DIY toys and entertainment for rats – photo ideas

Active and playful rats should be given a lot of time and attention, otherwise the pet may get bored and even depressed. Therefore, caring owners come up with various life hacks that help not only entertain the rat, but also satisfy its curiosity and sense of adventure.

Rat cage toys

Along with areas for rest and feeding, in the cage of tailed pets there should also be a play corner where animals can play and have fun. And to make the play area interesting and varied, various toys for rats will help, which you can either buy at a pet store or make with your own hands.

Ready accessories for games and exercise:

• swings or hanging rings for birds can also be hung in a rodent cage, on which they will enjoy riding;

• animals will like to climb the ladders leaning against the shelves;
• you can hang a wooden suspension bridge between the shelves;
• toy mechanical mice will evoke a real hunting instinct in rats, and the animals will hunt them with delight.

Homemade cage toys:

• a ladder for a pet can be made from an ordinary thick rope. To do this, knots are tied on a rope at regular intervals and fastened to a shelf;
• the “delicious garland” suspended from the ceiling of the cage, which is made from delicacies strung on a long string, will please the animal;

• rats will not refuse to play with a keychain or a bell on a long chain, which is attached to a shelf or cage bars;
• a hanging bridge for a rodent can be made independently from a bamboo mat for making rolls and sushi;

Important: rats try any objects and toys “by the tooth”, so such accessories should not be varnished or contain chemicals.

You will find interesting ideas for homemade toys for rodents in the article “Do-it-yourself toys for a hamster”.

How to set up a play area for rats

It is not advisable to let tailed pets roam freely throughout the apartment, as rats often damage furniture and gnaw wires. But keeping animals in a cage all the time is also impossible, because animals need to move and run. Therefore, the best option is the arrangement of a special playground in which rats can frolic to their heart’s content.

green lawn

A private park with grassy thickets will be a great gift for domestic rats, and they will be happy to spend all their free time there. To make it, you will need a spacious wooden or plastic tray with low sides, earth and seeds for planting (oats or wheat).

• the prepared box is half filled with clean earth, which should not contain chemicals and fertilizers;
• seeds are planted in the soil and watered for a week;
• when the seeds germinate, the rat lawn is ready and you can run animals into it.

In such a park, the animals will play with delight, hunting each other in the thickets of grass and digging in the ground in search of edible roots.

Sandbox

An alternative to an earthen lawn is a tray of fine-grained sand in which toys for rats are scattered, such as balls, small wooden figures, or plastic bottle caps. To interest the animals in an impromptu sandbox, you can also put a favorite treat of the animals in it.

Rat hayloft

Digging in a box filled with hay will also bring a lot of joy to rodents and will become a favorite pastime for small pets.

Making a hayloft for rats is extremely simple: for this purpose, you will need a large cardboard box, hay and favorite treats of animals.

1. Several holes are cut out in the box at different levels, so that the animals can easily squeeze into them;
2. The box is completely filled with clean, dry hay;
3. Pieces of apples, carrots or slices of oatmeal cookies are “hidden” in the hayloft;
4. The top of the box is sealed with tape, after which the pets are invited to explore a new design for them.

The rats will eagerly search in and out of the box and rummage through the hay looking for treats.

Important: fillers for playgrounds should be purchased in specialized stores. Land from the garden, river sand and hay harvested for livestock are not suitable for these purposes.

Water attraction for pets

In the summer heat, you can arrange fun entertainment for decorative rats by inviting them to splash in a pool of peas. A wide metal basin, a deep bowl or a plastic tray with a convex bottom will do as a pool. The selected container is filled with warm water and frozen green peas (or corn grains, if rats love them) are thrown into it.

Catching peas from the water will not only be a fun game for rodents, but will also help cool them down on a hot day. And to make this activity more exciting for them, you can lean ladders against the outer sides of the impromptu pool, along which the animals will climb to the water.

Video: water fun for rats in the heat

rat football

Watching the fuss of tailed pets, owners often notice how rats drive pellets from food or raisins around the cage, using them as balls. So why not arrange a football championship for your pets, giving them the opportunity to feel like real football players? Especially such entertainment will be relevant if several rats are contained in the cage. The animals will enthusiastically play with the ball, rolling it around the cage, and trying to take it away from each other.

As a soccer ball for rats, you can use:

• ping pong balls;
• walnuts or hazelnuts;
• foil or paper balls;
• small round skeins of thread wrapped with tape.

Mazes for rats

One of the favorite activities of rats is to explore and learn everything new and unusual. Therefore, you can’t imagine a better gift for tailed pets than a labyrinth or a tunnel with an obstacle course and goodies hidden inside. Such an accessory can be purchased at a pet store, or you can make it yourself from improvised materials.

plastic bottle maze

1. It is necessary to take several bottles, preferably of different sizes;
2. The neck and bottom of the bottles are cut off with a sharp knife so that the edges are smooth.
3. It is better to wrap the cut edges with tape or electrical tape so that the rat does not get hurt about them;
4. A hole is made in each bottle, taking into account the size of the animal;
5. The bottles are connected to each other in the form of the letter T to make a winding maze.

The more bottles you use, the longer and more interesting the maze will be.

Video: how to make a rat maze from plastic bottles

Maze of cardboard boxes

Boxes are also great for creating a rat maze. In boxes of different sizes, cut through the entrances and exits and stack them on top of each other. To make this design more stable, the boxes are fastened together with double-sided tape.

Important: it will be more interesting and exciting for a tailed pet to explore the labyrinth if the owner puts the rodent’s favorite treats there.

Tunnel of sewer pipes

If plastic pipes remain after the repair, and with them tees and elbows, then you can easily turn them into a maze for a rat.

For this purpose, the pipes are connected at different angles to form a multi-way tunnel.

Intellectual entertainment for rats

You can amuse the rat not only with an active game, but also offer it to solve the puzzle.

For this purpose, use a matchbox or a plastic container from Kinder Surprise.

A treat for a pet is placed in a box or container, closed and handed to the rodent.

Watching the animal try to figure out a way to open the contents of the gift and get to the treat will bring genuine pleasure to the owner himself.

Video: how to make a do-it-yourself rat toy

Joint games with a rat

Even providing a small pet with a variety of toys, do not forget that the rodent will never refuse to play with his beloved owner. Making a toy for playing with pets is easy – just tie a rustling candy wrapper to a thread and let the rat run after it. Most of the rats chase the wrapper like kittens and the owners even take pictures of their pets during this fun game.

You can play with the animal with your own hand, bringing your fingers closer to the rat and pushing them back. The animal will observe the movements of the owner’s fingers and after a while will rush after them, squealing with pleasure.

Any homemade or store-bought toy for rats will help your pet have fun and have fun, but cannot completely replace communication with the owner. Therefore, it is necessary to give the little rodent enough attention and care, because only then the animal will feel contented and happy.