Choosing the Best Rat Cage
October 8, 2009 by RatsRatsRats
Filed under Rat Care, Rat Housing
Creating your rats’ new home can be a lot of fun. Make sure you get a large enough cage for them to have lots of different toys and space to run around, as well as a snuggling space and somewhere to climb is good too.
A small rat cage is not good enough. You can get great multi-level cages, so that your rats can climb ladders and relax on fleecy hammocks. You can also use something similar to a large rabbit’s hutch with an inside and outside compartment. It is best to have a wire cage with a plastic base, to ensure proper ventilation.
It is important that your rats have somewhere to hide when they want a bit of peace and quiet. They should have a sleeping area where they have lots of bedding to snuggle in, as well as places to play hide and seek. It is easy to make an igloo out of an old shoe box. You will see your rats little faces peeping out as they snuggle up in their secret hideaway.
For bedding you can use a base of a few sheets of newspaper and then strips of newspaper or fabric (if you want to make it really snuggly). You can also use the cat litter that is made of recycled paper, as this is quite comfy for the rats and also stops any smell.
If you find your rat’s cage is a bit smelly, make sure you are cleaning it out enough. Some rats need cleaning out more than others, but once a week or twice a week should do it. It is a good idea to drip a few drops of vanilla essence around the cage and on the newspaper before you put the bedding in, as this will neutralize the smell.
Give your rats an old towel or piece of fleecy fabric to snuggle in, especially on colder days.
You may find some interesting things in your rats’ bedding when you clean it out. Rats are great hoarders and will collect things they like. This can include pens, food, tissue, pretty paper, pegs and even our remote control! If you lose something, check your rats cage. It could be there!
We sell some great cages in our rat store plus igloos and fleecy hammocks. Why not treat your rats today?
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Hi I have tryied so hard to make my rats run about and enjoy being in there cage but all they do is sleep. I have purchased hammocks, running wheels, tubes. But they just seem to not bother with them. PLEASE HELP!
Hi Andy,
The first thing I would do is give your rats a basic health check. Click here for advice on doing a health check. If you find any signs that your rats may be ill it is wise to get them to the vet. The reason I say this is because your rats are sleeping all the time, which could be a sign of illness.
Are you sure the rats are not using their cage, toys, hammocks etc whilst you are out/asleep? My rats Pea and Mingles love to run around, rearrange their bedding and generally have fun at night, but prefer a bit of quiet in the day.
To encourage them to play in the day/evening, you could try hiding some exciting treats around their cage. You could also let them out of the cage in a safe area and put some treats on your lap, so they can come and climb on you and have some fun.
How long have you had the rats? Is it possible they could still be settling in?
I should also point out that different rats like different toys. I have heard many times that some rats just do not enjoy running wheels and I have never had rats in the past who have loved their hammock as much as Pea and Mingle love there one. Keep trying different things, but if they still don’t like playing in the cage and you have checked their health, just make sure they get plenty of play time outside of the cage.
Good Luck
qick get them to vet this happened to my 1 rat she was allways slepping she was rly small and my other rat would get her food a week later i found her dead
i hope the same dont happen to urs. if ther males then they will slepp more but they should still be bit ative in the nightr i had both females and male rats
good luck
My rats, Ella and Lulu, aren’t rats that run on their wheel. I’m worried that they won’t get enough exercise, and die of obesity. I made them a maze that I put them in, and I sometimes take them out on the grass to play. Is this enough exercise for them?
Thanks,
Rat Girl
Hi Rat Girl,
Don’t worry, many rats do not like to use their wheel. As long as you give them plenty of free range time where they can get out of the cage to play with you, then they will be fine. Feed them a balanced diet and they should maintain a healthy weight.
Thanks! I’m glad to know that as long as they get a lot of time outside their cage, and have a healthy diet, they will have a good weight.
Rat Girl
My rat cage that I have for Ella and Lulu, is nice and spacey, with lots of room for toys, and a few rats. The only downside of it is that the upper levels have a wire floor, and the wire can give them sores on their feet. Does anyone know of a place (in the US) were I can find a suitable for two rats?
Hi Ivy,
It is true that the wire flooring can give rats a foot problem called bumble foot. The best thing to do is to lay sheets of newspaper (ideally unprinted) over the wire. That way the rats will not have the wire on the feet.
