# Cage modifications?



## Jess5

Hello,
I recently picked up a single critter nation that I’ll be using for 3 rats. The bottom pan is very shallow and I’m wondering if anyone has ever modified the base so it can hold more bedding?
I’m thinking a hard plastic liner might work well since I don’t have the tools to properly cut acrylic but I’m not sure where I would buy that. Do any other materials work well for this that are relatively cheap?
I might end up just making a dig box instead, or at least temporarily until I figure out how to make the base work. 
Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!


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## SunflowerRats

what i got actually is a cement mixing tub from lowes! the large bin, and then i had to trim a bit to get it to fit nicely but my girls love it!!


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## CorbinDallasMyMan

You can purchase deeper metal pans from Bass Equipment. The galvanized pans need to be sealed/coated before you use them but the stainless pans can be used as-is.

Home Depot sells a large mixing tub that fits snugly into the cage or you can remove the metal floor grate and the tub can be sunk into the frame of the cage (_as long as your rats aren't big chewers_).









Some people make their own deeper bases out of things like coroplast or clear acrylic sheet material. Coroplast is fairly affordable and very easy to work with but rats may chew on coroplast so the pans may not last long. 









Clear plexi/acrylic/perspex is more expensive but can hold up to rats trying to chew on it. Without the proper tools, cutting acrylic is difficult but you can find companies who will cut pieces to your specifications. There are online retailers and you might have local businesses that will be able to cut plexi for you. You can google acrylic fabricators or maybe even sign companies. Acrylic fabricators would be able to fully build pans to your specs or you could just order the pieces and put them together yourself with clear packing tape, clear gorilla tape works well. Acrylic is not a cheap option so you'll want to do some research into different sources. 

You can even turn the space under the cage into a super deep dig base. With this option, you'd actually increase the size of the cage by nearly 5 cubic feet. There's a instructional video over at the Isamu Rat Care youtube channel called "Making your own deeper base tray." She has a different style of cage but the principle would be the same.


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## Jess5

Thanks for all the suggestions! I really love the idea of expanding the cage bottom to utilize the lower shelf space for digging, I think I’ll try doing that and if it doesn’t work out I’ll buy the cement mixing bin. 
Ill try to update the thread once I decide!


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## Rleanne

I made a big dig base like the last photo. I went to homedepot. They sell big sheets of plastic but they are pricey and a cutting tool for plastic. It took forever to make and it was actually hard but totally worth it. The rats love it. Be careful not to cut yourself the plastic edges got like glass after cutting so I bought a piece of sanding paper to soften all the edges the rats would touch and used waterproof gorilla tape that was clear to seal all the pieces together. Measure 3 times before cutting.


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## Jess5

Rleanne said:


> I made a big dig base like the last photo. I went to homedepot. They sell big sheets of plastic but they are pricey and a cutting tool for plastic. It took forever to make and it was actually hard but totally worth it. The rats love it. Be careful not to cut yourself the plastic edges got like glass after cutting so I bought a piece of sanding paper to soften all the edges the rats would touch and used waterproof gorilla tape that was clear to seal all the pieces together. Measure 3 times before cutting.


Thank you! I went to some hardware stores last week and found out that Lowe’s does free plexiglass cutting. I took the exact measurements of my cage and I should be able to get all the supplies this weekend (definitely good advice to measure 3 times lol)! I’m also getting a sheet of plastic from them to cover up the base bars. Thanks for the advice!


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## Jess5

Update: I finished putting together the base! I decided to just use tough plastic and zip tie it to the bars because I kept breaking the plexiglass. If my rats turn out to be crazy chewers I’ll have to change it to glass in the future. I’m really happy with what I put together though, it’s super secure!


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## CorbinDallasMyMan

Interesting! What kind of plastic material did you use? What's it called, where'd you get it?

I hope it works well! Keep us posted.


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## Jess5

CorbinDallasMyMan said:


> Interesting! What kind of plastic material did you use? What's it called, where'd you get it?
> 
> I hope it works well! Keep us posted.


Thanks! I just ended up buying a couple 105 quart clear bins from Home Depot and cut them to size with a hot knife (a plastic cutter would have worked faster though lol). All of the plastic sheets they have available were super expensive and would’ve costed around 70 dollars for what I needed. The plastic is pretty thick but if they start chewing it then it will be easy to replace.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan

Creative!


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## Newratmum

So pleased I found this site and this thread. We have just bought a bigger cage but like with all bigger cages the tray is thin and the stuff comes through the sides of the cages, we need to soles it somehow so I’m looking at plastic inner to also deepen for digging but then I saw going below the cage to the storage open space below which is a great idea. 
my question is how do you clean it? Do youc clean itor leave the digging box uncleaned?
We’re in UK so I think I’ll get Perspex made to measure and look for a large dig box or have it made.
Tia


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## Jess5

Newratmum said:


> So pleased I found this site and this thread. We have just bought a bigger cage but like with all bigger cages the tray is thin and the stuff comes through the sides of the cages, we need to soles it somehow so I’m looking at plastic inner to also deepen for digging but then I saw going below the cage to the storage open space below which is a great idea.
> my question is how do you clean it? Do youc clean itor leave the digging box uncleaned?
> We’re in UK so I think I’ll get Perspex made to measure and look for a large dig box or have it made.
> Tia


Hi, I’m glad it’s helpful! The digging part is super easy to clean, I just spot clean the bedding every couple days and do a full bedding change as necessary. Mine isn’t perfect so some bedding gets through the bottom but other than that it’s really easy to wipe down the sides and bottom tray.
I also ended up lining the entire base with hardware cloth to prevent escapes if they happened to chew through. I’ll attach a picture of the updated base!


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## Ben7539

SunflowerRats said:


> what i got actually is a cement mixing tub from lowes! the large bin, and then i had to trim a bit to get it to fit nicely but my girls love it!!


Have you ever gotten your rats start trying to chew threw the plastic


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