[amandahoney]

for maybe a week now, i've been waking up every morning to find that my rats had torn down one or two corners on each and every hammock/pocket/tunnel hanging in their cage. sometimes they pull down the whole thing and drag it into the litter box. i never actually catch them at it; it's always when i'm sleeping. i wake up and all four of them are trying to balance on a strip of fabric suspended by only two corners, looking up at me like, "what? we like it like this." but i dutifully mend and tie the hammocks back up, only to have them torn down again the next night. this is getting very frustrating.

i made a couple of changes that seem to be less destructible- a wire ledge covered in fleece replaces a fleece hammock, a small birdhouse with a slanted roof covered with fleece is another soft place they can't really rip up.

does anyone have any suggestions for how to furnish a cage for rats whose passion is tearing everything down and stuffing it in a box on the floor, something i can make?

 

[Forensic]

I know some people have used metal colanders lined with fabric as hammocks, or something similar.

 

[DonnaK]

You could use a small running ball, tied to the side of the cage with zip ties to make a bed/kind of hammock.

 

[amandahoney]

those are great ideas. i'll try both- i don't have any colanders at the moment, but i do have a ball left somewhere from when my brother had mice and a larger one from when my sister had guinea pigs. i'll try that today.