# Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats!



## Poppyseed

Well, I did have a better written out intro and I hit a button and the post was devoured by interweb grimlins *shake fist*

Anyway I'm building a wire cage and thought I would share a step by step process on the whole thing. I'm picking up supplies tomorrow!

I estimate i can create a cage large enough for 7 rats for just $70-$80! I'm only holding 3 and KEEPING IT AT THREE! Or at least I keep telling myself that lol. But seriously three rats is a good number for me and I would like it to stay that way but I want them to have PLENTY of room. I also wanted the cage to be easy to use and clean. So I looked at the ferret nation double layer design and came up with this very badly done blueprint:










So it will practically be like two cages on top of eachother with a connecting hole I imagine I could cover if I need two cages that hold 3 rats. I hope I don't have any intro problems, my two weeks are up and I havn't so far but Bert has only met Sabastian. I plan on him remeeting Sabastian tomorrow and also Odin. Any tips on this is very appreciated as well! Odin can act like an old fat grouch at times lol but he really is a nice fellow. I'm hopeing Bert's abundant energy will rub off on him and not annoy him severly.

But back to the cage. I am useing wire shelfing that is 8'x16" cut in two feet segments. I believe Lowes will cut the shelves for me so I'm going to have everything written out for tomorrow. I need 3 pieces of 8ft shelving cut into two foot increments and 2 pieces of 6 foot cut into 4 32" pieces. This leaves a little bit extra I could use for a base for ladders if needed. The cost of this is $57.58, by far the most expensive part of this project.

Now what do I line the wire shelves or make the trays with? I was thinking of useing the left over wire for at least one, covered in coroplast. I am purchasing at least 4 sheets of 20x30" coroplast from work at $3.76/sheet (yay discount!) I am going to cut the coroplast into two tray shapes as well as liners for the shelves and possibly ladders. I'm hopeing 4 will be enough this leads to a cost of $15.04 for the coroplast.

And I found zip ties at the dollar store yay! $1 cost there!

So yeah looking at it further it' sgoing to be more like $80-$90 but it will be custom for ME which I find important.

So far the cost is $73.62, not including tax. I still might have to have more shelving, or some more coroplast and I also want to switch to fabric bedding and add tunnels but that may come later. Most important right now is the cage itself.

Any thoughts of ideas? Here is the material I am useing for the wire frame:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50043-362-4736&lpage=none
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50093-362-4735&lpage=none

I shall update and take pictures as the steps progress. Estimated time of completion is Sunday! EEEEEee!


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

you can also buy a wooden bird ladder and cut it in half or thirds, they are like $5 for one. it's wood, so it will get chewed on, etc, but it depends on how much your rats chew wood, since it's a very nice ladder. 

what are you doing for the bottom? i know that martin's cages will sell you just the bottom pan for their cages (so the sizes are standardized) but it might be useful to have that tray on the bottom that you can just slide out or whatnot.


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## Night

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Oohh, very ncie plans! I'm eager to see how this turns out, though I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to cost more than you think


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## Kimmiekins

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Ohh, I'm loving the plans. Can't wait to see how it comes together. I can't wait to see the progress pictures.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*



OnlyOno said:


> you can also buy a wooden bird ladder and cut it in half or thirds, they are like $5 for one. it's wood, so it will get chewed on, etc, but it depends on how much your rats chew wood, since it's a very nice ladder.
> 
> what are you doing for the bottom? i know that martin's cages will sell you just the bottom pan for their cages (so the sizes are standardized) but it might be useful to have that tray on the bottom that you can just slide out or whatnot.


there will be wire on the top middle and bottom, the trays will slide in *nods*

It's not the huge size of a Martins so I don't think the trays will fit, hence why I'm purchasing coroplast.

And yeah Night it might, geuss I'll find out. I've done caculations on prices like a billion times so I don't think it could cost TOO much more.


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## reachthestars

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Wow, can't wait to see how the cage turns out . I loved my homemade cage, but now that I've had rats longer I know if I was to ever use it again I would have alot of modifications to be done.

