Cage Placement

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
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.
B

~boGGle~

Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
20
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Just wondering where everyone keeps their cage?

I have always had mine upstairs in the bedroom, but I have been wanting to move it down to the living room for a long time now. I had it up there because I thought that you were supposed to make sure that the cage was in a low traffic area in the daytime when they are sleeping (which makes sense) and there is always somebody home around here, but..... my girls do seem to be heavy sleepers!

I also read somewhere that rats should have at least 8 hours of total darkness at night--not even a nightlight--is that true?

Thanks for fielding all my questions!
 
i have had mine in the bedroom before, but i have them in the living room now. i find they get more overall attention that way, with people passing by and giving on the go stritches and coos and they same happier. rats don't mind being woken up for attention or treats i find. i also like them being in the living room more, as i can play with and interact with them more then when they were clostered in my room. nothing better then rat-watching during meal time :mrgreen:

as for the light thing, i've never heard about that. they are nocturnal animals though, so don't appreciate having too much light all the time. i find mine do fine with the darkness of the living room at night. i live in the city and its certainly not perfect darkness, but they don't seem to be bothered by the little bit of light that comes through the window. i think basically, you don't need to leave them light and you probably shouldn't put a lamp or direct light into their cage specifically, but they seem to do fine with the light from the living room and the natural light the house gets.
 
Right now my ratties have their own bedroom. It is right off the dining room so there is alway activity even if it is just a cat walking by. I am moving soon, so I don't know where the cages will go. I had heard about the 8 hours of darkness on another forum, but I agree with Twitch. They don't need a light left on for them.
 
I have my rats cage in my room, though not in the same room where I sleep. I'd love to have them somewhere else, since my room is so small, and it's hard to rat proof everything if I'm supposed to live there too. After all I'm still young and live with my parents and my sister. And my room is my room, that's where I keep my stuff.

The only good thing with my room is that it needs a total makeover anyway, so it doesn't really do anything if my rats chew on the walls or anything.
 
Rats are not nocturnal, they are crepuscular, most active at dawns and dusk. But our rats can adapt to our wake/sleep patterns. Having a light/dark cycle is good for all animals but I wouldn't say it's crucial.
My rats are in the dining room where there is always loads of activity and noise. They are always being played with, talked to, petted... But my dream one day is to have them in their very own bedroom where they are free range most of the day.
 
Our rats are in their very own, dedicated Rat Room in our finished basement. I would love to have them on the main floor and more "in the middle of things," but our dogs don't make this possible. Both groups of rat-TEA's get a minimum of one hour out time during the day, lots of impromptu visits, shoulder rides, secret trips upstairs to the third floor to play in any of the bedrooms, etc. as well as lots of "private time" to spend trashing their cage, fling poop across the room, chew up their fleece, hammocks, bunkbeds, sleep sacks, toys, whatever or just relax and go about their day doing very important rattie things. :wink2:
 
Thanks - I am glad to hear that some of you have your cages in the living room or dining room and it works out fine. I agree that the amount of attention that they get throughout the day will at least double by moving them out of the bedroom. The only problem is their "out time". Right now I just open the cage and they can run freely between their play area and the cage -- as long as the bedroom door is closed and I have first checked under the bed for the cats. I am only worried about the one cat, but you never know and it would only take a second for something bad to happen so I would NEVER take that chance. They aren't interested in them when they are in the cage so keeping it downstairs wouldn't be an issue. I suppose I could just take them on a little "field trip" up to the bedroom every night for play time. (They would miss being able to runs treats over to the cage for hiding though!). I will wait till after the holidays to make a major relocation like this though.
 
One day... oh one wonderful day, I will have a room all for the ratties. Until that day they are sort of in my bedroom. Mike and I have the entire basement to ourselves and the rats are visible from the bed... so yeah. Bedroom.
 
Mine are in my spare bedroom / office. Unfortunately its carpeted so pretty much have to vaccum daily to get rid of any spilled over rat raisins.

When I'm home thats where I spend a majority of my time so they get lots of attention from me. When I'm around I usually leave the top level of the FN open (or remove the doors completely) and let the boys roam on the top of the cage and a few toys that I have there. If im not in and out of the room Ill move the FN up against the bed and let them roam the pillows and fleece blankets there. Jjust recently they realized they can go from the bed, across the window ledge, jump on to my filing cabinet, skitter arcross my printer, and met up with me at my desk :p

I have a cat that I dont quite trust yet with my boys, so when I leave the room, the door get closed behind me, light usually off.
 
SQ said:
Rats do need about 8 hours of complete darkness every 24 hours.
Click to expand...

I've heard this several times in the last few days and I guess I could use some clarification. 8 hours of darkness for sleep? or for nighttime activities?

I have the lights on at minimum from 6pm - 1am in the evening everyday, and the window in their room has losts of light during the day. But the boys do have a dark cube hammock which is pretty much blacked out.
 
My rats are in my bedroom. I can play with them when I'm supposed to be sleeping, it's convenient for me, and the stink is only in my room, and I don't mind it at all.
 
Without at least 8 hours of complete darkness every 24 hours,
girls are at increased risk of developing fatal ovarian cysts
and both sexes are at increased risk of developing tumors.
 
SQ said:
Without at least 8 hours of complete darkness every 24 hours,
girls are at increased risk of developing fatal ovarian cysts
and both sexes are at increased risk of developing tumors.
Click to expand...
:shock: That IS not good. Where did you get this info?
 
I just remembered that I read about the 8 hours of darkness in the Rat Health Care book by Debbie Ducommun. One of my rats developed a head tilt and I came across it in there when I was looking for possible reasons why she was tilting. It says quote:

"Rats need a period of complete darkness at least 8 hours every 24 hours. If they are constantly exposed to light for just 3 days the females can develop fatal ovarian cysts and both sexes can be more prone to tumors. Do not use a night light in the rat room and cover the windows to keep out exterior lights."
 
Well you should be ok as long as they have darkness at night. The skylight shouldn't matter then or the shade --unless you have a really bright street light right outside your window.
 
wow I cant believe I didnt know this.... my boys stay in my room mainly because the fn is too big to go anywhere else....lucky for me I usually sleep at least 8 hours and usually have my blinds closed during the day....what about light? do they have a requirement of light they should have every 24 hours too?
 
We have them in our computer room. We debated giving them their own room but this way they get lots of quality time with us since we are almost always in that room.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top