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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2014 12:20:34 GMT -5
ok I will throw in some cardboard. I would not think that cardboard would be hard enough to file down teeth and satisfy their chewing. right now they have a beef nylabone that they are chewing on. Yeah nylabones are great - also cubes of really stale or oven dried bread, or Sticks/ logs from apple & willow trees or bits of smooth hard wood. Also if their food is of good quality it should have nice hard seeds, nuts etc and that should keep them busy gnawing and keep their teeth trimmed.  I know that wild rats that live in cities have been known to chew through concrete and the mortar round bricks - they can also swim the u-bend of toilets if so inclined. I believe good grain stores reinforce the base walls and floors with bits of glass in the mortar or concrete in some places as glass is one of the few things wild rats cannot chew - I have no idea about any other kind of rodent what they can chew if determined. I watch to many animal docs lol |
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Post by bitbyter on Aug 30, 2014 12:34:42 GMT -5
rats and mice have collapsible skulls. A full grown rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter and a mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.
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Post by msav on Aug 30, 2014 12:43:50 GMT -5
I am feeding the rodent mix that was posted on this forum. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/3182 I could not find any rodent food that did not contain soy. That is the main reason I am choosing to raise my own rodents. I don't like feeding soy to my ferrets even if it is through the prey I am feeding. I bought some really healthy bread from a discount store and it tasted like crap. All good ingredients though, so I dried it in the oven at low temp and it got really hard. They really like that bread. |
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Post by unclejoe on Aug 30, 2014 19:05:04 GMT -5
I had gerbils for years a long time ago and they loves chewing on paper and especially cardboard. TP and paper towel tubes were their favorites. Maybe if you keep them supplied with those they will leave the cage alone. They have to chew to keep their teeth in shape.
They're pretty darn cute.
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Post by katt on Aug 31, 2014 3:35:13 GMT -5
Rats (of any kind) should be kept in barred, ventilated cages NOT plastic or glass tanks. Also ASFs are, if I remember correctly, known for being much more wild and significantly less friendly than your standard domestic rat. And no, I would never feed a rat live.
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Post by msav on Sept 1, 2014 9:44:57 GMT -5
I have been trying to give them some kind of treat, there is really nothing they really like. yesterday I took a rabbit spine bone and went to put it into the cage. One of the rats grabbed it and took it out of my hand. They all started to eat on it like a bunch of piranhas pulling it from each other running off with it. It was like watching my ferrets with a mouse. So my question is. how much meat should they get, are they different from regular rats where they are only suppose to get it once a week. As I always have extra bone from the ferrets they would be getting what I would normally throw away. Also absolutely no chewing of the cage since giving them this. what was left after a few  |
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Post by katt on Sept 1, 2014 17:09:19 GMT -5
Too much protein can give rodents kidney issues. I don't know where the line is though, my knowledge if ASF Rats is petty minimal but I would think that their nutritional requirements would be very similar to regular rats.
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Post by Awaiting Abyss on Sept 1, 2014 21:01:20 GMT -5
ASFs are closer related to mice, so care is like that of a mouse.
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