For our 42nd foraging Friday I will be reviewing the 3-Layer Hexogonal Bird Food Bowl. This foraging toy is one that's originally made for parrots, but like with many of my other foraging toys it works just as well for rats. To use this toy is very simple - all you have to do is thread the metal chain through the hole in each ball half and star covering, then fill each ball half and hang the toy from the top of your cage. Make sure to put a star top on each ball half, as this is the best way to increase your rats foraging fun with this toy.
As for how the rats manipulate and use this toy they either need to push the star top to the side and pull out some treats, or they need to work out pieces of treats from the ball half slots. I'd recommend using larger treats for this such as fresh fruit or vegetables, since this is the best way to increase how much your rat must work at maneuvering bites of the treat out when using this toy. If you do decide to use smaller treats I suggest padding the inside with some tissue stripes or crinkled paper mixed in with the treats, because this will prevent the small treats from falling out of the larger slots while also promoting your rats to dig through the filler and foraging more in order to get to the treats. As for cleaning this toy is super easy to clean. It's very easy to assemble or disassemble, and is completely made of plastic with the exception of the metal chain. This is especially useful for tis toy because its so suitable for fresh food like fruits and vegetables, which can be wet or sticky and requires the foraging toy to be cleaned fairly often. So being able to quickly take it apart, clean it with soap and water, dry it, reassemble it, and refill it in under 5 minutes is very important and makes this a great foraging toy for these larger fresh food item. Overall I found this foraging toy useful for providing my rats with larger fresh treats and preventing them from just stashing them right away. My rats also took to this toy immediately, and really enjoyed digging through it to find different treats. Rats thrive on foraging and mental stimulation, and so its great to have a way to encourage my rats to forage more even when it comes to larger treats like fresh food. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/3cj697b Video showcasing this foraging toy:
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For our 41st foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Transparent Hanging Bird Feeder. Like a lot of my rats foraging toys, this one is technically made for parrots, but it works just as well for rats. To use this toy is very simple - all you have to do is thread the metal skewer through the hole in the plate and the ball halves, then fill the ball before closing it. Next you can place some fruit on the rest of the metal skewer on top and then hang up the toy from the top of your cage.
As for how your rats will use this toy once you fill it and then hang it up in order to get to the food inside the ball they will need to maneuver small bites out from the holes in the ball. Because of the fruit plate you can technically use smaller treats in the ball, but i'd suggest mainly using larger treats like fresh food because this will be harder for them to remove in large amounts and so will promote more foraging fun. If you place food on the top part of the metal skewer then the rats will be able to get to that by balancing on their back legs and grabbing it wit their mouth and front paws. Either way they will have to work at getting to the food and that makes this a great foraging toy for the larger fresh foods which often can't be used in other foraging toys. Cleaning wise the this toy is super easy to put together and take apart and its entirely plastic other than the metal skewer. So because of that it's easy to pop it apart and then wash it with warm water and soap, then dry it and reassemble it and use it again. This is ideal especially because this foraging toy is so suitable to fresh foods like fruits and veggies, since these tend to either be sticky or wet and so having a foraging toy that is easy to clean is really necessary for consistent use. Overall I was very happy with this foraging toy and my rats all enjoyed using it. I love that the hanging ball is the perfect size to hold fresh food and that the slots in the ball prevent the rats from stashing too much fresh food and force them to share. I also like that the fruit plate prevents food from falling to the cage floor even when the rats nibble it small enough to fall out of the hanging ball slots. I found this foraging toy to be very useful because of its ability to hold fresh food and promote the rats to gradually eat small bits of it and I will continue to use it whenever I give the rats large treats to eat inside the cage. