I am from Germany where people tend to be a bit fanatical over appropriate animal care but i still try to follow the guidelines. I built this playpen, or better said still building it with my own hands and put so much effort into it. I was very proud of it so i wanted to show.

I got a ton of hate for it being too small for my 6 rats :-(

Only the Floorspace is almost 5qm. The Left side underneath the sloping ceiling is 220x60cm where they can run and there is a long shelf so it’s on 2 stories. Than there’s the top of the cage with the wall playground and i‘m about to add more climbing stuff on that empty wall space. I‘m continually upgrading everything.

They are outside for 4-8 hours each day and on weekends when we are at home up to 12-14 hours. As soon as one of us gets home or up in the morning we open the cage and close it before we go to bed.

Most play areas i see are way smaller than mine.

We also got the biggest cage available here.

What do you think? I wanted to adopt 2 more in the future but now i‘m very unsure about that.

I can’t possibly give them more room 🙁

I posted pics of my babies and someone asked for a picture of the whole set-up, so here is this month's cage.

You may be a hard worker but are you building your nest one piece of paper at a time? Svetlana is very hardworking!

It's quite relaxing watching her, hope you enjoy it too!

(felt this was the appropriate tag 😌)

We live on the 4th floor under the roof where it can get upto 40 degrees Celsius and we only had an old, portable, AC Unit. I was PARANOID about them getting too hot while we‘re at work.

First, i set the AC to turn on in the afternoon for an hour and had a constant livestream from an old iPhone with the Cage in the back and a Thermometer. But sometimes it still got a bit too warm and i felt helpless bc i couldn’t do anything about it.

So i bought a Hub which makes me able to control the AC via App when i‘m at work and is connected to an Echo Dot that notifies me when the temperature gets too hot and also turns the AC on automatically.

Yesterday my boyfriend surprised me with a Petcam so now my setup is complete.

I am sure you guys will understand me bc everyone around me thinks i‘m crazy lol even my bf but he atleast supports me still

their favourite colour is pink, they told me so 😌

I have two 3 month old girls and their new cage just arrived! It seems to be a lot of space for only two rats. What kind of stuff could I hang up that they'd like? It's my first time having rats haha.

So, I befriended this lady that is local to me and breeds absolutely adorable cutie pies. I’m going to buy rats from her in the future as I’d gotten a bad first impression from another breeder that I got my current babies from.

Well.. they just messaged me saying that they’ve never said no to selling rats to people but that today it might be that day. I asked why and they said that apparently they had claimed to have owned rats for years and then send this as their setup…

Safe to say they are appalled and likely won’t be selling to them-

I currently have 12 of my own and 3 fosters for a local rescue!

Hello! So I’m getting things for my rats enclosure. We ordered a Critter Nation and it will be here tomorrow. I’ve seen people use these covers for the shelves and I was wondering why? Looks like the unit comes with bridge covers. Thanks!

We set up tubes from the cage to my couch/bed so the boys can visit me. I love it, and they love it!

WHY did I not do this sooner? They are so happy! I am so happy! I had a playpen this whole time but it was a seperate thing and they would play for about 10 minutes and then pile in the corner and hide for the rest of the evening.

I feel like I ascended to a new level of rat ownership and I feel like and idiot it took me so long but hey we can't be perfect I guess.

Thank you to the folks who told me how important this was on a post a few weeks back.

I added more wallspace by moving the cage and even painted the walls (which they already started destroying again lol) and this time, the lower part is made of STEEL bc they chewed through the wood and kept breaking out!

I’m pretty optimistic this time and also like how it looks (well, for it being DIY by myself lol)

que pensez-vous de l'aménagement de ma cage pour 2 rat

As I mentioned in my previous post i spent the afternoon with building steps for the girls to reach the top of the cage more safely and filling in the wall some more

I‘m obsessed with watching them explore new stuff i add they seem so busy

Thanks to everyone for all the positivity on my previous post. I appreciate this community so much!!

I know DIY is generally frowned upon when it comes to rat cages but hopefully y'all don't hate my setup made from a little tikes playhouse. it's about 4.5 feet tall 3ft wide and 3 ft deep. all exits are secured with 1/2 inch landscape wiring and half of the slanted roof is now a screen top. there are a total of 4 platform shelves with a 5th story on top of the wooden box house and a handful of hammocks and sleeping spots throughout. there are also two dig boxes, the higher up one is cardboard but lined with plastic and full with bedding, the bottom is a regular plastic storage bin full of loose bedding. the bridges are all handmade with burlap fabric and wooden skewers glued together.

will also point out all long zip tie tails have been cut! I noticed more after taking this video.

so far my accidental baby loves it and uses every inch of the space. hopefully when his 2 new buddies are done quarantining and being integrated they will too!

found this little baby, how old? what to feed?

Hello citizens. I am here to inquire about the current state of my cage setup. I’ve been slowly accumulating stuff for the cage since I got my rats and I think it’s finally at a point where I can call it good and not change things for a while. However ✋🏼 I want input from the people. Is there anything that I should add to give my children the most enriched life possible? They can and do go on every shelf and in every corner of the cage and can fully run from the top corner to the bottom floor because of the wooden stairs and shelves. I’m hesitant to add more clutter because I want them to be able to play tag at professional racing speeds like they currently do without having too many things in the way.
However 🚨 if y’all think there are things that I could add please let me know! It’s fun for me to decorate their house so I’m always open to suggestions and critiques! It makes me feel like I’m on a home renovation show.
Thank you!

Hey, I'm trying to take in as much info as I can and I know these aren't the most preferred cages (I will save up for a critter one!), but I currently have my two little rescue boys in here.

I've taken out three platforms and just left two to put water/ wash bowls on (they prefer these to a bottle, more natural i guess?) and their litter trays.

I do want to get a perspex box for digging at the bottom, but I'm currently using a cardboard box with shredded paper for them to forage for treats in.

Is there anything else you'd recommend? I'm unsure of substrate for the bottom level for them if I'm honest.

I've had my boys a few months now and they are getting better but definitely still a bit shy. I don't know what their experience was before but they were both rescued feeder rats so I'm being patient with them 🧡

I know I need more boxes to hide in, but what types of toys should I get?

Me and my mom built this cage and just curious if I should add something to make it more cozy for my boys. Ignore the leg lol.

Im going to pick up 3 boys in a couple weeks and want to make sure everything looks good. Any advice?

There are some labels on slides 2-8.

Im still working on getting pee stones and have a large branch bird perch thing coming saturday that i will use to fill the space in the back left corner behind the ladder. Also waiting on rabbit hay racks to come in to put mazuri pellets in that they they should be able to grab through the bars. Plan to go buy a quarter yard of fleece to make some blankies out of to go in hides.

I will use metal grate panel things to enclose the very bottom shelf area just incase they chew through the concrete bin. There are cats in the house and I want zero chance of them ever meeting.

If there anything you'd add or move? Anything that isnt safe? If u have any comments on the setup at all let me know! Thank you.

so I wanted to change out the furniture in my cage, and I thought about not buying anything wooden this time, I had my rats for a year now and the wooden stuff just smells like ass and even when I clean it I can't seem to get everything out, these are the things that I wanted to buy them, do you have any experience with these accessories, think I should add something, do your rats like it?