older rat-friendly cage

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Suzi13

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
61
Location
NULL
Anyone has tips? My rat is 2 years 3 months old and I noticed he is starting to lose the power in his back legs :( he tries to climb as he used to but often ends up falling half way. I want to give him the best end-of-life possible.
My cage is a Savic zeno 2 so it's not really possible to hang anything other than from the top sadly... He looooves to climb so even when I put stairs to the food he willl try to climb instead. He is stubborn like that ;)

Anyone has pics of old-rat-friendly cages maybe?
 
I don't know what kind of cage that is, but I hang lots of hammocks at different level to catch the oldies when they fall. I sometimes add extra shelves and ladders too, but I have critter nations
 
Can you post a pic of the cage?

I use cages with a large base so seniors have lots of room
I cut down the sides of litter boxes for easy access
keep bedding soft and clean
I hang low hammocks that are easy to climb into, lower the balcony, and use a covered ramp that is gently sloped.
I make sure they have chew toys, a house, etc
I also use a water dish that can not be spilled

You could hang corner hammocks low as they attach to the cage sides
or add a low level by cable tying a baking cooling rack covered with a dish drain tray cut to fit & cable tied onto it .... then you could hang a hammock underneath it, or a spudnek etc
 
Last edited:
The Savic zeno 2 is already quite accommodating for less mobile rats, it has ramps and isn't too vertical overall.
Even if a cage has a solid top, you can always hang hammocks from the sides of the cage.
You want to keep everything in easy to reach places, when they get older you don't want them to put too much stress on their hind legs.
 
Sorry it took me a while to answer ! Here is my cage !
I do have corner hammocks that I put but my senior looooves regular hammock and will try to climb for them anyways... He tries to climb to everything really, even to the pink platform which is very easily accessible with the ramp. Nope, he will climb to it... And he is starting to lose power in his hind legs so he really struggles and falls sometimes doing so...

This is a great idea with the kitchen rack !! I also think I have an extra platform, maybe Ill go hunt for it in the garage. It doesnt let you hang anything under it though. I was thinking of maybe maybe the top hammocks accessible somehow? Maybe with some stairs? I need him to stop trying to climb all over the place basically :/

ETA: The huge black hammock on the pic that covers the whole cage is the only one I've got too, so my other problem is having things to catch him when he falls. 90% of the time I have things hanging from the roof, a corner hammock but that is it and there is nothing to catch him
 
Last edited:
Sadly I cant, Ive tried. I can hang my corner hammocks but that is it. My normal hammocks arent wide enough to reach both sides of the cage (do I make sense right now? :/ ) and my shelves arent made so things can be hanged from them
 
Back
Top