This tutorial shows how to create a chew toy for your pet rats that is both fun for the rats and cute!

Supplies needed:

Toy wooden blocks. This is one item that I don’t encourage you to purchase from the thrift store, unless you are able to verify the manufacturer and research whether or not the blocks are painted with non-toxic paints. Most modern toys should be ok, but research anyway!

Paracord

Tools needed: Drill





Step one: drill through the center of your blocks. Choose a drill bit that is large enough to accommodate whatever cord or string you will be using. My drill wasn’t powerful enough to drill through these hard, hard blocks, so I actually had my dad do it with his drill press. Sorry, no picture!

Step two: thread the first block. In this example, I’ve doubled the thread and pushed both ends through. You could knot a single thread, or just string the blocks without making knots in between (look for the “other options” picture down below).

Step three: make the first knot just above the first block. Leave a small loop to thread a clip through (in this example, I’m using a carabiner clip).

Step four: tie a knot underneath each block as they are added.

Step five: keep adding blocks! Tie a knot between each block, and after the final block.

Tada! The chew toy is finished and ready to be hung in the cage for rats to enjoy. I like to wedge fresh vegetables between the blocks to make it more interesting.

Of course, you have lots of other options. In the “Lewis” chew toy, I didn’t tie any knots between the blocks. In the “Huey” chew toy, I used a single strand instead of the double shown in the tutorial; this kept the blocks closer together. Another alternative is to drill through the blocks horizontally rather than vertically. In fact, you don’t even need to string these blocks to make them fun for rats – they are happy to chew on just about anything. Any other suggestions for toy blocks?