# New Cage! *updated with new pictures of doors!*



## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

Well, a friend of mine donated us her old cage, and we finally got it all set up today! She made it out of a bookshelf, and I love it, but we have to make some minor adjustments to it. The back of the bookshelf, which was originally the front, has two full-length doors, and there's a lock in the middle and at the top. She took the back of the shelf off, and covered it in hardwire cloth. The top shelf has a door that swings up, which is fine for now, but is a bit inconvienient. The wire is stapled to the front of the shelves, but we're going to make two doors that open in the front for easier access. Anyways, here it is!

Here's the whole thing, you can see the part at the top is what swings up. The dimensions are 60" h x 24" w x 16" d. Right now we have Roxie and 5 of her female babies in there, but after tomorrow it'll just be Roxie and the two girls we're keeping.









The top:









The bottom:









Roxie finally figured out that there's more than one level!









And here's the top again. The babies haven't moved from the top shelf where we put them in. In this pic you can see Fiona, one of the girls we're keeping poking her head down into the hole to the next level, but they won't go down! lol


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## dingosm8 (Jan 10, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

That is an awesome rat castle!
Some people are so inventive.


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

I know, the girl who gave it to us took 4 of Roxie's boys, and she gave this to us bc we gave her the babies for free. I tried to tell her that of course she could have them, she was doing US a favor, but she just wouldn't listen! =)


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## xkawx (Sep 26, 2007)

*Re: New Cage!*

that is fantastic!!!
i have been nagging hubby for a new cage, ive just shown him this and he loves it!
so it looks like next weekend we will be buying a new bookshelf and some wire, hehe.


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*



xkawx said:


> that is fantastic!!!
> i have been nagging hubby for a new cage, ive just shown him this and he loves it!
> so it looks like next weekend we will be buying a new bookshelf and some wire, hehe.


haha yay! I really do love it, aside for the few adjustments we'll have to make, but it's an awesome cage! Roxie loves it, but some of the babies still haven't figured it out yet lol


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## AceYourFace (Jan 4, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

WOW! this is really great I have been trying to figure out what to do because I need a bigger cage for two rats now.


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

Well, after 5 hours yesterday, we finally got two big doors on the front of the cage. Keep in mind, this should've probably taken an hour or so...but, yeah. We ran into some complications!!! lol Anyways, it is so much more convenient now, and I love it! I'll try to post pictures soon so y'all can see what I mean.


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## xkawx (Sep 26, 2007)

*Re: New Cage!*



Rattiegma said:


> Well, after 5 hours yesterday, we finally got two big doors on the front of the cage. Keep in mind, this should've probably taken an hour or so...but, yeah. We ran into some complications!!! lol Anyways, it is so much more convenient now, and I love it! I'll try to post pictures soon so y'all can see what I mean.


so, i take it you added the door for easy cleaning etc, can i ask how you have put the mesh on, what its held on with? is it just nailed in, and also, if you added the door yourself, how did the previous owners get inside?
just so i know for when we build ours as neither of us is very good at this sort of thing, and i want my boys to have a great, but sfae cage.


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

Well, we actually just used a staple gun and stapled the edges of the mesh to the inside of the doors. Well, she only had one rat, and she had her out with her most of the time. There is a door at the very top that flips up, and it worked for her, but with Roxie and her 5 babies, that was just not enough access for us. And also, when she needed to clean it, she just turned it around and used the full-length doors that are on the back. I hope this helps a little bit, and I'm gonna try to get some pics up really soon, and it should be a little easier then to see what I'm talking about with the new doors.


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## junior_j (Jan 24, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

good cage!
Jess x


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## ChrissyGz0r (Mar 3, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

omg all these cages are awesome on here... we just have little basic ones  i cud never make one my self would probs fall apart with the rats in it!


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*



ChrissyGz0r said:


> omg all these cages are awesome on here... we just have little basic ones  i cud never make one my self would probs fall apart with the rats in it!


Lol, I doubt that, give yourself more credit than that! I didn't actually build it, but I don't think it'd be that difficult. Especially if you're starting with a bookshelf or something, and not building from scratch.

If you'd like to try, here's a really good site with awesome instructions:

http://www.dapper.com.au/cagebuild.htm


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## Iloveratz500 (Jan 21, 2008)

*Re: New Cage!*

aawww...such a cool cage!!! I have been wondering how you make a rat cage out of a bookshelf, and now I konw!!! 

Its like an awesome rat Kingdom!!!


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

Ok, so I finally took some pictures of the cage after we finished the doors, replaced the contact paper Roxie chewed up, and put in fleece liners.  The girls LOVE it, and so do Kim and I!!!

Here's the whole thing. You can see the light wood is the doors that we added. We thought about painting them, but after all of our mishaps putting them together, I just said screw it haha









And here it is with the doors open:









Here's the top shelf:









The middle shelf:









And the bottom 2 shelves:


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

that meshy stuff on the doors... is that what you in the states call hardware cloth? if so, its called garden mesh here in aussieland, and is green.


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## Rattiegma (Jan 23, 2008)

Yep, that's what it is!


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

great, thanks  i took a pic the last time i was at the hardware store, so now if anyone asks what it is, i can show them.


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## sonoma (May 26, 2007)

Wow! Thatâ€™s such a neat cage! :wink:


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

hardware cloth is often green in the us too, if it is pvc-coated. pvc-coating makes it more durable and less prone to corrosion from urine.


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