# Rat fun playground with cardboard boxes and tunnels



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Here is my latest playground for my boys. It was pretty easy to do. All that is needed is cardboard boxes and those plastic drainage pipes you can get at any hardware stores for cheap. I plan on taken it down soon and make something bigger and more complex They absolutly LOVE IT. It is so much fun watching them go crazy chasing each other through the playground.


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## Veileddreamer (Sep 21, 2015)

I believe they love it! Mine have one of those ferret tubes and they are insane about it. Spend so much time in that thing haha. What is it with rats and plastic tubes?


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

How fun. I always make mine little cardboard box play houses. Their favorite is when I put a smaller box inside another box.

I was thinking of getting some of those tunnels, looks fun


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## rottengirl (Mar 16, 2016)

Good idea with the tubes Grib - I will have to add that to my own cardboard playhouse


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

rottengirl said:


> Good idea with the tubes Grib - I will have to add that to my own cardboard playhouse


Those pipes are great! I pop them into my washing machine and it works great! I had those ferret transparent tunnels and while it is fun to see the rats running through them, the metal wire that runs through them rust the first time you wash them. The wire is kind of of enclosed in plastic but all is needed is a hole in the plastic to get the water on the wire


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

omg u can wash them in the washing machine??


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

About how long does something like that last for 2 rats(I know it depends on how much they chew,but in general)


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Rattielover965 said:


> About how long does something like that last for 2 rats(I know it depends on how much they chew,but in general)


I made it on the 27th of May, it was originally as a birthday (2 years old) present for my girls, lol. They didn't seem much interested, so after a month I gave it to my 3 boys. I can't say it smells bad but I can smell it a bit so I'm going to take it down. So 2 months with pretty much daily use for anywhere between 30 mins to 2 hours- I have other playgrounds in two other rooms, lol. My boys are neutered so that helps with much less per marking though. Not much chewing except biggest doors and a few extra exits. They brought all kind of stuff inside the boxes, they starch them like they were very precious belongings I would say it held up pretty well


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

On the bright side all you need is used boxes you get anyway and the pipe is super cheap. Even if I had to buy the cardboard boxes I don't think the WHOLE thing would probably have cost less than $10 to do so. Not bad $10 in cardboard boxes for lots of fun for two much I always keep all the boxes for playgrounds or just to put in their cages.


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## Bumble-Bee (Apr 21, 2016)

What a great idea! This has inspired me to make something like this because I know one of my girls would absolutely love it!


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Ebay is my job so my house looks like that all the time. LoL Luckily I have box-loving rats and a cardboard addicted dog to keep things interesting.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

moonkissed said:


> omg u can wash them in the washing machine??


Yes and it works great. The tunnels have tiny holes all over their lengths and the water gets in there really well. I either put a tiny bit of laundry detergent or put some chlorhexidine in the wash...


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Grotesque said:


> Ebay is my job so my house looks like that all the time. LoL Luckily I have box-loving rats and a cardboard addicted dog to keep things interesting.


OMG you could build something huge!!! I'm going to Lowes very soon to buy some more pipes. I'd like to figure out what kind of hooks I could put on my walls (need something that looks nice) so I could easily take those pipes up and down too...so some could run along my wall(s) but need to be easy to take down because it won't look nice. For more permanent tubing, I could use those white pipes instead and get them painted but I live in a condo so I'm limited in what I can easily handle...would definitively do something permanent when I have a rat room.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

They have hooks that stick to the wall with a tab that you pull to release. I think you can only stick and release once before you need to throw it away so it might not be practical but at least its not putting a permanent hook in the wall.


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## PastelRat (Jul 28, 2016)

Love it! Literally I have a box collection for my hamster, but plan on using some of them for future rats. I've found that those huge 7up boxes are awesome. Cereal boxes are also great. Also if you go to Costco, they give you giant boxes to put everything in.


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## Zoomom (Aug 1, 2016)

That looks awesome, thanks for the idea!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

They absolutly love it. They love to run full speed in the tunnels, lol. They wait for me to put my hand at an entrance and bounce on it to softly nibble on it, too cute. They go crazy when I put my whole hand in one of the smaller boxes and tickle them. I just took it down today. I will make another one in the next few days, thinking on making it bigger too, lol.


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## Kchilson02 (Jan 20, 2016)

OMG that is amazing definitely going to make something like that for my fur babies they have a whole room to themselves now and they love climbing on the cage and the spare bedroom but I bet they'd be more entertained with a box playground


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