QUESTION: How big cage do they need?
ANSWER: Absolute minimum that is usually recommended is 70 cm * 45 cm, height 60 cm for two rats. Larger is a great idea!
My old cage for two male rats was 60 x 90 cm and 120 cm high, and it was buildt in plexi glass. This cage has an open front side, so it is very easy to just put your hand inside and pet any of the rats inside, no small cage doors to open. Usually a bird cage or an old aquarium is used. For rat males it is not too hard to build your own cage, but female rats are too prone to escape thus making it much harder to build your own cage for them. To build a rat cage from plexi glass turned out to be a bad idea since plexi glass takes on every smell. This cage you can ´see in the photo to the right.
This is the cage where all my male rats lived when I was still breeding rats, see photo to the left. The cage is 60 x 80 cm and 180 cm high. Five or six adult male rats was what I think is enough to keep in this cage size. Alkso this cage had an open front, so it was very easy to put your hand inside and touch any rat you wanted to pet.
NEVER have just one rat in a cage - he will be lonely and sad like a prisoner in a cell in jail...
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 11th of August 2006.