Yes, that’s right! Rats can be trained to use a litter box! Though they will never be 100% litter trained, as they are marking animals and have the instinct to communicate and such with their urine, this can help with mess and cleaning immensely.
Rat Habits
Rats tend to focus most of their bathroom mess in one corner, this is the best place to set the litter box when they are learning. Do not move the litter box when they are in the learning stages, and do not completely clean out everything when you spot clean. Leaving a bit of soiled litter helps them remember that it’s a place to use the bathroom. Rats also tend to pee/mark on flat surfaces, that is why removing levels and ramps within a cage can save on a lot of smell, mess, and cleaning. Eating and even sleeping inside the litter box is also very normal behaviour, rats find comfort within their own scent and some even use it to cover food and hoard/store it for later.
Cleaning
Rats that are litter trained will need deep cage cleans done less than rats that aren’t, as most of their mess can be spot cleaned on a schedule. Litter trained rats can also do very well with a bio-active set up! Cleaning out the litter box once a day is quite common, but every other day is okay as well.
Pee rocks don’t need to be cleaned too often, I actually don’t clean mine unless we have done introductions, if someone is sick, or if they are exceptionally dirty. Leaving something with their scent in the cage can deter/decrease marking, if we clean deeply and don’t leave something they may make you for that and just pee everywhere. This is a common issue, many experience smelly cages and don’t realize that a full deep clean can stress out the rats.
Choosing a Litter Box
Choosing a litter box can actually be quite difficult, unfortunately any litter boxes advertised for rats and hamsters are going to be too small. Though the corner litter boxes advertised for ferrets and rabbits are too small for those animals, they are a great size for rats! You want the letterbox to be large enough for them to sit and even lay in. One letterbox can sustain three rats, so a group of more than three should have two litter boxes at least, a group of more than six needs three, and so on.
Personally, I like these litter boxes. They hang very securely to the side of the cage, they don’t need any support beneath the base (like a shelf) and can freely hang in the corner of the cage, even with pee rocks. They are a good affordable option, can be found online and in stores in this generic style.
These are also popular, but they come with a grate that needs removed. They do not hang well freely, but they do come with screws that are easy for one to use, and then makes it easier to take the litter box out as it comes off the hangers to change and clean.
*Be sure to remove any grates from the litter box, rats should be able to reach their feces, as rats are naturally coprophagic and we can risk dietary imbalance if they cannot reach their fecal matter.
Read more about that here: https://ratguide.com/care/behavior/coprophagy.php
Choosing a Litter
Choosing a litter is also not a simple task, there are many litters that aren’t suitable for rats. Do not use clay based cat litter, as this is too dusty. You can use paper based pelleted cat litter, but be sure it doesn’t have baking soda. I would advise against Yesterday’s News for rats, as one of the ingredients is unidentified ’recycled wood shavings’. Do not use wood based recycled pellets, as this crumbles to dust when it becomes damp.
I use Full Cheeks paper litter, pictured here. It is very absorbent. It turns mushy when damp, it does not crumble to dust. It should be removed before getting to such a point though. (EDIT: This contains baking soda. Slipped right passed me as they don’t label so on the bag. Checked more in depth to see Sodium Bicarbonate listed. DO NOT USE THIS!).
Kaytee 'Critter Litter' is seeming like the only safe option, it is composed of minerals and is safe for rats to use. No baking soda. Though Kaytee can be a poor brand, and I have seen bags with unrecognizable black chunks.
*2023 Update: We have found and adored this litter by Care Fresh; While their traditional paper bedding may be notorious for being dusty and messy, this proves to be high quality litter (not meant to be used as a substrate) as it is highly absorbent, low in dust, and does not get damp when soiled. I could not say enough about it, and it does not contain any harmful additives!
Training Tips
Leaving a small amount of litter after a spot clean helps very much, and so does leaving the litter box in their preferred corner if they have one. Try not to move the litter box until they have been using it well, and use a litter that is different than the substrate on the base of your cage. Having the vast difference (I use paper pellets in the litter box and aspen in the base!) can help them learn much faster.
Pee rocks are very beneficial to the litter training process, since rats would rather mark on flat surfaces, and because they rely on smell so much. Getting medium, flat, wide rocks from outside is easy, you just need to sanitize them before use. A good size example is about half the size of your largest rat.
Soak them in boiling water and vinegar, scrub clean with dawn dish soap, and rinse with more water. Do not boil the rocks, some types of rocks have air pockets inside and even water due to the way they form, in which boiling can cause them to explode and can injure someone or damage your kitchen. Unless you can identity types of rock, do not boil rocks to sanitize them.
Here are some videos with more information.
Emiology: How to litter train rats- https://youtu.be/Dn5EallFyS0
Isamu Rat Care: How to litter train the lazy way- https://youtu.be/KI6HL4fPsRk