Tips for Choosing the Best Cage for Your Pet Rat

Owning a rat can be a rewarding experience. They are social and loveable animals. One of my rats, Dusty, would curl up in my shirt or on my shoulder right in my hair and go to sleep. They love to be near people as much as possible. Giving them a large space in which to live will keep them healthy and happy.

Types of Cages

A rabbit hutch is big enough for a pair of rats or even 3 rats. The hutch will have to be modified by adding some ladders, hammocks and at least one level that the rats can climb on, but most everything you will need to do this can be found at most pet stores.

Aquariums can be used but since rats need a lot of room to play and they need proper ventilation, an aquarium isn't the ideal cage to house a pet rat. One thing you can do is to get what is called an aquarium topper and affix it to the top of an aquarium.

Rat cages come in all sorts of sizes. From small one level cages to what some call the rat high rises which are multi level cages. Which cage you get will be determined by how many pet rats you have, the more rats you have the bigger the cage you will want to have.

Even if you have just one pet rat, I would advise getting at least a two level cage or an aquarium with a topper so your pet rat has enough room to play, hide, sleep and climb.

If you get a wire cage, you need to make sure that the bottom of the cage isn't also wire because that can cause damage to your rat's paws.

Bedding

Most people see cedar and pine shavings in the pet stores in the bedding isles but this is the worst bedding to use for your rats cage. Cedar and pine shavings can cause health problems in rats so they should not be used. Paper based bedding such as CareFresh has been the best bedding I have found.

You will need to clean the cage every week or more if you have more than two rats in the cage. Most rats will pick one corner in the cage to be the bathroom and you can spot clean this every other day to keep the cage from smelling.

Cloth can be used but it will need to be changed out more often since it gets smelly faster. Cloth isn't the ideal bedding since rats like to chew and the fibers can cause problems in rats.

Your rat's cage should be fun for them as well as big enough for them to climb, hide, sleep and play. You should also make sure it's easy to clean because rats will get sick if their environment isn't kept clean.

Using these tips should help make your pet rats home a happy one.