Make your own inexpensive playground with things around the house or other assorted low priced items.

People often ask, where can my rats come out to play? There are products you can buy made for rats or other small animals to have time out from the cage but some of those look a little impractical to me, not to mention expensive.

I have found a great and even better than great, a cheap way to give them out of the cage time and still be contained. This is great not just for playtime but it also gives them a safe place to go when it's time to clean the cages.

I bought a made-for-human toddlers molded plastic wading pool at the local discount store for under $10.00. I have found that if you set this up on the floor, they will leave. Needless to say, we don't do that anymore. I then set mine up on a table; the ratties are so intelligent that they know they are above ground level so they have no desire to leave.

Use anything you want for tunnels and hide boxes. Four inch PVC pipe can be used for tunnels, plastic storage boxes for "rooms" to visit, their Wodent Wheel, plastic milk jugs, cardboard boxes, create a maze if you like. Use your imagination, you can find all sorts of things around the house to entertain them. Drape old towels or sheets over the boxes so they feel like they are hiding when they want to. Give them treats in the playground and they'll use those towels to hide under for munching. Be sure to buy a bottle guard so that you can hang a water bottle on the side of the pool for them. If they are to spend any significant amount of time out of their regular home then they need to have their water bottle with them.

When cleaning day arrives which sometimes takes a couple of hours per group here, my rat kids will spend most of their time sleeping in the pool turned playground. It's great, we don't have to stress them out by putting them in a tiny holding cage while they wait for their maid service. They can also be left unattended now because they don't want to leave the pool.

I've discovered a benefit to the playground that I hadn't thought of until it happened. My ratties are so used to going to the playground that they feel completely secure inside it. Now if one is ill and needs to be medicated all I have to do is take them to the playground alone. I serve the cereal that the medication is hidden in and there's never a problem getting them to eat it. It's because they are in familiar territory so for them there is nothing to fear. We actually don't have medication fights here. That's makes the cheap pool worth it's weight in gold!

They feel so comfortable in the playground that it's like a second home to them. If one has come home from the vet's after a stressful treatment and is too tired to be sent back to the family, the playground is a great place to take a nap before going home to join the family.

The playground isn't just a place for them to go when nobody can give them attention. By putting it up on a table, it's also a great place for their humans to sit comfortably in a chair and talk to them, hand wrestle, pass out treats, whatever you want to do. Our groups gets lots of attention from their human family but they have the choice to play together, climb up human arms, jump on shoulders, and play groom the human, or whatever they want to do.

Make it fun for them and you'll love having this area for them, so will they.

Jan McArthur, R.V.T.