For our 24th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Featherland Paradise Space Circles parrot foraging toy. Like many of my rat foraging toys, this foraging toy is made for birds, but works just as well for rats. To work this toy is simple - you place treats into the opening, tip the toy back and to the side to slide them around the S shape and to the back, and in order to get them out the rats must push and tilt the toy so that the treats slide back around the S and into reach of the hole. Usage wise my rats seemed to pick up this idea pretty quickly. Part of that might have been because this toy is very similar to another bird foraging toy they have (the Featherland Paradise See Saw), but part of that is also just because its a fairly simple concept. If you start by filling the toy up completely the rats will naturally push down on the front when pulling out easy to reach treats and food, then as they take more and more of the food they will have to push and tilt the toy more and more to get the remaining food out, thereby mastering the toy. And once mastered this toy is a nice way to provide even normal food, which is what I mainly use mine for. As for cleaning and refilling this toy is pretty good in those regards as well. Refill wise its easy to just pour a handful of food into the large opening, then tilt back the toy so that everything slides to the back and its ready for use. Cleaning is a bit different - while washing it out is technically possible, I would avoid it when possible as you can't open up the toy and so you would have to air dry the inside. I haven't had to clean it in this way since I've got it, but if you prefer using liquid treats in foraging toys this could be a major issue. All in all this foraging toy has been a lot of fun for my rats, and I've had it in the cage consistently for a good few months now. Initially the rats would only eat the upper treats, then leave the toy alone until every other foraging toy was depleted, but now that they know how it works they expertly maneuver each food piece out, and I've even seen them empty it fully before other foraging toys like the foraging wheels! Foraging toy link here Video showcasing this foraging toy:
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For our 23rd foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Nature's Instinct Foragewise Snack Rack. Like most of my rat's cage foraging toys this foraging toy is made for birds, but works just as well for rats. To use this toy you have two options - the first is to just put food on the top and bottom selves, letting the rings hold the treats in place and letting the rats pull them out. The other way to use this toy (and by far the more challenging way for the rats) is to raise bot rings up and slide the second one around so that it locks into place. This forces the rats to either lift the rings and maneuver food out from the small crack between them, or to use it as intended and slide the second ring into place, unlocking it and sending it down, which gives them access to the food inside. You can also make the second version even harder by placing both rings on the bottom so that the rat must unlock it and pull up the ring - I haven't practiced much with this method yet because I prefer having the ring slide down, but its definitely an option and a good way to make the toy even harder.
As for the rats using it mine have taken to it very well. At first I just rested food on each level, allowing the rats to acquaint themselves with it and start to associate reaching inside it with getting food. Next I locked up the rings and started a game of patience - the rats knew food was inside, but they had never had to get it out in quite this way before and so it took them a few tries to figure it out. Eventually they began to unlock it consistently, but before that they figured out that they could maneuver food out from the small crack between the locked ring and the platform holding the food. Doing this isn't easy and so while some of my rats continue to prefer this method it still gives them quite a bit of foraging fun. I've even seen them use this toy continuously for upward of 10 minutes, only getting a treat or two out every few minutes, and so its quite possibly the foraging toy that makes them work for their treats and food the hardest. As for now whenever my rats seem a bit bored I will just fill this toy and hang it in the cage, and whoever is awake will immediately come over and start using it! And when it comes to cleaning and refilling, this toy is really great. Cleaning it is super easy, as the toy is made of acrylic and so can be washed and dried without issue. Refilling it is also easy - all you have to do is place treats on the platform, then twist up the rings to lock them. It only takes a few seconds and provides so much more foraging for the rats, which makes it an ideal cage foraging toy. Overall I really like this foraging toy, and it ranks up there with the foraging wheel and food tumbler for me. I never thought this foraging toy would become such a staple of my rats cage but they enjoy it so much and its so easy to maintain that I haven't seen a need to replace it in quite a while. If you are looking for a challenging yet fun foraging toy for your rats that will really make them think and interact, this is a great toy to use! ​ ​Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/2WLhyUT Video showcasing this foraging toy:
For our 22nd foraging Friday I will be reviewing the YINGGE Wooden Bird Foraging Feeder Toy. Like many foraging toys that I've reviewed this one is originally meant for birds, but also works great for rats. To prep this toy you just need to slide back the drawers, place treats in each one, and then slide them back into place. When starting out its a good idea to only use one or two drawers, but as they get the idea you can work your way up to all 4 drawers.
