Cage

What cage would you guys recommended for female rats?

I have three of them and they are about 2 1/2 - months old. I hopefully will be getting to more in Jan - Feb. So Five female rats. The cage I have now is getting to small for them. It was fine when they were tiny babies but now its not. So what would you recommend? I don't know about ferret cages. I was told that they bars are not good for females and babies. Also what Bar spacing should I do for babies and females?

Public Comments

1. For five, you should be looking at some of the larger ferret cages. Ferret Nation cages get raving reviews from rat owners. Have a look at them here: http://www.ferret.com/ferret-cages/ferret-nation-cages/300/ Super Pet cages are also fine: http://www.ferret.com/ferret-cages/super-pet-cages/210/ Here is another brand that looks great on the same site: http://www.ferret.com/ferret-cages/marshall-mansion-cages/301/ When you find a cage you like, use this rat cage calculator tool to determine how many rats can live in the cage based on its dimensions: http://www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml Good luck and enjoy your girls :)
2. I house eight of my nine rats in this cage http://media.photobucket.com/image/ferret%20cage/darthmaulnda/IMG_3650.jpg (not actually my cage, just a pic I found of it online) Aswell as three of my five males in the exact same model, it provides so much room for them and the flat ledges offer tons of space for piles of hammocks and hanging treats, if you want to go more then 2 aim for anything meant for a ferret, generally the bigger the better ! Actually that one ferret cage has the exact same dimensions as the one I have mine housed in ! I'm actually in the process of purchasing an even larger cage for them, another ferret cage, they may cost a bit but if you want to house a good number of rats you need to go big. Ad according to that silly calculator I can house 3722 wisely in my cage :P The bar spacing for babies should be 1/2" and you can alter any ferret cage to suit it, we fixed ours up with an extra level ontop of the cage with chicken wire and covered the cage in chicken wire (dulled down, no sharp edges !) and no escapes have occured. Perhaps the pic is misleading ? it's about 5 feet tall, and with the addition about 6 feet now, trust me there is plenty of room for my girls ! and this cage would comfortably house 5 rats
3. Your going to need a very bug cage i have a few recommendations. The Rudd Cage (R-699) http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/rat/ I love this cage and wish i had,had it when i had my rats. I have only ever heard good things about martins cages. I would recommend the Rudd cage because it's very large and would be the perfect size for 5 ratties. The second cage i would recommend is this one http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/7482/product.web this is a ferret cage. The problem with most ferret cages is the bar spacing. This is a problem because of the spacing tends to be 1 inch and most rats can escape from this type of habitat. I like this cage because it's roomy and leaves a lot of space for decorating. It also has 1/2 inch bar spacing so baby's and other rats can't escape. This would also be a good sized cage for 5 rats. There are also many types of homemade cages which i do not tend to like as much. They always seem more dangerous and harder to handle. Many people are very creative and make very nice homemade cages. Here are a few examples http://www.dapper.com.au/cagebuild.htm http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/diy/gpig.htm http://www.ratsauce.com/gallery/index.php?cat_id=21&action=images http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAm0aRlNeA0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMCFDKbgVH4 These are just a few examples. I would not recommend these but you may be interested in creating a cage or combining 2 cages with tubing.My favorite cage is the rudd but there are other cages that are very nice too. If you potty train your rats there are many more options like free roaming your rats and giving them a smaller (not super small just a little bit smaller) cage that they would sleep in at night or travel in. You could also do some thing like these people http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8UDk0_jzEo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEUrM-FGypk Rats love to be out of there cage so free ranging can be a great alternative. Hope that helped. Also killedby's cage is not big enough for 8 rats. My one rat lives in a car a little bigger then that and my cage only houses three rats.
4. This cage would be good for 3 rats: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753352 This would be good for 5+: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3402796 The bar spacing on both of these cages is 1/2" so it's perfectly fine for females and babies.