My Rat Room + Questions

[1095732]

We've moved into our new place and finally have a rat room! :dance: We don't have all the CN's add-ons up yet, but this is the gist of it. The cages are pretty bare right now, until I find the darn box with all the toys. And we're still working on the lay-out a bit, have another CN to go up. I didn't clean the cages before I took the pictures, ah well!

The FN with the plants are my hedgehog's cages.

The CN belongs to my 13 girls, still waiting to find the add-on pieces it's normally a triple. The red cage belongs to Simon, Dale & Basil.

The single CN belongs to the 6 rescue girls, waiting on the add-ons, normally a DCN.

The purple cage with the green cube hammock belongs to the 6 rescue boys. The cage with the blue cube hammock belongs to Isaac, Patrick and Warren.

We're going to cover the floor in linoleum or something similar so they can come out without ruining the carpet. But I need some opinions on a few things!

We have baseboard heaters. There is a space between the floor and the baseboard heater where the girls could get under. Once they are under there they could get into the baseboard heater which is tight and really hot. How do you think I could cover that space (a couple inches high) so they can't get in?

Should I put the cage with the red base on something or do you think it's okay on the floor? It use to sit on top of the two purple cages.

The hedgehog's FN has cords all over the side for their heat lamps, lights, thermostat, etc. I clamped them all to the side of the cage so they are off the floor and out of rat-reach. But if the rats climb that cage they could get to the cords or touch the hot bars/lamps. If I put coroplast around the FN's stand do you think that would stop them from being able to climb the bars? I never use the stand storage.

Any other tips are more than welcome!

 

[Rilence]

Oh wow I am so jelly and impressed and jealous and and and...!!!

Congratulation on your new house! I am loving all your cages! (And I just knew that Hedgehogs need heating, we are not allowed those in Singapore!)

On your question, I believe that Jorats have coroplasts around her cages she didn't want the rats to climb on during floor time, if I remember it right. As long as it is high enough it should work.

 

[SarahA]

Congrats on the new place!
I'm so jealous I wish I had a rat room, your pet room looks great. :thumbup:
Like what Rilence mentioned coroplast would be ideal for around the cage, if you dont have serious chewers you could use large cardboard boxes as a temporary barrier.
I look forward to seeing your pet room when you've found the last of the pet boxes and it's all finished! :nod:

 

[Rilence]

Also, DIY shops sells those wire cover tubes, maybe you could try to get those for the Hedgehogs' wires?

 

[jorats]

Very nice!!! What a sweet critter room. Coroplast is your best friend. lol And wire tubes for hiding all the wires. Good job!

 

[zebrageekgirl]

wow! I would love to be able to do that. ypur really lucky, and so are all those animals

 

[crumbilina]

Can you post a picture of your heater? I think they are the same as mine and I have come up with a solution, I just haven't constructed what I need to construct yet.

Everything looks good!! YAY rat rooms!

 

[Rachael]

Looks great

 

[dspch911]

We have 3 DCN in our rat room and have made 2 walls of chloropast 3 panels for each to kept the boys away for the other two cages when they are out otherwise they drive those boys crazy!! Basically they cover the front and both sides - I attached them with zip ties and fold them up when no ratties are out.

 

[hopefloats]

Those rats will learn quick how to jump up on the cages. Mine did fast. those super pet cages may let girls into their cage since they are smaller and the spacing on those cages are huge. I put coroplast on the bottom part of my doors. so that when they jump up, they couldnt grab on. It was just about 5 inches worth. you can get a wire from the hardware store that is in a little roll and bendable so you can fasten it on. I like that better than zip ties because the rats always seem to chew through them. You can also use wire for flowers which I find at the dollar store for a buck.

 

[rats en folie]

For the. Beseboard heatera would it be possible to build a chicken wire box to fit over it?

 

[mamarat]

Wow I'm so jealous. It looks great!

 

[1095732]

It's been so busy around here, I haven't had much time to touch on this thread again.

I think I'm going to make a coroplast wall to frame all the cages. I'll either put it up when the ratties come out, or just always leave it up.

Making a chicken wire box around the heater could work in theory. But I can't attach it to the carpet, and couldn't attach it to the wall without making a lot of damage. I was going to use a staple gun, but the staples don't catch into the carpet. I'll probably just use coroplast behind the rat (cat) treehouse between the two CN's. If I only frame that section it won't block much heat and I can pull it away from the heater so the heater and coroplast aren't touching. That might make no sense! But I'll post pictures when I'm done. It's so busy around here, that might be a while.

I didn't think about the spacing on the super pet cages. It is pretty big. I'll make sure when I make the coroplast 'wall' to make it high enough the girls can't jump up. How high can rats jump from the floor?

 

[hopefloats]

That depends on the rats. My girl jett and my boy jagger was a master jumper... They could jump high. I had a few boys who would jump up at my coroplast wall which is 3 feet tall about half way so if they can grab on at all, it is over they will be on the loose.

 

[Joanne]

We bought a whole box of plastic cord protector from NAPA Auto Parts. You can get it in 50 foot lengths. (My old cat chews electrical cords...) It comes in two different diameters, I like the smaller one - I think it's 1/2 inch.