# I need a cage! Soon!



## melloyello (Oct 3, 2007)

My female rat, Dolly is currently living in a small 10-gallon aquarium. I feel SO sorry for her but i dont have money to buy a new cage...yet she needs one soon!

Does anyone have any ideas of a larger cage i can make at home? Maybe one that's free and easy to make with stuff i already have here?

Right now, i have my 10 gallon, and 2 bird cages. i dont really know if i could combine them in any way.....but if you have any suggestions about a new cage i would really appreciate it!

Thank 
-Jade


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

Bird cages can be converted into decent rat cages. If either of them are big enough (go up to the rat calculator stick and put the dimensions of the cages into one of the links to see if either are big enough), you can make shelves to attach to the cage.

I already mentioned this in your other post in general, but check craigslist and ebay for cheap used cages ^_^


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

How big are the two bird cages? You may be able to stack them on top of one or another for one rat cage! You would need to add levels though. You could use plywood cut to size and covered with stick linolium you find at the dollar store for that.

If that works, just put aside that aquarium for fish lol.

Or you could go to Craigslist and see if there are any cheap cages in there.


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## melloyello (Oct 3, 2007)

Uhmm the bird cages actually arent that big...one is like the size of my 10 gallon and one is smaller haha

and how do u get to craigslist? 0_o


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Even putting her in the one the size of the 10 gal would be preferable over a 10 gallon for a short period of time. Those are tiny bird cages lol. I wonder what people think when they make habitats that small. I would never put a bird in something so tiny. Not even a finch (especially not a finch because they love to fly)

http://terrahaute.craigslist.org/about/cities.html
craigslist! It's like classified ads but better lol.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Quoted from melloyello's other thread in General Rat Topics



melloyello said:


> well, actually i have this idea after searching in our basement...
> We have a bunch of old screen that they use in screen doors that is just laying down there. and we have these 22 inch wooden beams. i was thinking i could find a way to attatch the beams to make a box and put the screen on it??


I can tell you from experience she will will chew through that screen in no time at all.

However at home depot you can get a material called hardware mesh or hardware cloth. I've always found it near the chicken wire. It shouldn't cost *too* much, and you can use it to make a cage using the wooden beams. You will also need to coat the wooden beams in a non-toxic, waterproof paint so they don't get disgusting with pee.

Also, when looking for hardware mesh (And this is the hard part), it needs to be the plastic (or pvc or vinyl) covered kind. So it needs to be metal covered in some sort plastic. It can't just be galvanized metal, and it can't be all plastic. If it's nothing but metal, it gets peed on and gets gross fast. The metal actually absorbs the urine. If it's plastic, she'll chew out.


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## melloyello (Oct 3, 2007)

Okay well i suddenly had another idea...haha i have 2 bird cages and this one critter trail 2 and im gonna connect two of them together!


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Well that would be an improvement!

Can you take pictures of all your cages so we have a good idea of the sizes of everything you have? Maybe we can come up with better suggestions then.

Edit: Oh, also, we will probably want to see Dolly in the Meet My Rat section while you're taking pictures.


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

A great thing to connect them with is zip ties! You can usually find a pack of those at the dollar store or at a goodwill or something.


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## JoshDeMott2010 (Aug 25, 2007)

Situation: 1-10gal. aqaurium. 2-10gal. bird cages. (no pictures.)

what i'd do: assuming there is no doors on the bird cages i would cut one side off of each bird cage and then attach the cages to that they are one rectangle. Then i would cut the floor out of the cage and add a litter pan of some sort. After that i would add a door large enough to get the rat and all the rats items in and out of the cage. look over the makeshift cage and fix all small issues then i would add ratty habitat items and add the rattie. This is what i would do with the info u have given.

ADD PICS AND THEN WE CAN GIVE U DETAILED ADVICE! GOOD LUCK!

hope i helped -Josh


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## glindella (Sep 9, 2007)

way2kewl4u_92 said:


> cut one side off of each bird cage and then attach the cages to that they are one rectangle.


that would only work if the two cages were around the same size on the sides to be connected, she said one was the size of a 10 gallon, one was smaller


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## melloyello (Oct 3, 2007)

yeah well i came up with a good solution...

i had this one critter trail 2 and i took off the top. then i took my about 10 gallon bird cage and stacked it on top of the other one. now i think its pretty big...tall and i added levels and stuff. its pretty cool ) im still hoping to buy another bigger, better cage another time. thanks for your guy's help!

-Jade


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

Aren't critter trails made entirely of plastic? Be very careful with that, as one day your rat will probably chew their way out of it!


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## rat_ratscal (Sep 23, 2007)

my cage is birdcage, we just transformed it into this: http://www.ratforum.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=4002.html


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