We Choose Our Own Adventures Project
- The Problems With Rat Cages -
My Piece
In 9th grade, I wanted a rat more than anything. After months of research and proving that I was responsible, I finally convinced my parents to let me get one. But before I could get a rat, I needed a cage. Cages can be quite expensive, especially if you are a ninth grader with no money. So I decided to make a cage out of an old bookshelf. The bookshelf was made of wood with a sleek varnish. The varnish seemed to be waterproof, so I thought it would be easy to wipe the urine off. The bookshelf was a cube, about two feet by two feet. It had one vertical shelf that was intersected by two horizontal shelves, dividing it into four one foot cubes. With the help of my dad, I cut holes in each shelf so the rat could pass through into the other sections. I also built a door out of wire that fit to the front of the bookshelf with hinges on one side and latches on the other.
It was only after bringing home my new rat, Socks, that I recognized the flaws in my design. I had not predicted the immense chewing power of young rats. In less than a month, all of the holes between the sections and corners had been chewed. Then, the areas that were chewed started to soak up urine and smell. It was very difficult to clean the areas that no longer had the sleek varnish. Also, because the bedding was pushed right up to the wire door, every time Socks walked by the edge, bedding would fall out of the cage onto the floor. I needed a new cage… and fast.
A little while later when I was at an American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association show, I noticed that someone was selling some old cages. I immediately noticed one quite large wire cage with a metal pan and a few wire shelves. I then noticed that it was marked for only fifteen dollars, so I purchased it, very proud of my finding-a-great-deal skills. It was about twice as big as Socks’ first cage, and looked like it was in relatively good condition. I figured that this new cage would make the cleaning job way easier, as well as keeping my room cleaner because the bedding wouldn’t fall out anymore. Boy was I wrong.
The problems started as soon as I got home. I tried to carry the cage up to my bedroom, only to cut my leg with one of the rusty metal latches. The way the cage was designed, the wire cage fit in the inside of the metal base pan, so I filled the pan with bedding and tried to put the wire cage in, only to realize that it would not latch. Then I realized that the bedding was blocking the wire, so it could not fit completely into the pan. So, I dumped all of the bedding and put the metal cage into the pan first, then had to spend 30 minutes putting small handfuls of bedding in through the tiny door. After I had completed that task I realized that I had forgotten to put the wooden ‘house’ in. And, of course, it didn’t fit through the tiny door. By this point, I was so frustrated with this cage, I just put the wooden ‘house’ on the biggest shef. Then I realized that the shelves were made of wire, which can be dangerous for tiny rat toes. So, I had to find some old towels, and cut them to the size of each shelf, which was quite challenging because the shelves were built into the cage, and not removable. I attached the towels with safety pins in the corners.
Socks enjoyed this wire cage, mostly because she had a lot of space to sleep and burrow. I, however, did not enjoy it quite as much. First, the cage was a pain to clean. By this time, Socks had calmed down a lot because of her age, so she was too lazy to chew on things. But the cage still needed to be cleaned every week, and it was so large that I could not reach some parts of the shelf to clean. Also, I had to bring the wire part outside and scrub it with a brush while using the garden hose, which was quite time consuming. Despite all of these challenges, Socks lived in that cage until she passed away a little after her 18 month birthday.
I learned a lot by owning Socks, the most important probably being not to buy rats from pet stores (like I had done). This is because rats at pet stores come from commercial breeders who breed rats in ‘bulk’, their only goal being to produce the most rats they can the fastest. They generally ignore genetics, and most of their rats are inbreed or have a genetic risk of certain diseases. So, I purchased my next two rats, Smokey and Dusty, from a reputable breeder.
It wasn’t until I brought my two babies home that I realized the difference in personalities between them and Socks. When Socks was young, I thought she was a really powerful chewer, but when I compared her to Dusty and Smokey, I realized that she was not. Socks, in later life, was a very fat and lazy rat, who spend the majority of her time in the lower portion of the cage sleeping or eating. She rarely ventured up on the upper shelves, and generally didn’t chew on the towels covering the shelves. Smokey and Dusty however, were quite the opposite. Their favorite activity seemed to be making noise. They would push their wooden house or their food bowl off the shelves, or chew noisily on the wire. They chewed so intensely on the wire that I worried they would actually break out. They never actually broke the wire, but the combination of their chewing and my scrub-brushing led to the small amount of coating that was on the wire to eventually be scraped off. This, then lead to rust. I did not want Smokey and Dusty to be consuming rust, so I again, needed a new cage.
