Rat Bucket & Biobak

You can order a bucket for your Rats quickly and easily at DRD Rodent Shop!

Rats are excellent climbers, but did you know that they are also great diggers? It really is! In the wild, rats mainly live in underground burrows, which they occupy or dig themselves with their relatives. Give the animals a bucket and you will be amazed by the digging skills, they really like to do it!

Rats are mainly ground dwellers

Our tame Rats descend from the brown Rat and that is a real ground dweller. We can also imitate a natural habitat in our home, but often the Rats have a cage with bars, which makes it impossible to dig in the enclosure itself. Still, there is a nice trick to let the rats dig nicely, the digging bucket.

Natural bucket or play bucket?

We distinguish between buckets, one is a natural bucket that is decorated in a natural way and the other is purely for digging and playing.

Natural digging bucket: Consists of a bucket filled with sand and possibly (fresh) plants. Note: only use plants that are safe for the animals. The plants in this category are all specially bred for animals and do not contain fertilizers or other chemical additives.

Bio container: The bio container is actually the same as a natural container, but goes a step further when it comes to the living plants.

Playpen: This is aimed at playing similar to a ball pit, but filled with rat-friendly and playful bedding such as pieces of cardboard and sizzle. It is fun to scatter treats in a play box and to offer the animals enrichment and challenges in this way.

Suitable ground covers for a digger bucket or bio container for rats

The bucket is a bucket in which digable and "rat-friendly" bedding can be placed, so that the animals can dig. NB! Under no circumstances should it be dusty ground cover such as Chinchilla sand or other dusty sands. Rats have very sensitive airways that can be easily irritated by dust. The ground covers in this category are safe for rats and can be used in a digging bucket or bio bucket.

How do you proceed?

To make a natural or bioactive tray for Rats, it is best to take a base of coconut fiber (30 cm) and mix it with coconut chips so that you get a nice mix. 1/3 coconut chips and the rest can be coconut fiber or humus .

A Rabbit Bucket is very suitable as a digging and play bucket for Rats, but not as a natural bucket. For a natural or bioactive tank, where the animals can actually dig tunnels, a Curver or glass tank or terrarium is needed of at least 1 meter long so that they can really dig.

Mixed bedding for Fluffy effect

It is good to mix the soil with, for example, coconut or moss, that way the whole becomes fluffy and the tunnels remain better. In addition, recent research has shown that the animals really like this! As a top layer, we recommend Coconut & Coconut or a forest litter . The animals can root beautifully in a top layer. Don't forget to scatter some treats around so that they also have something to do and they are rewarded for the hard search.

A bio container with fresh plants

Fortunately, Rats are animals that tolerate higher humidity better than humidity that is too low. Due to the often sensitive airways, a higher humidity can even help with any complaints. It is wonderful to see how Ratjes behave in a natural environment with plants, the animals really like it! Most Rats leave the plants fairly alone and often nibble on them if they really like them or if extra moisture is needed.

Rodent grass is supplied in seed form, which you can sprinkle through the ground and the blades will come up on their own. The mixed diet is also very suitable for this. If you use mixed food for your Rats, sprinkle a little through the bucket. Because of the moisture, the many seeds will germinate and then the Rats will have fresh plants that they can eat. Nice to know is that newly germinated plants contain the most nutrients and are therefore very healthy for the animals!

Bugs! They are OK

Small critters also belong to a bioactive tank. This can be a little disconcerting at first, but these little creatures feed on pee, poop and natural fungi. So they help to keep the bin clean, as it were. If the balance in a bioactive tank is good, it really doesn't need to be changed anymore, because everything takes care of itself. It is important to occasionally spray some water in the bioactive tank, so that the plants can grow and everything stays alive. In addition, good humidity is very important for bioactivity!