William kong
New Member
I planning to buy a very large dresser off of Kijiji at the end of this month. It's solid wood, about 5-6 feet tall, maybe 2-3 feed wide, and a foot and. Half deep. I plan to keep the doors on there but I'm going to use U nails to attach a half inch mesh wire over the entire front of the dresser and I'm going to make a mesh wire door for access. I don't have the dresser yet but I'm guessing I can build a lot of levels. Maybe 5 or 6. I'm planning to purchase hemp rope from home hardware and using wood glue to connect it from one side of the dresser to the other. But a bunch of them for my rats to run across. I'm also going to cut a hole in the side of the dresser with a tunnel leading to my computer desk with a plastic container room at the end of the tunnel so they can watch me play computer games. Anyone convert a dresser into a habitat before? I know they can chew through wood but my guys don't really chew stuff whatsoever and the wood on this dressers pretty solid and thick. Any tips on my project?
Also, I don't use bedding as my rats hate paper or wood bedding. They always push it out of there house. I just use a blanket as bedding across my whole cage that I currently have. So Ive read a lot about ammonia buildup and how it can cause health problems. But my cage never ever smells of ammonia. It pretty much smells like a farm. I change the towels/blankets once a week for cleaning and never use store bought bedding. I also clean their poop three times a day. Once in the morning. Once around 5-6 pm after I get home from girlfriends and again before bed. Do some rats not produce a whole lot of ammonia?
I'm a new rat owner. At the end of October when I get the huge dresser I plan to get another 4-5 month old rat so I'll have four.
My baby rat I got from a breeder, the 2 month old I purchased from a feeder store for 3$. I wanted to save him from certain doom lol. And the 4-5 month old was purchased from PetSmart. The PetSmart rat was housed with one other male which I plan to purchase at the end of October so he won't miss his brother anymore lol.
Do you guys have any tips for me?
I feed them rat food purchased from PetSmart, oxbow essential rat food. Sweet pepper, carrot, and dehydrated banana chips. And sometimes peanut butter.
I live on social assistance so I have a monthly income of about 1600$ a month so I can't afford a 3-400$ proper rat cage that will accommodate 4 rats. So I'm building it lol. Also kind of can't afford 5 or 6 of those actual ropes made for small rodents from the pet store because they're like 20$ a piece. So any budget ideas would be great. Thanks.
Also, I don't use bedding as my rats hate paper or wood bedding. They always push it out of there house. I just use a blanket as bedding across my whole cage that I currently have. So Ive read a lot about ammonia buildup and how it can cause health problems. But my cage never ever smells of ammonia. It pretty much smells like a farm. I change the towels/blankets once a week for cleaning and never use store bought bedding. I also clean their poop three times a day. Once in the morning. Once around 5-6 pm after I get home from girlfriends and again before bed. Do some rats not produce a whole lot of ammonia?
I'm a new rat owner. At the end of October when I get the huge dresser I plan to get another 4-5 month old rat so I'll have four.
My baby rat I got from a breeder, the 2 month old I purchased from a feeder store for 3$. I wanted to save him from certain doom lol. And the 4-5 month old was purchased from PetSmart. The PetSmart rat was housed with one other male which I plan to purchase at the end of October so he won't miss his brother anymore lol.
Do you guys have any tips for me?
I feed them rat food purchased from PetSmart, oxbow essential rat food. Sweet pepper, carrot, and dehydrated banana chips. And sometimes peanut butter.
I live on social assistance so I have a monthly income of about 1600$ a month so I can't afford a 3-400$ proper rat cage that will accommodate 4 rats. So I'm building it lol. Also kind of can't afford 5 or 6 of those actual ropes made for small rodents from the pet store because they're like 20$ a piece. So any budget ideas would be great. Thanks.