I thought maybe this time I would go for something simple. Something that didn’t require hours of weekly maintenance, and something that wouldn’t harm them. I decided to go with an aquarium. I waited until Petco was having its ‘dollar per gallon’ sale, and cashed in all of my birthday money for a 60 gallon tank and a nice screen top. I thought that this would be the perfect solution to my cage problems… until I got the tank home.
The first issue was the water bottle. In wire cages, bottles are attached on the outside of the cage, with just the spout sticking through the bars. In an aquarium, bottles have to be hung from the rim using a metal hanging device. Because the water bottles are cylindrical, there is a flat part on the top (in between bottle and screen top) just the right size for a rat to perch. Dusty and Smokey discovered this handy perch right away. Then they discovered that they could sit on the bottle and reach the plastic rim that goes around the inside edge of the aquarium. They also discovered that this plastic rim was quite fun to chew on. In a matter of days, the entire rim was chewed almost all the way around. I tried moving their house away from the edge so they could not reach it, but they are smart and just moved the house back. They eventually got tired of just chewing the rim, and decided to move their attention to escaping instead. I woke up in the middle of the night to loud banging, and realized that Dusty was sitting on top of the water bottle pushing the screen lid up with her head. I decided that a temporary solution would be to place a large book on each corner of the lid. But once again, I needed a new cage.
This was around the time that I got a third rat, Domino, to breed for my biology project. I put Domino in a homemade plastic bin with a screen lid, because she would have to travel to Riverside to meet her mate. A plastic bin with screen lid seemed like a good fit for her because they are light, and big enough for one rat and her litter for a while. She stayed in the plastic bin until she gave birth. After the birth, I moved Dusty and Smokey back into the wire cage, and put her in the large aquarium so she would have some space for her and her babies. Domino is a much calmer rat than Dusty and Smokey, so she had no problems with the aquarium, and I didn’t even have to weigh down the top with books.
Before Domino’s litter was born, I began researching cages. I wanted to figure out what type of cages breeders and fanciers use. I found out that most large/medium scale breeders use a breeding rack, which is a metal rack that has plastic bins that basically work as drawers. There is a water system that is connected to all of the bins, so you just have to fill up the large bucket about every week. It concerned me that the rats in breeding racks did not get much socialization, as these setups are most often used for reptile food production. Because I was only planning to breed one litter, I decided that a breeding rack would not be the best fit for my ‘rat family’.
I found out that most fanciers and pet owners use Critter Nation cages. Critter Nation cages are wire cages, but designed specifically for easy maintenance. Critter Nation cages have plastic trays that fit into the wire cage, instead of the cage fitting into the pan. Each plastic tray is removable for easy cleaning, and the entire front of the cage is the door, so you can access the whole cage easily. As soon as I saw the Critter Nation online, I knew I wanted one. So, after months of saving my money from work, and checking Ebay and Craigslist daily, I finally found a brand new Critter Nation for sale for only ⅓ of the original price. I drove up and purchased it right away.
So far the Critter Nation has been amazing. The box promised that ‘no tools are required for assembly’, which was mostly true except a hammer was needed to bend one piece, that had been damaged, back to its original shape. It took me about an hour to assemble it with the help of my dad. The cage is huge, but easy to move because of the wheels. Smokey and Dusty had a lot of fun exploring it the first night. After Domino’s litter is weaned, I will sell them. Domino will move into the Critter Nation with Dusty and Smokey. I will finally sell the horrible wire cage, or maybe give it away for free (it is really beat up). The aquarium might be sold, or put in the attic for future use.
