# Double Critter Nation Advice - It's too much space!



## Kenowhereman (Aug 29, 2015)

Hello. I have only two rats and I wanted to give them the most spectacular home I could afford, which was the double critter nation. I love that this give them four floors to play on. But, in reality, it seems like it's 4 floors to poop, pee, and sleep on rather than play (haha). With only two rats I'm getting really worn out cleaning this thing from top to bottom all of the time and the cost of bedding sucks. Any tips or tricks on maybe keeping these costs down and making cleaning go by in a snap?

Or, has anyone ever taken the double critter nation and turned it into a single? I'm not convinced they need all of the space and it would allow me to better pack in all of their toys and hidie holes. Plus, less to clean on a regular basis.

Any help would be good, thanks!


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

A single is enough space for just two but really you can easily adjust the cage to make things easier too! And honestly with just two rats in that much space you can do smaller cleaning jobs inbetween whole cage cleaning.

Remove all of the shelfs. They don't need them. You can even remove the entire middle floor.

Add lots of hammocks- these can easily be changed out inbetween full cage cleans.
Add hanging baskets, perches, lava ledges, ropes, space pods, etc...

this is not my cage but I super love it-
https://www.facebook.com/atlantisra...237266184371/1062031267238295/?type=3&theater


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

I second what moonkissed suggests! You can also get a lot of baskets from the dollar store and hang them up on the sides of the cage. I have an SRS (very similar to the DCN) for my three girls and I use hemp bedding. I left in the ledges but took out the middle. I think not having a middle section in the cage cuts bedding expenses. 

As for feeling worn out... yeah I hear you, this cage take me a couple hours each weekend to clean, but to see how excited my girls are when they come back to a freshly set up cage is worth it!


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## Kenowhereman (Aug 29, 2015)

I'd love to try something like this but one of my girls only has three working limbs. The other has a massive tumor growth through the bone. She wouldn't be able to make the climb on most of this. It would require serious amounts of well made and well angled ladders. I am so uncreative.


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

If you've got girls with such severe mobility issues, it might be better to just use the bottom half...I don't know if there's a way to physically separate the halves (I've never had a CN), but I know that there are ways to block off the top or bottom half of the cage.


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## Heyyouguys (Jun 19, 2016)

If they poop and pee everywhere have you considered litter training? My boys are only part litter trained (because they prefer sleeping in their litter tray so poop less in it) but it's so much easier to clean that daily and then do a full clean weekly. I use a mix of recycled paper pellets and aspen which just scoops up on in between clean days and swap my hammocks when they get stinky. I actually only have 2 boys myself and want to get a much bigger cage so that when I am at work and can't let the out for long they have loads of space to play (or mor likely sleep as they're super lazy!) 

I feel like there's no such thing as giving a pet too much space, but hopefully litter training will make cleaning a bit of a smaller job for you


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

Ah okay I didn't know that your girls had difficulty getting around. That changes things a lot then they will probably need a smaller space. I can imagine that you can turn it into a single just by removing the top half portion and using the top "ceiling" piece from that.


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