How to keep 20+ rats safe and healthy in a condo

This cage is is based on the "grotto" style rat cage. It coast me about $150 excluding food supplies. I'm a busy collage student living in a two bedroom condo with my mother who isn't exactly a rat enthusiast. So to keep the cage clutter and coast down I made my own three story rat book shelf. I bought a press board book shelf for $70 assembled it and spar varnished it to make it urine proof. Then a carpenter friend of mine made me three separate doors to attach. I used a sewing machine and a grommet puncher to make three different types of rat hammocks installed them by using spare wood with hooks attached to the top of each unit. This cage is slightly cramped but very useful, it takes me all of ten minutes to clean on a daily basis. Let me know if you have any questions.

Step 1 Obtain your rats!

Spend five months breeding 20 pet rats of your choice, mine are for the most part hairless dumbos, those two are thel great grandfathers! There names are pimple and pimples twin.

Comments

[cold_fusion]

I think was ve2vfd was saying is that the particle board itself contains glue, quote wiki "Particle board, also called chipboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood particles, such as wood chips, sawmill shavings, or even saw dust, and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded". Note the resin or other binder patr of that. Also those rats are reeeeeeeeeally ulgy.seriously. Other than that its a pretty awesome idea, love the hammock.

[RudimentaryThinker]

Hey hey hey my rats are fucking awesome and cute as hell, Hairless rats feel like penises with feet, I have five generations of boys who each has a pimple on the same spot oddly enough the girls do not inherit this trait. I mean come on how can you not love this face?

[durgledoggy]

Never trust a person who doesn't like rats. I mean as you say, HOW can you not love them?

[BUYme]

That's hilarious I've totally always said that holding one is like holding a nutsack XD

[ratgirl]

ahhhh... he's so cute this is my rat Emile

[komecake]

  CUTE!!! :)

[The Fishfrog]

sorry no offense but i have a lizard and he was just on my laptop trying to eat your rat!!! he was biting my screen for about 5 mins.......

[ratgirl]

he does not like to be bathed

[BranchMonster]

I love everything about what you just said. And the rats. I'm a huge rat enthusiast (let's not get into my feelings toward penises LOL).

[Aburame Shino]

The girls do not inherit this trait of pimpleness because unlike males they have two X chromosomes. The trait is placed on one. But they have the other to keep the trait form showing, just like colorblindness. The males, however, have an X and a Y chromosomes. The trait is dumped onto the X chromosome, and the trait is shown on the rat. Come on! I am in the seventh grade, and I know more about your rats dermalogical problems than you do!

[Pyrocantha]

Congrats! Brains at such a tender young age. Not everyone enjoys the fine art of XY chromosome study. Good Job, just the same.

[kudoskun]

heh. rat sex. all you need now is something that has the feeling of a hairless vagina and you have ideal porn conditions.

[Tetranitrate]

Thats interesting because my penis feels exactly like a hairless rat ... except my penis's teeth are sharper, and I don't need taxidermy to get it stiff. Oh yea, I went there.

[rotor]

> Hairless rats feel like penises with feet

well ok then

[moonchylde]

This is brilliant. I'm probably going to adapt this as a cage for the two ferrets that were "dumped" on my doorstep tonight... the guy couldn't keep them, and he brought everything we needed, minus a cage.

If this works, I may end up with a ferret cage on one side of the couch, and a rat colony cage on the other....

[Brother_Bear]

Its really irritating that Dumbos rexes and other special breeds of pet rat isnt availble in sweden. and they are really cute :) Oh and the instructable was good aswell :)

[Eric95]

Yeah, it is annoying, but normal pet rats are still really cute
Also, does anybody know where you can find the grids and stuff for building a normal cage?

[moonchylde]

Try hardware stores, look for wire closet shelving and accessories. A few of those and some zip-ties, and you got a cage.

[NikkiHoward69]

This is a very nice instructional. To cut down on costs, why not go to a thrift store and get second hand shelving units? I have seen some very nice tv cabinets and shelving units turned into beautiful bird aviaries (finches) and animal condos. What is "spar varnish"? I have never heard of this. I liked the idea of adding glass (or plexiglass) along the edge to keep some of the shreddings in. I use shreddings for my animal bedding, as well. It's the best use I've found yet for junk mail!! (But, I still like to send them all their crap back in the envelope that they have to pay for!!! LOL) Thanks for your work here.

[infernisdiem]

no matter how much stuff you put in to try to keep the bedding in...they will find a way to throw it at you... lol

[azntrooper93]

mice are cuter http://i25.tinypic.com/m78j2o.jpg

[infernisdiem]

and are cramped in their container... they need more room

[mivzi]

Damn that's a lot of rats! They're adorable, though. I have a buddy who has a hairless and it feels like petting a grandpa. (: He's a sweetie though. I have a cage about that size for my 2 girls, are yours separated for a reason? Or are they able to climb from layer to layer? Mine is about that size, but they are able to climb from the bottom shelf all the way to the top one (there are 6 total). Maybe I should post an instructable on mine?