If you are thinking about getting a rat, make sure to really consider what type of cage will be best for you and your pet. Take into consideration the number of rats you plan on getting, their temperament, and their gender (females tend to be more hyper than males). Also take into account any special requirements, such as if you plan on breeding your rats (babies will fall out of wire cages), or if your rat is hairless (they have fragile skin, sharp wires may injure them). Also take into account how much time you have for cleaning each week. Wire cages take longer to clean, but aquariums need to be cleaned more often. Remember to measure the space that you are planning to put your rats (if you have a taller vertical space you might do better with a wire cage). It is important to provide your ‘rat family’ with an appropriate cage so they can thrive physically and mentally.
It was only after bringing home my new rat, Socks, that I recognized the flaws in my design. I had not predicted the immense chewing power of young rats. In less than a month, all of the holes between the sections and corners had been chewed. Then, the areas that were chewed started to soak up urine and smell. It was very difficult to clean the areas that no longer had the sleek varnish. Also, because the bedding was pushed right up to the wire door, every time Socks walked by the edge, bedding would fall out of the cage onto the floor. I needed a new cage… and fast.
A little while later when I was at an American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association show, I noticed that someone was selling some old cages. I immediately noticed one quite large wire cage with a metal pan and a few wire shelves. I then noticed that it was marked for only fifteen dollars, so I purchased it, very proud of my finding-a-great-deal skills. It was about twice as big as Socks’ first cage, and looked like it was in relatively good condition. I figured that this new cage would make the cleaning job way easier, as well as keeping my room cleaner because the bedding wouldn’t fall out anymore. Boy was I wrong.
The problems started as soon as I got home. I tried to carry the cage up to my bedroom, only to cut my leg with one of the rusty metal latches. The way the cage was designed, the wire cage fit in the inside of the metal base pan, so I filled the pan with bedding and tried to put the wire cage in, only to realize that it would not latch. Then I realized that the bedding was blocking the wire, so it could not fit completely into the pan. So, I dumped all of the bedding and put the metal cage into the pan first, then had to spend 30 minutes putting small handfuls of bedding in through the tiny door. After I had completed that task I realized that I had forgotten to put the wooden ‘house’ in. And, of course, it didn’t fit through the tiny door. By this point, I was so frustrated with this cage, I just put the wooden ‘house’ on the biggest shef. Then I realized that the shelves were made of wire, which can be dangerous for tiny rat toes. So, I had to find some old towels, and cut them to the size of each shelf, which was quite challenging because the shelves were built into the cage, and not removable. I attached the towels with safety pins in the corners.
Socks enjoyed this wire cage, mostly because she had a lot of space to sleep and burrow. I, however, did not enjoy it quite as much. First, the cage was a pain to clean. By this time, Socks had calmed down a lot because of her age, so she was too lazy to chew on things. But the cage still needed to be cleaned every week, and it was so large that I could not reach some parts of the shelf to clean. Also, I had to bring the wire part outside and scrub it with a brush while using the garden hose, which was quite time consuming. Despite all of these challenges, Socks lived in that cage until she passed away a little after her 18 month birthday.
I learned a lot by owning Socks, the most important probably being not to buy rats from pet stores (like I had done). This is because rats at pet stores come from commercial breeders who breed rats in ‘bulk’, their only goal being to produce the most rats they can the fastest. They generally ignore genetics, and most of their rats are inbreed or have a genetic risk of certain diseases. So, I purchased my next two rats, Smokey and Dusty, from a reputable breeder.
It wasn’t until I brought my two babies home that I realized the difference in personalities between them and Socks. When Socks was young, I thought she was a really powerful chewer, but when I compared her to Dusty and Smokey, I realized that she was not. Socks, in later life, was a very fat and lazy rat, who spend the majority of her time in the lower portion of the cage sleeping or eating. She rarely ventured up on the upper shelves, and generally didn’t chew on the towels covering the shelves. Smokey and Dusty however, were quite the opposite. Their favorite activity seemed to be making noise. They would push their wooden house or their food bowl off the shelves, or chew noisily on the wire. They chewed so intensely on the wire that I worried they would actually break out. They never actually broke the wire, but the combination of their chewing and my scrub-brushing led to the small amount of coating that was on the wire to eventually be scraped off. This, then lead to rust. I did not want Smokey and Dusty to be consuming rust, so I again, needed a new cage.