Cage problem officially solved! The newspaper did help, but it also needs to be switched out often, and I don’t always get newspaper, so I decided to build one. So I went online to find a way to build a rat cage. The one I found is even bigger than the one I have now, and is easy to clean.
That is great Ivy. Very resourceful of you! I am sure you rats will love it.
Yeah, I’m probably going to do it this weekend.
I have a question, how do I get my rat to like me? I got a rat on december of last year and she won’t cuttle, she wont even take food from my hand outside the cage, what should I do?
Funny rat story( it’s too silly to keep to myself.): When I cleaned the cage the other day, I used shredded paper towels for bedding, cause it’s snuggly and soft. Also, I put a small rock on their light-weight igloo, because they always turn it over. Well… when I woke up this morning, I found that the igloo, instead of being in the corner, were it was, it was right in the middle of the floor! And… Lulu had taken nearly half of the bedding up to the top, were she usually snuggles with Ella! So the bottom floor had barely any bedding- and Lulu was STILL bringing bedding up top!
I love watching the rats rearrange all their bedding. Mingles lugged a whole corn on the cob to the very top level of the cage.
Hi Tyler,
It sounds like she is very nervous. Perhaps she was mistreated before you got her. Spend as much time with her as you can. Sit quietly on the floor with the cage door open and some treats on your lap. Do something quiet like read a book and if you do this she will gradually begin to trust you and come to you. Pick her up to put her back in the cage so she begins to think of the comfort of her house when you pick her up.
Good Luck
thank you for the info I will try that, also, we had her with another rat, but before I could even get to know that one, she died of a respiratory infection =(
That is sad Tyler. It is horrible that rats are so prone to respiratory infections. Good luck.
Well, I finally made a cage, but it’s not exactly how I thought it would turn out. But it’s pretty awesome. The basic idea of the cage is found at http://www.dapper.com.au/cagebuild.htm But… the cage I built doesn’t look much like the cage on the website. I built the cage with an open top, and used some wire as a lid, with some books to weigh it down. That was used as a way to get to the rats, cause we didn’t have a door frame. Anyway, because the top was built open, we were able to add my other cage on top, cause it’s the same width.
Well done Ivy. I am not very handy, but I would like to try and build my own ratty enclosure.
Hey,
I’m going to be getting some rats soon. So I was wondering what, in your opinion, is the best type of bedding to use?
Thanks
Denise
Hello Denise,
Thank you for your question. You should ensure whichever bedding you choose is not dusty as rats are very prone to respiratory problems. I use shredded newspaper (unprinted pref) as they like to make nests out of it and it doesn’t do them any harm. Do not use pine shavings as they can damage your rat’s respiratory tract.
Good luck with your new rats.
Thank you. That’s really helpful I’ll use that then
Thank you! By the way just wanted to say that your site is brilliant and very helpful for when I’ve been choosing cages and such.
Oh and thanks for replying so quickly!
Denise
I really appreciate your comments Denise
hey I thought I would let you guys no something that I just found out and I hope it also works for you, I am not sure if grape fruit is good for rats, but I bought some grape fruit extract, and well, I gave my rat some of it mixed in with some of her favorite baby food, and he contains 100% vitamin D and some other things, but among everything else, it contains “Echinacea root” as in the root from the tea that helps prevent respiratory infections, I want to know if this stuff will actually fully prevent or possibly even “cure” a respiratory infection, and if it will at least prevent it, I will be sure to keep giving her some.
Hello Tyler,
Thank you for your comment. I do not have experience giving echinacea however I have heard good things about it. With rats being so prone to respiratory infections I think anything is worth a try. I would be interested in hearing about your experience with using it.
Good Luck and let us know how everything goes.
I am not sure how well it worked, but I can say this, her sister died from respiratory infection, and while she had that we gave her as big a dose as we thought was needed (a full capsule a day as it is none toxic) and she didn’t get respiratory infection, but she did try to play with her sister allot, nowadays she gets mild colds but no respiratory infections thus far. So I think it worked quite well, we also gave it to our sick rat in hopes that it may cure her, that didn’t help, she looked like she would start to get better, and then she would just get worse, it did prolong it from killing her though (she lived a whole 3 weeks after I noticed the symptoms) when she was starting to really look bad I gave her a high powered pain killer to ease the pain as she died, it was sad as always ;(