Rat Rack Plans

[Brent Strande]

Well, I am toying with the idea of building a rack to house the feeders. I have looked at different ideas and came up with my own which would incorporate bits and pieces from many others...

First off, a question though...
BACKGROUND: I am planning on one large bin to house the male and place females ready to breed in with him. Then, after a week or two in with the male, the females will be moved to individual bins, so that I can monitor their productivity as well as prevent overcrowding.
QUESTION: I am looking at cat litter pans with the following dimensions:
18.375"x14.875"x5" for the large breeding bin
14"x10Xx5" for the birthing bins

Does this seem like enough room? I am assuming so, but am somewhat curious about how a 5" ceiling would affect the rats.

Well, anyways, on to the plans!

I wanted to design something fairly simple to build, yet also be effective. My version of Autocad is now expired, so I had to use Microsoft Excel (I'm improvising, bear with me!)

Here's the plan view of what each level will look like:
http://bitz.net/~ato/Pictures/Brent/RatRackPlan.jpg

This can be constructed of 2x4s and 2x2s. Everything but the legs are 2x2, with the legs being the only 2x4s.

The overall floorspace taken up will be 17"deep by 27" wide. The plans that I came up with allow for a height of 37.5"

After building each level out of the 2x2s, I plan to staple .5" hardware cloth to the bottom side so that on top in the narrower trough I can place food pellets.

Then, I will attach each tier to legs. Done! (Well, almost)

http://bitz.net/~ato/Pictures/Brent/RatRackElev.jpg

I'm not sure how much of a lip the litter boxes will have, so the track to allow them to slide in and out is still TBD.

I am also thinking of adding an automatic watering system.

Anyways, it would be easy to modify this in order to add more or less, simply build more of the levels (first pic) and then just attach them to longer legs!

I think that this plan works pretty well, as it allows me to breed up to 8 females with only one male (less stink!) and if I decide to breed less females, I can use the additional bins to raise the offspring to the desired weight!

Good luck if you try and build one yourself!

Brent Strande

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... if I DO end up building these I'll be sure to post pics once they're complete!

If you want to build the same rack as I've shown, heres the basic materials list that I whipped up:

-(10) 27" 2x2s
-(10) 14" 2x2s
-(05) 24" 2x2s
-(04) 38" 2x4s

-Hardware cloth Enough for all of the shelves!

-3" Deck Screws

-(1) Large (http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?sku=7944100402&tab=0&dept_id=&c1=0&c2=&c3=&ct1=&ct2=&ct3=) Cat Litter Pan
-(8) Small (http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?sku=7944100400&tab=0&dept_id=&c1=0&c2=&c3=&ct1=&ct2=&ct3=) Cat Litter Pans

-Whatever you choose for your watering system.

-Rats

Good luck on the Snake Gourmet!!!

[mykee]

I love the plans, but know this as a fact: cat litter pans WILL be eaten through, in an unbelievably short amount of time, I might add. Ikea: SLUGIS. They have two sizes, both of which are amazing. I've had mine in use for almost a year and they haven't even scarred.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Do you have pics of your setup, Mykee? I've been using litter pans for a few months now and haven't seen any bite marks yet at all. Actually, if ANYONE has rat rack pics, please post them. I am just about to build a couple. :)

[Linds]

Brent,
The small litter pans are WAY too small for any rat over 3 weeks of age. I use the Stylette Jumbo kitty litter pans for the rats in my rack, and couldn't imagine anything smaller. I use the Vaness Large kitty litter pans for mice (but could go with a smaller size for them, but prefer to use larger so I need less).

Tim,
Here's a pic of mine. My only regret is I didn't build it larger :p

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/22themeatfarm.jpg">

[Asian Jon]

Sweet rack Linds! how much altogether (the litter pans and the wood)?

[Jayson]

I have been using the same cat litter bins for three years now and none of them even have slight chew marks on them (its all in how well you build it) I will try to get a pic of mine posted.

Just a Hint!!

If i were you i would change the 2x2's and 2x4's to 1x2's and 1x3's it will much lighter and a lot less bulky and more then strong enough for what you are doing. Also the smaller material is much easier to work with.

Mine are 3 wide and 7 tall, each level holds over 50lbs of food and it is all built with 1x2's and 1x3's

[mykee]

Tim, there will be pics of my rat rack setups, as well as a basic rundown of hwo I built my racks when my site launches in a week or so. Stay tuned. www.strictlyballs.ca (Cheesy plugs RULE!!!!)

[justinO]

here's a pic of ours, although we are building another one in the next couple days..... i LOVE the bins from ikea, but they are damn expensive!

This rack cost us about $80, mostly cuz the bins were a total of $10, that's right, Dollarama kicks ***! And for $1 each, we've only had one that has a tiny chew hole, so we bought some replacements but now use them for big hides/water bowls too!

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/503/1849rack-med.jpg

Jessy

[marisa]

I have seen those ones at Dollarama. What could possibly live in those though?

Maybe my Dollarama has smaller versions, but I can only see a few mice living in each. There is no way I would house a rat in them.


Marisa

[Linds]

I think the rack itself only came to about $20 or so, but the tubs came to about $50-$60, at between $7 and $4 each.

[justinO]

those bins are for 1 rat when having babies (birthing bin), or, a few babies who are 4 weeks or so that are not quite big enough for the growing up cages....
they have worked perfect for me, and my rats are happy.