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/3crGEAy Video showcasing this foraging toy:For today’s foraging Friday I will be reviewing Januarys ratty box! Thanks so much to Ratty Box for sending me their January box - its full of amazing treats and items and my rats love everything in it! Now if you didn’t see my last review of ratty box this is basically a rat subscription service where on the 10th of each month they send you a box filled with 5-6 items for your rats. These include a large special item, some treats, and some activity items. For Januarys ratty box we got 5 awesome items, with the 1st one being the froggy hide. This adorable hide can be unzipped for easy cleaning and storage, and its just super cute overall! My rats really seem to like it, with even my more timid girls enjoying the soft warm cave. I can’t wait to use this hide in my spring cage theme in particular, I think it will go look adorable and I know my rats will love getting to sleep in it! The next item in the box is a chew toy, or rather a set or chew rings. This rings are made of colored raffia paper and my rats have really seemed to take to them. I’ve already seen both bean and the babies chewing these rings up and so I’m sure that the remaining few rings will also provide my rats with lots of chewing fun! The next item in this months ratty box is a bird climbing rope which can be screwed on to the cage bars. This is an item I’m actually quite excited about because I’ve been meaning to buy another one for quite a while. The nice thing about these bird ropes is that they are both flexible and strong, and seem to have an internal wire that holds their shape when you twist them around. So they can easily hold up even a full grown rat and they are a great way to connect different sides of the cages or just create fun climbing areas for your rats. Next up we have some treats and this months ratty box included 2 different treats. The first is a bag of banana chips, which are dried pieces of banana. These banana chips always go down a treat with my rats and this time was no different - all my rats happily snatched up pieces including my newest girls who I don’t think have tried them before, and everyone was begging for more afterwards as well! The 2nd treat bag included is the Kaytee Papaya Small Animal Treats and these treats are also something I’ve given my rats before. I used to get these treats all the time back when I had Shadow and her sister Sonic, and getting to offer them to my current group was pretty cool. I expected them to like them but I was surprised at just how much they did - all my rats happily scarfed down a few of these treats and it only took them a few seconds each time, making me think these may be a fun option for an occasional training treat as well. Overall ratty box for this month was amazing and all the items and treats inside went down great with my rats! Thank you again to ratty box for letting me review the December box - I had a blast and my rats are loving it! If you would like to check out ratty box you can do so by going to their Facebook page or website which I will link right below this: Ratty Box website (enter the code BRUX for 10% off your first subscription): https://www.therattybox.com/ Ratty Box facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheRattyBox/ Video review:
For our 41st foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Sheens Parrot Star Multi-Layer Foraging Toy. This foraging toy is technically made for parrots, but like with many of my rat's other foraging toys it works just as well for rats. To use this toy is very simple - all you have to do is thread the metal skewer through the hole in the plate and the ball halves, making sure to place one of the start covers over each one (since this toy comes in 1 layer, 2 layers, and 3 layers, this will depend on which version you get. I got the 2 layer version). I recommend waiting to fill the ball halves until after you have hung up the toy, but if you plan to put fruits or veggies on the leftover top part of the skewer you will need to do that first.
As for how the rats use this toy once you place some treats inside the ball halves your rats will have to either pus aside the star to get to the treats, or grab and wiggle them out from the holes, or even shake the entire toys so that the treats gradually fall onto the hanging plate. My rats used all three methods and seemed to really enjoy figuring out different ways to get to the treats in each level. They also enjoyed the fruit I placed on the skewer above the ball halves, having to gradually gnaw it off bit by bit. Cleaning wise the this toy is also super easy to take apart, clean, dry, and then reassemble. It only takes a minute or two to assemble or disassemble it, and everything but the skewer is plastic, making it easy to clean and dry. Overall I was pretty happy with this foraging toy and my rats really seemed to enjoy it. It is a bit wobbly, but that seems to be a purposeful thing that adds a bit of challenge to the toy instead of a big hindrance. I initially didn't think the skewed would fit in the small hole in the fruit plate and so I initially used pipe cleaners to hold everything together, and that was super wobbly and not as fun for the rats. Later when I went back and actually tried the metal skewer that the toy came wit I found that it fits perfectly and makes the toy a lot more stable and fun, so I'd definitely recommend using what the toy comes with to hang it up. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/35Fujoq Video showcasing this foraging toy:
For our 39th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Felix Smart interactive Treat Puzzle. This foraging toy is technically a foraging toy meant for dogs and cats, but its works just as well for rats. Setting up this foraging toy is super easy - its all one piece, so you just need to slide the covers and rotate the inner spinning circle to get to the holes you place treats/food in, then do the reverse to cover them back up.
