Bird Cage

[Red]

Hello all

I have two baby rats at the moment and they've been living in a bin cage that I made for one of my old hamsters for the short while I've had them (4 days). I know that this living situation is less than suitable and I've been looking for a nice rat cage for them but they're all so darn expensive! I was about to buy a fairly cheap cage but then it dawned on me.. we have a HUGE bird cage that used to house my parent's long deceased finches!

I was wondering if this would be a suitable home for my babies. Of course I'd need to attach shelves and fix the floor and decorate. The only thing that has me concerned is that the bars of the cage are vertical.

I've read that rat's like to be able to climb up the walls and I am wondering if their inability to do so in this cage would pose any issues. I am also wondering (if you all think this would be an alright cage) how high off the floor of the cage I should attach the shelves? How many shelves? Also, what sort of toys could I hang from the cage aside from hammocks in order to keep my ladies happy and to fill the large space with fun activities?

Thank you in advance!!
-Mara

 

Now I am by far no expert, but it sounds to me as if a bird cage would work well with the proper fixing up. The most important thing is that the bird cage must have 1/2 inch spacing. This is a HUGE must, anything bigger and your little gals might be able to escape. I would also measure the cage to make sure it could fit two adult ratties for when your girls grow up using a rat cage calculator (http://www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml). The vertical bar spacing shouldn't be an issue, as I know there are plenty of people who put their ratties in Ferret Nation Cages (these cages are basically the exact same as a similar cage, the Critter Nation, but with vertical bar spacing). To compensate for lack of climbing the bars, I would put in plenty of fun shelves and hammocks to climb all over. Hope this helps! Good luck with your new girls, I got mine a little over three weeks ago.

 

[julia_silve:)]

if bar spacing is an issue you can buy rolls of metal mash for the shelves the more the better there should be at least ten inches of space between the bottom level to the shelf so that they will be able to stand up and you can put houses ect. for toys you can use bird ledges/toys for climbing and you can make a treat trap ( something you can stuff treats into that the ratties have to figure out how to get them out) for my rats i hang apples and they spend hours trying to get to the apple and get it off a rope.

 

[victoria]

If the cage was used for finches, bar spacing should be fine (Finches are teeny!)

Can you post a picture of the cage? It will be a lot easier to give helpful advice if we can see what you're working with

 

[Red]

Thank you for all the advice

I think the bars are a 1/2 inch apart if not less but I will check for sure tomorrow! I will also take a picture tomorrow as well and upload it for you guys to see!

 

[Risika57]

I have modified a bird flight cage, but I lucked out in that it came with 4 shelves. The main thing to be cautious is, make sure there are no spots a rat can fall too far from!. If the cage is tall like mine is (its 55 inches) you want to some break up the cage with levels and ramps to stop any spot they could fall from!

Here is mine:

 

[Red]

Unfortunately my camera decided to be a little stinker and decide not to work :emb: , however I did take measurements of the walls. It has a 25 in width, a 37 in length, and a 39 in height.

Ooh I really like your cage setup, Risika! :thumbup: :bow: Are those the shelves that it came with or did you make those yourself??

 

[Risika57]

I had modified one shelf, by cutting off 15 bars to make the hole for the top floor. That floor is three of the shelves side by side, with one modified with the missing bars, covered in coroplast. (Scored so that I could fold it)

The bottom two shelves: The left is a closet organizer shelf I found at Target, the right is the 4th shelf that came with my cage.