Cage Setup

Substrate

Substrate is what will cover most of the cage floor. You want to aim for a substrate that is unscented, as dust-free as possible, absorbant and good for digging around in.

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Some good examples:

 - Kiln-dried and dust-extracted shavings, such as bedmax, littlemax, pureflake extra, snowflake supreme and aubiose.

 - Dust-extracted shredded cardboard, such as finacard, green mile, ecobale and walmsley.

 - Bioactive soil, made up of coco fibre soil and/or top soil and Clean Up Crew like springtails. I add in sphagnum moss, cork bark and dust-extracted hay to add texture and interest to the soil. The cork bark is also a great haven for the springtails. I water my soil with dechlorinated water (water left out for at least 24 hours) so that the soil clumps when squeezed. I'll make an article on bioactive set ups one day!

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Some bad examples:

 - Carefresh, as it is dusty and sometimes scented.

 - Fleece, as it doesn't provide digging opportunities, isn't very absorbant.

 - Litter, as it doesn't provide digging opportunities.

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Litter

Litter should only be used in litter trays. You want litter that is highly absorbant without disintegrating.

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Some good examples:

 - Paper-based cat litter, such as breeder celect and back 2 nature.

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Some bad examples:

 - Any wood-based cat litter (disintegrates).

 - Biocatolet (contains insect repellent).

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Bedding

Bedding offers nesting opportunities and keeps them warmer in winter.

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Some good examples:

 - Kitchen/toilet roll - hang in the cage with some natural string for extra enrichment!)

 - Dust-extracted hay

 - Newspaper strips

 - Teabag bedding

 - Fabric strips (I prefer to only use these in carriers as they hold smell more)

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Active Layout

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Producing an active layout with running, climbing, jumping and balancing opportunities is incredibly important for keeping your rats happy and healthy. If an individual cannot navigate the cage without more support, consider easier options like thicker ropes, more fall breakers, and plastic tunnels cable tied to the cage. If they don’t use it, they lose it!

 

When you first buy a cage, filling it is a daunting task. Below are a few ‘rules’ for filling up your cage:

1. Your ultimate aim is to take out all levels bar litter trays to free up more space and encourage an ‘active’ layout where the rats can move around more and have to be more athletic.

2. Fill up the space you have with the levels in first, then take out the levels once you have enough enrichment to fill the space.

3. Pick a point in your cage. If your rat was to fall, how far would they fall before reaching something? Would they safely land on it or bounce off of it? If the latter, at what point will they be caught by something? If it’s a landing point, how soft is that landing point after how big of a fall?
   You will want to fill space so that your rats won’t have far to fall without a fall breaker.

 

You can fill space in a variety of ways. My favourite ways to fill space is to use different size ropes, tie holders, bolt-on ledges, big hanging toys, foldable wine racks cable tied to the sides, and with a larger hammock. I like to use shower hooks to attach things to the cage. You can obtain these through places like rat rations, small businesses (Rat Care UK on facebook has a thread of small businesses), IKEA and amazon. Toys and fixtures don’t have to be expensive; you can make toys from toilet/kitchen roll tubes or use old clothes or tea towels for hammocks. Below are some ideas for homemade toys and a photo of my set up (2021). The trays are large litter trays filled with breeder select litter. The substrate is bioactive soil and cork bark pieces. The ropes are from B&M and Rat Rations. The tie holder is from IKEA. The hammocks are from Cosy Beds and Burrows and old tea towels. The foldable wine rack on the door and foraging toy at the top are from Amazon. The black box was a shower storage container from Sainsburys that I used as a mini pool.