Rat 101

 Rat Crafts

and other fun ideas

• Take a bowl of water and pour frozen peas and corn into the water. The rats will fish them out. Splashing in the water will help cool them down!
• Have cubes of frozen juice and put them in a bowl for your rat. They love cran-orange juice!
• Rat painting - Get a glass of cold water and a paint brush. Dip the paintbrush in the water and paint your rat's hairless bits, especially tail and feet. This will help them cool off faster and give them a challenge (to grab the brush off you and rip it to pieces).
  

• Keep a heating pad( you can buy them at pet stores) and put it under their cage.
• Put warm water in their bottle.
• Have a nice, thick hammock for them.
• Make, or buy, a medium sized hut for your rats and supply them with different materials like; toilet paper, cloth scraps, etc
•  Have a "warm buddy".  Fill a bottle with warm water, wrap in a towel and place in your rat's cage.  They can snuggle up next to it for warmth if they need to.  This is also a handy method for keeping rats warm during illness or transportation.

Other fun ideas

• For your rats birthday you can bake them a small cupcake! Dont put frosting on because it gives them stomach aches. Instead, try putting strawberries and other fruit on top. They also can have a small amount of whip cream for a special occasion.
• For some amazing ideas go to: http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm

Rat Tricks!

• Try teaching them do climb ropes of branches on command
• Build them a maze and put strong-smelling food at the end. Then you'll see how smart your rat is. If they doesn't get it the first time its probably because they doesn't know what to do. Teach them and have fun!
• Teach them to jump over pencils, books, bottles, etc.
• Teach them to tightrope!
• Teach them how to climb the stairs
• Teach them their name. Do that by calling it whenever you do something directly to them or when they are coming towards you.

If you want to see a hampster jumping type in "Super cute hampster jumping" on youtube and click on the one titled "Hampster jumping". It is really cute!

Above is a grotto. You can make one by having a bookshelf and carving out holes in the corners and placing ladders down them. You can put different toys on each level and maybe have one level for the food and water.