# What cage to get?



## jando426 (May 15, 2007)

I'm looking for a cage that will have enough room for 2 rats and room for toys for them? I'm looking to spend under 100 dollars but if its over a little thats fine. Any suggestions?


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

i have a tall birdcage for my two rats, and i think the rat calculator says i can get one or two more. you can plug the dimensions of any cage into a rat calculator like this one to find out how many a cage can hold. i got my cage used off craigslist for $30, but even full price it's only $80 at petco. i got a roll of hardware cloth for $8 and zipties that everyone says they get at dollarstores but i couldn't find, and made extra floors and ramps and levels. worked pretty good for me! i covered the hardware cloth floors with plastic canvas, and threw some fleece over that, but those can come later if you need them to.

here's a pic of mine when i first laid it out. since i cut the towels to fit the levels, they frayed like crazy in the wash and i now only use fleece.









all in all, probably cost me $50. if you buy the cage new it could cost about $100, but that's still pretty cheap. mine's not too hard to clean either.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Martin's R-680, tons of room for 2 rats and toys/hammies, etc. I have had 4 in mine before, and cage calc's say 3.75 rats. Big door that you can easily get wheels, etc in and out of.

$86.00 powdercoated

http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/rat/

Here is the cage with a young rescue mom and her four 7 week old daughters


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## lizzydeztic (Mar 15, 2007)

OnlyOno that is such a great idea to check craigslist! i'm going to go have a look now.


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## tattered_teddy_bear (Apr 24, 2007)

I would go with the MARTIN'S they're great cages!


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

i thought about a martin's, but with the flip-top lid, which i've heard is the only way to go in terms of cleaning and shipping, it came to like $130 for me, and i still had hammocks, fleece, and toys, etc. to get for it. meh, it's inevitably all up to the individual! and this individual is a broke college student.


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

lilspaz68 how many cages do u have!! the cage looks ace tho bet the babys love it!

and

Onlyono that is 1 heck ov a cage!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i use the hagen chinchilla cages. new the cage is $100 CDN but i've been able to get it used for as little as $40. one cage can fit 3 rats comfortably and there's lots of room to customize it with hammocks, hanging hamster balls, dryer hose, organizing bins and other cool toys. the thing i love most about it is the ease it is to expand it. currently i have three cages wired together on top of each other and today i'm going to take some money from one of my cans and go get the things i need to add a fourth (i can't wait any longer). 

this is what mine currently looks like:








its really quite tall as you can see. probably close to 6 feet. but the one cage isn't too bad. i don't have a measuring tape and i can't remember the measurements but its a good size. i don't know about the three together but when it was just the two i could pop it in the back seat of the car and run it down to the do-it-yourself car wash for a really good deep cleaning. mind everything is jkust zip-tied together anyway so it wouldn't take much to take it apart and put back together. for normaly cleaning a quick wipe with a few baby wipes and its nice and new smelling. i've been using the chin cages for the last 2 years and its been holding up really well. no rusting or chew marks. its not holding any odour yet either which is nice as even with teh best of cages thy will start to hold SOME odour after a while (few years). anyway, i enjoy it and i think the rats do as well. 

the only issue i have with it is that its not very deep, which is great when you have limited room but it does make some toys difficult to add and the doors though adequate to get a rat in and out and your hand in there to clean everything isn't large enough to get a wheel and out of so you have to put it in the tray before putting the cage on top. really this only poses a problem when you expand to like four cages and you're trying to figure out where the heck you're putting all the toys.


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## tattered_teddy_bear (Apr 24, 2007)

OnlyOno said:


> i thought about a martin's, but with the flip-top lid, which i've heard is the only way to go in terms of cleaning and shipping, it came to like $130 for me, and i still had hammocks, fleece, and toys, etc. to get for it. meh, it's inevitably all up to the individual! and this individual is a broke college student.


  ME TOO! but i ordered the martins anyway! LOL. needless to say i'll be working a little later for the next to weeks. :roll:


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

haha, bummer. got a call this morning from a job i had last summer wanting me back, so it's back to three jobs for me. woohoo. but i hear you. i want to get another birdcage and tie them up side by side.


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## mnic001 (May 9, 2007)

I have a Martin's R-680 as well. It's supposed to be roomy enough for three rats, but two would be especially comfortable (all that room for toys!). Lilspaz, I love your setup. Are those tiles?


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## tattered_teddy_bear (Apr 24, 2007)

mnic001 said:


> I have a Martin's R-680 as well. It's supposed to be roomy enough for three rats, but two would be especially comfortable (all that room for toys!). Lilspaz, I love your setup. Are those tiles?


I've seen cages with this "tile" and I REALLY want to try it when my Martin's comes, and then get the fabric to go over it, and make it SUPER easy cleaning. MORE TIME TO PLAY! but i've heard it can cause more of a mess? anyone know?


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