As far as using this toy goes the rats need to rotate the inner circle and pus in and out the outer circles in order to gain access to the treats/food places in the covered holes. This wouldn't be too difficult if the only thing they had to do was push the outer circles in and out, but by adding the inner circle (which can only be rotated when all 6 outer circles are pushed fully out) that gives it another layer of complexness. This elevates the toy from a fun but easy foraging toy to master to a more complex toy that requires your rats to really think to work it out. Cleaning wise the tis toy is easy to clean due to it being fully plastic. You will need to watch the inner circle since it will always be covering 3 holes, but as long as you dry it after cleaning it should be fine. The pieces also don't come out which makes them difficult to loose but also makes the toy a bit harder to clean, but if you use dry treats/foods you shouldn't need to do more than wipe them out on occasion. Overall I was very happy with this foraging toy and how much my rats have enjoyed using it. I wasn't sure if it would be too similar to their prior toys, but the inner circle mechanic really threw them for a loop and made them think a bot harder than similar toys do. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/3bBo0Gf
Video showcasing this foraging toy:For today’s foraging Friday I will be reviewing Decembers ratty box! Thanks so much to Ratty Box for sending me there December box - its full of amazing goodies and my rats love it! Now if you didn’t see my last review of ratty box its basically a rat subscription service where every month on the 10th they send you a box filled with 5-6 items for your rats. These include a large special item, a comfort item like a hammock or tunnel, an activity toy or foraging toy, and some treats. For Decembers ratty box we got 6 awesome items with the first one being the reindeer hide. This adorable hide has a soft removable bottom that is perfect for the rats to sleep on. My rats really seem to like this hide and just like with the banana bed from last months ratty box they have taken turns sleeping on it either separately or together during free-range, and I can’t wait to put it in the cage when I do my Christmas theme in a few days! The next item in the box is a super cute red tunnel with little snowflakes on it. Not only is this tunnel adorable but its super soft inside and both ends have supporting ring which helps keep the tunnel open (solving an issue I had with the prior tunnel). My rats and especially my more skittish girls really love tunnels so I can’t wait to put this in their Christmas cage as well - for now they’ve been using it during free range and often pop inside to chill for a few minutes or eat a snack. The next item in this months ratty box is the activity item and this months is a fun chew toy. This is made very similar to last months chew toy and my rats absolutely love chewing on these! I’ve already put this one in the cage and within a few days they’ve halfway destroyed it - and for rats who usually don’t chew much its pretty awesome to find them doing so. The only thing to keep in mind with colored wood toys like this is that they will bleed color if they get wet from pee or water so just keep that in mind. Next up we have some treats and this months ratty box included 3 different treats! The first is an absolute favorite among rats and those are the critter pops - these red and green rice pops are super cute and great to hang up in the cage for a tasty snack! My rats have already eaten one of these pops and are very excited to eat the rest (which they’ll get to do so when I hang them in the Christmas cage). The next treat is a mix of dried cranberries and coconut flakes. I’m wary of giving my rats large dried fruit due to some bad experiences with them choking on it so I’ll be holding that back, however I will be giving them the coconut flakes and considering their reaction to them so far I feel like these may be a new favorite treat! Finally the last treat is Rascally Rat Nurtiberries and these treats are a combination of lots of yummy things like dried bananas and green peas. My rats absolutely LOVED these and went crazy for them, making them an instant hit! Overall ratty box for this month was amazing and my rats are loving all the treats and fun items! Thank you again to ratty box for letting me review the December box - I had a blast and my rats are loving it! If you would like to check out ratty box you can do so by going to their Facebook page or website which I will link right below this: Ratty Box website (enter the code BRUX for 10% off your first subscription): https://www.therattybox.com/ Ratty Box facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheRattyBox/ Video review:Today I will be reviewing some hammocks sent to me from Robyn's Rat Hammocks. Robyn sent me quite a generous selection of hammocks, including a cage set of 4 and several hammocks representing some of her other hammock types. Robyn sells 2 smaller sets and one large set, with the smaller sets being all the same fabric and consisting of either 3 or 4 distinct hammock types. The 3 piece set costs $20 (all prices include shipping and this comes down to $6.67 per hammock) and it consists of a double decker