Martin's trays are crazy expensive as well, you're better off making your own out of coroplast. I've never used it myself, but a friend had her buns in a cube cage with that as the tray and swears by the stuff!

You should take pictures throughout the process of making it so we can see how it's done and cheer you on .


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## DonnaK

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*



reachthestars said:


> You should take pictures throughout the process of making it so we can see how it's done and cheer you on .


Yes, that'd be good to see


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## cjshrader

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Good luck! Please do keep us updated on your progress, as I'm also curious as to what you'll have to go through while building. I'm also interested in using that shelving in the future.


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*



> Martin's trays are crazy expensive as well.


mhmm, they have an 18" by 30" tray for $15, so they're not too expensive. but of course, this doesn't _exactly_ match the dimensions you had set, so nevermind anyway! just thought i'd clear the price thing up in case someone was looking to get one for some other reason.


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

i double posted there, sorry about that.  sometimes my comp freaks out. it's those gremlins, i swear.


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## reachthestars

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

yes, but they want close to $15 for shipping on top of that. Much cheaper to just use choroplast (especially where it works just as well, and she can make it the exact size she needs).


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Yes, I just purchased 5 sheets of coroplast at work! I went with one extra just in case. The cost was $20 for the five sheets that are 20x30. I will have to figure out how to heat weld them or I can also duct tape maybe? 

I also found some LARGE space wire frames in the dumpster I think I might use for shelf support for the inners. Cut those to shape, make sure there aren't sharp edges and cover with coroplast.

I also nabbed some left over border from work that is called 'rainbow gel' to decorate the edges of the trays! It's very pretty and it will help tie in the mulit colored zip ties I purchased at good will. I might have to laminate it if I want it to last, but I may just use it as a throw away accessory I donno. We laminate for dirt CHEAP at work and I may even be able to do it for free!

I've also been wondering, do you think 16" is deep enough? The reason I'm not at the hardware store right now is because I'm rethinking my design. Will it be top heavy? Will it not support itself? Will it not be enough room? The cage caculator claims any dimension over 11" for depth is alright but I donno... So I'm wondering if I just make it 24"x32"x32" if that will be better? Thoughts or ideas?


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## Kimmiekins

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

The bigger, the better, in terms of space for ratties! I'd say go ahead and make it the bigger depth. Give 'em more room to run and play in.

Not sure if it would be top heavy at 16", I'm not so good at that kind of stuff. But again, if you just go bigger, there shouldn't be a problem.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Change of plans!

The dimensions are 24x32x32 now with 24 being the depth. It will be 16" increments, cut in half for a 16" full level and quite possibly a couple of half levels.

This is more economic and gives them more wide room, which I think they will appreciate. If I wish to expand another level it will be easy and only cost $10 XD But right now I think it's important to keep the wire part as inexpensive as possible seeing as I want to buy lots more toys and hammocks to put into the fun cage >w< 

Bert wants to add he's very excited and happy to be moving to the new home! He's been wagging his tail >_> I think that alone deserves it's own thread.

New dimensions cost $44.66 XD


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Alright, I went with the intention of buying the parts but came into a problem... wire spaceing. It seems the cheaper cage parts I had my eye on have a wire spaceing of 1"x5 3/4" D: YIKES! This seems to far apart for my rats, maybe not Odin or Sabastian who are large rats but Bert is quite small and may remain so, I have no idea whether he will grow larger or not, he's about half the size of Bastian and Odin D:

But, there is a silver lineing! There was some wire shelves that had a TIGHT mesh of under .5"x 5 3/4"!! This is MUCH tighter and seems safer but it is also more expensive. Where the larger mesh would cost me $30-$40 this will cost me $60-$70! I figure I don't need this smaller mesh for the middle or bottom of the cage as it will be covered at all times but I do need it for the outside of the cage.

