[rattikins]

Hello. Does anyone know how small the spacing in bars must be for housing female rats? I have a beautiful ferret cage that I would like to move my girls into, but I think they might be able to squeeze through the bars, but I'm not sure. The bars are almost one inch spaced.

My girls are only about 3 months old, so I'm not sure if they have finished growing, but I am worried that I won't be able to use my nice cage and they will be stuck in their temporary one, or I'll have to buy a different one. Thank you for your help!

 

[Star]

1 inch usually does not work for young females. You may have to wait until they are 4-6 months to use the bigger cage.
I waited until mine were 4 1/2 months, and trained them to not squezze through by telling them no and snaping. My girls respond well to me and listen when I snap and say no!
You can put your girls in the big cage now, and watch them to see if the squeze out. If they do you could swich back to the small cage or work on training them to not try to squeze thro.
Good luck!

 

[rattikins]

Thank you for your answer! I hope that they continue to grow. They grew like crazy for the first month and a half that I had them, and it seems to have slowed down now. I was worried they were done growing. Do you know at what age female rats usually can be considered "full grown"? Thanks again!

 

[lostbutnotforgot]

If they don't grow big enough you can always put a wire cloth over the bars. It might not look wonderful but it would keep them in and be much cheaper than buying another cage.

 

[Holly]

Awww! What a cute little rattie in the avatar for "lostbutnotforgot!"

If this helps at all, I have read that any space that a rat can fit his or her ~head~ through is a space that they can squeeze their whole body through.

 

[LizLovesRats5]

I had to spring for Martins cage after my girls started escaping from the 7/8" bars of my old cage. They are full grown and could fit through it anyway....