# At what age can babies be in a wire cage? Bar spacing sizes?



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

I would love to get Bijou out of her 20 gal glass mommy tank soon, but I worry that the babies will soon be active enough to figure out how to squeeze through cage bars. The cage I would like to put her in soon has bar spacing 1/2 an inch (2 cm), same as a critter nation. What age would the babies have to be in order to not worry about some of them trying to squeeze their way out and escaping?


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## Lovingly (Jun 24, 2013)

I think your suppost to wait till their a couple months old


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I've had babies able to get out of 2cm bar spacing at 6 weeks, though its a big challenge for bigger bucks. However the babies will really benefit from being in a cage and being able to climb so i would recommend getting some small hole hardware cloth / wire mesh and covering the bars with it. Aiming for 1cm or 1x1.5 scm is baby safe.

My babies are actually born in a wire cage, though its one i have picked out as baby suitable, so small bar spacing and low. They start using the bars and climbing around 2.5 weeks old when i give them there first active layout (shortly after there eyes have opened and they start exploring a little).


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

What I had read was around 17 days old, they should be moved to a wire cage for the ability to climb and such.

As a precaution for you, maybe get some hardware cloth and attach it?


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I leave Toast in the cage with my two adults for a few hours every day to get him a little rat on rat socialization. I wouldn't be able to do that anymore when he reaches 4-5 weeks because Molly is a female so I will have to neuter him like I did with Pastoolio. When I do put him in there I watch him like a hawk though. He does great in there though!


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

The cage I want to put them all in has a 6 in deep litter pan, I don't know if that makes any difference. Do you think the babies will be able to scale that high soon to reach the bars? I may go buy some more hardware cloth in the next couple days though for them since that sounds like a good option and they are quickly reaching the 2.5 week/17 day mark! 

When we adopted Pippin, our little rex feeder boy, he was maybe 6 weeks old. And he was able to escape from this cage on the first night we had him home. Luckily he had just hid behind the dresser for what looked like the whole night with all the poop and pee back there with him. But we discovered he must have gotten out at this larger gap by the door on the top of the cage. I 'll have to be careful to really seal that up again now that babies will be living there soon. I wouldn't want to frantically search a room for 8 babies this time instead of 1! lol


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

You’d be surprised what babies can do sometimes, especially if there’s a good sized litter and mum builds a nest (which can make a convenient ramp. Your probably noticing they are starting to move around a little now crawling, if mum builds a nest in one corner (which is a natural place to do it) and the babies get into a pile one could easily wander or be shoved out. Whilst they’ve got fur now they still will be dropping heat quickly so need mums care most of the time.

I would try and get the hardware cloth this weekend and fit it (looking at sealing that door gap too). Then move them into the cage with a good handful of the same nesting material (helps reassure mum). If she’s got an igloo or any familier furniture I’d move that too. Give it a day or two and if mum seems fine add a low hammock, some branches or ropes, a little mouse water bottle (with puppy / kitten milk in) and anything else that’s simple, steady and baby safe. If you want I can send you a photo of one of the setups I’ve used with my 2.5 week olds, they do fall a bit but if you’ve got a good bouncy layer of substrate on the floor (I use shredded card which is an excellent cushion) they just ping back and try again.


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## Famous Amos (May 23, 2013)

They can go in a cage at 2 weeks old. And the bar spacing is 1/2 inch and you can keep it at 1/2 inch all their lives.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I had to move my rats to a wire cage yesterday, and we are only at the 11 day mark. So far, we've got walkers but no climbing and escaping. The cage is covered in hardware cloth end to end, since Caius took 6 hours to show me she could get out of the gap in the door which is so I can open it. Instead of attaching wire there, I cut a small section which I just pancake between the wire and hardware cloth - when I need to open it, I simply pull it out and open the door.
I'm at the 11 day mark and think they'll be climbing as soon as they can get their eyes open. When they do, I am going to add in twice as much bedding as normal, more hideys and toys so that any falls invariably land on something in between the floor and them (except of course if they scale upside down. Here's hoping). However, my cage is like 2 foot high at best, so I'm confident if I cover at least 6 inches in plushy bedding and add in toys, they should be okay.

