Ever Converse With A Rat?
Written: Mar 27 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Safe, no small parts to ingest
Cons: Not very interesting for birds nor rats.
The Bottom Line: It is a safe and durable toy but not very interesting.
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| djgeiger's Full Review: Hagen MultiColored Cotton Climbing Rope B1387 |
“Psst.”
Huh?
“Hey, psst“.
Who is that?
“It’s me! Your furry child the rat!”
You can’t fool me rats don’t talk!
“Only when we have something extremely important to say.”
OK, I’ll bite, what is so important that you make me question my sanity?
“Now that you ask, plenty. All the birds in this house have bright pretty expensive toys, and what do I have a lousy old stick to chew on.”
I’m sorry Fred, but the pet department doesn't have much interesting stuff for rats to play with.
“Look at that brightly colored rope thingies over in featherhead’s cage. It even has wood on it!”
Well heck Fred, I hadn’t really thought about that before. I have a couple extras you want to give one a try?
“As sure as I’m speaking, I’m really bored, please bring me an interesting toy to play with!”
So after this engaging conversation with my rat I came to the realization that bird toys would make great toys for our rodent friends. Our first attempt was the Hagen Multi-Colored Cotton Climbing Rope B-1387. The rope is cotton and is brightly colored. The first time I hung it in his cage he sniffed it and commenced to attempt to climb it. He had an absolute ball with it. The cotton washes up easily which is an added advantage I didn’t have to worry as much about sanitizing this toy as often because birds just don’t get it as dirty.
Rats and other rodents have teeth that always grow. We must provide things for the rat to chew on to keep the teeth worn down. In the middle of the rope is a brightly colored piece of wood. It appears to be hard wood since he has yet to chew through it. The wood is securely knotted on both sides. It also has a knot on both end of the rope to keep the rope from raveling. This toy has not been one of my bird’s favorites but my rat sure does love it. The rope travels through the wood and can be moved around which has been another favorite pass time of Fred the rat lately. The wood piece has little pictures of birds on it and the rope is braided in such a way that the white and violet rope intertwine.
I’m pretty picky about buying bird toys because so many have tiny parts that birds or any other animals can ingest the tiny parts. Hagen’s toy has no small parts that can be ingested. The cotton rope doesn’t cause cuts like a nylon rope does. The cotton sanitizes very easily. I have also found that brand new bird toys make outstanding colorful, interesting toys for human babies.
I picked up a few of these toys a long time ago. I believe I paid around $4.99 for the toys but please don’t hold be to that. The size is just about perfect for a rat cage being 650mm x 26mm diam., 400g.
For a bird this toy just isn’t the most interesting toy in the world. They have had a good time with it. But it usually goes out at a faster rotation than other toys do. I personally like Jungle Talk toys much better than Hagen’s toys. This is probably why I still had a couple that had never been used. The rat had an outstanding time with it that really made me stop and think. Why NOT use bird toys for my rodents? Most our brightly colored, are made out of hardwood parts and can withstand a lot of chewing. Rats love to play and climb which made this particular toy by Hagen a great rat toy. Since the conversation with my rat I have bought several more bird toys and each has been a great success. I rotate the toys for the rats just as I do for the birds. Birds and rats are pretty intelligent animals and grow bored with the same old stuff every day.
Hagen puts out decent products but they just aren’t as interesting as Jungle Talks toys. Jungle Talk uses exciting multiple pieces of brightly colored wood. If I had to rate this particular toy for the use that it had been made for I would give it fair at best. Though Fred is delighted with it and he certainly gave me an education that rats deserve better toys. But in the mean time Fred and I will check out many more bird toys.
Do I recommend this toy as a bird toy? No, I’m afraid not, there are much more interesting toys on the market. Do I recommend it as a rat toy? Sure if you happen to have one on hand, I’ll have to repeat myself, there are much more interesting toys on the market.
“Hey Mom?”
Yes Fred?
“Thanks!”
Hey Fred?
“Yes Mom?”
Are you ever going to talk again, because if you do I need to talk to the doctor about medication?
“No, as long as we got this toy thing settled, I’ll go back to being a quiet little rat.”
Thanks Fred!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
djgeiger
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Diana Geiger
Location: Huron, South Dakota USA
Reviews written: 150
Trusted by: 343 members
About Me:
I am a writer and the Exotic Pets Editor for BellaOnline.com.
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