# Don't like Critter Nation



## Pfeffernusse&Friends (Jan 14, 2018)

So I have a single Critter Nation, and I am having a difficult time liking it for rats. I have had two pairs in it now, and they just destroy it. I tried using fleece, and the rats completely destroyed it overnight. It was in tatters and had to be changed. I didn't even get to use it for 24 hours. They did the same thing with the next fleece liner, but it took two to three days instead.

So I gave up on the fleece and switched to CareFresh. For obvious reasons, that didn't work. It was a mess. Now I am using soy-ink newspaper, which is working the best so far, because I am also litter training them. However, they are completely destroying the plastic litter boxes as well as the plastic trays. There are large 4-inch spaces all over the plastic pans that are chewed to the point of them being able to stick their heads in the holes. They are also shredding the newspaper I use for the bedding and keeping me up all night.

I give them tons of newspaper on top of the base newspaper that is pre-shredded, bits of fleece, tissues, white fluff from the pet store, and they have a million toys. Seriously. They have 6 hides in their SCN, including hammocks, boxes, a space pod, and a hide made out of an exercise ball. They have a large outdoor playpen made out of cardboard boxes with a huge box playhouse inside. They usually get 2 hours of free range and playtime with me a day. I also hide baby puffs throughout the cage for them to find. I make them little pinatas with treats hidden inside... I just can't sleep, and they are destroying the cage.

I know that I can get the bass metal pans, but those are expensive, and it looks like it will still make a mess anyway. They will also probably continue to chew the plastic tray on the second level. I have had rats since I was child, and I never had a single problem with my rats until I got this cage. Do any of you have suggestions for a different cage that is predominantly metal? I can put wood planks down on the levels so that they don't have to walk on bars all the time. Or is there anything else I can try to keep them from eating the plastic in this cage?

Thanks, guys.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

I think the CN is a pretty great cage but, in the end, it wasn't for me. It took me a while to figure out how to use fleece with my boys. Elliot Rosenberg (now gone) was a pretty voracious fabric chewer. Besides cage liners, he destroyed a lot of blankets, pillow cases, pajamas, and furniture upholstery. The wrap-around style pan liners didn't work at all for him. He would tug and pull at them and then just chew the eff out of them. I switched to "mat style" liners and they worked much better as long as I didn't try to clip them down to the pans. My boys nibbled on the pans a little bit but never made it all the way through them. I would bet that none of my current boys would destroy fleece liners or the pans if I kept them in a CN.

While my rats weren't necessarily damaging the cage like yours, there were a bunch of other things I didn't like about the CN, like the vast amount of empty space that needed to be filled, the bar placement that never seemed to be in the right spot for my hammocks, the shear amount of floor space that it took up, how heavy and difficult to transport it is, etc. 

I did have a Bass pan in my CN. I can't recommend them enough. For real. They also have pans for the shelf. Getting a couple pans isn't cheap but it might be a better solution than replacing the cage entirely.

If you like the general layout of the CN but just don't like the pans, Exotic Nutrition sells a similar cage with metal pans. The pans aren't very deep, though, so going with Bass pans for your existing CN might still be a better option.

All that being said, I switched to cage similar to a Martin's cage several months ago and I couldn't be happier. So many of the issues I had with the CN have been solved with my current cage. I still use the fleece mats without incident but none of my current boys are fabric chewers. Wire levels can also be covered with things like cardboard or plastic canvas if your rats are more destructive. For just a pair of rats, a Martin's R-680 should be just fine. You could get them the R-695 if you want to spoil them or if you think you might add another to your crew.


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## trico (Oct 31, 2017)

Adding to Corbin's input, you can purchase metal pans online for the Critter Nation. Here.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

And our neighbors to the north can order metal pans from Flowertown Chinchillas or Sunny Meadows Cages.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

What does your set up look like? Could you share a pic? I don't have a critter nation, but a savic royal suite and haven't had rats chew it. Maybe you need some cage ideas?


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## Mizzy (Jan 20, 2018)

Hi! I have the Critter Nation and used fleece first. Then I decided after my rats had "fun" with it, I just order the scatter trays off Amazon. One was $19.99 and the other scatter tray is for the bottom and was $17 something. I hope this works. They arrive tomorrow. I will let you know how it works out. Here is the link to Amazon's sale of scatter trays. https://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Home...-1&keywords=critter+nation+scatter+guard&th=1


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## athenianratdaddy (Dec 20, 2017)

I'm a habitual Martin's user and I'm not familiar with CN cages. However, I'm familiar with rat behavior. I bet that you are not going to be able to stop these critters from chewing on the plastic, save sowing their mouths shut (not that I would ever suggest something like that of course). Usually these types of situations can be met with a combination of DIY/buy new stuff. The end goal is to keep the rats happy and safe at a minimum of cost. The side platform is easy to get rid off entirely (I know they are detachable in CN). Replace with your own shelving not made of plastic, if you want. Or fill in the extra space with more hammocks. 

