How do I make a cage for a rat?

I would like complete instructions, prices, and any websites that can help me. I am wanting to make one for the rats I am about to get, so, maybe I could use two of those big rubbermaid boxes attached, with little shelves put in? I know that many rat owners prefer the mulitlevel cages, so I need to know how to do that, it doesn't seem to complicated to be, but I do not know. Thank you for all of your answers, and please be sure that the cage you tell me about is for a rat.How do I make a cage for a rat?
I have made several homemade cages and in the end, the rats have always found a way to ruin my hard-made project.





Homemade cages are fun to make, albeit, expensive to make. You're not saving any money by building a home-made cage. You need to buy a mesh that is 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch or smaller, and it needs to be PCV-coated. There has been some talk among rat-keepers that galvinized mesh contains zinc which is toxic to rats should they chew it. Galvinized mesh is hard to clean and retains the odor of urine and feces.


http://www.goosemoose.com/component/opti鈥?/a>


PCV-coated mesh is not easy to find and it's expensive.





Not good:


http://www.marcospecialtysteel.com/hardw鈥?/a>





Good:


http://www.siatpol.pl/en/p_oferta.htm (scroll down)





Chicken wire not good. Rats can get their heads caught in the mesh.


http://www.academyfence.com/vinylcoatedh鈥?/a>





I checked out the Guinea Pig link


http://www.guineapigcages.com/ and some of the cages have a bar spacing that is is too big for rats.





The grotto-syle cage is not appreciated by some rat-keepers (I'm one of them) because it is solid on three sides and only meshed on the front. Not enough ventilation. Good only for rats that are litter-trained, otherwise it is quickly ruined by urine and feces. If this is the style that you like, start with a book case for this cage.


http://www.dapper.com.au/grotto.htm





Homemade rat cages. I know these people from the rat-only forums:


http://www.geocities.com/andreasrats/cag鈥?/a>


http://www.geocities.com/jmorneweck/came鈥?/a>


http://www.ratfanclub.org/cagepln2.html


http://www.backblast.com/rats/ratcages.h鈥?/a>


http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#ca鈥?/a>


http://www.ratsauce.com/ourcages/


http://www.ratfanclub.org/cagepln.html


http://www.ratfanclub.org/cagepln3.html


http://www.geocities.com/porcelinas/ratc鈥?/a>


http://www.ratfanclub.org/cages.html


http://www.curiosityrats.com/infodiy.htm鈥?/a>


http://firstrats.tripod.com/id22.htm


http://www.sophielynette.com/homemade.ht鈥?/a>


(enough with the links already! :)





Setting up a cage for your rats


http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/careofrat鈥?/a>


http://ratguide.com/care/environment/hou鈥?/a>





spazrats


';my life has gone to the rats';How do I make a cage for a rat?
I would just buy one but you cane find great ways to make a rat or mouse cage if you just web search: home made rat cages


that should help you!


I hope you find your answer.
I was going to make my own rat cages that were more chew proof, but the supplies for a metal cage added up more then being able to buy 6 extra large Super Pet cages from the site (link below). The cages I got are 40.5';x20';x18'; and were plenty of room for 6 of my juvenile rats. Now the spacing between bars is 1'; and I have to put some rabbit wire on 2 of the cage until 2 get bigger (a male escaped twice and a female escaped 6 times). I have 11 rats and needed 6 cages for them and I paid under $80 for all of them. Look through the site for multi level cages and even all metal ones. Some of the cages are sold in singles and some are sold in multi-packs of 2-3 cages. Depending on how many rats you have or if you plan on getting any more in the nearer future, a multi pack can come in handy.Best of all shipping is free on orders over $39 (some cages have a bulk fee so check first on the check out page). I have bought over 30 cages from this company all in multi packs plus a lot of other accessories and I haven't spent more then $500 for everything.





The first link is to the cages I bought so you can see what they look tike. The second link is to the small animal main page. Just click on cages %26amp; accessories, then cages %26amp; multi-pet cages.
don't make the cage....make the money to buy the cage!
Great question this is my favorite part of having a rat. there is a bedding called ';critter care TM '; it's all natural, hypoallergenic, and rats love it. the rat will also want a place to be alone so buy a wooden box at ';Petco ';or ';Petsmart '; that they can hide in. one toy is enough for a rat like a ball with a bell inside or something.also you want to put food and water next to each other . not all rats like to run on wheels so don't put one in there unless you know they like it . well thats it. your welcome. good luck H.T.
yes, it sounds like a fun project to make one. But overall i think it would be cheaper and easier to buy one. That is of course unless you are trying to hide it from someone...
great website:


www.dapper.com.au/grotto.htm














hope i can help......love becky
ok #1 go get money #2 go to the pet store #3 go get a cage #4pay for it #5 go home #6 take it apart #7put it all back together ....i dont know i just know dont use cardbord ...sorry
why not look on craigslist under pets, you can get some decent cages for a great price. although with it being second hand, you would have to bleach the heck out of it. which i did with mine in the bathtub and a double rinse to make sure it was free of bleach.


i bought a great GP cage for 20$ and it works great for the 2 girls that i have in it.


although if you have the time and want to put the effort into making one good luck!
This website link has intructions on how to make a guinea pig cage but they work for rats if you make them a little differently.





http://www.guineapigcages.com/

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