Old rats, wire cages? *please read*

[Grace Jr]

Right now, all my boys are in a huge cabinet style cage.  It's 5'x2'x3', with 2 full size shelves (plus the floor of the cage), and shallow ramps.  I built it this way to accomadate old boys, and it's working pretty well.  Pompeii has next to no use of his hind legs anymore, but will still venture to another level once in a great while.  Since each shelf is 5'x2', even when he stops using the ramps, he has plenty of space.

I do have one concern though...  It seems that since I switched from wire to cabinet cages, my boys have started to sneeze more.  Maybe I'm just being paranoid, since everyone has also gotten older, but with 2 boys over 2.5 I don't want to chance anything!  I know there are others here that have used cabinet cages, any experience with this?  They have litter pans with aspen, and I lay towels down on the shelves to absorb urine etc.  The towels get changed about twice a week, and everything is scrubbed down once a week.  I have carpeting on the two ramps, which hasn't been changed since building the cage (a couple months?) - they don't poo or pee on the ramps.

I do have an R-685, but it's in use for my two foster girls.  Would it be worthwhile to buy a new cage for them, or am I just being paranoid?  With a wire cage, I'm worried about his legs being caught, falling from shelves, and lack of space per shelf once he can't climb anymore.  Any suggestions on what sort of cage to get, if I were to get one?  I don't want to split my group, so it'd have to be a really large cage.  (I've got 7 males, 1 female, and eventually another female once she's spayed)

[Bratratbeds]

Heya Grace,

Personally I would go to a reg. cage all I have heard from local people is the amount of trouble they have had with cabnet cages mostly from mold building up in between the shelf and the layers of wood that can't be gotten rid of completely. Even with the towels being changes etc. the shelving will absorb wetness, and with not seeing the type you have it could also be a lack of air flow for the boys.  I was thinking you might check with Martin's as see if they could modify the ramp to allow a "railing" type support along the open side of the ramp to keep Pompeii from falling off the edge as it were.  They might even have something you could attach to a cage you already have and if need be you could always block off access to the upper layers with a paving stone to keep him in a single level with a buddy who could be swapped out every few days.  Or maybe they could come up with a whole new type of ramp for this kind of problem...you know something that looks like a "L" on it's side.
Yeah I know not much help but just a couple ideas than might spark something that would work.

[Grace Jr]

This is what I've got now:


So far, I've had no trouble with mold, etc with either of the cages I've had.  It's made of particle board? (something like that), and coated with Kilz waterproof primer with tile on the shelves.  All the seams and under the tile are caulked as well.

I emailed Martin's about building a large custom cage, but I'm not sure they can do it.  Since their pans only go up to 36"x30", I wouldn't have a pan with it.  Probably lay some linoleum down on teh floor for it to sit on, maybe carpet?  Not really sure...  Hopefully if they CAN build it, it'd be something affordable too!

[Bratratbeds]

It may just be a lack of air moving with it being closed on 3 sides.  But that's my totally unscientific opinion    

I wonder if they could just do the ramps which might be cheaper as you would only have/need to replace the ramps. 

You could use a Plexiglas type thick plastic around the bottom zip tied to the bottom outside of the cage while it sits on your linoleum, that way you keep the beddding confined inside the cage on the linoleum but can get the length you would like.  I use a thinner clear plastic on the bottom of ours to keep the girls from kicking out the sani-chips.  Its the type you use for photos frames.  I use a flat tip screwdriver that I heat up on the stove and push it through the plastic to make a perfect hole for a zip tie.  On the thinker stuff you have to go about it differently as it will crack on you as I learned the hard way  

Or you know you might be able to get them to powder coat one of their metal pans done in the size you need...

[Grace Jr]

Their Dura-Trays are the largest ones they carry, and only go up to 36"x30".    What I'm looking at would require something like 48"x24" or 60"x24".  Since the rats are litter trained (for the most part anyway...), I'm not worried about bedding going everywhere.  It'll be in pans anyway!  I figure a roll of scrap linoleum would be easy to clean, and plenty cheap enough to just lay down underneath the cage.  I could also use Coraplast, which is very affordable ($10 for a 4'x8' sheet).

My big concern with a wire cage would be the shelving.  I WOULD want wire shelves, to be able to hang toys and hammocks, but, I don't want them walking on the wire.  Right now, with the cabinet cage, I just lay towels on the shelves, but I'm not sure that'd work with a wire cage.  Between them hoarding the towels, etc they'd still wind up walking on wire (I can't fix the towels constantly when I work full-time!  lol).  I'm just not sure what I could lay on the shelves that would work? I really like having something I can just pick up and throw in the wash, but I'm not sure carpet pieces would be safe? The ramps are easy enough to figure out though.  Martin's uses some sort of rubber to cover the ramps of their cavy cages, and I've have that put on the ramps for this cage.

Another concern would be the doors...   The cage would be either 48"x24"x48" or 60"x24"x36" (possibly 48"x24"x36", but that's the smallest I'd go), so I'd need some VERY big doors to make this thing easy to clean, as well as to get uncooperative critters out!  In any case, I do miss some of the things I can do with a wire cage, so I guess it's just a matter of (impatiently!  lol) waiting for Martin's to email me back, and HOPING that if it is possible to make, it'll be affordable too!

[Mirabell]

I actually took my "senior" boys (all over 2 years old) out of their huge cage (a Midwest Cat Playpen) and started using a marchiorio.  I have the largest rectangle one I could find.  But my boys all have weak back legs, so ramps are not an option.  However - you should see them scale the walls for Reece's!!

But my senior girls are in a Martins - I only had a few problems with one girl.  Towards the very end, she would get her leg caught in the wall wire.  I don't know how!  But I ended up putting them all into a smaller marchiorio, and when Rosie went to the Bridge, I put her daughters back into the Martins.  But I have to say - give me the Marchiorio's over Martins any day!!!  So much easier to clean!  But that is just my opinion.

[Grace Jr]

I LOVE Marchioros!  I've got the largest one they make (for the single level cages anyway), but it's not big enough for everyone, and I really don't want to split them up.  :-/  Pompeii has no use of his hind end, and I noticed tonight Milos is starting to look the way Pomp did when he started degenerating.  *sigh*  If I didn't have such a large group, a Marchioro would be absolutely perfect.  And I agree, they are SOO easy to clean!