The bottom pan presents a bigger issue. Overall, I think you need to aim towards having a solid floor that is not provided by the pan, in combination with some border around the bottom of the cage to keep litter in (the scatter guards suggested by Mizzy above may work). I would replace the pan with a piece of plexiglass cut to size (easy to disinfect and wipe clean) and make a border around the lower part of each side. That way you can go back to using CareFresh, or similar material, so it won't be as loud at night. 
I don't litter-train my rats so I don't know about litter boxes. Could you use a wooden box instead? At least wood is something you want them to chew on!

Additionally, you could scrap the CN altogether and go for a different cage that doesn't have the CN features you don't like. That would be the most expensive solution, mitigated in part by selling the old cage online. I generally avoid recommending to people to open their purses wide so I'm not saying anything more on that. However, I would only buy a new cage of the same, or bigger, size than the CN. I would not spend money to get a newer but smaller cage. I would keep the space I have now (the CN) and work to fix it up.
As a last comment, I have come to not be able to sleep without earplugs. I'm so used to using them that I put them on even when I'm not sleeping around rats! I just can't sleep without them. Anyway, that too is an acquired habit, I know a lot of people are not comfortable wearing them to sleep. 

In conclusion, I think that the CN presents a decent overall enclosure that you could twerk a bit to better match your preferences. In the event of buying a new cage, I would opt for something at least the same size (or thereabouts) so the rats don't have to downgrade for something that's not really their fault.


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## Pfeffernusse&Friends (Jan 14, 2018)

Here is a picture of my cage right now. You can see where they have shredded newspaper up in their Spacepod. That is their favorite sleeping spot. Also, there aren't as many hanging toys up in this picture as I normally have because I had just cleaned the cage and hadn't made them new toys yet.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

I think your cage is looking quite good already. Have you tried hanging baskets on the sides? You can hang them using zip ties. Your rats might take out their chewing on them instead. 

I also think you could put some sort of net in the middle for them to climb on. I use this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90327334/ Then you can hang things on the net.

This is usually how I kept my cage after the climbing abilities of my girls decreased. They use to have no middle in their cage. I save all my boxes from orders and what not, it makes good little hiding places for them on the bottom.










This is what I've done for our Holiday cage which is close to half of our normal cage: https://www.instagram.com/p/BLBho58DJCh/ I like making fleece levels for my rats (if the ikea tie hanger is drying) This way they have to navigate through the different levels to get to where they want to go. It's cluttered looking but I like thinking about how much more things they have to explore. 

I want to take a picture of how I'd set up my main cage now, but I'm going through intros at the moment. So no one is in there.


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## RatSqueak (Feb 11, 2018)

About the scatterguard pans....they are useless. I've have them for a month and found two big issues:

1) There is a small gap between the guard and the CN pan, maybe about 1cm or less, but it is big enough for litter to get pushed up and out through the gap and onto the floor around the cage. Absolutely ridiculous because the scatterguard is useless. My guess is that it may work well to hold down fleece or other material, although the metal hooks get warped everything time you need to unhook them....but it is marketed for bedding, which is very misleading. I tried putting Gorilla duct tape around the inside to seal off the gap...it worked, but I didn't tape the outside, so I got bedding stuck to the sticky side of the tape exposed in the gap on the outside. Rather than retaping and covering the outside, I just bought 6" plastic bins, and leaves me with issue #2. I attached photos so you can kind of see what it looks like. The metal guards themselves are slightly warped (I bought brand new guards), but even the straight parts of the guards have the gap.

2) The scatterguards are very low and I find that is not high enough to prevent bedding from flying out of the cage or falling in between the scatterguard and the CN pan—must be the reason why most cages have 6" high bottom. There are two 7" spots where the scatterguard height is cut lower by about 1", that is meant for you to have more access to the front of cage, but it just makes more a more useless barrier for bedding. I've flipped the scatterguard around so the lower sides are in the back, and put Gorilla duct tape on to level out the two lower areas. In my photos you can see compare how high the scatterguard is compared to the two 6" plastic bins I'm using to keep the bedding in for now. 

I'm looking for a solution to keeping bedding inside too, without having to buy a new cage. Metal pans sound great, but beyond my budget, especially with the shipping cost. My boys chew fleece to shreds, and fleece would be too high maintenance for me, so bedding is my only option.


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## NFCRattie (Jan 25, 2016)

RatSqueak said:


> About the scatterguard pans....they are useless. I've have them for a month and found two big issues:
> 
> 1) There is a small gap between the guard and the CN pan, maybe about 1cm or less, but it is big enough for litter to get pushed up and out through the gap and onto the floor around the cage. Absolutely ridiculous because the scatterguard is useless. My guess is that it may work well to hold down fleece or other material, although the metal hooks get warped everything time you need to unhook them....but it is marketed for bedding, which is very misleading. I tried putting Gorilla duct tape around the inside to seal off the gap...it worked, but I didn't tape the outside, so I got bedding stuck to the sticky side of the tape exposed in the gap on the outside. Rather than retaping and covering the outside, I just bought 6" plastic bins, and leaves me with issue #2. I attached photos so you can kind of see what it looks like. The metal guards themselves are slightly warped (I bought brand new guards), but even the straight parts of the guards have the gap.
> 
> ...


If you go check this video out it might help for a cheaper solution for you  :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn0TQU_Acgw


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