Branches and picket toys are an excellent option to enrich the in-cage lifetime of rats and mice. They’re nice for encouraging climbing and clambering round, and provide a very nice vary of smells and textures to work together with. They’re additionally good for nibbling and gnawing – and there are few issues rats and mice take pleasure in greater than discovering one thing to gnaw on.
The content material of this text was contributed by visitor creator (and rodent wrangler extraordinaire) Beri Instone
Security Notes
However earlier than we begin – some vital security / authorized notes…
For Pet Security
Be sure you are 100% positive what species the department is from earlier than giving it to pets (see the secure woods record beneath). It’s ultra-important to know precisely what you’re giving them, so you can also make an knowledgeable resolution on security. Which means that merely grabbing a department from the bottom is a foul concept, and until you’re very expert, keep away from making an attempt to ID what species a tree is in winter (there can be no leaves that can assist you out, and most of the secure species do drop their leaves).
Keep away from timber that are close to closely used roads (air pollution) or have been sprayed with chemical compounds.
For Your Security
Earlier than amassing any branches, assess the state of affairs for security. Is it secure and acceptable to gather from that tree? What instruments are required, and are you aware how you can use them safely? Do you want private protecting tools? The place obligatory, search help from somebody educated in pruning. Don’t climb timber to acquire branches. Pay attention to your personal security and that of others round you.
Verify the foraging legal guidelines of your nation/space, as some timber are included in a lot of these laws. And at all times get permission from backyard house owners earlier than pruning their vegetation.
For Tree Security
For the well being of the tree, branches greater than the dimensions of your index finger ought to solely be pruned off within the colder months of the yr. It is because by pruning a department you’re mainly creating an open wound. Consider tree sap like human blood – in hotter rising months the sap is ‘up’ [technical term], and any an infection is extra prone to unfold. In winter the sap retreats, that means the tree wound can heal extra safely.
It’s additionally vital that if you reduce a department, you make the reduce at an angle that isn’t horizontal to the bottom (as vertical as potential is greatest). This ensures any rain will drip off, slightly than amassing and rotting the tree.
Foraging for enrichment is enjoyable, nevertheless it ought to be finished in an environmentally acutely aware means; don’t go away a path of destruction behind you.
Drying Out Wooden and Making Protected
You shouldn’t simply give newly reduce branches to your pets. First, they must be made secure (any bugs or parasites killed) after which dried out.
One of the best ways to wash the branches at house is to make use of moist warmth:
- Put your department in a shower or sink, boil a kettle, and gently pour the recent water over the department (watch out to keep away from splashing your self or others).
- You then have to dry the department out to the purpose that the sap goes from being a inexperienced layer beneath the bark, to turning brown too – how lengthy this takes will depend on how massive the department is and the way heat your own home is, however 2-6 months is an efficient guideline.
Some individuals use bleach as a part of the cleansing, however keep in mind wooden is a porous materials and so correctly rinsing it afterwards is nigh on unattainable. On steadiness, exposing your pets to bleach is prone to be the extra harmful choice. We really feel that if bleach is required to wash a department, then that department wasn’t secure to gather for pets within the first place.
The choice on whether or not to take away lichen is only aesthetic; it’s not harmful to your pets to nibble, in actual fact most instances fairly the alternative because it’s traditionally a fairly nifty meals supply. Additional enrichment!
A lot data on-line advises freezing wooden to make it secure, however this does virtually nothing as in lots of areas of the world, timber and parasites have tailored to sub-zero circumstances as a pure a part of their life cycle.
Some sources alternatively suggest utilizing the dry warmth of an oven. We don’t counsel this for 2 causes. Firstly, you’re restricted on department measurement by way of what you may match. Secondly dry warmth can change the mobile construction of the wooden, cracking the outer bark. Cracks in bark = simpler for pee and poo moisture to permeate in later = department will get very pungent in a short time = quite a lot of work for nothing.
Fantastic little twigs are often secure to be fed immediately, or after about per week drying out within the residence. These are the kind of measurement that received’t maintain the burden of a mouse, a lot much less a rat, however they’re nice to only placed on the substrate as a nibble toy. They often get fully demolished earlier than too lengthy.
Cleansing Twigs and Branches Between Makes use of
Rats and mice do are likely to pee all over the place, so picket toys and branches within the cage will get soiled. To scrub them you are able to do one thing much like the preliminary cleansing above with soaking after which leaving to dry, though if the bark has been nibbled off, the much less waterproof inside a part of the department will take longer to dry.
Many individuals discover it more practical to only wipe clear the floor of branches – this removes the worst of the grime, however doesn’t fully strip scent marking away, that means your rats/mice received’t go wild with re-marking.
In case you have entry to exterior house then a very nifty factor to do at much less frequent intervals is just to go away the wooden exterior for a bit, to permit smells to dissipate. A few weeks exterior after which drying inside and also you’re good to go!
Which Varieties of Wooden Are Protected?
Not all sorts of wooden are equal, and a few may be poisonous to our pets so you will need to know which varieties are secure and which aren’t.
