Wood is a popular choice for decorating rat cages and for providing extra enrichment and fun for our furry friends. It’s often used for climbing structures inside cages and free roam areas, as well as chew toys.
But it’s important to pick the right types of wood, and to make sure it’s clean and safe before offering it to your ratties.
This guide will help you understand the importance of selecting safe woods, and how to properly prepare wood found outside to use in your cages.
Why Use Wood in Your Rat Cages?
Rats are naturally curious and active creatures. Providing them with wood in their cages caters to their instinctual needs and offers several benefits:
- Satisfies their need to chew: Rats love to chew! In fact, they need to. Rat teeth continually grow throughout their lifetime, and need hard surfaces to gnaw on to keep them ground down. Wood is perfect for this purpose, provided it’s a safe variety. Giving them plenty of things to chew on inside their cage can satisfy their chewing urges before they chew on your things!
- Physical stimulation: Climbing and balancing on wooden structures challenges your rats physically, keeping them active and engaged. A lot of the time it’s more fun for rats to learn how to navigate wooden branches than plastic shelves. (As an added bonus, rats don’t like to pee as much on uneven surfaces as they do flat ones.)
- Natural environment: Wood helps to mimic the natural environment of rats, making their cage feel more like home. It also makes their cages more aesthetically pleasing and interesting for us to look at!
- Nail maintenance: As rats climb and play on wooden structures, it helps wear down their nails, reducing the chances of them scratching each other (or you).
Where to find wood for your rat cages
- From pet stores: generally, any perches or toys meant for birds (like parrots) are safe for rats as well. Bird and reptile supply stores, as well as regular pet stores can be a great place to find safe wood for your rat cages.
- From online: Etsy is another great place to buy branches and chew toys that are rat safe. Try searching for bird perches if you’re looking for large branches for them to climb on. You can also find driftwood on Etsy meant for crafting that you could make toys out of. Just ask the seller whether the wood has been treated or exposed to anything funky.
- From outside: if you forage for your own branches, you’ll need to identify what type of tree you’re getting it from and whether it’s safe for pet rats to chew on using the list below. It’s also important to disinfect the wood you find outdoors before you give it to your rats, to make sure it doesn’t have any toxins or bugs inside. The best way to disinfect wood is using heat. Chemical disinfectants like bleach aren’t safe for rats to chew on, and freezing doesn’t necessarily kill all bugs or bacteria.
General Rule: Hardwood vs Softwood
As a general rule of thumb, most softwood trees are not safe for rats.
Softwood trees are evergreen with pinecones and needles. They have oils inside of them called terpenes that are not good for rats to eat or breathe in. They also produce thick resins that aren’t great for rats to consume, are very sticky, and super difficult to dry out at home.
Certain softwoods like pine, cedar, fir, and hemlock, are also highly fragrant. The smell greatly aggravates the respiratory problems that rats are already very prone to.
For years, softwood shavings like pine and cedar were recommended as the bedding of choice for small animals like rats. But we know now that these materials are actually very toxic to rats, and shorten their lifespan.
When decorating your rat’s cages, look for wood that is dry, not very porous, and doesn’t contain any sap or gum. Hardwoods are usually a better choice, with the exception of aspen and willow.
The exception: kiln-dried soft woods
Kiln drying is a commercial process that “bakes” the wood at a much higher temperature than we can achieve in a home oven. This kills off most – but not all – of the phenols present in soft woods.
That’s why kiln dried pine is generally considered to be safe for pet rats, while fresh pine is toxic. Many of the toys found in pet stores are made from kiln dried pine, which is generally pet safe.
If in doubt about the wood you’re giving your rats, just give it a sniff from close up! If it’s extremely fragrant and irritates your nose, it will definitely irritate your rats’ much smaller little noses and lungs.
The Issue with Fragrant Woods
Fragrant woods like cedar and pine can be harmful to rats due to their high content of aromatic compounds, known as terpenes or phenols. These can irritate the respiratory system of your rats. However, when these types of wood are commercially kiln-dried at high temperatures, the process can make them safer for rats by significantly reducing the terpene content.
Safe Woods for Rat Cages
Here are some safe woods that you can use in your rat cages:
| Safe Woods for Rats | |
|---|---|
| Softwoods | Aspen, Willow |
| Hardwoods | Ash, Hawthorn, Linden, Maple, Mesquite, Poplar, Sycamore |
| Fruit/Nut trees | Apple, Apricot, Blackberry, Blackcurrent, Coconut, Crabapple, Hazelnut, Kiwi, Mulberry, Peach, Pear, Pecan, Quince, Raspberry |
Bamboo is also safe for rats. Just avoid lucky bamboo, which is actually a flower – and toxic to rats!
Unsafe Woods for Rat Cages
There quite a few woods that are toxic to rats and other pets. Here are some woods you should avoid.
| Toxic Woods for Rats | |
|---|---|
| Softwoods | Balsam fir, Cedar, Cottonwood, Cypress, Fir, Hemlock, Larch, Pine, Redwood, Spruce, Yew, Juniper, Cedar |
| Hardwoods | Alder, Beech, Birch, Black Locust, Chestnut, Ebony, Elm, Eucalyptus, Magnolia, Mahogany, Maple, Mimosa, Myrtle, Oak, Rosewood, Sequoia, Teak, Walnut |
| Fruit/Nut trees | Almond, Apricot, Cashew, Cherry, Citrus, Elderberry, Fig, Nectarine, Peach, Plum, Prune, Walnut |
Anything man-made, like plywood, isn’t a great idea for pet rats. It’s also best to avoid anything that’s been chemically treated, painted, or varnished.
