[kksrats]

I've recently added a lot of improvised levels and accessories to the girls' cage. With my new job, it's not as feasible for me to change out fleece every couple of days, so I wanted to keep fleece to a minimum and make it so that I could just pull dirty stuff out and throw new stuff in quickly (into their baskets and such). The plastic bins fit perfectly so that I can use aspen in the shelves and while it might not look very pretty, it's functional. I just opened up the top and bottom today by completely taking out the middle grate and pan and replacing them with a wire shelf from a different cage. This gave them more room to climb around and now there's no more huffing at the neighbors (since they were previously separated 3 on top and 2 on bottom and it bugged them).

 

[QueenBea]

It's actually quite good for your ratties to have something to dig in, so the aspen helps them too im sure

Love it!

 

[LilCritter]

That looks great. How did you attach the shelving?

 

[kksrats]

I drilled holes into the plastic and attached them with zip ties

 

[Cinn]

That looks great! Your girls are so lucky! <3

 

[LilCritter]

Do you know if the plastic bins fit in the shelving that comes with the cage?

 

[kksrats]

They do actually, but you'd still have to secure them somehow. They were way too unstable sitting on the metal frames or the plastic shelf covers. As long as you get bins with decent thickness around the rim you won't compromise the plastic when you drill into it; I got them at big lots.

 

[LilCritter]

Hmm, I'll have to look into these... I'm pretty sure I have that bin somewhere. Can I weigh it down with tile or something?

 

[kksrats]

If you're using the metal frames for support then I don't see why you couldn't do that. Just make sure that you make changes like this at a time when you can be home for a while to make sure everything is stable.