# So I moved my cage into my closet



## chronus377 (Mar 26, 2008)

Hah, after a week of having rats in my room, I decided to transfer their cage into my closet. Just bought a cheap table, and placed them in the middle. I don't have a very big closet, but I'm willing to sacrafice the clothing space. 

My main reason is because of the racket they've can make at night. I used to be a very hard sleeper, but I guess its no longer the case. Now I can just close the two closet doors at night, when I'm about to goto sleep. 

It might look strange to people when they see it but it seems to be a very practical solution (already sound dampened their cage as much as I can). It also helps with my roommate's cat who I'm little paranoid about. I was hoping she would get used to them a little more by now, at least in the closet the table is too difficult for her to get on, and I tied the cage to the selfing support in my closet (scared of her climbing and tipping it over). Of course she's never in my room unless I'm watching, but I'm still a bit paranoid.


Anyways, I love the two ratties of course. I just wanted to share, and ask has anyone else had noise issues with their ratties? How did you fix the problem?


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## AlxBlack17 (Dec 3, 2007)

Mine tend to keep me up at night as well. I take out anything they can throw around that makes a lot of noise (ie a wicker duck thing that they refuse to sleep in). I also give them some interesting foods that keep then occupied right before I got to bed. Some frozen veggies, Kashi 7 grain cereal or any other rat appropriate foods I have laying around. I also occasionally give them a new toy/bed, such as some Kleenex, paper towel or some fabric scraps. And on the nights when they are really hyped up or I really need to get a night of uninterrupted sleep, I move them and their cage into either the living room or the laundry room.


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## chronus377 (Mar 26, 2008)

Hah, good ideas. I would like to move their cage into another room, but my roommate's cat is too serious.

One quick question. Do you think it's ok for rats to have NO light at night? I know they have very poor eye sight, and typically in the "wild" they would be living in places with no light. Do you think they like a little bit of light at night?

I ask because when I close my closet doors there's nothing in there to help them see.


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## leilastroud (Apr 6, 2008)

My rats are in my bedroom, and as such get very little light at night, and my boys are in the front room and have the same situation.

I think I'm one of the lucky ones though, as mine seem to quieten down as soon as I'm in bed and turn all the lights off. (though saying this, I know they'll keep me up all night tonight!)

Leila


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## AlxBlack17 (Dec 3, 2007)

They probably prefer to have very little to no light at night. They are nocturnal animals and they don't really rely on their eyesight to get around. They rely on their hearing, sense of smell and especially on their whiskers.


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## chronus377 (Mar 26, 2008)

AlxBlack17 said:


> They probably prefer to have very little to no light at night. They are nocturnal animals and they don't really rely on their eyesight to get around. They rely on their hearing, sense of smell and especially on their whiskers.


Good to hear, I kinda figure so but I wanted to make sure. Its amazing how good their sense of smell most be, when I have them out they just smell the air around them like crazy. I like to imagine how much "information" they are picking up that I'll never know.


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