So we are comming to $56 for 4 pieces of 6'x16" mesh (at nearly $14 a piece) and then maybe use one of the 6' by 12" sections with the larger mesh for the middle and bottom since it will be covered. That's around $65, adding on the coroplast I just spent makes this a total of $85 >_> But it will be a cage large enough to house 7 rats, not that I will but you can't find one that large and that easy to clean for that price, and this WILL be nice and large and easy to clean.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building*

Alright pictures! I just started and I'm nearly done with teh wire part and have to do ALL of the coroplast part still. I ran out of zip ties and Goodwill is closed so completion date might be tomorrow.

We had the guy cut all our pieces in two foot increments, purchased 4 6'x16" pieces cut into 2' increments and 1 6'x12" piece cut into 2' increments. It only cost us 25 cents to get the whole thing cut XD

So we brought the pieces home and got started. We found we needed to sand the edges down. We also could of purchased plastic paint and painted over the edges if you REALLY want to be perfect on the details. Since there was only black and glow in the dark paints we decided against that. Here are the cut edges:
















If sanding make sure you wear safety gear XD

the one in the front is unsanded and the one behind is sanded. Sand until it's smooth to touch, we could of possibly sanded more but I felt it was enough. I am keeping the unpainted edges towards the back during assembly so you only see the nice capped edges in the front.

Assembly was completed with zip ties. You need a BILLION of these. I had brought 3 packs and went through them all and I'm sure I could use another couple at least. 








There are little overhangs you need to be aware of. I found alternating these instead of pileing them on top of eachother helped. Some might even go so far as to cut these off. I found in some parts of the cage these edges helped and others it hindered. You really just have to see for yourself what's best.










Chris had to cut the nubs off the bottom and middle trays completely for them to fit as well as cut the doors. I found I wanted 1' doors instead of one 2' door when I got home, so he cut them for me. Best man EVER!

















and while he was doing that, I was assembeling like mad. At one point my cat came up and decided that this was a CAT cage, not a RAT cage. That or she's there waiting for me to put the rats in >_> really though she's a good cat and great around my small animals. Might be because she was practically raised by ferrets. They always beat her up.

















Yay and here I am now. I had some pieces left over so I used a 12" and a 16" wide shelf. Remember to cut a square in the bottom of the middle somewhere not too close to the edge:


























It is very heavy, something you should be aware of. I know I can always seperate the top from the bottom when going to deep clean but it's still very heavy. Also I find the zip ties have broken apart during moving, but these are cheap so it's no huge deal just a small annoyance. Also the door slides down and then won't shut cause of the upper lip D: But really I'm happy with how it turned out so far and can't wait to finish.

Once I do, I will be all over this process again to expand the ferret cage>_> I'm feeling a tad bit guilty as this cage is larger than my ferrets, maybe not a HUGE amount larger but large enough. Expanding the ferrets wont' be as pricey seeing as I can use the large spaced bars and it's just an expansion not a whole cage but it's going to have to wait a paycheck or two.


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## JennieLove

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Thats looking great! What kind of zip ties are you using? When I build a cage, I use the heavy duty kind. Those are very VERY hard to break!


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Urr... the cheap kind from Goodwill >_> The green ones are very flimsy and most of the package is them, the yellow ones are pretty good and the red ones are really good and tough, but the package didn't come with many. Perhaps I should just go to the hardware store and get the heavy duty kind D:


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## JennieLove

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

That is ONE CUTE KITTY! xD


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## Night

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Oh wow, definitely coming along! Awesome job! I can't wait to see the finished product


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Inanna is the best kitty EVER! She loves her belly rubbed and is a total lap hog. She does tend to get jealous of my rats at times, especially when they also hog my lap. She would come up and lay on my lap and when I had Joshu out he would lay on top of her D: I know, I know people will tell me 'omg you let those different species get THAT close!' But she would give him kisses and I would be very careful of watching them. Joshu loved Inanna, I could really tell and Inanna er... she liked him just fine XD Don't know about love.

Nanna finds Bert very interesting and will watch him intently. Like I said though she's a good kitty and I watch like a hawk when the rats are out so everything is fine. The most she does is watch.

Nabikki could care less about the rats, as long as they stay away from her she's fine. She's a skittish cat.

