Rat peeps! Cage recommendations please.

[SporkInTheToaster]

Afternoon all,

We plan to get a pair of male rats and I’m looking at accommodation for them. I know I need tall and spacious so they can can climb and play and without wire ‘shelves’/floors to protect their feet.

Do you have any recommendations that fulfil the safety criteria and easy/practical to clean and are £150?

Sorry, meant to say a max of £150!

I’ve always wanted to know, if you see a wild rat do you treat it like a pet or try to look after it like dog owners do with stray dogs?

No. Domestic/Fancy rats are a different thing.

Thanks toaster!

Interested in replies!

I have a large two story rabbit hutch that I can add shelves and platforms to, does anyone know if that’s suitable? If so then OP, I picked up mine for £90 at Pets at Home.

I’ve also heard people recommend the brand Critter Nation for rat cages, maybe have a look on their website and then look for secondhand ones too?

Wooden hutch? I wouldn’t want wood as it can’t be cleaned easily. Urine just soaks into the wood and that’s that. Anything designed for rabbits might have issues with bar spacing too. As in the bars might be too widely spaced to safely contain rats (especially young ones or small females). I’m looking specifically for a rat cage. That’s been my issue when looking online, all the ones i’m seeing have quite wide bar spacing and I don’t want to have to start modifying with chicken wire (not least because it is sharp).

I’ll look at critter nation though, thanks.

I currently keep a dwarf hamster in my hutch and have wood shavings on the floors with newspaper underneath, no problems with wee or bar spacing - dwarf hamsters are titchy! :)

Critter nation is probably the best bet; amazon will also have some Knock offs/very similar products with lesser known brand names, but at least you can have a look and see what dimensions are good.

Check out popamazing cages on amazon. If you look on Facebook there are a couple of good groups that give great advice. There is more to keeping rats than people realise and they are quite a lot of work. Plus they don’t do well at all on their own so you are better with at least 3 or 4 in a mischief so if one takes sick they still have company.

www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Friends-Blenheim-Extra-Accessories/dp/B005CAYUKY/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&keywords=rat+cage&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1530823887&sr=1-1

This is the one I have currently housing 8 boys but has been wrapped with chicken wire to keep my two babies from escaping not that it stops one of them who is currently roaming the bedroom floor (he'll take himself back in when he's fed up!)

www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Friends-Blenheim-Extra-Accessories/dp/B005CAYUKY/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&keywords=rat+cage&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1530823887&sr=1-1

This is probably the most popular cage in the rat community on Facebook.

You'll want to remove the shelves anyway as they just become soaked in pee - replace them with hammocks and bridges etc. Rats can easily be toilet trained.

I highly recommend the Rat Owners Group UK on facebook for support as there are some wonderfully knowledgeable people on there.