View Full Version : what do you keep rats in?
vincenzo
12-28-03, 06:28 PM
i have my 1-4 rats in a rubbermaid container and they seem to enjoy eating there way out!! why would a female try to eat her way out and how can i stop this it really pisses me off!! it happened once when i had a female by herself then i put her back in the colony and haven't had problems since then and that was 2 months ago
any help appriciated
thanks
vince
Hamster of Borg
12-28-03, 07:06 PM
Rats are chewers, a simple fact of rodent life. With four, you have four times the amount of potential destruction, four times the amount of activity. Plus, when one starts the others get interested in doing it too. Only way to stop it, is to use a container with flat/untextured surfaces so they can't get ahold of anything to chew on. Or simply put them in a more secure environment. I just stick to typical rodent caging - while a little more inconvenient for cleaning, much more convenient for security.
Ham
I use Big Apple Herps' rodent breeder racks. I love them.
reverendsterlin
12-28-03, 07:17 PM
the freezer lol
Missing from the pic is a 3'x1'x1.5' blue sterilite tub. Only time I had anyone chew their way out was when I accidentally forgot to put a water bottle back in the tub which gave them an access hole to go to work on.
<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/22themeatfarm.jpg">
sapphire_moon
01-01-04, 09:19 AM
I just use a regular rat cage. Very inconvient for cleaning, but I only have lone starter pair (1.1) and can't wait till they start!lol
You could make them stop chewing on the cage by getting that bitter spray. and by keeping chew toys in their cage.
Linds how do you keep the screen down on the top?
We are using rat cages for the moment but as funds allow we will be switching to rat racks.
The holding tank on the top? I just usually keep that white bucket (filled with water) on top, if not then something else. They cannot reach the top, but I wold rather not chance that they would hold on to the frame wnd wriggle out :p
sapphire_moon
01-02-04, 12:40 PM
no the rubbermaids, I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. How do you keep the screen on the rubbermaids down??
Some type of heavy-duty glue, I forget what it is called (I don't have anymore so I cannot check). It is clear and takes 24 hours to set. Hot glue won't permanently affix the hardware cloth to rubbermaid surface for some reason.
Linds, in your rat sterilite containers, how have you affixed the water bottles to the outside?
Jumbo cat litter pans $7.99 @ TSC. construct a wood frame lid with 1/2" hardware cloth through food on the top and stick a water bottle through one of the holes.
I drilled a hole for the spout, then I drilled two holes in which I attached two hooks (shaped pieces of wire coathanger). A broad elastic band is used to hold the bottle on via the hooks.
AlexPan
02-03-04, 05:16 AM
why go thrue all of the trable of gluing the lids onto the rubber maids, worring about them getting out?
I just go and get my selpg a cracked 30 galon ocvarium with a lid, that way it all together costs under $30.00. and there is no way they can chew thrue glass.
sapphire_moon
02-03-04, 06:38 AM
ya, but some people don't have the room to have something that large for the amount of rats they need to feed their snakes.
Plus they DON'T chew through. You get a rubbermaid/sterelite container that has NO lips or curves on the inside so they don't have anything to get a hold of. I don't glue any screen, I use bolts, the screen stays in place, the top stays on, and no one gets out.
It's not hard to do. Plus I can make my own feeding basket to watch how much food they are eating. and to easily add/remove food. I would think with a normal lid you would have to cut into it, or just throw the food in there.
BoAddict
02-05-04, 08:29 AM
well i used to use rubbermaids but eventually you will find that they chew out of them and you are then constantly repairing
i just got some cages built for me 4 cages to start and see how i like em
well i finally got the cages and they are awesome
the 1st pic is an empty cage and the 2nd pic is of filled cages
the good thing is i can stack them 3 high and if your taller even 4 or 5 high
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/3045Im000521-med.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/3045Im000522-med.jpg
hope you like
mike
sapphire_moon
02-05-04, 08:56 AM
thats great, for pet rats. But if these are breeder/feeder rats then you want them to be nice and fat. Especially the females. You don't want them to run around alot. So they can have the extra fat on them for their babies. Plus when you go to pull one out, they like to attach themselves to the wires...If you were going to spend that money I would have just gotten bigappleherp.com breeder cages.
Edit:
And believe me, with a "cage" like that, they will go up on the second level, and pee out the side! lol
Yeah, I must admit, I think I'll stick to my rubbermaids. One thing I do like about the rubbermaid is that they can't "drop" their bedding/food scraps out the sides like they could when I used a cage similar to that. And, they are easier to get out when I want them out. Also, I switched from a cage similar to that, to a rubbermaid because I found accessibility to the nest was a problem when the female had a litter. With the rubbermaid, I just take off the lid and remove the igloo and have instant access to the nest. I haven't had any problems with them chewing, but as cheap as rubbermaids are, if they did chew a hole, I could replace it 10 times for the cost of one of those cages.
sapphire_moon
02-05-04, 12:24 PM
exactly, when I went to pull out the mother from a cage like that (that I had her in) she charged my hand, I couldn't go in from the top like I can a rubbermaid and just do a quick transfer of picking her up by the tail, it took me 15-20 minutes to get her unlocked from the wire of the cage, the babies were like 1wk old and she wouldn't let me in the nest, It resulted in me having a 1in cut/bite because she bit me, startled me, and I jerked back, plus a bite mark under that, right on my knuckle.
