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Pet rat housing question

measley

measley

Smile, you are alive!!
Hi!

This isn't really a "feeder" question but I hope all of you rodent breeders will be able to help me with this...

My roommate just gave me two of her baby rats so that I could keep them as pets. Right now, they are living in one of her extra breeder tubs but I'm looking into housing and one of the things I was looking at was one of those "tank toppers," something similar to this: http://www.critter-cages.com/images/wa00337.jpg

What do you guys think?
Are there any drawbacks?

Thank you!!
and for fun, I'm attaching pictures of the little guys...
 

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Aww they are so adorable! I have two pet rats(thinking about getting one more, lol). I thought about getting mine a topper like that but I decided I wanted something bigger so I was looking at ferret/rat cages.
Good luck with your new babies!
 
The best cages are made by Martins.
I have the 695 model.

Tanks and tubs tend to let amonia fumes build up, which if you clean it alot is fine for most critters, but ratties have very delicate respiratory systems.

Your babies are ADORABLE!!!!!!
 
starsevol said:
The best cages are made by Martins.
I have the 695 model.

Tanks and tubs tend to let amonia fumes build up, which if you clean it alot is fine for most critters, but ratties have very delicate respiratory systems.

Your babies are ADORABLE!!!!!!
Click to expand...

How many rats do you have in that one? I have two now and am probably getting a third tomorrow.
 
They are really cute McKenna. They remind me of pikas . The cage you pictured looks neat and fun, which are not exactly professional or advisory terms. I kept several pairs of breeder mice for propagating feeders back in the 1970's, but I suspect my setups were rather more primitive than what's available now. Ya' think? LOL.
You know, for me, it got to be more trouble for the return (other than babies going in the freezer),....but with cuties like yours, if we lived closed, I just might consider asking/paying for a pair of offspring.
It's got to be hard to keep animals up north. Down here, (at least in the 1970's), no one complained about me keeping a mouse colony outside year round.
 
I don't remember how many it holds comfortably. At least 4 big males though (and maybe more, there IS a cage calculator on the internet somewhere!).

Right now I only have 2 rats.
I usually only keep 2-3 at a time.
 
Iguanagirl8662 said:
Aww they are so adorable! I have two pet rats(thinking about getting one more, lol). I thought about getting mine a topper like that but I decided I wanted something bigger so I was looking at ferret/rat cages.
Good luck with your new babies!
Click to expand...
Thank you!!

starsevol said:
The best cages are made by Martins.
I have the 695 model.

Tanks and tubs tend to let amonia fumes build up, which if you clean it alot is fine for most critters, but ratties have very delicate respiratory systems.

Your babies are ADORABLE!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Thans! I'm really loving them!!

My roommate told me about the Martin's cages as well... I guess I'll try to find some of those!!

vetusvates said:
They are really cute McKenna. They remind me of pikas . The cage you pictured looks neat and fun, which are not exactly professional or advisory terms. I kept several pairs of breeder mice for propagating feeders back in the 1970's, but I suspect my setups were rather more primitive than what's available now. Ya' think? LOL.
You know, for me, it got to be more trouble for the return (other than babies going in the freezer),....but with cuties like yours, if we lived closed, I just might consider asking/paying for a pair of offspring.
It's got to be hard to keep animals up north. Down here, (at least in the 1970's), no one complained about me keeping a mouse colony outside year round.
Click to expand...

Thanks Eric! They're both males... I don't think I could feed live to my snakies, or even prekill them myself. I was only going to get the curly haired one from here but found out that they need to be kept with others so I got the blue dumbo as well!

I've never kept rats before so it's all new, but I'm having fun!

Thanks for the comments, all!!
 
A few words of advice, ok?
they can chew. Most of mine haven't, but if you leave something near the cage, it will be chewed :)
They are also poop machines. What I do is line an old sofa with sheets with a waterproof table cloth on the bottom. Then they can pooh and chew to their hearts content while they play.

The more you love them, the more they will love you back. Mine come out and watch tv with me everynight.
 
Thanks again, Bethany!

I need all the advice I can get!

I've been taking them out as much as possible! They're so cute, I can't leave them alone!
 
2 things I forgot.....

If your boys pee on you, don't be upset! Ratties "mark" the things they love the most.
And if one does it right after the other, it's like they are saying "I love her more!" "No, I love her more!". It's kind of icky but when you look at it from a rats point of view, it's a compliment!
My 2 boys were scared feeders. The first time they peed on me I was so happy I almost cried!

Also, rats tussle. Some are more vocal than others. Mine squeak up a storm, you would think they are killing each other! But never seperate unless there are injuries, or one rat is visably scared of the other one.
 
"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to starsevol again."

Thank you so much for your advice!

I read that on one of the sites I was researching pet rats on so I think I'm ready for it!!
 
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