# Anyone have a homemade rat cage?



## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

if i cannot get a ferret nation i am considering making a homemade rat cage, and i was wondering if anyone elts has made one and is willing to share some pics?
thanks,
skitza


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

I have a home made one, no pictures on this computer will post when I get back home. There are some major drawbacks to home made cages though so much so that I gave up and don't use mine much anymore. 

-Hard to get the right amount of ventilation, if your just meshing one side like a cabinet style cage then ventilation is a problem like if you had a them in a tank. 
-Hard to hang hammocks and stuff from them. I use a wire that goes around the top of each level of my cage, but the hammocks slip around and get bunched up. Unless you want to screw in tons of hangers all over the sides.
-Flooring... no matter what you put down, contact paper, sticky tiles, ect. the crud will get stuck in the seams causing it to stink and be hard to clean.
-Sealing the wood. You will spend hours painting, killzing, ect to make sure the wood is good and sealed! If it's not sealed kiss your cage goodbye because the urine will soak in and the cage will stink quickly.
-Hard to hang water bottles, you basically have to screw it into the sides, then if the shelves aren't high enough it's hard to get the bottle back out to refill it.
-Finding something to make it out of can be difficult because finding things that are deep enough (at least 16in preferable 20in deep) can prove harder than you think. 

While my cage is nice and spacious, it is still a monster pain in my butt when it comes to cleaning, hanging things, ect. It does look nice though without the bars..... but honestly I'd rather have the bars so I don't spend 2 hours with a toothpick and q tips cleaning out crevicis that the yuck got stuck in. 

Have you thought about modifying a different kind of cage? You can find bird cages, ferret cages, rabbit cages, ect that with a bit of modification can make a nice cage at a decent price.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

agreed, to pretty much everything steph says. also, homemade cages are generally heavy as sin, nearly impossible to move around ever, and almost always much more costly than you initially planned. it's often much cheaper to buy an old bird cage off of craigslist, etc, and add levels with hardware cloth and zipties.


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## SamAnthrax (Jan 5, 2008)

Yeah I made a tank for my Bearded Dragon and I wish I had just bought one instead. Homemaking stuff seems like such a good idea but then you kind of run into huge problems


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

ok, ya maybe you guys are right, i will reconsider that.  thanks.


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## Marysmuse (Apr 28, 2008)

I have a homeade sugar glider cage, that could quite easily double as a rat cage. It's made from coated wire, 1x1/2 inch, with some shelves. We used a large branch as well, because gliders are aboreal.

For rats, I'd add several more shelves (in case of falls), as it's 5 feet tall, and of course the usual hammocks etc.

We put it together with "c-clips"- you can buy them at a hardware store, and the tool to put them on. 

The downfalls- You have to grind any cut sides of the wire- you'll get little sharp points sticking out otherwise. And you WILL scratch/cut/lacerate yourself handling the cut sides of the wire. Gloves help, but believe me, you'll want to keep plenty of iodine and neosporin around.
Making doors can be a pain. We used key-rings as hinges, and covered the edges of the wire doors with window trim material, left over from when my husband's store sold screens and windows. 

Finally, I have no idea now what that cage cost us to build, (we've had it quite a long time) but I'm sure you can buy a Martin's rat cage for around the same money we spent on a roll of coated wire, delivered and already built.

So yeah, probably the "store bought" cage is the way to go. Personally, I like the Martin's cages. I think there's a gallery here, though, of pics, you can probably see what everyone uses for cages and get some inspiration that way.

Good luck!
Rejoicing in the day,
-Mary


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## KayRatz (Apr 5, 2007)

Skitza... seriously... buy a Martin's.


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

As promised... My homemade cage
http://img402.imageshack.us/my.php?image=toyrooms013lq3.jpg


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## Siwain (Feb 25, 2008)

Here's my homemade cage. It's a huge pain in the .... ! Horribly difficult to clean! It makes me crazy sometimes. If i had enough money i would buy a ferret nation! :lol:


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

wow those are amazing cages! again i am not going to buy a martins cages. i just think they are tackey.


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

all of mine are Frankenstein cages

zip ties are your friend


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

could you send me a link to the frankenstien cages? i would like to see one of these.


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## KayRatz (Apr 5, 2007)

It shouldn't matter whether they are "tacky" or not, what matters is your rats' comfort and the ease of cleaning.


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

yes, i know that, but i think a ferret nation is a great cage for rats, it is roomy and it is comfy and lots of people have it and write good reviews about it.
so i think i will go with that.
thanks though.


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## LizaLiopleurodon (Apr 20, 2008)

Personally, I LOVE my martins cage. I don't find it hard to clean, and it's served it's purpose very well so far.

What do you mean by "tacky?" I don't see what's tacky about them.


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

well maybe it is just thee pictures that they have taken of them, i just like FN's better.


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## Skitza (May 18, 2008)

but thats ok though, because we all have different oppinions and God made us all different so we all have different personalites. thats the joy of just being yourself, is that there is only one of you in the whole world and your very special to God.
sorry if this kinda got off topic a bit but wat i am really wanting to say is that everyone is different and has there own oppinions.

ttyl,
skitza


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## pcar773 (Jul 18, 2008)

Siwain said:


> Here's my homemade cage. It's a huge pain in the .... ! Horribly difficult to clean! It makes me crazy sometimes. If i had enough money i would buy a ferret nation! :lol:


What makes it so hard to clean?


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## Caity (Apr 1, 2008)

It's aesthetically pleasing. The hardware cloth is a nightmare though, I imagine.


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## Siwain (Feb 25, 2008)

pcar773 said:


> What makes it so hard to clean?


Well, it's wood and it's soaked in urine. It's like a sponge! It really stinks of urine. Also, the feces get stuck between the wood and the hardware cloth. I've got a rat that's not litter trained and he poops just everywhere. And it always get stuck somewhere. And it doesn't help that the last couple of weeks his feces have been looser than usual, so now the feces get stuck everywhere! It has got something to do with the treatment of the wood, but i can't really explain it, as english isn't my ain language, and i don't know the words and expressions. :roll:


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