[superkagome]

hey this is great! thanks for poting it! i think when i build mine i might but a lining of glass inside on each shelf to keep the shavings from falling out

[Ph3nomin0n]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW RATS!!! just kidding, nice instructable

[chimp]

good idea, but personally i don't think this is suitable for them as there is nowhere to climb and the space still' feels too small for the amount of ratties kept inside. i hope they get to run around outside a lot. mine live free range and have a mini garden and water area to play in. it cost next to nothing. &......not to menton the ehics of breeding an animal that really should have fur. at least you love & care for them. go on, build an extension.....

[SmileyAgin]

I just bought 2 dwarf hamsters and will be getting 2- 3 year old degu's next week. How do you make a free range cage? would like to have a water area and mini garden that could be opened and closed for each breed to take turns using.

[chimp]

seperate doors with non-chewable partitions/ 2 houses stuck together. Copious use of latches. *Thick perspex would be good & wipeable. You can get it cut to size - has to be with a special blade that remains wet whilst it cuts so you cannae DIY!

[Pyrocantha]

Unless you get a tile saw, which you can rent and it waters the material as you cut...

[chimp]

there are lots of good sites out there (will post later) but the main things to avoid are: 1) do not use wood like mdf/ chipboard/ particleboard. Its meshed with toxic glues and is bad bad bad. for humans too. 2) dust free bedding (not woodchip) depending on how much space you have you can have a tiered cage (have the garden/water area below - or utilise the layout of your room. e.g i used to have rat-friendly plants & herbs + water in my interior balcony. the ratties would jump up, dig, mess around and then scuttle back to their house when they wanted to sleep/eat/rest. worked really well. animals will also form their own 'safe' pathways. dunno if there is enough room to write about how to build the perfect animal area.....

[Pyrocantha]

WOW! Who knew that so much conflict could come from a person trying to find space for her lovely rats? We sometimes just have to do the best we can and the rest of people can deal or don't. I like it and thing that I may visit lowes because of it. I have 1 rat, but if my daughter moves back home, that will be two more. I have never petted a hairless rat and saw my fist one in person last weekend at the pet store. The "penis with feet" comment almost made me cry, I laughed so hard! Much love to you and the rats you love and saved!

[inkstainedheart]

Wow--20 rats? I don't think I could handle having that many. One or two would be plenty for me! Cool project, though--I bet this would be great for pygmy rabbits, too!

[sassy8girl]

i love hairless rats actually all hairless animals they look amazing i never see them in england though

[parsephoni]

You did an awesome job on this, but it just isn't properly ventilated enough for pet rats to live in. Rats need a ventilated cage all the way around (except bottom) because their urine is high in ammonia and can cause respiratory problems without proper ventilation. It looks great, though! And, people, if you don't like rats, why are you even reading this?? STFU and GTFO this page!

[Robyntheslug]

It's a lovely cage, the idea is definitely a sound one! As a rat owner, however, I notice that you're keeping an awful lot of rats for such a tight space... Any chance of your little buddies getting some more room? A general guideline for health and happiness is to figure in 2 cubic feet per rat. My 3 boys are housed in a cage that's about 2/3 of that size, with tunnels, hiding spots, toys and a litter pan. Even with cagemates, rats are easily bored, and thrive on figuring things out!

[RudimentaryThinker]

Well like I said, I live in a small place for now, its just me and my mom, 1 dog 14 doves, 3 parrots and 30 or so rats. It's crowded but I promise I'm not a animal horder. The cage is on the small side but all compartments only have 3-4 rats each and they have tons of free range time. However many of them are just lazy boys and spend there time huddled in a rat pile sleeping in one spot. I added hammocks and ladders to doubel the useable space. But this cage was just the first prototype. My future cages will be much better. WE just need to move out to a biger place, a place not as exenicive as hawaii.

[ratgirl]

oh how sweet i got 149 animals most are rats i breed them and i have another two litters on their way.

[BranchMonster]

huge rat pile = huge pile of hairless penises *giggle*

Where do you put them when you're cleaning the house out for them?

[ratgirl]

I'm sorry, but is it that kind to compare a cute little animals such as a rat to a penis besides i don't think any of you would like it!

[queerpuppy]

Whilst I am aware what's done is done, and can't be undone etc, it strikes me it would have been wiser to have not bred so many rats knowing full well you didn't have the space to provide a larger cage. Having typed that, it is a lovely cage, and would be lovelier if you had it for non breeding rats (i.e. same sex or neutered) with connections between the levels. I wonder if one reason the boys seem lazy is because they don't have enough room to climb around, and it is lethargy rather than lazyness.