Cages

[erynne]

I was just wondering what cages your guys and girls are in??
Looking for ideas , any pics would be appreciated ")
Thanks heaps

[ashana]

Hi,

My hubby built our rats cage, it has 4 levels with ladders and hammocks and toys for them.
Currently we only have the 3 girls in there but will be adding another 1 if not 2 depending on what our females pinky ends up being.
The top level of the cage has a "trap door/ladder" that we can close off if need be.

Hope this helps. Sorry i do not have pics right now but may have soon

Aimee

[Colleen]

Most large pet shops/pet warehouses have rodent cages available, either made for rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits or ferrets. Any of which may be suitable to house rats.

[wart]

For my boys currently, I have a large converted birdcage for my boys.

I've cut up an old cage and added a few levels, so its multi-level
Throw in some hammocks and a branch and a couple of ladders to run up and down on, and voila - the bird cage is now a cosy rat cage

The cage originally cost me $120 and can house up to 7-8 rats.

Zoe

[rach]

I got my 2 boys a massive cage off ebay for $150 instead of the $300+ price in regular stores. I've added branches, hammocks, hanging plastic containers and boxes and they love it! It can apparently house 14 rats, that's according to a cage size calculator online so my boys have plenty of room

[Leeann]

Some bird cages are great to use for ratties!
The main thing you need to look at is the width of space between the bars.
If you find a suitable cage, and it has little accessories for ratties, then let you imagination go wild and add your own things.

Other possible cages to look at too, are ferret and rabbit cages, again with these, just make sure the bar spacing isn't to large.

Saw a bird avery, in The Warehouse once, was about $200, it would have made a great rattie cage too, bar spacing was small.

[littleraton]

Important things to remember:

Is the cage big enough?
How wide is the space between bars?
Is there enough ventilation?
Will it be easy to clean?
Will it fit in the space you have available?
Are there easy exit, entry, access points?

A few tips:

- Rats wee is acidic so if you plan to have the cage for quite a long while, make sure you find bars that are reasonably think, not really thin wirey ones.
- Make sure you find a cage with bars that suit you! I.e. horizontal, vertical, or a combination - this is important when hanging toys, hammocks, water bottles, etc.

Hope this helps,

little raton

[christie]

I have my 4 girls in this cage



It was the best one i could find at the time. I do want to get a bigger one eventually tho.

[erynne]

LOL, Chrissie I just got my boys something similar to that cage the other week
I'm not too sure about it at the moment, not sure how to work the bedding thing out with the whole sliding pan thing lol.

[newbie]

Excuse the ferrets, they've moved out. The cage has 2x1l waterbottles, the hammock's now in shreds, there's 6 levels (some covered in cardboard, others have the lino the ferrets had.) There's a black play tunnel and bits of an old tree stump for them to wear their nails down with.
Their foodbowl is a half size litter tray (some parked their butts in their old bowl so others couldn't eat.
I'll get a pic soon.

[christie]

erynne said:

LOL, Chrissie I just got my boys something similar to that cage the other week
I'm not too sure about it at the moment, not sure how to work the bedding thing out with the whole sliding pan thing lol.

Well you can take out the bottom floor and then just use Zip ties to secure the pan in place so no one can get out. I have left the bottom floor in mine cause i have major chewers and they were chewing on the pan. But i dont have the problem with actual bedding cause i dont use it. My girls are litter trined and i just fleece for "bedding" in there houses and that.

[dimruthien]

I have 2 bird cages that are 6ft x 3ft x 3ft. I have 5 bucks in one, and 4 does in another.



They didn't come with levels, so I used the wire bottoms out of other cages to make 1 level in the girls cage and 3 levels in the boys cage. The girls have an assortment of rope perches and massive commercial cling wrap tubes hanging from the cage, and the boys also have a tube.

I'm looking at making some more levels in the cages, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it as yet!

[wulfyskingdom]

i've been through a number of different cages trying to find the perfect one. ive got 2 three level ones the same (same as the black cage posted by Christie), and ive just purchased a different 3 level cage off ebay recently. it has a plastic tub for the bottom, and 2 very large doors, then 2 wire levels.

i did try a large bird cage but i wasnt creative enough to make shelves in it but i used hammocks etc for the ratties

[asy]

Is there a 'rule of thumb' for floor space-rat ratio or such?

I'm looking at a cage just like the one in Christie's photo, and I'd like to have 3 rats.

Since Christie has 4 in hers, I assume it'd be OK for 3?

Thanks,

asy

[Colleen]

I think it’s a push even having 4 rats in that cage, but if Christie is fine with that, then you should have no trouble with three in there.
a 'rule of thumb' that i found is 6-7 cubic cm of space for each rat, e.g 7cm wide, 7cm long and 7 cm high of space per rat.
Or you could try typing the dimensions of the cage into a cage size calculator: www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml