Rat Housing

I’ve gone through so many housing options for the rats… so, I guess I might start with the beginning? Might be good.
Ever since I got my rats, the whole housing thing has been a fiasco, to say the least (well, until the end ). Here’s a list of all the types of cages/housing I’ve used and the pros and cons of each:

1. Plastic storage bins

This was my first way of housing the rats and was definitely the worst. I cut numerous holes out of the lid, and even cut out a big square in the middle of the lid and then hot-glued on fabric over that and it still had horrible ventilation (to the point of it being moist and humid in there all. the. time and also it fogged up in the morning). Moving on….

Pros:
1) Easy to clean
2) Easy access (just lift off the lid…)
Cons:
1) Horrible ventilation
2) Can’t hang anything (including water bottles, so I had to use bowls of water which got tipped over very frequently)
3) Poor visibility into the cage
4) Can’t stack the bins without cutting off the minimal air circulation on the bottom bin (as the holes are in the lid).

2. Rabbit Hutch

Basically a big rabbit hutch… nothing fancy (except the doors didn’t work great).

Pros:
1) Perfect ventilation
2) Wire sides (perfect for hanging things up)
Cons:
1) Not very easy to clean
2) Wood frame got smelly as I can’t clean it
3) Door wasn’t very easy to use
4) Spacing between the wires was 1” by 1”, which is too big for rats
5) The shape of it was big and square which wasn’t perfect for what I had to put it on (my dresser) — but I suppose that differs for every person

3. Aquariums

Nothing to explain here! Plain ol’ aquariums (glass sides & bottom, screen lid).

Pros:
1) Glass sides — easy viewing
2) Perfect for my rack of tanks
3) Good access
Cons:
1) Ventilation wasn’t very good, not nearly as bad as the bins, but was still not the best.
2) Can’t hang things up on the sides
3) Overall too small (although that couldn’t been fixed if we’d have bought a bigger tank, but I didn’t have the room)
4) Cleaning was a pain, as my 20G tank is heavy to move around.

4. Wire cages

Store-bought “small pet” cages…

Pros:
1) Wire sides — can hang things
2) Easy cleaning (plastic bottom)
3) Great ventilation
Cons:
1) It was too small. And I didn’t necessarily have room for a bigger wire cage.
2) Bar spacing was too big, small rats (I had a young male rat at the time) can easily sneak through.

5. Storage cubes

I used plain old wire storage cubs, put them together into a large cage, with doors. Then, since the wire spacing was too big (1” by 1”), I zip-tied chicken wire on top, which fixed the problem of the rats maybe escaping.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “wire storage cubs”, here’s a link to what I mean: http://stackablestoragecubes.org/Wire-Storage-Cubes.html
NOTE: Not the plastic ones, the wire ones.
Pros:
1) Good ventilation
2) Easy access
3) *Okay* viewing
4) Wire sides for hanging
Cons:
1) A pain to clean
2) It was a big mess… with zip-ties all over the place and chicken wire over the cubes. Wasn’t very appealing.
3) It fell apart pretty easily actually…
So basically that one didn’t work very well… Sigh. Onto another design!

6. Hardware cloth + J-clips

Basically there are no pros and cons with this one. It’s all perfect. Easy access, great viewing, looks clean and neat, easy to clean, nice and roomy (wait till you read the dimensions!)…. I can’t think of one single con. ;D SCORE!!!
Here’s how I made it:
The dimensions of the cage are 4′ high, 3′ wide, and 18″ deep.

It’s made out of two pieces of hardware cloth. One piece is the bottom, back, and top – basically I folded the hardware cloth to make three sides in one piece. If you understand me. The second piece was the sides and front.

Next came the levels. I had to add the levels before putting the two main pieces together because they wouldn’t fit through the doors and it’d be harder generally. I wanted the levels to be roomy, so there’d be space for hides (for lack of a better word, lol), toys, etc. So once I cut the pieces (14″ long and 18″ wide), I just had to J-clip them onto the “sides and front” piece.

Obviously the back would have to be attached to the levels too, once I secured it to the main structure. 

Then, putting both those pieces together (with J-clips again) I could secure the levels to the back and basically it was done except for the doors.

The doors were the easiest part. Just cut a big square out of the front, cut another piece (slightly bigger) and attach with … J-clips!  They make great hinges.

And of course you can’t forget the funnest part… decorating! I was in a bit of a time crunch so I had to quickly just add a few toys/wheels/hammock/etc. to make it at least a little interesting for the rats. 

I use towels for their “substrate” (okay, so that’s the word for reptiles… what’s the word for rats? Bedding? Yeah it’s basically their bedding ), but I used to use orchard grass hay… they liked to chew on it and burrow, make nests, etc., only trouble is since the sides are wire, all the little bits fall out and make a huge mess for me so… no more. I’ll stick with towels.

Without any frame or “hard” metal… it’s pretty sturdy! We got the stiffest hardware cloth we could find though, so that helped hold the structure.  I hope that all makes sense!

And… special thanks to Mom!! Who helped me plan and make this! Love you and thanks, Mom!

If anybody has any questions… leave a comment and I’d be happy to answer them!