Quick Fixes for Cage Problems

As most rat owners have discovered, it can be hard to find a good cage suitable for a rat. Most cages marketed for rats are too small, and most larger cages have too wide of a bar spacing for smaller or young rats. So what do you do if your cage needs some minor adjustments? Here are some of the most common problems found with commercially available cages and how to easily fix them.

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If you have your heart set on a large cage, but you have baby rats or small females, you may be disappointed when you find out most large cages are made for ferrets, and have wide bar spacing. The most common solution for this problem is to buy hardware cloth (1cm squares of wire on a long roll) and cover the cage with it until your babies grow up, or permanently if your rats are still small enough to fit through. The best way I have found to do this is to measure each side and each door and cut a piece of hardware cloth about 1-2 inches larger on every side. Then fold each side of the hardware cloth over so the sharp edges are tucked away and the piece is the correct size for the side of the cage. Attach them with zip ties for a temporary fix or J-clips for a more permanent (but still removable) fix. Make sure you put enough zip ties or J-clips so the rats cannot squeeze through between the hardware cloth and the original bars and become stuck or injured.
The picture to the left shows a large ferret cage upon which hardware cloth has been attached with J-clips. It was the cage I had my young does in, so I left it on there permanently.

An easy way to find a large cage with small bar spacing is to buy a bird cage. They come in many different sizes and often have perfect bar spacing for small rats. They do usually come with a few other problems, though, as they were not intended for rats. Usually those are that the pan is too shallow, there are no levels at all, and there is a wire grating over the floor, all problems covered below.

The Pan is Too Shallow

The original size of the pan that came with this cage pictured here was about 1" deep and it fit exactly around the bottom of the cage. As most rat owners know, there is no way litter is staying inside the cage with a pan that small. The easiest way to replace a bottom pan is to find a rubbermaid style container that is slightly larger than the dimensions of the bottom of your cage. The under-the-bed style ones tend to be good for larger cages, as they are still big but are only about 4-6 inches high. This cage here was quite a small cage so it wasn't hard to find a rubbermaid that fit it. They can be held in place with springs, wire fed through a hole drilled in each side of the pan, or if the cage is heavy enough simply held down under the weight of the cage.

The Cage is Too Small

A lot of times, people will buy their first rat and not know how large it will get. They will buy a small cage and find that soon their tiny little baby has outgrown it. Rather than buying a new cage, there are a few easy ways to enlarge your current cage.
The easiest way is if you have another small cage of the same or nearly the same size. The picture on the left show two cages joined together by zip ties. You can either remove the top from the bottom cage and stick the other cage right on top, effectively doubling the size of the cage, or if the second cage has a wire grating (as the one on the left did) you can use that as a level between the two and simply cut a small hole in it for the rats to go through from one cage to the other.
If the two cages you want to join together are two different sizes, it is still possible for it to work. Make sure the smaller cage goes on top, and that it is stable and secure when

fashioned together. Cages can also be added to the tops of aquariums in much the same way, extending the size of an aquarium as well as giving the rats more ventilation.
Two wire cages can also be joined side by side, through a common door, or even through a tunnel connecting the two cages such as a purchased Habitrail style tube or a PVC pipe. However you join the cages together, make sure they are securely fashioned and any tube or tunnel cannot be chewed through easily.
If you are home with your rats a lot, you can build a play area on top of their cage and let them out for free play as an alternative to making their cage larger. However, rats generally are most active at night when they cannot be watched, so they should not be left alone unsupervised during the night.

The Cage Contains Wooden Levels

I found this cage at our local pet store and liked how it had a good rat-sized bar spacing and a door on the front, as well as a deep plastic pan. What I didn't like was that the only levels it contained were bare wood, and did not have any ladders or anything else to connect them. I painted the wood several coats with a melamine paint, hoping it would keep any urine from soaking in to the wood.

After

Before

Well, it worked, but the urine just stayed right on top in pools and I had to wipe it down several times a day. After a short while of that it grew quite tiresome cleaning it all the time, so I removed the wooden levels and replaced them with a few quick fixes: hammocks, plastic organizer bins, and a store-bought wire corner shelf with a ladder. Everything came together much better and in the end there was more surface area for the rats to use.

The Cage Contains No Levels

A lot of the cages I had for my rattery were bought as bird cages, and therefore had no levels, ramps, or ladders, only perches. Here are a couple simple ways to transform your level-less cage into a ratty playground.

Plastic organizer bins are great quick fixes to add more levels to a cage. They can be found at dollar stores and Wal-Mart and usually are less than $2 each. They can easily be zip-tied or wired to the side of a cage. Rats love to sleep in them if you put some bedding inside it as well.

Hanging hammocks is another great quick fix. Hammocks act as levels as well as sleeping areas and rats sure love them! You can buy hammocks from the pet store, or easily make them yourself from polar fleece cut to fit your particular cage.

Other ideas are to use pieces of hardware cloth cut to fit the inside of your cage, effectively building your own level out of wire. You can also take parts from older cages and fashion those into some sort of level as well. Adding ferret sized plastic tunnels or PVC pipe can also either connect levels or be used as levels themselves. Even a thick rope can be used, rats can climb on just about anything!

The Cage Is Rusty

Used cages can be great finds when you want to save money, but they are often in need of repair or refinishing. Rat urine and chewing can quickly eat away at the paint on the bars or tray.
To start refinishing, find your rats a different cage or temporary place they can stay for at least 24 hours while you work. Take apart as much of the cage as you can, the smaller pieces you can work with, the better. Start by soaking the cage in a bleach / water solution then scrubbing with a scouring pad or toothbrush to remove any urine scale or feces. When they have been cleaned, pat the pieces dry with paper towels and use a wire brush to remove any loose paint and built-up rust. Wipe down with a damp paper towel or cloth to remove rust particles and allow to dry.
You are now ready to start painting. Buy a high quality professional grade paint, or you will regret it later on. I recommend the Rust-Oleum High Performance Enamel (left, with before and after shots of painting the cage). If your cage is extremely rusty, you may need to use a primer before painting. In a well-ventilated area, preferably outside, begin spray-painting your cage. You will have to do many thin coats, allowing 10-20 minutes between to let the paint dry fully. When the entire cage is painted, let it cure overnight to make sure it is fully dry. Then you can put the cage back together and let your rats back into it.

Once you refinish a cage, it still isn't as perfect as brand new. The cage pictured above is one of mine and I have had to repeat this process two years after I painted it the first time. If your cage is continually rusty and falling apart, it is better to simply find another one.

Have a problem cage that needs a solution? Send me an email describing your problem, with pictures if necessary, and I will see what I can do to help you fix it!

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