Back in around 2006/2007 I found a young male deer skull in the bush behind my grandmothers house, when exploring with 2 friends. We all took a piece from it and I took an antler. I recently came across it while cleaning out my parents basement. I am currently putting together a cage for a pair of baby female rats (coming home on Jan 22). And I was just wondering if this would be safe to put in their enclosure? It’s quite small and I am planning on softening the pointy ends. Would I have to disinfect it?
Hi and welcome! I saw your post on the Bioactive FB page. Yes, they are perfectly fine for rats. It's what they chew in the wild for calcium. My brother hunts but he doesn't have any he wants to give away. Those things are expensive too!
Thank you!
And yes, I am realizing now that a lot of people on here are going to over lap with the groups I am in on fb ahaha. I’m just trying to make sure I do everything I can to benefit the little ratties and having more than one source for info and tips seems the best way!
I keep a rather large antler on top of my cage and whenever I let my babies out the first thing they do is run over and sniff it. I think it is a very interesting sensory experience because it smells like the outdoors and has a unique feel to it. Even if you had recently found it I would not say it needs much more then a bit of a wipe down with a wet paper towel but you said you have had it for about 1.5 decades so I don’t think it’s a problem
Yes, I assumed the antler was old enough that it would be safe but I’m more than likely to do another form of disinfecting, just to help with my anxiety.
Currently I do not. Since Covid, I had to return to my dads house for financial reasons and he also doesn’t like the whole bug idea. But as soon as I’m out and in my own place, my goal is to have a bioactive set up. And to add more rats to my group! For now my set up is a lot more DIY, with a little naturalistic aspects.
You should probably boil the heck out of it, who knows what microbes / mites are living on or in it
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