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Katiejane

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2016
Messages
32
Location
Pugwash, Nova scotia, Canada
Hubby and I built a cage for our soon to be ratties(we would like to have 2, hubs will probably not allow more) We had this metal cabinet sitting around that seemed perfect for the job. I think it looks great, but the floors are wood (plywood to be specific, sanded and sealed with water based polyurethane) and I'm starting to wonder if I will come to regret this choice. It is easy to pop out the floors and replace them, but I'm not going to want to do that too often. Any experience/suggestions? Also it seemed a good size, but more tall and not that big of a foot print (15x20 but almost 4ft tall with 4 levels). Seeing everyone else's cn cages I'm wondering if it's really big enough. I have a room they can be let out in, if they get out lots, will that make up for having less running space?
Last question (for now!) my daughter keeps collecting pine cones and sticks and birch bark and asking if the rats can have that type of stuff, is any of that safe for them? The local squirrels love the pinecones (I guess spruce cones, we don't have many pines here) but I don't know if ratties would. Thanks all :)
 
Katiejane said:
Hubby and I built a cage for our soon to be ratties(we would like to have 2, hubs will probably not allow more) We had this metal cabinet sitting around that seemed perfect for the job. I think it looks great, but the floors are wood (plywood to be specific, sanded and sealed with water based polyurethane) and I'm starting to wonder if I will come to regret this choice. It is easy to pop out the floors and replace them, but I'm not going to want to do that too often. Any experience/suggestions? Also it seemed a good size, but more tall and not that big of a foot print (15x20 but almost 4ft tall with 4 levels). Seeing everyone else's cn cages I'm wondering if it's really big enough. I have a room they can be let out in, if they get out lots, will that make up for having less running space?
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No experience with custom cages, but if you're worried about the size, I would find a rat cage calculator on Google and plug in the square footage to see if it's adequate for two rats. Getting let out often should compensate for running space, but since rats are sorta nocturnal (snoozing in the day, more active at night), you won't be able to let them out during their prime "awake" time since I assume you'll be sleeping. Boys tend to be a lot lazier; my boys have a CN and they don't use it for "running around" as much as they use it for "napping". Of course, it depends on the rat. Girls tend to be really active, so if you're afraid that they wouldn't have enough space, you'd have to make sure to let them out a lot. It's always best to make sure that they have enough room in their cage, but maybe hearing from everyone else on the forum would help.

Katiejane said:
Last question (for now!) my daughter keeps collecting pine cones and sticks and birch bark and asking if the rats can have that type of stuff, is any of that safe for them? The local squirrels love the pinecones (I guess spruce cones, we don't have many pines here) but I don't know if ratties would. Thanks all :)
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To make sure that they're absolutely safe, bake them in the oven to sterilize them; you don't want any gross stuff or critters to get to your rats.

Good luck with the new family members!
 
I would be prepared to swap out those plywood shelves after a week or two (perhaps longer) and replace them. I have an idea, though, what if you replace the wood with some sort of metal mesh or bars, and then put coroplast (corrugated plastic sheets) over the metal? The metal would make the plastic sheets stay sturdy and allow you to hook hammocks from it for the area below. Coroplast is easy to wipe down and cheaper to replace than wood (if they ever destroy it).
Hope this helps!
 
Many moons ago, I had a cabinet cage and it lasted me all of 3 months because I couldn't take the smell. But I didn't take the extra step of sealing the shelves. The base footprint of the cage is pretty small but for two rats and 4 foot tall should be adequate. Give them plenty of out time for running.
 
I think hubby is not going to be happy that I found this forum lol
I had a cabinet cage for my first rats and it was an unmitigated disaster. It was made entirely of mdf, the ventilation was not good, everything swelled in like minutes and it stunk so bad. (I didn't know what I was doing then, even less so than now lol. ) I thought I was doing better this time :p. I wish I had my old cage that I bought after that disaster, but in hindsight it was probably too small too. (It was a chinchilla cage)
This cage has two sides almost completely open, and only the floors are wood, the rest is sheet metal/wire mesh. I wonder if putting coroplast over the wood would be enough to make it last. Going to have to do a re-think I guess...
I also have a big wire dog crate that maybe I could add to it somehow, if I can figure out how to make it so they couldn't get through the bars. That would definitely solve the space dilemma anyway.
 
