Bad Behaviour!

[roachless]

Hi, new to the site and relatively new to rat ownership. I have had rats for about 3 months.

Now, I did do a fair amount of research before getting my rats, and I think i know enough to take care of them properly.

I know rats have different personalities. however, one of my rats has developed bad habbits and I was wondering how i can discourage them.
She is always trying to escape her cage. at first i thought it was because she was bored, but she has always got 4 or 5 home made toys to play with. The only thing that distracts her for longer than2 minutes is the treat toy, which is a treat wrapped up in several layers of newspaper that she rips off to get the treat.. she tends to ignore the short tunnels, the rat wheel, the dog kong and anythingelse i get for her and keeps trying to get out. She always has access to food and water so its not that.The problem is, the part of the cage she tries to escape from is the lid. its a mesh top and she pushes agaisnt it with alot of force.. im worried that she will cut herself while trying to get out, or hurt herself falling down.. it is a pretty big drop from the roof to the ground. Now, i have hanging from the roof a pouch/house thing that they sleep in.. she stands on top of that and pushes against the lid. There really is no other place in the cage to hang the house from

She also chews things.. now i know rats do this.. and i was prepared for it, but my other rat doesnt chew anything but the toys ive made and i would like to discourage this chewing behaviour in my other naughty rat! She once chewed a hole in a bean bag and spilled the balls everywhere!

I dont want to say "punish" but what else, aside from putting her back in her cage, can i do to discourage her? I do tell her firmly NO when i see her doing things and put her in her cage.. but there she just tries to escape!

Any suggestions would be great help!

[christie]

Probabily the only way your going to get her to stop chewing on things you don't want her chewing on, is moving them from where you let her free range. Especially if you are already telling her no, and putting her back into the cage after she does it.

As for the trying to escape from her cage, the only thing i can suggest is to re/move the house thing she is using as leverage. If you cant hang it else where, what about just attaching it to the side of the cage? For the worry about hurting her self if she falls i would place a hammock under the area to catch her if she did happen to fall. Its a good thing to do anyways i think, to strategically place hammocks to break falls.

[Kelly]

She might just be looking for attention. My girls will try to 'escape' when they want me to play with them, I take it as a sign of affection that they'd rather play with me than with all their nice toys.
Or maybe the cage is too small/too cramped, so she'd rather be outside.
The suggestion about hanging a hammock to catch her if she falls was a good one, and you could try covering the mesh in that section of the cage with something.

As for chewing... You can discourage, which you have been,but like christie said... the only way to guarantee she won't chew something is to move it.

[Colleen]

Females are naturally full of beans, they are much more active than males, and are escape artists due to their more inquisitive nature. she is still young, therefore more active. there isn't a lot you can do apart from giving her, and her cage mates plenty of time outside of their cage where they can run around and explore, and interact with you.

You said that you are providing her with plenty of stimulation inside her cage, but make sure you do this when she is outside of her cage during her 'run around time' too. check out these ideas: www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm

another thing is, her cage might be too small. get the cage dimensions and check them on a rat cage size calculator just be be sure: www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml
remember rats are climber and chewers and explorers, especially when young, so its pretty impossible to get them out of those habits. to satisfy their need to chew, provide them with edible stuff, like seeds and nuts, and low protein dog biscuits, and give them plenty of things to climb on, and hold onto so they cant fall.

[toby]

i agree with whats been said about females.