Links to each foraging toy below:
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For today's foraging Friday I will be reviewing ratty box! Ratty box is a rat subscription service where you get sent 5-6 items on a monthly basis for your rats, including stuff like treats, activity toys, chew toys, foraging toys, comfort items like a hammock or bed, and more! For November 2020's ratty box their were a lot of fun items included, with one of the cutest being the giant banana bed. My rats seem to LOVE this thing, constantly seeking it out during free-range to crawl inside and sleep in, with several often pilling in at once! This is one of the cutest items I've seen for rats or any small pet and its definitely one of my favorite items as well. The second item in the November box was a hanging tube with soft fabric inside. I've had a few of these in the past and their main downside seems to be that my rats really enjoy chewing the outside. Otherwise this was also a big hit, with the rats sleeping in it right away as soon as I hung it up. I suspect that they will tear it down pretty quickly, but while its around they seem to love it! The next item in the box was a chew toy. This chew toy consists of a wooden rod with wooden balls on the ends and 2 plastic rings in the center. Initially I considered keeping it for trick training since it makes a super cute (albeit oversized) fetch item. But Bean and Peaches showed a lot of interest in chewing it, so I've decided to just let the rats enjoy destroying it as is its intended purpose, and I'll then keep the plastic rings as training props. I'm a bit surprised actually as my rats have had wooden chew toys many times and usually ignore them, so I'm glad they could get some chewing enrichment out of this particular toy. The final two items in this month's ratty box were both treats. The first treat was a bag of peeled and unsalted sunflower seeds - sunflower seeds are a ratty favorite and while they should be given in moderation they make for great treats to put in foraging toys or even great occasional training treats/regular treats. The other treat was a bag of sweet potato small animal treats - these are something I've never given my rats before but judging by how much they enjoy sweet potato baby food I was expecting them to be a success. And indeed they went over quite well, with Bean in particular taking a liking to grabbing as many as she could to stash and then eat. Overall Ratty Box was a big success with my rats and I enjoyed it as well - there's just something so fun about getting some random items like this, and its doubly fun when the rats enjoyed them so much as well. Many thanks to Ratty Box for sending me this box, it was a blast to review and my rats loved every bit of it! If you are looking for a good gift for your rats for the holidays or a fun ratty loot box to open each month then you can check out ratty box here: https://www.therattybox.com/ You can also check out their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRattyBox/ Video showcasing my review of ratty box:
For our 37th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Featherland Paradice Bird Triple Foraging box foraging toy. Like many of my rats foraging toys this foraging toy is meant for birds, but it also works just as well for rats. This toy consists of 3 large boxes (the pictures are very deceiving, each box is huge and nearly the size of a small rat!) hanging on a thin rope with wooden blocks in between them. To prepare this toy for use you can either just hang it up as is, or you can add some extra foraging incentive and fun by placing treats inside each box through the bird cutout window.
As for the rats when it comes to playing with this foraging toy they have 2 main options. The first is to ruffle around in it through the bird cutout window, grabbing any treats and pulling out the tissue paper stripes inside the nest with. The second is to chew up the cardboard and tissue paper stripes, which they will most likely eventually nest with. Either way this toy will likely be chewed up pretty quickly, because rats just generally love chewing up cardboard and tissue paper. As for refilling and cleaning those are very easy with this foraging toy. Cleaning wise this toy is fully destructible and so it likely won't last between cage cleanings. Even if it does though since it is a hanging toy it shouldn't get too dirty and so there is no extra cleaning that you have to do with it. As far as refills go you can easily stuff in some tissue, tissue paper, crinkled paper, and other foraging materials, along with stuff in some treats like cheerios or Gerber puffs through the large bird cutout window. Once the boxes have been destroyed they can be left on the cage floor for the rats to finish chewing up and nest with, or even used to fill other foraging toys. Overall this is a fun foraging toy that caters to rats needs to nest with and chew up cardboard, tissues, and any other soft materials, while also allowing you to add an extra foraging aspect by including treats as well. This toy won't last you long, but its a lot larger and higher quality than I expected for a bunch of cardboard boxes tied to a string, and my rats have definitely enjoyed destroying theirs. This is one of those foraging toys that you could probably make yourself pretty easily as well, and its a great example that a foraging toy doesn't have to be complex to be fun for rats. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/2K1Pj0F Video showcasing this foraging toy:
For our 36th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Puppies Intelligence Slow Feeder Toy. Like many of my rats foraging toys this one is originally made for dogs, but it also works just as well for rats. To work this toy you want to slide the plastic sliders off of its cup, insert some treats/normal food into that cup, and slide the plastic slider back over-top of the food.
To use the foraging toy your rats must then slide the plastic sliders off of the food filled cups using their paws or nose in order to access the treats inside. If you place some crinkled paper or tissue into the food cups this will also extend their time figuring out how to get to the food inside. And since the foraging sliders are attached firmly to the toy you can even use it in the cage without the fear that your rat might remove and loose some pieces. Now cleaning and refill wise this toy is one of the easier foraging toys out there. To refill it all you have to do is move the plastic or wooden sliders, place food in the now exposed cups, and finally push these sliders back onto the now full cups. And as for cleaning this toy is fully plastic with all pieces readily accessible, so it can be cleaned with water. Like other foraging toys I usually just wipe it down, but washing it in full is also fine as it can easily be dried afterwards. Overall this foraging toy works well for its purpose of being a sliding foraging toy. Its not the most complex foraging toy by far, but its a great way to help rats or other animals that are new to foraging to gain confidence foraging and to give them a mild challenge that can help extend eating time. My rats have really enjoyed using it and again while its not super complex it is a fun way to include all my rats in foraging sessions because no matter how skilled they are with foraging they can pick up the idea here pretty quickly. Link to this foraging toy (comes in pink, green, and blue): https://amzn.to/3n1wqcx Link to a rainbow wooden version of this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/38frf4g
Video showcasing this foraging toy: |
AboutHey there! Here you will find tips and tricks on rat care and training, along with information not found elsewhere on this site. If you have questions or suggestions for me, feel free to contact me through the contact page. Archives
October 2021
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