[Enchilada]

One thing I did recently was take an old sweatshirt my boyfriend was going to give away and cut the sleeves off, and the end of the sleeve to make a tunnel, then take craft wire, make it a little longer than the length of the entrance to the tunnel, double it and twist it together then make a cirlce. Sew it into the edge of the tunnel, then make another wire circle, do the same to the other side, and sew fabric loops on the top to hold your metal clips that will attatch to the cage. It was free for me to make, the wire might cost a little, but Its a ton cheaper than buying premade stuff.

 

[aliceinwonderland]

I've collected way more fabric for intended projects than I'll ever use. So the other day I took one of the pieces and cut it into strips. Tied the strips off on one end and braided. It's like using the braided rope dog toys except you get to pick colors, length, thickness, ect.

 

[ARatofNoImportance]

Oh I love these, especially the flap for burrowing.

 

[Loopy_rats]

How to make a rat house:

1. get a cardboard box
2. Cut a door in it

And if you want a more longer lasting house,

1. Get an ice cream container
2. Cut a door in it

In my experience, rats like the simplest things best

 

[rats-alive-at-55]

A link was given to this tutorial on an earlier page, but this is a more recent link. You can download this pdf to you own computer and sew many different tunnels, houses, and hammocks for your rats. Many pictures make it easy for even a novice seamstress like me. LOL I have 7 rats so I use the triple decker hammock so they can all fit in there together.

http://www.ratropolis.com/Rat Tutorials/RatTutorials.htm

 

[Vampiric Conure]

This is more of a craft with food, but my rats loooved them. It was especially helpful when I had a rat who needed medications. I'd just squirt the medication into the center and voila! Rat wolfed it down!

1) Take elbow pasta (macaroni). Cook until done.
2) Take an eye dropper or small syringe and squirt jam/baby food/apple sauce/soft mushy foods into the center.
3) Watch the rats go wild, LOL

 

[Vampiric Conure]

Another easy to make thing is a pop bottle tunnel. I use the 2 liter or 1 liter sizes (If you have large boys, I'd stick with the 2 liter bottles). Remove the plastic label and toss in the garbage. Use a pair of scissors and cut the ends off the bottle. About an inch -inch and a half from the ends of the bottle, cut a single slit where the pop bottle will hang from. Use a shower curtain hook to hang from the sides of the cage. No cutting, no sewing - just a pair of scissors and a bottle You can tie a sock at the end of one tunnel for variety. or tape several together to make a long tunnel. Or tape several together to make a pyramid. The bonus is that the bottles are see through, so you know where your ratties are

 

[FlashMika]

I make all my own hammocks, as modelled by Flash (she's so much easier to get a pic of) I followed a tutorial on youtube.

 

[cattyratties]

I have a tip for sewing with rats- do a double topstitch!! One topstitch is great but doing another farther in (like an inch or two in from the edge depending on what you are making) will really help especially if you make double layer cage liners to prevent chewing. Also if you have any Bitter Apple spray (it's for cats and dogs so they don't chew plants/other things) or Bitter YUCK! spray, do a spritz on the back of the fleece before you sew it. It helps my hammocks/ liners not get chewed so much the very first time I put the in the cage. After the first wash it's pretty useless but you can put a teeny bit on the accessory where your ratty likes to chew. It's not harmful to them, they usually get a tiny taste before they even start to chew to warn them off. Just use a tiny bit.

 

[buzylilbeellc]

this is something i tries the other day, and im already making my 3rd one, my ratties destroyed it!!

what you will need: bottle caps (4 or more, cleaned), ribbon


1. punch holes in the middle of the bottle caps

2. make a knot in the ribbon

3. put a bottle cap in the ribbon, stopping at the knot

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until there are no more bottle caps

5. tie a knot in front of the last bottle caps so they dont slip off the ribbon

6. put in the cage!!


just a 2 minute toy idea, i dangle it in front of my rats face and the paws fly everywhere trying to catch it!

What a great idea. I threw my caps away so I used mini solo cups.
I'm still waiting for them to play with them.....lol