My rats love to chew coroplast.... but then they would chew those wood shelves too. lol Some rats are crazy chewers.
The dog crate would be covered in mesh wire to secure it. If it's big enough, why not just use the dog crate?
 
Okay, so I'm mostly done. We have decided we are going to use both cages (we haven't connected them yet though) that way the ratties will have lots of climbing space and running space. I still have more hammocks/toys and tunnels to put up. I haven't put bedding in the top cage yet, planning to use a combo of Fleece and care fresh. What do you guys think so far?

image.jpg
 
That looks like an adult spinner. Just remember to freeze all those wood hideouts, toys, and the carefresh for 48-72 hours before using to kill any mites, etc that might be hanging out.
 
Even the carefresh needs to be frozen? I knew about the rest, but didn't realize the bedding had to be treated too.
The spinner is the 12" 'giant' size, I hope it's big enough as I won't fit bigger in the cage I don't think :) I'm getting so excited, got my lab blocks today too so I'm like 99% ready to actually put something in the cage :) :)
Thanks everyone :)
 
Make sure at least one source of water in the cage is a water dish that can not be spilled as babies often can not get water out of water bottles (tongues not strong enough to move the ball bearing) plus rats love water dishes

Also if the floor in the cage is wire, you will need to cover it as floors need to be solid.

Just so you are aware, rats need at least 30 in by 18 in of horizontal space (larger is better) ...... and horizontal space will become increasingly important as they age

hope the cage will last as you certainly put a lot of work into it
 
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Katiejane said:
my daughter keeps collecting pine cones and sticks and birch bark and asking if the rats can have that type of stuff, is any of that safe for them? The local squirrels love the pinecones (I guess spruce cones, we don't have many pines here) but I don't know if ratties would. Thanks all :)
Click to expand...

I don't know anything but would be cautious of the sticky sap .... and as other mentioned, they will need to be baked to sterilize them
 
The girls will love all the room in the cages to hide! Have you connected them yet? I think it can be hard with the doors the cages have. You'll have to make holes and connect them with a tunnel maybe? Probably what I would do. lol
Also, regarding SQ's comment about the water bottles - the babies only throw bedding into the bowls I had given them AND they can already drink out of a bottle. It's all I have on their cage now and I've seen them all successfully drinking, so no worries about that. :) The bedding is the most important thing to freeze.
I'm getting excited to give the girls to their new human mommy and family!
 
We ended up connecting them with a piece of drainage tube. The cabinet already had a hole in the back(just had to be made a bit bigger) so we just made a hole in the side of the crate and attached the pipe with zip ties. I hope they can climb through everything easily but there is water bottles/dishes and food dishes and hidey places all over just in case they can't, and we will keep a close eye on them. :flower: Also I've been sewing more than I ever have before and actually made a fleece/flannel cube that I'm really proud of. :rofl3:
As far as the cage lasting, I hope it will too, but I like building things :p so if it doesn't last I'll build/buy something better and be happy I learned in the process :) Thanks for the input everyone, I'm super excited for this weekend! :thankyou:
 
NinjaRatMama said:
Also, regarding SQ's comment about the water bottles - the babies only throw bedding into the bowls I had given them AND they can already drink out of a bottle.
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yes, water dishes get dirty and thus need to be cleaned twice a day imo but I have used water dishes for years and rats enjoy them, scooping up water, etc ... I believe that Jorats only uses water dishes .... however, I usually use both water dishes and a water bottle

I hope this is true because according to info I have read over the years, babies often look like they are using water bottles but can not as their tongues are not strong enough to move the ball bearing ..... there have been reported cases where babies who looked like they were using water bottles actually died from a lack of water .............. however, I imagine that the tiny water bottles designed for small animals like mice would be easier for babies to use then larger water bottles
 
Yeah, I feel like smaller bottles are definitely easier to use for babies then the larger ones.
Katiejane, it won't hurt to use a bowl as well then. I may add one for the girls too, just in case.
 

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