Pooing everywhere

kingbuxton13 · Post by **kingbuxton13** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:53 am

My boys, as soon as they come out of the cage, love to drop little bombs everywhere.

As soon as they come out, they cant help themselves.

Dave is a little shy and hides behind cusions etc, he isnt too bad. Ian, who loves to sit on your shoulder etc cant help himself. Got him out, and he literally straight away dropped one into my glass of wine.

Is it normal that they do it alot when they come out?
Will it get better?
Is it a nervous thing?
What can I do to help or lessen the quantity.

lamb · Post by **lamb** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:04 am

That will teach you to drink and Free range at the same time

All my boys hold it all in and wait till they come out. Maybe they like a clean cage.

kingbuxton13 · Post by **kingbuxton13** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:06 am

lamb wrote:That will teach you to drink and Free range at the same time All my boys hold it all in and wait till they come out. Maybe they like a clean cage.

Thats what its like. They hold it in.

How do you cope, literally whenever they are out I spend 80% of the time cleaning up poo.

spoiled_rat · Post by **spoiled_rat** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:08 am

They are babies, give them chance to learn

lamb · Post by **lamb** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:24 am

No hope for me then. My boys are all grown up. I am lucky I Free range in the conservatory so picking them up isn't too bad. If I do miss the odd one I usually find it stuck to the bottom of my sock

OH doesn't find it as funny. Especially if it ends up in the bed

kingbuxton13 · Post by **kingbuxton13** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:42 am

spoiled_rat wrote:They are babies, give them chance to learn

thats what im saying, learn how? and learn what?

Rat nappies anyone?

Amzy · Post by **Amzy** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:43 am

Litter train them in the cage and have a litter tray out during free range.

Toribob · Post by **Toribob** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:07 am

My older 3 used to poo all the time out of the cage, I was always cleaning it up. But now they dont really do it out of the cage unless they have been out for hours, and i give them a litter tray in their free -range area too. Weeing however is a different matter!

neela · Post by **neela** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:37 am

Rather than tidying up whilst they're out, we leave it until after we've put them back. Unless it's a particularly squishy stinky one that they'd tread everywhere

If you clean up after them once they're back in the cage it's much easier to move around without having to be careful of them. As your boys get older their poos are likely to be firmer and less smelly so it's not a problem to leave them for a bit. I'm sure they'll start doing it less - or at least become a little more civil with choosing where to drop one! None of my adults have ever done that whilst sitting on me (apart from at the vets) so I would think that's likely to stop as they get older and more confident.

I always put a litter tray out for free-range and it gets used relatively well, but there's always a few awkward ones who prefer to find their own spot - that's just the way it is. If you start using a litter tray you could put some poos from the cage inside it, or use the cage litter tray and just move it out with them when they're free-ranging.

Also, your own 'standards' are likely to drop a bit too, we were a lot more keen to clean when we first started keeping rats! An indulgent "what are they like!, oh well" approach is a good thing, makes for much more relaxed socialising

kingbuxton13 · Post by **kingbuxton13** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:52 am

Litter tray usage is a no go.

Checked the cage today (after yesterdays big clean) poo everywhere. I have scooped all the poo and put it in there too.

Came down yesterday they have gone one better, knocked their bed over the litter tray.

spoiled_rat · Post by **spoiled_rat** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:55 am

kingbuxton13 wrote:Checked the cage today (after yesterdays big clean) poo everywhere. I have scooped all the poo and put it in there too.

Came down yesterday they have gone one better, knocked their bed over the litter tray.

Rats are rats....what do you expect? Chaos reigns supreme in the house of rat

Hobbit Stealer · Post by **Hobbit Stealer** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:07 pm

Perhaps as they are young they are still quite excitable, they may be 'nervous' poos. Babies do poo a lot anyway.

Alijane · Post by **Alijane** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:54 pm

Ratties seem to have a very special gift ... they can create something from nothing. I have carefully measured the amount of food my ratties eat ... and the amount of poop they produce. The amount of poop very substantially outmeasures the amount of food. I wondered if maybe this was because they were losing weight. But they are not. In fact, most are putting on weight. So, if only some of the poop and some of the fat come from the food, then the rest of the poop and the rest of the fat must come from nothing. These little guys are clearly extremely talented creatures.

Now, onto the issue of widdle ... how come the volume of widdle that Rosie can produce is vastly greater than the volume of her whole body? ... and how can she aim the stream directly into the face of the nurse at the vet's? ... that is the next big question

kingbuxton13 · Post by **kingbuxton13** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:34 pm

One deffo poo's more than the other. The nervous one does it alot.

Tonight I brought them out in their tube, let them settle (ie drop all their guts in the tube first) and coaxed them out later. Worked well.

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