[jamesReid]

Hey all...

So we set this big cage up for the new boys to play in cause the other one is just too small.. but the are peeing on the top shelf. There is a ridge up there and the pee collects in it. I picked up one boy this morning and his feet, underbelly and tail were wet with pee... Not sure if it both of them peeing up there or just one.. One of the rats is more outgoing and excited about things than the other.. the shy one tends to stay on the top shelf in a bucket i put up there...


So any advice what to do to get them potty trained? or at least to pee on the bottom .. not the top shelf?


Thanks...

 

[breyer08]

Yeah, you definitely won't be able to potty train them to pee in a particular spot. You can certainly train them to poop in a litter box, but they will always pee wherever they want! I have that exact same cage, and I make it a habit to wipe down the cage once or twice a day with fragrance-free baby wipes. I then do an entire cage cleaning once a week, at which time I remove the shelves and give the whole cage a good scrubbing.

I also line the shelves with polar fleece blankies for them, but I do not attach them to the shelves, because my boys like to scrunch them up and cuddle with them. Having blankets on the shelves, which you can then change out a couple times a week, also helps to minimize the amount of urine that they are "bathing" in. When the blankets get soiled, I replace them with fresh ones and then throw the dirty ones in the washing machine.

 

[Vladina]

Yep, good advice from Breyer, as she and I both have the same exact cage as you. I trained my boys to poop in their rectangular litter box on the bottom of the house, but in regards to peeing, I used to do the same as Breyer, and put folded pieces of cloth/fleece on the blue platforms. The boys enjoyed laying on the soft cloth squares up there and it also helped to soak up any urine. I usually did a "smell test" every day to see if the folded squares of cloth needed to be changed out or if they were still okay. If they started to smell a bit like pee, I would just take out the cloth, throw it in the washing machine, and replace it with a fresh one.

 

[Vladina]

P.S. This was where my pillowcases came in handy. The ones I went and bought at a thrift store for the rats. Flannel ones were great in winter. Folding up a nice soft pillowcase as a "bed" on the platforms for the boys to sleep on and it would soak up any random peeing they did. Then whip it out and replace it when needed. Usually I changed these out every other day.

 

[jamesReid]

Cool.. good advice.. We took an old sheet for now.. tore it up into samll sections and put those in there... Kinda the same type thing..

 

[Vladina]

Yeah, old sheets work fine! And a sheet can sure make a lot of little futon mat beds eh?

 

[jamesReid]

Indeed!! They like them too....

 

[Nibbler]

as a toy you could give them paper to rip up they seem to love that but best advice i can give u if they sleep in your room is dont give it to them at night because they make a lot of noise with it

 

[luvboyrats]

I used the fleece blanket technique with a similar multilevel cage I used to have. It does reduce the amount of urine just sitting around on everything. One way to stock up on lots of blankets is to go to the dollar tree if you have one close. They sell fleece baby blankets for a dollar a piece. Most of them are big enough to cut in half and use in the cage, so for very little money you can stock up on lots of fleece blankets so you always have a clean one to replace to wet ones with.

 

[Wolf]

I've trained my mice in the past to be litter trained so there is definitely the possibility of training them, otherwise i just recommend newspaper cut to fit and changing it once a day or so.

 

[Vladina]

Well from what I learned early on, newspaper, at least for rats, is not a good choice due to the lack of absorbancy as well as the ink in the paper. Fleece, flannel, or cotton material is softer, more absorbant and does not have the newspaper ink problem.

 

[Wolf]

Well no problem then ever thought of a thin foam/sponge... great absorbancy,n with a flannel/cotton outing itll be sort too