Housing Guide

What makes a suitable cage?

There are many cages available in New Zealand, but many that are sold as 'rat cages' don't tick all the boxes so it is important that you do some research and find a suitable cage for your rats. Remember rats should be housed in pairs or more so the cage needs to provide enough space for the number of rats you have or plan to adopt.

The cage we usually recommend using is the Strong Rat Cage from Animates, but there are other great cages as well that you can find on this page.

If you are unsure about how many rats your cage can fit then check out the rat cage calculator.

When looking at a cage it is crucial to make sure that the bar spacing is no larger than 1.5 cm so that your rats can't escape. If a rat can get their head through a space then they can squeeze the rest of their body through. Male rats might be fine with a bar spacing of up to 2cm because they are larger, but females and babies can escape with such wide bar spacing. It is important that all wire shelves are covered with something to stop the rats walking directly on the bars. To cover bars we recommend corflute which can be purchased at Warehouse Stationary or a hardware store such as Bunnings. Alternatively you can use plastic place mats from Kmart or the Warehouse which come in a variety of colours and patterns. 

Ideally cages should be cleaned once a week with spot cleaning every day or every second day. Spot cleaning entails sweeping up stray poos and putting them in the litter box if you have one and cleaning up any other mess such as left over vegetables/fruit. A full clean entails cleaning out and replacing any hammocks, plastic items and substrate (wash fleece and throw away used bedding). You can use a spray bottle filled with vinegar and water to clean the bars, this cuts through pee and is a great cleaner compared to stronger smelling chemical cleaners which can irritate your rats respiratory systems.  When washing fleece you can put the dirty fleece in the washing machine with a small amount of washing powder, try not to use too much as the smell can be too strong for rats sensitive noses, or hand wash them in a bucket of hot water. 

DIY Cages

While it may seem like a good idea to make a DIY cage, it’s often a lot more work than simply buying a commercially available cage. There are a few things you need to think about before making one, specifically:

1. Airflow - if you’re making it from a converted cabinet, airflow is SO important. Just meshing out the side or the front is usually not sufficient - it's better  to have 2 or 3sides meshed to allow adequate airflow and prevent ammonia build up.

2. Wood - if you’re building the cage out of wood then you will need to seal or paint all exposed woods with a non-toxic sealant. If the wood is not sealed then urine will seep in and cause it to smell. Once the urine has permeated the wood, no amount of cleaning will get the odour out.

3. Escape proofing the cage - If your cage is made of wood that your rats can get to then its quite likely that they will gnaw on the wood over time, then you could have a rat escape. This is something to look out for, especially if you have other pets in the house.

4. Usable space: When making a cage out of a cabinet or bookshelf, you need to look at how much usable space there actually is for your rats to use. Narrow shelves or no spaces to climb don’t make for an ideal cage set up for your rats. This goes for DIY cages that have no shelves at all.

It is possible to have a homemade cage that works well, but it takes a lot of planning and it's often easier to find a ready made one.

Tanks, Aquariums or Similar

In New Zealand, these cages are not recommended or widely used in the rat community. The main issue with tanks is that, with 4 glass sides, they do not allow for adequate airflow e, which can cause dangerous amounts of ammonia and condensation to build up. This can cause many issues for your rats, due to their sensitive respiratory tracts. 

Even with a cage topper tanks are not often going to be suitable for rats. 

Substrates

There are several safe substrates that we recommend you use for your cage. 

Aspen and kiln-dried pine shavings are the good substrates to use for your rats and are readily available in many pet stores and farm shops. Be careful about using other wood chippings or shavings as they could be toxic - make sure to check a list for safe woods before using. 

Newspaper, paper pellets, and shredded paper can make good bedding too but they usually don't provide as much odor control as shavings so are better suited to well toilet trained rats or diligent cleaning. 

Another option is creating a bioactive cage with coco coir and a clean-up crew of springtails, this is a complex process so we will  made a more detailed post about it soon - check back in a bit! 

Accessories

A rat's cage should be filled with lots of different houses, toys and accessories for them to play, climb and sleep on - yje more clutter the better! You can use using hammocks, sputniks and baskets to hang from the ceiling of the cage and lava ledges, bridges and other perches attached to the bars.

It's a good idea to give your rats multiple igloo houses to sleep in, and you can use tunnels, ropes or peg baskets to help fill in any empty space. Wheels are can be fun (but noisy!) and not all rats will use them. 

Rat's spend a majority of time in their cage, but even if you take them out frequently they should still be able to move freely and play when they are inside.

Below is a list of toys and accessories rats enjoy in their cages.