My new Rat cage!

[Arpolis]

Hello again to the masses!

My wife loves to save money and for our sub adults and adult corn snake we where going to the local mom and pop pet store and getting about 3 rat pups or pinks for anywhere between $8.00 - $10.00 depending on if the rats eyes where open or not. This was pretty expensive. For all my other snakes I have Frozen Fuzzies from Rodent pro. My wife insists that at least our one adult need live/CO2 stunned food since it should be healthier than frozen food. This finnally lead to us wanting to breed some rats for our corns. We have choosen Fancy rats since that is what the mom and pop store has been giving us all this time. So finnaly to make my point. I wanted to share with everyone what it took and cost to start my 1.2 colony. If anyone has suggestions on things I could change or if somthing is wrong please let me know.

1st of all Materials.
1) One Sterilite 34 QT {26 1/2" X 16" X 6 1/2"} = $7.00
2) One Water Bottle = $2.08
3) One Roll of 2' long 1/2" size square aluminum wire mesh = 6.88
4) 7 small bags of small Bolts, washers & nuts = $6.86
5) One Mini Nibler Wood ball thing = $3.49
6) One package with Two mineral licks = $2.99
7) 113 liter bag of aspen = 12.99
8) 5lb bag of rat food {Protein-21%, Crude fat-4.5%, crude fiber-7.0, moisture-12%, Omega 3 fatty acids-.4%, & DHA-.04%} = $8.99
9) 7lb bag of "critter feeder mix" Corn, peanuts, sunflower seeds... {Crude Protein-6%, Crude fat-7%, Crude fiber-10%} = $5.78
10) One box of 10 2" binder clips = 3.99
11) One male and 2 female "Fancy rats" = 28.97

Total cost = 92.82 tax and all!

Now with that same money it looks like I could get about 8-9 weekly meals for 3 snakes. Is this worth it? We will see! Now I know you are looking at my list of stuff and say to yourself, "Sterilite tub!?! Is there anything we can't use those for!". I know man isn't the Sterilite tubs with the locking lids great. For the bigger ones I use the 2" binder clips to keep the lid down. The two food bags I got mix together at about 1.5 parts Rat food and 1 part critter feeder mix. Again any tips or cunstrucktive critisism is always welcome.

Oh and here are some pics of the finished product!

 

[Arpolis]

Oh and I forgot to add that I made some divided rooms in the cage from some 2"X4"s and 4 screws. I am sure you see how easy that went together.

 

[Buzzard]

Not bad. The only suggestion is where the water bottle enters the tub. I have (when I first started out) had it where they will chew around the water bottle hole extending it and escape. Just keep a close eye on it.

(Looking back over it), Besides the food area and water bottle, are there any other air holes? The reason I ask is that rat poo and Urine, without proper air flow, can be toxic. This is why a lot of rodents tend to pee and poo in corners of there cages (usually furthest away from there nest.

Not sure on the head room, and number of rats you have in the container. When a rat has pups they can have 10 or more. So I might go down to 1 male 1 female in a cage that size. Build a second cage with one female in it and remove the male to that cage once it is obvious the female is pregnant. Rats are not like mice. Male usually can be transfered to and fro as long as there are no babies present.

Just a few observation. Other than that I really like how you build the food area....

I just looked over your total cost and about $30.00 to construct the cage.

Pending on the amount of room you have. You could build a small rack for about $25.00. It fits on most table tops and has 2 bins. I will have to dig up the contruction plans. I actually have a picture of the mouse one Which cost around $15.00 to build(didnt include the water bottle)

With the rat one, I use Jumbo litter pans but still only 1 female, 1 male (which I rotate).

You seem extremely handy, which means you could build one of these extremely easy..... It takes me about 2 hours and I am thinking about building them and staining the next couple I build and taking them to the show to sell.

 

[Arpolis]

Thanks for the response!

For ventilation I now see it is hard o see in the pics
but each corner has 6 1/4" holes. You think that is enough? I will watch the water battle hole so thanks for the tip there. On the height there is approx two rat heights worth of room "for their curent size", and there might be a little bit to spare.

 

[wstphal]

When I kept mice in tubs, I used a washer & hot glue to protect the holes in the tub from chewing, including the ones for the water bottle tubes. After drilling the hole in the tub, I hot glued an appropriate-sized washer around the hole to protect the edges from chewing. It worked great! I also made a large hole in the tub lid and covered all of it with wire mesh, which provided good ventilation when combined with holes on the sides of the tubs,

 

[Arpolis]

Cool deal. I need to get me some washers for my holes then. "my bucket-o-spare parts has been ransacted and emptied out". I guess I am getting a decent food for my critters. What do you think about the ratios? I basically got the food Pelets cause that was the ONLY kind of large pellet food the local shops had. I figgured it a bit expensive so I wanted to cut it with a cheap alternative. I try the overal ratio a bit more of the expensive stuff to my cheaper since the overal fat content is low on it but you think this is an ok diet?

 

[Buzzard]

Thanks for the response!

For ventilation I now see it is hard o see in the pics
but each corner has 6 1/4" holes. You think that is enough? I will watch the water battle hole so thanks for the tip there. On the height there is approx two rat heights worth of room "for their curent size", and there might be a little bit to spare.

I see the top vents now. I would at the least double those. I would do what wstphal suggested and cut big holes in the top(like your food bin), and cover it just like your food bin so that you do get the vent.

wstphal,

Awesome idea on the washers.

 

[Sinsational]

Nice setup. I am also with the "not enough ventilation" crowd. I have a 20 galon tank that I keep a few of my ratties in, and even with the whole top being mesh and open, it still stinks super bad after a few days.

 

[Arpolis]

I am about to change the lid to add that extra mesh so I will post pics when
done.

 

[Arpolis]

Upgraded!

Thanks again for the replies and suggestions. I have made a couple of changes that I think will make this a better/safer setup. 2nd pic is the water bottle hole. Also I am on day 5 of the rats in the cage and the way it was befor did not smell bad. Then again there is a 8 foot cage with 6 ferrets not but 4ft away from this cage. uke01: lol. Let me know what ya think.

 

[Sinsational]

Looks much better! If the rats are young it probably will last a bit longer before it starts to smell. How old are they? I like the water bottle hole, it looks very well done!

 

[Arpolis]

I was told the male was no older than 6 months. The store did not have acurate records on that animal. The two females from the same litter are about 4 months old. They are a bit smaller than the male. I dont know if that is age or just difference in size due to sex?

 

[sarae]

Then again there is a 8 foot cage with 6 ferrets not but 4ft away from this cage. uke01: lol.

Funny, I said something just like this today! I told a co-worker that my cage with 10 female rats didn't really smell unless they peed on their wheel... but then again, there's a cage of 8 ferrets right next to them, so who am i to judge? :roflmao:

 

[Buzzard]

Usually males are much larger than the females. It looks great, and I hope it works well for you.

 

[Arpolis]

Funny, I said something just like this today! I told a co-worker that my cage with 10 female rats didn't really smell unless they peed on their wheel... but then again, there's a cage of 8 ferrets right next to them, so who am i to judge? :roflmao:

Lol once you get used to ferrets the rats aren't that bad. My black female looks like she is nesting in one corner of the cage while the others still roam a lot. Could she have been impregnated within about 5 days already or is she just different than the other female?

 

[sarae]

She could be impregnated within seconds of meeting a male. It doesn't take long sometimes! However, some girls just like to nest. Mine have never seen a boy (they're all rescues) but about a third of them are always making a nest somewhere.