I thought maybe this time I would go for something simple. Something that didn’t require hours of weekly maintenance, and something that wouldn’t harm them. I decided to go with an aquarium. I waited until Petco was having its ‘dollar per gallon’ sale, and cashed in all of my birthday money for a 60 gallon tank and a nice screen top. I thought that this would be the perfect solution to my cage problems… until I got the tank home.
The first issue was the water bottle. In wire cages, bottles are attached on the outside of the cage, with just the spout sticking through the bars. In an aquarium, bottles have to be hung from the rim using a metal hanging device. Because the water bottles are cylindrical, there is a flat part on the top (in between bottle and screen top) just the right size for a rat to perch. Dusty and Smokey discovered this handy perch right away. Then they discovered that they could sit on the bottle and reach the plastic rim that goes around the inside edge of the aquarium. They also discovered that this plastic rim was quite fun to chew on. In a matter of days, the entire rim was chewed almost all the way around. I tried moving their house away from the edge so they could not reach it, but they are smart and just moved the house back. They eventually got tired of just chewing the rim, and decided to move their attention to escaping instead. I woke up in the middle of the night to loud banging, and realized that Dusty was sitting on top of the water bottle pushing the screen lid up with her head. I decided that a temporary solution would be to place a large book on each corner of the lid. But once again, I needed a new cage.
This was around the time that I got a third rat, Domino, to breed for my biology project. I put Domino in a homemade plastic bin with a screen lid, because she would have to travel to Riverside to meet her mate. A plastic bin with screen lid seemed like a good fit for her because they are light, and big enough for one rat and her litter for a while. She stayed in the plastic bin until she gave birth. After the birth, I moved Dusty and Smokey back into the wire cage, and put her in the large aquarium so she would have some space for her and her babies. Domino is a much calmer rat than Dusty and Smokey, so she had no problems with the aquarium, and I didn’t even have to weigh down the top with books.
Before Domino’s litter was born, I began researching cages. I wanted to figure out what type of cages breeders and fanciers use. I found out that most large/medium scale breeders use a breeding rack, which is a metal rack that has plastic bins that basically work as drawers. There is a water system that is connected to all of the bins, so you just have to fill up the large bucket about every week. It concerned me that the rats in breeding racks did not get much socialization, as these setups are most often used for reptile food production. Because I was only planning to breed one litter, I decided that a breeding rack would not be the best fit for my ‘rat family’.
I found out that most fanciers and pet owners use Critter Nation cages. Critter Nation cages are wire cages, but designed specifically for easy maintenance. Critter Nation cages have plastic trays that fit into the wire cage, instead of the cage fitting into the pan. Each plastic tray is removable for easy cleaning, and the entire front of the cage is the door, so you can access the whole cage easily. As soon as I saw the Critter Nation online, I knew I wanted one. So, after months of saving my money from work, and checking Ebay and Craigslist daily, I finally found a brand new Critter Nation for sale for only ⅓ of the original price. I drove up and purchased it right away.
So far the Critter Nation has been amazing. The box promised that ‘no tools are required for assembly’, which was mostly true except a hammer was needed to bend one piece, that had been damaged, back to its original shape. It took me about an hour to assemble it with the help of my dad. The cage is huge, but easy to move because of the wheels. Smokey and Dusty had a lot of fun exploring it the first night. After Domino’s litter is weaned, I will sell them. Domino will move into the Critter Nation with Dusty and Smokey. I will finally sell the horrible wire cage, or maybe give it away for free (it is really beat up). The aquarium might be sold, or put in the attic for future use.
If you are thinking about getting a rat, make sure to really consider what type of cage will be best for you and your pet. Take into consideration the number of rats you plan on getting, their temperament, and their gender (females tend to be more hyper than males). Also take into account any special requirements, such as if you plan on breeding your rats (babies will fall out of wire cages), or if your rat is hairless (they have fragile skin, sharp wires may injure them). Also take into account how much time you have for cleaning each week. Wire cages take longer to clean, but aquariums need to be cleaned more often. Remember to measure the space that you are planning to put your rats (if you have a taller vertical space you might do better with a wire cage). It is important to provide your ‘rat family’ with an appropriate cage so they can thrive physically and mentally.