Nanna also has green eyes but they photograph yellow D: She is five years old.


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## JennieLove

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Awww! I have 16 kitties! All are fixed and my oldest is 20 years, her name is Sammy.


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## reachthestars

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Wow, the cage is looking really awesome . I can't wait to see more pics .


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## Kimmiekins

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Oh wow, I'm impressed! I'm lovin' it so far. I can't wait to see it finished.

As for zip-ties, we used to buy the dollar store packs that had different sizes/strengths. We eventually gave in and just bought one of the containers of 1000 at the hardware store. It seemed like a lot at the time, but considering how many times we went back to the dollar store for more, it was probably cheaper. (I haven't built a cage, btw, this is just routine use before I had the FN, which I don't use 'em for anymore). They're a billion times stronger.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Thanks! Looks like I'm going to the hardware store, I'm not going to replace all right now, but finish with those and gradually replace as things break.


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

that looks awesome! build me one?! haha, just kidding. think i've got a tall bird cage (can house like 7 rats) coming from craigslist for like $35. YES. but really, your cage looks awesome.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

ooh! GREAT score there! I havn't had any luck with Craigslist here. Thanks for the compliment, this one houses 7 and can be made into two cages if needed like a ghetto ferret nation XD

It will look so bare, I need hammocks. I brought some fleece pants to make some, but I will have to hand sew. Perhaps on my break at work?


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

haha. at work i make rubber band balls. but if i could get away with it, i'd knit hammocks. at least the rubber band ball i can hide in a drawer, or at least claim i'm making it to collborate the 60 rubber bands strewn wildly about the cashwrap.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

I make rubber band balls too! Hehe easy to hide in my apron. On my break I can do whatever I want and I've not been feeling very artsie lately so maybe doing something more crafty would be the key.

No more work on the cage tonight I'm afraid. I'm spent.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Pretty much all I did today was finish getting the doors on. Finishing it during this week will be very difficult as I work mostly nights after today. I worked a morning shift today but had belly dancing class D: That really knocks me out, I'm surprised I even did that XD

Just watched a movie with my sweetie and gave Bert some out time! Now Bastian is on my lap and licking my hands to death. The guy won't ever STOP it's so adorable and yet obsessive at the same time. I geuss I can't be clean enough.


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## OnlyOno

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

i always wondered why sometimes rats do that. lotion, i always assumed. either way, i love it. their tongue are so TINY and delicate.

anywho, keep us updated on your cage!  i scored that bird cage, got to drive like 40 miles after class tomorrow to go get it, but i'm excited. i need another paycheck, badly.


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

He does that regardless if I wear lotion or not or even if it's a non bath day for me (I take showers every other day for skin health and hair health reasons) He does that the SECOND I put my hand up to him. If I put my hand up to his mouth, lick lick lick and he will go on. If he looses interest and I put my hand back up he will continue. He could do this forever >_>

I have no idea why he does this. I think it might be a obsession of his. Maybe some kind of nervous compultion or maybe it's because he was weaned and seperated all to young since he WAS a feeder baby. Imagine, a cage full of rats so tiny all crowded together and you see a big eared boy looking at you D: I couldn't pass him up even though I know now no more feeders.


Doors are on the cage and I found some springs on a dumped fouton I scavanged and put on as hinges. at least PART of that thing is being used for the cage, I was thinking of useing the wire as well but it's so od and looks too hard to use so it's probably going back in the dumpster. I'm such a scavanger.

Also started working on hammocks. I think I will join the cloth bedding band wagon as care fresh just becomes all too much to purchase. I still have a mostly full 50 liter bag to use though D: I think maybe useing it in litter boxes perhaps? I also scavanged a large cardboard tube from work. It comes from the paper by the yard rolls we sell. I'm going to lay claim on all large tubes now! I meant it to be for the rats but the ferrets love it so much, it will probably be an out toy for everyone to use (The ferrets are out at different time than the rats but I figure they can still use the same toys.)


