For our 6th foraging Friday I decided to focus on a classic - that being foraging wheels! These fun foraging toys are initially made for birds (as many rat foraging toys are) but work perfectly for rats as well. The way they work is that the top clear plastic piece has 2 decent sized holes that the rats can fit their hands and (depending on the wheel) nose through. You fill the inside compartments with treats and your rats then have to push the top piece around so that the holes line up with the treat they are trying to get. They then have to use their hands and/or nose to get it out of the hole, which successfully completes the process.
Overall its a super fun toy for rats of any age and foraging level and while the initial concept is simple you can ramp up the difficulty pretty easily. One way to do this is to add some crinkled paper or tissue to each compartment, so that the rats have to dig through them to get to the treats. Another idea is to only use normal food inside (what I usually do) and then hide the occasional special treat inside in order to encourage them to root around inside. Even if you just leave it as it is though the rats will still enjoy the challenge - at first some rats might have difficulty understanding how to move the openings around, but with time and experience they will get the idea and this then becomes a great way to offer them food (while also minimizing their want to hoard it :P) Cleaning wise these wheels are also pretty easy to care for - you can unscrew the top plastic sheet from the bottom and this gives you full access to clean and refill the containers pretty easily. As for the main difference between the 2 wheels shown here (different brands) the biggest difference other than the size of the wheel and the size of its access holes is that the larger clear wheel attaches to the cage easier. The larger wheel is attached using one large plastic screw in the center of the wheel, while the blue wheel has two side holes that you need to insert a metal screw through and then attach it to the cage with a washer and wing nut on both sides. Its much easier to move the clear wheel around due to the center attachment and also much harder to break the larger wheels attachment, however considering that it tends to sell for double the price of the smaller wheel I'm not sure if that one small improvement its worth the increase. When it comes down to it both wheels are a super fun foraging toy for rats of all ages and skill levels. You can even create a DIY version of the foraging wheel pretty easily and I've linked a video of me doing just that down below: Link to my DIY version of the foraging wheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiFWjzCJDDw Link to this foraging toy (larger): https://amzn.to/2xxHGZp Link to this foraging toy (smaller, blue/purple/pink): https://amzn.to/3anvPMh
Video showcasing this foraging toy:
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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
CategoriesDisclosure: Esther (and her website Shadow The Rat) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
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