As for the rats using this toy is fairly similar to the hanging drawer foraging toy i reviewed before. Like that foraging toy to use this one the rats have to pull out the drawers in order to get to the treats inside. When you only have 1-3 drawers that isn't too hard of a task - some rats might take a bit to figure out how to remove the drawers, but once they figure it out its not too difficult. The hard part however comes in when you add the 4th drawer - because the shelf holding the drawers is just barely large enough to fit all 4 together, getting one out when all 4 are inside is quite a challenge and a big jump in difficulty. Still, once your rats figure it out they shouldn't have too much of a problem getting the drawers out and getting to their yummy reward. As for refilling this toy, that's a fairly easy thing to do. Like I said in the first paragraph all you have to do is open the drawers, place food inside, then shut the drawers. It only takes a few seconds and is a big plus to this toy. Cleaning on the other hand can be a bit difficult. Like many wooden toys this toy can eventually soak up urine (even if the rats don't pee on it they will mark it, and that can add up over time), plus as a wooden toy it can be chewed. Now I haven't seen much chew damage or even pee damage with mine, however I mainly use it as a training prop for scent games so it hasn't been through much wear and tear. Overall this is a fun foraging toy for rats, and a nice step up from most drawer toys. Its a bit more prone to pee and chewing damage than acrylic toys, but you can prevent most of this damage by either using it outside the cage or under supervision. It also makes a great training prop and the 2 small holes in the drawers have made it ideal for scent training some of my harder tricks. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/2B7ixad Video showcasing this foraging toy:
For our 21st foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Trixie Dog Gambling Tower. This foraging toy consists of 2 main foraging components - one being the pull out platforms, and the other being the kong blockers. The 3 pull out platforms work by requiring the rat to pull the outside string in order to slide out the platforms and release the treats sitting on top. The tower only has an opening for treats to fall out of at the bottom though and so the rats have to release the bottom platform before any treats can fall out. This is great because it gives you an option to make this toy harder, namely by only putting treats on the second or third platform in order to require the rat to pull out more platforms before treats are released. And as for the kongs those are made of hard plastic and go over indentations in the toy's base. Each indentation is deep enough for a few treats, and prevents the rats from tipping over the kongs by accident. Instead if they want to get to the treats under the kongs they have to apply a fair bit of force to the side or pick them straight up, making this seemingly simple foraging section a fair bit harder than many similar ones seen on other foraging toys.
In terms of use this foraging toy is a lot of fun for rats to figure out. The kong part is definitely the easier foraging part of this toy, but even that requires more force and work than similar toys. Even so the long part is what most rats will probably figure out right away, as the hole on top of each kong makes it clear to them that there are treats underneath and encourages them to try and remove the kongs from the start. The platform part on the other hand is a tad more difficult, as in order to get to the treats the rats must pull on the string or bite the platforms themselves, something which requires a bit more thinking than just knocking over the kongs. I actually initially taught that part to my girl Bean as a trick, and so far she is the only one who has really worked out how the platforms work so its possible that you will have to help your rats figure the platforms out. Still, with a bit of help and a lot of yummy treats rats will figure out the platforms fairly quickly and its definitely one of the harder foraging parts that I've seen and so it makes a great challenge for rats that are used to foraging or training. As for the human part of cleaning and refilling the toy that part is quite easy. This toy fully disassembles with no trouble, and you can remove the 3 platforms and 3 kongs, detach the clear tower (which itself slots off into 2 pieces), and then easily wash and dry the entire toy. Refilling is just as easy, with the kongs simply needing to be lifted to place treats under them and the platforms being filled from the top (which has a lid that can be placed on once the treats are inside to prevent any rats from cheating). Overall this is a fun and rather unique foraging toy with some great foraging concepts. I really like that despite the fact that the main draw is the platform part, it also includes the kong lifting part to ease the rats (or dogs :P) into foraging. This toy is just plain fun and refreshingly challenging in a way that few other foraging toys are. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/2BUGaDm
Video showcasing this foraging toy:
For our 20th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Creative Foraging Systems Hide & Seek Refillable Canister. Like many of my previous foraging toys this one is technically made for birds, but it suits rats just as well. This foraging toy consists of a hard plastic outside measuring 4 by 6 inches, with a solid top and bottom and several large holes on the sides. It comes stuffed with fun foraging materials including loofah, chew blocks, pine cones, wicker balls, shredded paper, and several other fun chew items. Refills for this toy can be bought separately, or simply made yourself (I usually just place things like tissue paper, toilet tubes, wicker balls, treats, and whatever I think my rats will enjoy pulling out inside)
To use this foraging toy is fairly simple - you start by filling it with chew blocks, crinkly paper, toilet tubes, tissues, treats, and whatever else your rats will enjoy pulling out, and once you close it the rats have to maneuver the items and treats out of the provided holes. Now it comes already full, and the items it contains when you buy it include some chew blocks, loofah, pine cones, and several other fun to chew items. Some of these items can be easily removed by rats, but many of them are too large to remove at once and force your rats to chew them in bits through the available holes. This is my favorite part of this toy, because by preventing the rats from just easily removing everything they get more fun out of foraging in this toy. When it comes to refill, cleaning, and mounting, this toy is also quite nice. In particular I really like how it mounts to the cage bars - unlike other toys that use a wing nut or simply hang on chains, this toy instead screws directly onto the cage bars with a large acrylic screw. This not only makes putting the toy onto the cage easier, but it also makes it more durable than similar hanging foraging toys. This toy can also be slid directly off the mount, which means you don't even need to unscrew it to refill or clean it. But because of how easy it is to unscrew the back I usually just end up doing that - it only takes a few seconds, and the back can be fully opened which makes refilling it even easier. And as for cleaning this toy is fully made of hard plastic (acrylic) and so it can be washed and dried easily (or even washed in your dishwasher). As far as foraging toys go this toy isn't anything complex, but it serves its purpose well. In fact I prefer it quite a bit over the hanging versions simply because not only can it hold more toys and treats, but its also much sturdier, acts as a place for rats to sit on/sleep (the top is solid and large enough for a medium sized adult rat to rest comfortably), and is much easier to refill and clean than most of the hanging varieties. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/38kAFtw Video showcasing this foraging toy: |
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October 2021
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