Wire Spacing on Cages

[~Chelsey~]

Hello everyone! 

I have a young male rat named Gus, who I am very fond of.  Gus will soon be getting a friend, and I want the two of them to have the biggest cage possible.  I have a wire ferret cage that is GIGANTIC that I'm debating on using.  The cage is ~5' tall, 2.5' deep, and about 3.5' across.  The only problem that I see with this cage is that the wire spacing is large, 1" wide by 2" long.  Is this too big for a male rat or pair of male rats?  Is there anything that you guys can think of that will help with the wire size?  I'm covering the wire ramps and shelves with either coroplast (plastic cardboard basically) or vellux, or possibly both, so I have the shelving and stuff covered, but I'm worried that they'd get out of the wire.  Any help would be greatly appreciated  

Thanks!  Chelsey and Gus 

[SR&P]

Perhaps you can cover it with hardware cloth.

[Heather]

The outside wire is fine, adult males cannot squeeze through, however some adult females could and babies either male or female could. The inside shelving should be 1/2" x 1/2" if not you can buy the plastic canvas stuff to cover it with. It's cheap and it works.

[~Chelsey~]

The outside wire IS ok?  It's like, BIG.  Gus is still a youngin (weaned), so I think he could squeeze through.  I'll wait till Gus and his buddy are full grown before I move them into the big cage.  Right now Gus is in a cage made out of sterilite bins (96 QT) that are fixed up so that they're "rat friendly"

[Marybelle]

Actually, at 1" x 2", I wouldn't risk it.  Especially if they're young males.   Basically, anything they can fit their heads through, the rest of them can get through, so that's a pretty large spacing.  You can buy hardware cloth to wrap around the outide of the cage, like SR&P suggested.  It's not pretty, but it's effective. 

[BadRattitude]

I think I have the cage you are talking about.  Big black thing from Petsmart?  I have squishy boys in it, but yes most of my rats can get out of it.  Only my big old boys can't.  I don't have any problems with the shelves though, I cover them with newspaper and change daily.

Bad Rattitude Rattery

[Heather]

I had a Prevue cage with 1" x something bar spacings and my adult males could not fit through. However, don't put baby or young rats in there. You can wrap it in hardware cloth though like suggested until they're adults.

[~Chelsey~]

this one isn't from Petsmart or any big chain, a person around here makes cages and I got it from him.  It's like the size wire that comes on rabbit hutches.  Lemme know what you guys think!


Chelsey

[Marybelle]

this one isn't from Petsmart or any big chain, a person around here makes cages and I got it from him.  It's like the size wire that comes on rabbit hutches.  Lemme know what you guys think!


Chelsey

I always opt for the "better safe than sorry" option when talking about rats...  Just when you think they can't do something, it's like they're out to prove you wrong... 

[Beth]

I've found that rats have to be at least 300g to be safe with 1" spacing...that's a rough guide though!

Beth

[~Chelsey~]

Ok, I'll wait until he's grown and then try him out in that cage.  I'll have it in my room with the door shut, so I don't think that it'll be too big of a deal if he gets out.  Our indoor cats are fat, lazy, and declawed anyway, so if for some reason he would get out he wouldn't be in danger.  Another cage that I've considered putting him in is http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441777983&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026391&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1098707330856.  It's got one inch spacing too, but it's smaller.  I think he'd stand less of a chance getting out in the other cage.

[rattielady]

The outside wire is fine, adult males cannot squeeze through, however some adult females could and babies either male or female could. The inside shelving should be 1/2" x 1/2" if not you can buy the plastic canvas stuff to cover it with. It's cheap and it works.

what do you do about the top? do you cover the entire cage? what about air-flow?

[Boobaloo]

I have a ferret cage and females and none of them can get out. The youngest was 6 months when she went into the cage and was plenty large enough. When your boys reach 4-5 months give it a try (i tested by putting them in cage and putting a favorite treat on the outside, they tried to get out but couldn't, ofcourse once i was satisfied they couldn't get out on their own i let them out to have thier treat). I actually prefer 1in bar spacing cause you can give pets, treats or scrtiches through the bars and if you take pictures of them in the cage there is less bars and more cute rat in picture.

[Kendra]

The outside wire is fine, adult males cannot squeeze through, however some adult females could and babies either male or female could. The inside shelving should be 1/2" x 1/2" if not you can buy the plastic canvas stuff to cover it with. It's cheap and it works.

what do you do about the top? do you cover the entire cage? what about air-flow?

The plastic canvas is to cover the shelves inside, so that the rats aren't walking directly on the metal bars.  There is some controversy over whether walking on wire floors causes or exacerbates bumblefoot. 

[Rats&Cats]

Also, the "hardware cloth" isn't cloth--it is a big roll of wire mesh (the one I bought had squares about 1/4" by 1/4"). You unroll the wire and wrap it around the sides of the cage, and fasten it. With babies I might do the top, too, just because they are little acrobats and I've had several who walk upside down across the ceiling of their cage. Air flows through just fine  (I got mine at Lowe's but I'm sure almost any hardware or home improvement store should carry it).

[~Chelsey~]

Thanks guys   Now the question is space...I breed hedgehogs and they are all in my room (all 18 ), so I don't have enough room in my room for the huge ferret cage.  Would that rabbit cage that I linked work?  I wouldn't have to do anything to that cage.  Would it be big enough for two male rats?  The link is up in one of my other posts.  I want my boys to have plenty of room to run around when I can't have them out

[AllSweetie]

I checked it out and it looks as though the rabbit cage can hold up to 8 rats, so unless your boys are HUGE, I think they will be ok!

[Dearpie]

If you're looking to spend that amount of money, why not just order a nice powdercoated 685 or 695 from Martins?  You won't have to worry about changing anything to make it rat appropriate .... seems logical to me!!