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

It's being lived in but there are still little things I want to do before it's done! Now I have it split into two while Bert and the other boys sniff eachother out. I havn't done intros for a few days and decided to do them today and Bert was really being vicious, riseing on his hinds with his mouth open staring the other rat down and hiccuping D: He even squeked if they got close but he didn't bite, even though he LOOKED like he was D: It didn't go so well today, probably because we were too close to his territory. Neutral territory for tomorrows intro session.

But when they seem to be getting used to eachother I just need to take the middle shelf out and cut a hole in it as well as one of the fleece blankets I am useing as bedding. I decided not to put edges on the shelves as when I did I measured it wrong and it didn't fit D: SO I got mad and cut it quickly, covered it with fabric and put it in and THEN it fit without the edges. It looked fine and I like the fabric bedding as ready cause whenever I see raisens and discarded food it's easy to just pick right up and throw away or put back in the food dish or whatever. I have some messy boys.

Here are pics:

















































I made my hammocks! I had to hand sew them on my breaks at work. Seems to be a new hobby of mine, handsewing things for this cage >_> I need to purchase more fleece blankets for bedding and some for the levels as well and I want to cover all the coroplast with colored contact paper to look much nicer, seal the holes, and make the heat welded parts look better as well. No one has taken to the hammocks yet as they are new but we will have to wait and see.

Bastian and Odin need baths, and I think they are at a point in their health where that won't be too stressful and bad for them. I worry their myco will flair up if I stress them out too much D:


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## Kimmiekins

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~ STARTED! P*

Wow, looks great!  I am completely impressed. How'd you do the ramps (if you've already said, I suck, sorry!)?


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## JennieLove

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

Coolness! Oh! Are those the springs your using for the doors?! I have the silver ones, but where did you get those awesome black ones!!! Haha xD


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

AWW! Bert's sleeping in the new hammock D:


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

I used corrugated plastic or sign plastic! It's very easy to heat weld, cut, fold and everything and fun to use! I found the springs on a discarded fouton in the dumpster. I'm a HUGE scavanger that way, saw it and said 'let's see if there is anything we can use for the cage!'


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## JennieLove

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

lmao, I need to go dumpster diving one of these days! Haha.


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## reachthestars

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

Wow, that has got to be the coolest homemade cage I've ever seen! How many rats can it hold? Beware GGMR now that you have more cage space .


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

It can hold five and OMG do I ever KNOW D: There are two adorable rats nearby on petfinder >_> But I think THREE is enough lol.

edit: for some reason I thought it can hold seven. Must of been the billions of caculations I put in lol. It's 24x24x32. I put it through the caculator and it said five. Oh well still plenty of space for my boys and it's easily expandable if needed >_>


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## cjshrader

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

Any idea what the final cost was?


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

The smaller wire spaceing cost twice as much as the 1"x5" spaceing. I probably could of gone with that just fine, but Bert is small so I worried of him escaping. If your rat is an escape artist, go with the smaller spaceing but other than that I would think the larger spaceing is fine.

I spent around $70 for the wire and $20 for the coroplast covers (you could probably use stick linolium for cheaper but I wanted something removable). That's around $90. It would of been only $30 for the wire if I had went with the larger spaceing. You could go for that and cover with hardware cloth if needed as well if you found your rats would escape.

Night was right, it was much more expensive than I thought but I'm happier with it than any other cage I could buy for $90.


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## cjshrader

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

Oh definitely $90 sounds good for a cage that size. Mine came from a pet store and the more I read here the more I know I overpaid. Oh well!

In the future, I plan on building a "grotto" style cage for hopefully $150 or less. We'll see how that turns out, but I like to know the cost of the alternatives.

Your cage came out very well, by the way!


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## Poppyseed

*Re: Adventures in wire shelf style cage building~Now w/ rats*

I don't think Bastian and Odin have even gone on the second level yet D: This is odd as they had a small corner level in their all too small cage I just got them out of. I feel so much better to get them out of that cage and into something they diserve. If only Joshu were with them as well *sighs* he would of LOVED the new cage.


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