Rat Stuff! (Amanda's old blog)

Finally! I cleaned out the rat cage and took photos. The rats weren't too happy with me. I put them in their running ball while I cleaned the cage, and they kept running it up to me and bumping me in the side.

So, I made their cage more or less from scratch.


Here's the whole cage. Their water bottle is hanging off the side on the right. There are 2 access panels, one at the front and one on the top. The running wheel is on the right at the middle, the hammock is at the top left. Their food bowl is at the bottom left, their litter box is at the top right. Their nesting box is hard to see here, it's on the left in the middle.


You can see the levels a bit more clearly here. There are some cardboard toys on the bottom right. A paper towel tube and a macaroni and cheese box. The wad of paper towel hanging on the bottom left is a 'ratty pinata.' The tube leading from the bottom shelf to the second shelf is 3-inch PVC pipe.


I used the panels from an old collapsible shelving unit for the sides. It was Brandon's idea to connect them using zip-ties. The only problems were the corners, which had big escape-able holes. So I took some heavy wire and covered them.


Not all the corners are quite this tidy. I plan to fix up the messy corners some time.

The floors are linoleum tiles cut to fit

Isn't he a cutie? See the rope in the background? it's a doggie rope - they crawl up it to get from level 3 to 4.


Here they are hanging out in the hammock and nesting box:

Their nesting box is just an old tissue box. I change them periodically, when it gets too messy or too chewed up.

The hammock is SUPER ghetto, it's just a washcloth hung up by oversized paper clips:

I change it every couple weeks. It gets pretty messy. I have a couple that I cycle through. They LOVE the hammock. It's where they spend most of their time.


When I want to play with them outside their cage, I put up the 'play pen.' It's made from some cardboard boxes I cut apart and taped back together in a line - one of the boxes is from the espresso machine Brandon got me for Channukah!

On the right side is the 'box game' as I call it. It's just a cardboard box filled with crinkled papers and tissues, with different treats hidden amongst the mess. There are 2 exit holes for them to crawl out. When I close the top, it's nice and dark. They really like it. I got the idea here. Unfortunately, the play pen is too short. They can jump to the top if they try hard enough. So I need to make a taller one some time soon.

They normally like the box game, but I think they were overwhelmed by all the commotion today. They immediately tried to jump out, even before I could close it!



Another really cheap toy is the little hideaway box.

I call it that because the rats always need a safe hideaway when they're playing and exploring on the floor. They need somewhere they can feel safe.


That's everything I have photos of for now. I forgot to get pictures of the closures on the doors. It's not too exciting, I just wound some wire around the edge of the panel, then bent the other end so I could clip it into the mesh on the other side.

I hope you enjoyed this entry! The rats are having fun running around inside my hoodie. ^_^