For momma-rat, she is a lot happier back in her old wire cage. I kept out most furniture because I don't want her hiding the babies quite yet. She has two levels, a hammock, some perches. She did build a lovely nest with a fantastic ramp - slide on the outside. She refuses to allow bedding into one half of the cage she is nesting so much. She got new chews and toys and is now doing better.


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## Famous Amos (May 23, 2013)

I don't understand why people wait so long. I never have my babies in a tank. They come out of the nursery bin to a cage right away. And they are accustomed to it for their adopters. 1/2 " is safe for all life stages after pinkie stage. And they need a cage to climb in. Also babies need MORE space than adults because if their energy. And you don't want to teach them to hide in small spaces as babies. That's hard to unprogram. They need play room! 


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Great! They've just barely reached the 2 week mark and are crawling around and running out of the nest box, so I certainly wanted to get them into a bigger cage soon. I've just heard different opinions on bar spacing vs age so I thought I would check here first. No interest in climbing yet, but they do all seem to enjoy running around a lot more now that they've learned how to use their legs!


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## Famous Amos (May 23, 2013)

Good they need A LOT of room as babies.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Yup, they seem to sleep most of the day, but most of them seem to get REALLY excited when I take them all out to run around a much larger closed off area of the hallway (half of them usually go back to sleep in the corner). They've also started playing with each other today so they should be getting more energetic really soon.


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## Timberlee Fields (Aug 2, 2013)

Feeder breeders use 1/2" bar spacing from pinks to adults and they can most definitely reach the hardware cloth tops of those bins from a young age, so I wouldn't stress too much about them escaping.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Famous Amos said:


> I don't understand why people wait so long. I never have my babies in a tank. They come out of the nursery bin to a cage right away. And they are accustomed to it for their adopters. 1/2 " is safe for all life stages after pinkie stage. And they need a cage to climb in. Also babies need MORE space than adults because if their energy. And you don't want to teach them to hide in small spaces as babies. That's hard to unprogram. They need play room!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Mine dont even go in a bin/tank for birthing lol, i far prefer cages for this, helps them get used to normal sounds and noises straight away.

Birthing cage, complete with a few ropes which let mum perch above the nest if she needs time out but not try and move the babies there (like if she had a hammock), plus Tigerellas amazing volcano nest (there not always this big, she was a builder)



Here's a picture with the towel i often have over it for the first week or two, gives mum a little shelter but not too enclosed, i play it by mums reaction


At 2.5 weeks (typically) when their eyes are open and they are beginning to want to explore i make the cage into a baby play zone, still the same cage but lots for them to climb and do. The main things to note are the flying saucer wheel, i onl use these for babies as they arent fast enough for my adults but i find at this age they take to them quickly, soon running like pros. I also make sure theres easy ways up from the floor as they are quite short little things. Oh and theres a little bottle with lactol (puppy milk) in it, they normally start trying it at this stage, though still feed from mum. I also start scatter feeding around now, the babies being perfectly capable of foraging for food, though theres also a bowl of soft egg food in there which both mum and they love.



Some evidence of just how capable the babies are at this age, this is them the first time they were put in






and when they hit about 3.5 weeks, basically when they've shown that the baby cage is far too small for them and they are well coordinated and balanced they move into half my savic royal suite (thats half a ferret nation size, with smaller bar spacing). I make it a bit easier than i would adults but still pretty challenging and they fly around. Here's a typical picture


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## Famous Amos (May 23, 2013)

I don't do cages at pinks because I've had them climb in between the bars and pan and get stuck and get cold and not fed. So I do solid sides till 2 weeks.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

With that style cage its not an issue thankfully, the bar spacing is small enough that even a day old pinky wouldn’t get through and sits on the tray so there isn’t a gap between the two.


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