Yesterday Lisa and I tracked down a large glass-enclosed terrarium-type habitat in Spanaway for my nine rats. It’s a lot smaller than the cage I adapted for them, but it’s satisfactory.
They will have an exercise wheel in it before noon today and I will create a playpen area for them outside the cage so they can run and play when they want.
I also want to velcro the water bottles inside the terrarium, and I need to buy a narrow plastic paint tray to set up as a walk in swimming/wading pool for them. I discovered that they like to stick their heads completely under water, so I expect they might like to swim some, too. I’m about to find out! They’re very fastidious; they groom themselves a lot, so a swimming/wading pool might suit them just fine.
The cage I had them in was almost impossible to clean and keep smelling fresh. With this new terrarium, I was able to establish a “potty box” for them in a specific corner. All other corners are occupied with food and water dishes, or their tunnel hut which they often sleep in and on, so they’ll be compelled to use the potty box. I put it in the same back corner that they were using as a potty place in the big cage, so the transition should be seamless. I haven’t spotted any errant rat droppings since setting it up yesterday afternoon.
The rats are far more visible in the new cage. There are no bars or hardware cloth to block my view of them. Patches and Charli, my cats, love sitting and watching them, too… and the rats don’t appear to mind at all.
I have put into the bottom of the tank a thick layer of unbleached paper litter. That keeps them happy and I have detected no odor. I bought some rat potty box litter; it arrived last night in the mail, so I put that in their litter box. They’ve all taken turns investigating it, and I think they’re using it. Yay!
Rats are smart!
The only thing I have to be watchful of is the fact that they can jump from the top of the biggest box and nudge the screen top (which is in two sections to make access easy when it’s time to feed, water and clean) little by little each time they try. I have to keep something heavy on the top in places to make sure they can’t dislodge the cover enough to get out.
They know exactly what they’re doing when they do it, too. It isn’t hit and miss. It’s a concerted effort to get enough space between the screens to jump up and out.
In fact, as soon as I remove or even open the front screen, they jump onto the tallest box in their habitat and start jumping to the top of the screen. Fortunately, they’re very tame and not in any big rush to escape, so I just pick them up, and put them back in. Usually two come at a time (the moms), but the little ones are getting the idea, too, and they’re getting bigger every day…so it won’t be long before I need to earn how to juggle rats! (I have a small bird cage I can put them in while I clean, so it’s no biggy. As they jump out, I can put them in the bird cage. Problem solved!)
Rat TV is a lot more entertaining than most commercial fare. I’m enjoying them immensely.