Is driftwood safe for pet rat cages?
If you live near the ocean, you’re in luck! Driftwood is safe for rats, as long as it’s well weathered, and doesn’t have any green spots left, leaves still attached, or bugs inside.
Although it’s hard to tell what type of wood it is, driftwood is generally safe to use in rat cages because it’s already been very thoroughly cleaned out by the sea.
How to Find Safe Woods Outside
If you’re interested in foraging for wood outside, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Make sure you’re not harvesting a tree that belongs to somebody else!
- Be aware of the type of wood you’re collecting. Use the safe list above as a guide.
- Avoid any trees that could have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.
- Avoid woods with signs of disease, existing teeth marks, or insects.
- If you can, try to avoid trees that other animals – particularly other rodents like squirrels, mice, and wild rats are currently using.
- Keep in mind that cutting branches from a tree can damage it. A great time to collect wood is after a wind or thunderstorm, when it has naturally fallen.
- Disinfect and dry out the wood completely before offering it to your rats.
How to Disinfect Wood Foraged from Outside
Once you’ve found some rodent-safe wood, it’s important to disinfect it before placing it in your rat’s cage. Wood from outside could have pesticides on top, or random bugs inside. It’s also best for rats to chew wood after it’s dried out, because there’s a risk they might ingest pieces of fresh wood.
Freezing doesn’t work as well as heat, as many types of bugs can easily withstand the cold. (Note: you only have to disinfect wood from outside – toys you purchased from a pet store, etc. are already good to go!)
- I recommend peeling off the bark. Some people leave it on, but I find it’s easier to see if there’s any bugs inside without it.
- Strip any leaves from the wood. Personally I would also get rid of any moss – some varieties of moss are safe for rats, while others aren’t.
- Scrub the wood clean with a brush to remove dirt and debris.
- Heat up a kettle and pour boiling water slowly and thoroughly over the wood, being careful not to splash any on yourself. The easiest way to do this is by leaving it in the sink, if your kitchen sink is big enough. (You could use a laundry sink for larger branches.)
- If you like, you can also give the wood a good soak in vinegar and water for 20 minutes, then rinse.
Once the wood is disinfected, it needs to dry out. You can either leave it inside your house next to a window that gets a lot of sunlight, or near a hot air vent to help it dry faster. Even with help, it can still take a few months for the wood to totally dry out.
Speeding up the drying process
Your other option is to speed up the process and dry the wood in your oven. It’s actually possible to do so without starting a fire if you keep the temperature low. To be safe, keep a close eye on it that it doesn’t start to turn black or ignite. You’re just trying to remove the moisture from it – not burn it!
- Make sure that you’ve removed any small sticks, debris, leaves, etc. that could burn.
- Place one oven rack as low as it will go. Place a cooking sheet with aluminum foil on this rack to catch any pieces that might fall.
- Place another rack around the middle of your oven for the sticks or branches to sit on. If you’re drying out multiple pieces at once, spread them out with spaces in between to help the heat flow around them.
- Keep the temperature around 215°F (101°C). Smaller sticks only need about an hour in the oven, while thicker branches may need 2-3 hours. Use your best judgment and keep checking on it often.
Cleaning Wooden Toys
Each time you clean your rat’s cage is a good time to check their branches and wooden toys to see if they’re starting to get smelly. Sometimes all it takes to clean them is a wipe-down with some vinegar mixed with hot water.
If the branches are getting really saturated, you can toss them into your bath tub or a plastic tub, fill it with hot water and leave it for awhile to soak.
It’s best not to use bleach to clean woods, because it’ll just sink into the wood and become harmful to your rats. Vinegar is a great way to neutralize the smell of rat pee if you find it hard to get out.
You can then leave wooden items near a sunny window to air dry.
While you clean your rats’ toys and branches, check them over for any splinters that could poke your rats or get ingested. You can pull them off, or sand rough areas back down with sand paper.
Alternative Chews
Coconut shells make another great chew toy for rats! As an added bonus, rats love to sit inside them. Some people drill two holes in the shells and hang them using twine for rats to use as a swinging bed!
Nuts with the shell still on are also great chew toys, and rats just love them! (Just don’t give them too many nuts, as they can be fattening.)
Toys made out of sisal can work for rats too.
Conclusion
By understanding your rats’ needs, you can create a safe and enriching environment for them.
Remember to avoid toxic woods, and prioritize safe hardwoods, fruit trees and nut tree branches. Fasten them safely and securely to the cage bars, so they don’t fall on your rats! It’s also a good idea to put fall breakers, like hammocks or scarves, underneath climbing areas to minimize the height your rats could fall from.
By taking these considerations into account, you can give your rats a fun and engaging habitat they’ll love to call home.