There are two predominant classes of wooden, and it’s vital from a rodent enrichment and security standpoint that you simply perceive the distinction:
- Hardwoods are grown from timber with regular flat leaves. These timber develop slowly, which leads to more durable and stronger wooden, therefore the title.
- Softwoods are grown from conifer timber, which have needles as a substitute of regular leaves (suppose Christmas timber). These timber develop actually shortly, so are the spine of the industrial timber trade.
Hardwoods are the class we deal with for tree species which are secure to make use of with rats and mice. A basic rule of thumb is that wooden from timber that are listed as secure for rabbits to eat are secure to offer. Rats and mice are omnivores like individuals, and have far more sturdy digestive methods than rabbits. Moreover, they’ll solely actually be nibbling the wooden, slightly than scarfing it into their faces as a meal like rabbits do.
Nevertheless, when taking a look at any lists of appropriate woods on-line, it is extremely vital that the record offers the Latin names of the tree too. A Latin title refers to a particular species of tree, whereas frequent names fluctuate internationally and will seek advice from a secure tree in a single nation however an unsafe tree in one other.
Our favorite woods to offer rats and mice:
- Apple (Malus domestica) – tremendous tasty wooden, will seemingly not final very lengthy earlier than chewed up
- Hazel (Corylus avellana) – one other tasty tree, however massive branches final properly
- Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) – notably nice for difficult rats as small diameter branches are exceptionally robust, and are famed for bending slightly than snapping. Department wooden may be very easy in texture, really easy to wash.
- Birch (Betula sp.) – mice and rats discover birch tremendous tasty, I (Beri) try to at all times have a couple of twigs within the substrate for nibbling
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) – thorns ought to be eliminated for security, though harvesting the brand new yr’s development from hedges ends in twigs with far fewer thorns on than from timber. Very tasty.
- Elder (Sambucus nigra) – pretty texture to the bark, so nice for rats who want a bit extra grip
- Alder (Alnus glutinosa) – one of many few deciduous timber which produce cones, for further enrichment
- Willow (Salix sp.) – generally offered commercially as nibble twigs, you must take explicit care with these species that the wooden is absolutely dried out earlier than giving it to pets.
- Cherry, plum, peach (Prunus sp.) – these woods can have a superb texture for climbing, and aren’t very palatable to mice and rats, so a giant department can final years as soon as dried.
- Buddleia (Buddleia davidii) – a lot of individuals have these rising of their gardens because the flowers are wonderful for butterflies. Attempt to use the older woody development slightly than the newer inexperienced development.
- Beech (Fagus sylvatica) – forageable branches usually tend to be mouse-size than appropriate for rats.
- Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) – liked by squirrels (additionally rodents) for the tasty bark, however can typically have fungal infections. Additional tree-health care must be taken with these.
- Lime [UK] or Linden [US] (Tilia sp. and Tilia x europaea) – takes longer than common for branches to dry out, and infrequently has a excessive parasite load
- Rowan, Whitebeam (Sorbus sp.) – many of those timber don’t develop very massive, so can be extra fitted to occasional use with mice, slightly than for rats, or with excessive frequency.
- Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris)
Unsafe Woods That You Ought to By no means Give to Your Pets
TOXIC broadleaf timber which ought to NEVER be given to rodents:
- Field
- Dogwood
- Laburnum
- Privet
- Horse chestnut
- Eucalyptus
- Laurel
- Orange / citrus
Please be aware this isn’t an entire record, slightly it focuses on the woods generally requested about on rat care boards. In case you are not sure a wooden is secure to your pets, or if you’re not sure of the ID of the tree, don’t use it.
Additionally, don’t use man-made “woods” like plywood, MDF, laminate and so forth. as they include glues or chemical compounds.
Softwoods
These timber are not appropriate to gather branches from for enrichment functions. Timber and woods on this class embody spruce, pine, cedar and fir.
It is because the wooden is extremely oil-rich and the bark has a really totally different construction to hardwoods (the tree makes use of the oils to cease parasites, an infection and different hurt from coming to itself). The oils within the woods include compounds referred to as phenols which may be poisonous to rats and mice, and it’s not potential to securely deal with them at residence.
So What About Softwood Shavings as Substrate?
The distinction right here is that industrial operations can use MUCH larger heats to deal with the wooden than is feasible at residence. And these very excessive heats can take away the phenols making the wooden secure. For this reason it’s vital to guarantee that any softwood shavings you purchase have been warmth handled (e.g. kiln dried) slightly than being uncooked.
Along with being heat-treated, any wooden shavings which are going for use for rats and mice ought to be dust-extracted. Mud, from any supply be it wooden or paper, is dangerous information for rodent respiratory methods that are extremely delicate. The perfect wood-based beddings are the massive kiln-dried and mud extracted flakes initially offered to be used with horses.
However All My Industrial Rodent Toys Are Made From These Softwoods, Are They Protected?
Timber that are going to be was timber undergo a very totally different set of processes to something we are able to do at residence. The entire moisture (each water and oil) is faraway from the wooden to make the product secure, low-cost, and straightforward to fabricate.
So, pine toys from pet retailers and home-made toys utilizing pine from the ironmongery store are typically secure. Wooden toys manufactured from java wooden (espresso wooden) and balsa are additionally secure.
