Building an Alternative Cage and Taming a Rat

[Cavy Carnage]

Ok so I adopted 2 rats yesterday. We saw an ad on craigslist and I couldn't help myself. For some reason I just had this feeling that they weren't going to be very tame and I was right. They aren't as bad as I had imagined but no way can I pick them up in the cage, once out of the cage one will allow me to pick her up but the other one no way. I have tried food bribes etc but any other help would be great.
I also want to make a cage, I love peoples ideas of converting a cupboard and I wanted to make one similar, I did see one where someone had made it from scratch. I have spare plywood, is that any good? Any ideas and suggestions would be great.

[wickedrodent]

I would definitely not make a cage out of plywood or any other type of wood. I particularly LOVE the Ferret Nation cage and use this for my two boys. If you want to go home-made I would suggest making a C&C cage and then covering with hardware cloth. I wouldn't go any smaller than 1x3 base and maybe.. 2 or 3 grids tall. So.. About 14in (preferably wider) x 42in long and 28-42 in tall..

[Cavy Carnage]

I would love to get a Ferret Nation cage but at this time it really isn't possible. I had considered a c&c cage with mesh but when you cut the mesh isn't the corners and edges sharp? Also is it easy to cut the mesh? I have seen numerous cupboards/ bookcases made for rats and they look good. I understand rats are big chewers but surely they cant chew 3 walls where nothing sticks out. I would make the door from metal (my husband is a good welder).

Pics of what I was meaning


http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos...php/photo/5912

http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos....php/photo/909

[wickedrodent]

I covered my entire FN cage with mesh. It wasn't too hard. I got 2 rolls at Home Depot ($15 each), cut them to size, and cut the rough edges off with the same cutters I used to cut them. I used cable ties to hold the mesh onto the bars.

[Rattie Mom]

Martin's make some really nice and affordable cages.

Martin's Cages Inc. - The source for all your pet cage needs.

Quality Cage company as well:

Quality Cage Co. - Bird cage manufacturer

They make cage specifically for rats, and use don't need to be covered. The FN cages are beautiful...but need to be converted to be adequate for rats. They are also quite expensive, unless you can get a good deal.

I've known folks who have made some nice cages out of converted cupboards. But to be honest, they won't last long, before they get chewed and stinky.

As for trust training, patience is the key. Please check the wonderful articles on this site:

Pet Rat Care and Discussion

The chat boards are closed now, but all the articles and old posts remain. LOTS of useful info there. If you can't find the articles on trust training, let me know. I know of another gal that wrote her own article and many have had great success with her techniques.

Good luck with your new little ones!

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by wickedrodent

I would definitely not make a cage out of plywood or any other type of wood.

Why? I am curious. I have two homemade cages. One built with wood and hardware cloth. The other was a shelving unit converted into a cage.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with wood cages if they are built solidly and with untreated wood.

The only problem I had with my converted shelving cage is that the back of it was done with that thin cardboard type stuff you commonly see on the back of shelving units. The boys chewed through it but it was replaced with hardware cloth and since, there has been no problems.

I do want a ferret nation cage and am saving money towards getting the FN 142 double model so I can put girls on bottom and boys on top or vice versa. But in the meantime, the cages I have are solid and I have had no problems other than the one minor problem with the boys cage. The only reason I want to switch them into an FN cage is so the boys will have a bit more room.

[wickedrodent]

I just think it would be a HUGE mess. I have boys and their.. eh.. fluids get everywhere! Plus the knawing.. No sir-e-bob. I stick with metal.

[Cavy Carnage]

Thanks Ly! I have a couple questions about the cage. What did you use on the floors? I doubt choroplast. Also how deep is the minimum? I am going to opt for solid wood as opposed to plywood that I had orginally thought, my husband has told me we have thick real wood around somewhere.

Another question on diet I thought I should ask. Now I have read alot about diet and have chosen the suebees diet, now I can find everything but the soy nuts and the specific type of dog food reccomended, what do I use as an alternative?

[Rattie Mom]

One thing you want to be careful of with wood, is to make sure to treat it with a 'safe' sealer. There are a few safe Shelac's. If it's not treated, you will not only notice a urine smell as it sets in...but more importantly, if you ever have mites or lice (which are pretty common in ratties from time to time), they can get into the wood and you'll never get rid of them.

We feed our ratties the Harlan Tekklad 2014 blocks. We also use the Nutro's Natural Lite Dog food (make sure to get the Lite) as it's only 14% protein. The rats really like it too. And of course, we make our own variation of the Suebee's mix. You might try the Just Tomatoes website. They sell unsalted roasted soynuts. They can be hard to find otherwise.

[Ly&Pigs]

Thanks Ly! I have a couple questions about the cage. What did you use on the floors?

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on this. We had a tornado hit town on Feb. 5 and just got power back on today.

I covered the wood in the shelving unit with contact paper. It wipes down easily and keeps the urine off the the wood itself. I went about 4" or so inches up the walls from the floor with contact paper as well. The girls cage has laminate flooring for both levels. It wipes down super easy and urine doesn't soak into it. I use either fleece and rag rugs for bedding.

[Cavy Carnage]

I read the thread about the tornado hitting your area, I am so glad you and your family are ok. Thanks for all your help with this, I want to do right by them as I don't think they have had much of a life. I do have a couple more questions though sorry, if you would rather me start a new topic for each just say. Now I have the suebees diet all made up but I cannot find how much to give them, people have said they fill the rats dish but the dish they have is pretty big, how much of it do I give them? Also they appear suprisingly healthy except the faeces has a really nasty smell. It has def got better since we have had them but my husband has made various comments.
Also I can't wait till they come out of quarentine so they can get used to me and everyday goings on, they are stuck in the spare room with hardly any interaction at the minute which is not helping them become more friendly.

[Rattie Mom]

We give our "suebee's" variation free feed. We have a bowl of that with some lab blocks and nutro's lite dog food, always on hand.

For two ratties, you can probably give them about a measuring cup of the mix. They will probably plow through that each day. Just top it off when needed and dump/replace after a few days. Some rats will clean out the bowl and horde the food somewhere else in the cage. So watch for that, because otherwise, you'll find the motherload stash on cleaning day

When you say their poo smells horrible...is it when you hold them? I.e. this could be fear poo as they get used to you and yeah, it's quite stinky! As long as the poo in their cage isn't very squishy/diareeha, it should get less stinky as they get used to their sorroundings. Normally, their poo looks quite a bit like piggies'. Just smells more, well...like poo.