[T6D16C84]

These will be my 1st pair and I am really excited to get them. Below are a few pictures I took of their cage. I took em with my cell phone though so they are kinda grainy.

Top shelf with a hide/nest on it and also you can kinda see the hammock on the bottom level.

2nd level with hammock and a small hide, this is mostly for them to crawl on, and under if they decide to try to.

Overall view of the cage, on the bottom level is a little wood house they can crawl on and in. Also in the back corner is a litter box which I can hopefully teach them to use!! I bought some medium sized chubes with bedding inside them. If that wasn't a good pick let me know and I can take them out. I figured that would be good for them to crawl around in and then they have bedding to make themselves a bed to sleep in. Lemme knwo what you think!!

 

[AlxBlack17]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

Looks like a great cage, I'm sure they will love it. Are you sure that the bar spacing is the right size? Females, especially young ones, can easily squeeze through the bars on many cages.

 

[T6D16C84]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

The females I am getting are 10 months old and the breeder I am getting them from said she has them in a cage with 3/4" spacing and they have never gotten out. This cage has 1/2 inch spacing so a quarter inch smaller, hopefully they don't decide to try to see the outside world!

Well, at least not without proper adult supervision.

 

[AlxBlack17]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

A half inch should be fine, the bars look like they are spaced at about an inch in the picture...either that or I'm just a really bad judge of size.

 

[Kimmiekins]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

That specific Superpet cage has small bar-spacing, perfect for babies and young rats.

 

[crapola]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

move that straw ball thing to a lower level, they'll probably roll it off that shelf and might hurt themselves. the wooden house and tunnel will get pee'd on, so they will pong after a very short time. you'll be better off saving tissue and cereal boxes and using them as houses/nesting boxes.
and try to get another water bottle... one that hangs on the outside of the cage. girls are chewers and believe me, they will chew through that bottle. get either a hard plastic or glass bottle
for bedding, all you really need is tissues and fleece. you can get cheap fleece at discount stores or (i think you're in the states) try places like joann's or michaels, or even walmart. i buy fleece baby blankets and either leave them as they are and the rats aircondition them, or i cut them into squares to put into their hanging baskets. also with the fleece, you can make more hammocks as needed... again, girls are chewers, lol.

 

[animalhugger]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

do you know how many rats this cage can hold?

 

[twitch]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

the calculator on ratty corner said 4. so its a rather large cage. i'm impressed with it. how much did it run you?

and i second that you need to put the water bottle on the outside of the cage, its begging to be chewed to pieces the way it is now.

check out the sticky at the top of this section for toys and decorating ideas as well. there's a lot of pictures of cage setups for you to get ideas from.

 

[dingosm8]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

That looks like a perfect home.
It looks like you like the color blue

 

[meghan.s]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

Twitch - I just saw that cage in Pet Smart for $99.99. I had been searching for it for a while. Not many smaller places carry it, but I think the price is pretty decent for it since you don't need to add any sort of hardware cloth.

 

[T6D16C84]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

It was 99.99$ but if you buy it before February 4th you can get 15% off. They are having a sale online and my local Petsmart honored the 15% off online deal.

Okay for water bottles get a hard plastic or glass one, and also can I just use normal wire to hang that bottle on the outside of the cage? The straw ball is jammed into that shelf. It doesn't roll I barely could get it to go in there, I'll watch them and if they can move the ball I'll put it in the bottom and get a cardboard or tissue box to put on that shelf.

I am using carefresh for cage bedding but have been hearing Yesterday's News cat litter is prefered for liner. I have Mazuri rodent blocks and will be supplementing that with suebees grain mix. One question with that, do I feed them the blocks and the grain mix at the same time, do I alternate and one day do blocks one day mix do I mix them both up and pour them in their food dish at the same time.

thanks for the help and great advice!

Also, I talked to PETCO about that water bottle and attacher and I am going to return it and get 2 of these:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?sku=1038761

Maybe not on that one, all the reviews I have read say this bottle just stops working and doesn't give any water. Im gunna go to petco this evening and see what outside glass/hard plastic water bottles they have.

