Hi,
i am soon going to get a cage from a friend that had ratties. it is normally $150 in stores, and she is giving it to me for $50.
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/pet-guys_2010_32872691
yay! i finally found a bigger cage for my ratties! :)
Though i have a question. my ratties love to pee on the shelves of their current cage, is their anything that i can put on the shelves that i can just remove and dispose of every time i clean the cage.
does anyone have this problem? what was your solution?
thanks,
skitza

this is one of the super pet cages I have

the pee-traps you so often hear about...

anything you would put on their as for being disposable, they would just grab it & shred it

Best to cover the plastic tray with those floor tile squares or wrap them with fabric. It can be a pain in the butt because of the extra labor involved but after you do it several times it will become second nature. I've replaced the pee-traps & put different shelves that don't have those gutters.

as a side note... this is a cage that my smaller girls could slip out of with ease. The bar spacing is nearly 1 inch & the gaps that run vertically along all four corners where the cage fastens is rather wide in spots so you may need to consider this as a possible escape route if your girls are still growing. It was designed with ferrets in mind.

So yeah, it's plenty big but don't put anything but fully grown rats in it or they will slip right out.

I know a lot of people have this problem, some people have put litter boxes in each corner, if you don't wanna do that I found these on a ferret site - I don't know if they work or not - but the concept makes sense.

http://www.ferret.com/item/marshall-corner-deterrent-springs-4-pack/

I'm buying a bigger cage this month so I'm thinking about having the same problem.

i use fleece. i just buy scraps from fabric stores and measure and cut them and clip them to the levels. i make two or three sets so that when i clean the cage i can just throw on the other clean set and wash the dirty one in the washing machine. it really works =] good luck!

ok thanks you guys, you are very helpful. i have lots of ideas now that i can try! :)
i will watch my ratties to see if they can slip through. i hope they dont! :)
ttyl,
skitza

I dont think your guys are big enuff for it too!! My guys escaped thru the bars and I had to take it back! Thank god!! (thank god for the other reasons too!)

I own that cage. I am also lucky enough to own a vacuum cleaner that is meant for dry/wet surfaces. I vacuum out all the pee from the pee traps and the poo and leftover food from the floors and trays, then take it outside for a thorough cleaning with a hose and white vinegar water solution. it is a bit of a pain to carry it up and down stairs every week/every other week but it doesn't fit through the bathroom door so that is my only option. The only reason my fat girl can't fit through the bars is because she's, well, fat. The new baby can slip through with ease, so I still have hardware cloth on (ouch). the vacuum seems to be the easiest for me, at least until I can take the hardware cloth off.