hammock, a standard hammock, and either a cube hammock or tunnel hammock. The 4 piece set costs $24 ($6/per hammock) and includes a double decker hammock, a cup hammock (basically a standard hammock with a bowl shape to the bottom), a tunnel hammock, and a cube hammock. And finally the large box set includes 15 hammocks made from various fabrics and costs $50 (just $3.33/per hammock!). Now the first set I reviewed was Robyn's 4 piece koala cage set. Like I wrote above this comes with a double decker hammock, a cup hammock, a tunnel hammock, and a cube hammock. All these hammocks were great quality, consisting of 2 fabric layers, having 4 metal grommets to hang them (with the exception being the cube which hangs from 4 fabric loops), and being a great size for multiple rats. I was especially exited to see that the tunnel hammock had 4 attachment points since the main issue with tunnel hammocks tends to be them staying closed when hung up, and having 2 extra attachment points took care of that and allowed my rats to use them without any extra modifications. I also really liked the cup hammock design, since I haven't seen this sort of hammock before and I found that the cup helped to stabilize the hammock so that no matter where I hung it in the cage it was balanced and appealing to my rats. Both the double decker hammock and cube hammocks where also amazing quality - I love the size of the double decker hammock in particular, and while the fabric loop hangers for the cube hammock aren't my favorite I found that they worked well to hang the hammock and my rats haven't tried chewing them so far (I've had the hammocks in the cage for about 2 weeks now). Moving on from the set the other hammocks Robyn sent me were also amazing quality. Like the set of hammocks all of these hammocks consisted of 2 fabric layers and were hung by 3-4 metal grommets for maximum stability and to ward off chewing. Along with a few same style hammocks to the ones in the set Robyn sent me 3 other types, and these included pocket hammocks (which are enclosed on 3 sides and have one side open like a pocket or envelope would - I hung these on the side of my cage and my rats apparently designated the bottom one as a food stashing and eating spot!), standard hammocks (like the cup hammocks but without the indent - very plush and cozy though and I was surprised to see my more skittish girls really take to sleeping out in the open in these), and corner hammocks (I really liked the size of these since it allowed me to actually stretch it across the corner of my cage and hang it in a stable place). All these hammocks shared the same level of quality as the set and my rats have been having a blast jumping from one sleeping spot to the next! Thank you so much to Robyn's Rat Hammocks for letting me review some of their hammocks - these hammocks are all amazing quality and priced incredibly. Considering how many commercial hammocks go for $10-15 even for the simpler hammock varieties its amazing to see Robyn selling sets including double hammocks and cube hammocks and more for so much less. If your looking for hammocks in bulk or even just looking for a smaller cage set I'd highly encourage you to check out Robyn's Rat Hammocks! Link to the Robyn's Rat Hammock facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/254050638492604/ Thanks to Instagram page mooseandfred2020 for sending me this cube hammock prototype to review!
For our 38th foraging Friday I will be reviewing the Gefryco 3 Level Cat Tower. This foraging toy is technically a simple batting toy mean't for cats, but like many of my other foraging toys meant for other animals they work just as well (and sometimes better!) for rats.
As far as this tower toy goes the main attraction is for your cat (or rat :P) to bat the balls around. This toy comes with 6 balls to allow for that that easily snap in to the toys frame as well, and its pretty much the perfect size for rats to enjoy. I've taken this toy one step further by filling the 3 slotted balls with treats as well, adding extra incentive for my rats to bat around the balls and generally interact with the toy. Initially I expected this to be the only time they used the toy, but the longer I've left it out in free-range and the cage, the more I've seen the rats use it on their own without any treats as well, so it seems like it serves both a foraging purpose and an activity purpose for my rats. Cleaning wise the tower is easy to clean due to it being completely disassemblable. It only takes maybe 2-3 minutes tops to assemble or disassemblable it, and since everything is plastic you can easily clean it with water and then dry it off. Adding treats (if you choose to) is also easy - you can either place them in one of the 3 tracks the balls roll on, or place some small treats into the slotted balls for an extra challenge. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this foraging toy and how much my rats have taken to using it. Initially I thought it would be a bit too large for the rats to comfortably use, but it ended up being quite a bit smaller than I thought and that made it the perfect size for my rats to enjoy. Link to this foraging toy: https://amzn.to/375QuFe 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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