere. and not a single dropping in their litter box. i was horrified! THE HORROR!!!!!! LMFAO i threw away all the long 12" pieces of tile as they were completely soiled and opted to keep the smaller ones that were about the length of my hand (i only had about 4 or 5 of these) and after lining the bottom of the cage with old advertisements so they don't fall through the wire bars i realized. let me try an experiment.
i threw away the pebbles in their litter box and opted to put an ad as a liner and 1, 6" tile in their litter box to see if they would continue using the litter box still without the pebbles. IT WORKED. i no longer have to meticulously wash each tiny pebble by hand when i clean their litterbox everyday. now i just clean 1 small tile slab. although i didn't get to use the tile as planned I'm ecstatic to find that i still have use for the small tiles i had previously purchased. now cleaning the litterbox will be no fuss and quick and easy which I'm all about! so I'm posting this incase you also are using pebbles and know how annoying and tedious it is. try a small piece of tile, i got mine from home depot for 19 cents.
For anyone wondering, my primary bedding in the cage is felt or fleece with advertisements over the felt or fleece to minimize the scent markings on the felt. i don't have any loose bedding anywhere in my cage. i provide microfiber towels in their hammocks and lots of fleece craps. every now and again i will put in tissue paper for them to rip off and take into their nests. I'm not by any means an expert as my username implies. these are my first boys and they are approximately 9 weeks now. and I'm learning a lot along the way from them and from all you guys in this forum. this is just my recent experience with the boys.