with the rubbermaid I can take the top off, find her tail, and do a quick transfer to a bucket I put them in when cleaning and checking on the babies. When I'm done, put the nest back the way it was, and put her and the father back....and all without getting my fingers chewed off! lol
I use leather work gloves when handling the mommy rats. also I tend to either push them in the corner of the cage and rub their belly or flip them on their back in my hand and rub their belly. it's a dominance thing
this is our set up right now...
http://rats.lexxdog.com/condo-01.jpg
http://rats.lexxdog.com/MVC-009F.JPG
http://rats.lexxdog.com/Mvc-010f.jpg
http://rats.lexxdog.com/Mvc-011f.jpg
BoAddict
02-06-04, 09:18 PM
you guys make it sound like a hell thing its not that bad i thought it would be hell too but i guess i just have good rats
my next set of cages wont have levels tho i didnt know they would have levels but hey live and learn but he the guy that made my cages knows i dont need levels now
as for those of you that choose to keep in rubbermaids i hope you have your rats in a room that has a door, i dont know how many times ive woken up to the room with roaming rats as they have chewed out, yea they are cheap but a pain in the a$$ , those cages cost me $54 cdn each not too bad if you ask me and i keep 1.4 in there
Mike
The main three reasons we're switching to racks are a) mess b) temperature control and c) space.
sapphire_moon
02-06-04, 11:28 PM
not had one rat even attempt to chew. Maybe yours are just especially bad. lol. We usually give ours a bit of cardboard or something for them to chew on, and they ignore the plastic.
You might want to put linoleum (sp???) on the wire levels, the wire CAN and will cause something called bumble foot.
What I wouldn't give to be able to get cages like that! (for my pet rats)
I don't want to have to wear gloves every time I go into the cage. I go in the cage almost daily to check on things, and to handle and socialise her (so hopefully she won't be a "w"itch like her mother).
sapphire: you can - www.martinscages.com make sure you get the powder coated, they last way longer then the galvanised.
sapphire_moon
02-13-04, 06:55 AM
ahhh I thought those looked familar! lol Maybe one day. I would love to have that HUGE cage. for all those ones that just turn out way to cute to give to my snakes. lol
we use the huge cage to hold all the rats to get bigger. we have 2 of those cages, one for the males, one for the females.
sapphire_moon
02-13-04, 09:10 PM
I want one for the pet rats......when I checked on the Rittens (thanks for the correctino!) 2 of them looks like they are going to be BLACK. lol, the parents are beige (mother) and a PEW (father) I can't wait to see how they turn out, may need another cage.....2 has folded down ears....dumbos maybe......probably not, if it is, and it's female I can always breed it! :) I just got a 50 gal sterilite to put them, theres room for atleast 2 more rats....
If it turns out to be a dumbo and you decide to breed it and get more dumbos, I just might make a trip up there to buy one from you!
sapphire_moon
02-15-04, 08:01 AM
I wish I could get a dumbo, even if it were a male I would put it in with the pet rats as a future breeder. if I ever got more than 2 though I more than likely give it away. But I'm leaving in the end of june so I doubt that I will have one by then, and I doubt you will want to drive up to maine to get one from me! lol
I've just come back from the pet store where they had dumbos and also blue rats. I was really tempted to get one (but couldn't decide which!) What stopped me is that these were only a few weeks old and I have an established colony of adult rats. I don't want to start a new colony as I just don't have that much need of rats and I wasn't sure about adding a new, very young rat to an established colony of adults.
BoidKeeper
02-15-04, 06:07 PM
I use the roughneck rubbermaid. I line it with 1/4" metal mesh forming a metal basket. I cut a lare portion of the lid out and line it with the same metal mesh. Then I make a feeder out of the same mesh and attach it to the lid. That way I never have to remove the lid to feed them. The water bottle is attached to the outside much like in Linds pic. When it comes time to clean I lift out the basket and out come the mess with it.
Cheers,
Trevor
sapphire_moon
02-15-04, 09:28 PM
hmmmmmm great Idea! I just might have to do that!
Originally posted by Auskan
I've just come back from the pet store where they had dumbos and also blue rats. I was really tempted to get one (but couldn't decide which!) What stopped me is that these were only a few weeks old and I have an established colony of adult rats. I don't want to start a new colony as I just don't have that much need of rats and I wasn't sure about adding a new, very young rat to an established colony of adults.
I find it way easier to add a weened rat to a colony of adults. The small rat isn't big enough to make a threat to the pecking order and you're less likely to have serious wounds from fights because the little rat's going to be submissive.
sapphire_moon
02-17-04, 11:26 PM
submissive? Tell that to my small rat (4wks) that puts down even the extra large male rat in the cage! lol She can take them all down! But then they gang up on her, then everything is fine for like 1 wk, then it all starts over again....:rolleyes:
Originally posted by Lisa
I find it way easier to add a weened rat to a colony of adults. The small rat isn't big enough to make a threat to the pecking order and you're less likely to have serious wounds from fights because the little rat's going to be submissive.
Cool, Thanks Lisa. I'm going away next week for a few days so will wait until I get back before getting any new pets (!), but after that, try and stop me!
hehe 2 Words Freezer Bags :D
Originally posted by Ed_r
hehe 2 Words Freezer Bags :D
the go from the cages to that :)
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