 

[Phoenix]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

I really your new cage. Is it the Super Pet Deluxe My First Home Cage for Exotics? We were considering buying this cage but I'm concerned because no matter where I look I can't find any dimensions beyond 40.5x18x32. My luck it will get here and the bars will be spaced at 1". Does anyone know anything about this cage?

 

[twitch]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

i have those bottles. its really a hit or miss. i bought 3 and 2 leaked to the point i couldn't use them. however, i don't seem to have much luck with ball water bottles, its seems no matter what type i get i always pick up the defective ones first. the one i've had great success with is the lixit water bottles. it has a top filling and a valve rather then a ball so there is no noise either. they last about a 1 year, maybe a bit nore, before they need to be replaced (the valve gets stuck in an up position and it starts to leak-it may be fixable but i never tried). i love them. with a bit of looking you can find them pretty cheap too.

 

[twitch]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

pheonix-- i haven't had personal experience with the cage but if its the one i'm thinkng of i have heard that its not that large and not really worth the cost. but don't qoute me no that, i very easily could be wrong. i think i read that you had a dog crate you weren't using? if that's the case for a fraction of the cost of that cage you can make the dog kennel into a nice and spacious room for for your rats, with the space the dog provides you'd even be able to have larger toys right in with them, like a dig box or swimming pool. and with the large door on the kennel it would it VERY ease to clean (remember the vacuum is your friend).

 

[dragonegg]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

(remember the vacuum is your friend).

:lol: Man! What a great idea! I've never even thought of that! (Smacks her head)

 

[Phoenix]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

pheonix-- i think i read that you had a dog crate you weren't using?

Good memory! I have two concerns with our crate. It takes up a ton of floorspace (48"x30") which we just don't have and it seems like it would be a pain to clean with two layers of caging. I love the idea of them having that much space though. Especially now that we have four and they are constantly wrestling.

 

[twitch]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

finding the floor space will be the issue but for cleaning, so long as you have a vacuum and you don't let it go (using blanket liners and litter trays) cleaning big cages like that is a breeze. and a do it yourself car wash twice a year i have found work great for those hard to get to areas on the bars. you could also just replace the hardware mesh when it gets too grimey. but if you can get the coated kind i've been told that it wipes off nice and easy with a vinegar and water combo. if you really look at the cage and plan out how to attach the mesh you could even have that it'll still fold up without having to take the mesh off for transport. i'm really wishing i had remembered and planned that out when i was attaching the mesh to the cat cage of mine, its too big to get out the door without folding so come spring clean day i may just have to replace the coating.

but yes, finding that floor space will be an issue. however i have found that if you sit and stare at your furniture long enough you can figure out new places for things that will allow other things in. it how we managed to get the dog crate for the bunny to sit in the living room and the futon to get in the living room as well. you may have already optimized all your space but you may be able to find that little bit extra if you stare long enough too.

realistically though, the dog cage is going to be your best on price and space for the rats and good for being able to add variety in toys and get your creative juices flowing to have fun with the cage. if there's anyway to make it work i'd go for it. otherwise find out how much space you can give them then go shopping. remember to check classifieds on and offline and don't limit your searches to cages labeled only for rats. as you can see many people here modify bird, dog, cat, ferret, chinchilla and other animal cages. good luck and let us know how its going.

 

[T6D16C84]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

I bought that Super Pet bottle and it doesn't work at all. When I 1st put it in their cage it gave water but after sitting and not being used for a while when the girls go to get a drink no water comes out. I have to hit the top of the bottle to get it working again which scares them. I am going to get another water bottle holder like the one I have now with a plastic bottle and hang it on the outside of the cage where they can't get to it.

 

[Eliza]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

Great cage!

 

[Iloveratz500]

Re: Getting my 1st pair of females saturday, Pics of their c

oohh...I love that cage, lots of levels to play in and lots of toys to!

VERY nice!