Well, I did have a better written out intro and I hit a button and the post was devoured by interweb grimlins *shake fist*
Anyway I'm building a wire cage and thought I would share a step by step process on the whole thing. I'm picking up supplies tomorrow!
I estimate i can create a cage large enough for 7 rats for just $70-$80! I'm only holding 3 and KEEPING IT AT THREE! Or at least I keep telling myself that lol. But seriously three rats is a good number for me and I would like it to stay that way but I want them to have PLENTY of room. I also wanted the cage to be easy to use and clean. So I looked at the ferret nation double layer design and came up with this very badly done blueprint:
So it will practically be like two cages on top of eachother with a connecting hole I imagine I could cover if I need two cages that hold 3 rats. I hope I don't have any intro problems, my two weeks are up and I havn't so far but Bert has only met Sabastian. I plan on him remeeting Sabastian tomorrow and also Odin. Any tips on this is very appreciated as well! Odin can act like an old fat grouch at times lol but he really is a nice fellow. I'm hopeing Bert's abundant energy will rub off on him and not annoy him severly.
But back to the cage. I am useing wire shelfing that is 8'x16" cut in two feet segments. I believe Lowes will cut the shelves for me so I'm going to have everything written out for tomorrow. I need 3 pieces of 8ft shelving cut into two foot increments and 2 pieces of 6 foot cut into 4 32" pieces. This leaves a little bit extra I could use for a base for ladders if needed. The cost of this is $57.58, by far the most expensive part of this project.
Now what do I line the wire shelves or make the trays with? I was thinking of useing the left over wire for at least one, covered in coroplast. I am purchasing at least 4 sheets of 20x30" coroplast from work at $3.76/sheet (yay discount!) I am going to cut the coroplast into two tray shapes as well as liners for the shelves and possibly ladders. I'm hopeing 4 will be enough this leads to a cost of $15.04 for the coroplast.
And I found zip ties at the dollar store yay! $1 cost there!
So yeah looking at it further it' sgoing to be more like $80-$90 but it will be custom for ME which I find important.
So far the cost is $73.62, not including tax. I still might have to have more shelving, or some more coroplast and I also want to switch to fabric bedding and add tunnels but that may come later. Most important right now is the cage itself.
Any thoughts of ideas? Here is the material I am useing for the wire frame:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50043-362-4736&lpage=none
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50093-362-4735&lpage=none
I shall update and take pictures as the steps progress. Estimated time of completion is Sunday! EEEEEee!
Anyway I'm building a wire cage and thought I would share a step by step process on the whole thing. I'm picking up supplies tomorrow!
I estimate i can create a cage large enough for 7 rats for just $70-$80! I'm only holding 3 and KEEPING IT AT THREE! Or at least I keep telling myself that lol. But seriously three rats is a good number for me and I would like it to stay that way but I want them to have PLENTY of room. I also wanted the cage to be easy to use and clean. So I looked at the ferret nation double layer design and came up with this very badly done blueprint:

So it will practically be like two cages on top of eachother with a connecting hole I imagine I could cover if I need two cages that hold 3 rats. I hope I don't have any intro problems, my two weeks are up and I havn't so far but Bert has only met Sabastian. I plan on him remeeting Sabastian tomorrow and also Odin. Any tips on this is very appreciated as well! Odin can act like an old fat grouch at times lol but he really is a nice fellow. I'm hopeing Bert's abundant energy will rub off on him and not annoy him severly.
But back to the cage. I am useing wire shelfing that is 8'x16" cut in two feet segments. I believe Lowes will cut the shelves for me so I'm going to have everything written out for tomorrow. I need 3 pieces of 8ft shelving cut into two foot increments and 2 pieces of 6 foot cut into 4 32" pieces. This leaves a little bit extra I could use for a base for ladders if needed. The cost of this is $57.58, by far the most expensive part of this project.
Now what do I line the wire shelves or make the trays with? I was thinking of useing the left over wire for at least one, covered in coroplast. I am purchasing at least 4 sheets of 20x30" coroplast from work at $3.76/sheet (yay discount!) I am going to cut the coroplast into two tray shapes as well as liners for the shelves and possibly ladders. I'm hopeing 4 will be enough this leads to a cost of $15.04 for the coroplast.
And I found zip ties at the dollar store yay! $1 cost there!
So yeah looking at it further it' sgoing to be more like $80-$90 but it will be custom for ME which I find important.
So far the cost is $73.62, not including tax. I still might have to have more shelving, or some more coroplast and I also want to switch to fabric bedding and add tunnels but that may come later. Most important right now is the cage itself.
Any thoughts of ideas? Here is the material I am useing for the wire frame:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50043-362-4736&lpage=none
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=50093-362-4735&lpage=none
I shall update and take pictures as the steps progress. Estimated time of completion is Sunday! EEEEEee!