How to Set Up Your First Rat Cage

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By pkwj
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A rat is a fantastic choice as a first pet or as an apartment pet. How you set up the cage is just as important as which rat you choose.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

pet rat
water bottle
food dish
bedding
food
toys
wire cage or aquarium

Step 1

The first step in setting up a new rat cage is choosing which type of cage you would like to use.
A good choice is an aquarium with a screen top. This type of cage offers a safe, secure home for your pet. However, it doesn't allow for good airflow and therefore, may cause your pet to smell. A wire cage topper is available for aquariums to both provide airflow and extra height.

Another choice is an all wire cage. These are a touch more expensive, but often offer several levels for your rat(s) to use. This type of cage also provides excellent ventilation, reducing smell.
Step 2

Next, you will need to provide a bedding substance. This is needed for the comfort of your pet as well as to absorb waste products.

It is important to avoid pine and cedar wood shavings if you are using an aquarium for a cage. This is because both of these types of bedding have been shown to cause respiratory issues in rodents. The lack of ventilation in an aquarium allows the gasses to accumulate at the rats level.

Much better choices are crushed corn cob, shredded paper or a "fluff" based bedding.
Corn cob is inexpensive and absorbs ammonia smells fairly well.
Shredded paper is cheap, but tends does not absorb liquid waste and will need to be changed several times a week.
"Fluff" bedding is more expensive, but will be greatly appreciated by your pet.
Step 3

Now it is time to add the food and water. A food dish can be anything that the rat won't be able to chew to pieces. There are a variety of pet dishes made just for rodents - these come in many sizes and colors and are an excellent choice.

When choosing a water bottle, it is important to choose one that can hang outside the cage (if using a wire cage) or one that is protected from rodent teeth (if using an aquarium cage). The size of the bottle isn't too important as long as water is always made available.
Step 4

Now comes the fun part ... toys.

Rats can be VERY entertaining to watch as they move their food from their dish to where they think it should really be.
If given at a young enough age, rats will use a wheel (a ferret wheel is just the right size).
Rats sleep alot...and for this reason, will enjoy a hammock in their cage. This is generally a piece of fabric that is attached to the corners of the cage, providing a warm snuggly place for the perfect nap.

Comments

3bigdogs said

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on 10/30/2009 Rats are the sweetest animals, and very social and trainable. good tips, thanks! 5*

on 10/6/2009 A 10 Gallon fish tank is the minimum amount of space for a rat. If you have no choice but to use this make sure your rat gets lots of out of cage time. Due to the limited amount of space, let the rat choose where things go. They know what to do.

I had my rats when I lived with my dad and couldn't afford a bigger cage or to get two rat at a time.
My cage sat on my book shelf. I took everything else off the shelf and left the top of the cage open when I was home so the rat could run around on the shelf when I was busy.

Wash the fish tank cage more frequently, smells can get trapped in the caulk they use to make the cage.
Rinse with vinegar after you wash the cage. It will remove odors and soap perfume/residue.

Aspin pine bedding has very little dust and oils in it and is a alternative to regular wood chips for rodents. It used to be special order, but most pet stores will carry it n...