| My Bookcase Rat Cage |
| What you need: -An old, not needed bookcase or something similar -Finch cage wire for the door (handly includes already made doors) -Wood to make the door frame -Lino to cover the shelves to protect the wood from urine -Hooks for hanging up toys/hammocks -Metal ladders to connect shelves -Latches to close the door -Hinges for the door |
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| STEP ONE Clean the bookcase throughly. Ensure that the back is securely attached. After a few years of use, mine had become unattached so I had to add some more nails. |
| STEP TWO Cut out holes in each shelve approx 10cm squared, or bigger if you are keeping males. Now you can cut the lino to fit. How much you will need obviously depends on how many shelves you have and their size. I bought a pack of 11 tiles from Focus. Try to get soft, springy ones so that your rats can get a grip of it. The ones I bought were self adhesive too. |
| STEP THREE Next you will have to measure the door. Measure the outside of the case to get the overall door size, then measure where the shelves will be in comparision to the frame. You will have to drill holes in order for the wire cage fronts to fit. I luckily had someone to do this for me so I can't tell you much about the process. If you need more info on this, please feel free to email me. |
| STEP FOUR You will now need to attach the door. I had this done for me too. Hinges can't be that hard though...can they? With the door now in place and attached, you are almost done. We used little hooks (3 of them) that latched into small screws that had holes to close the door. Sorry that isn't a great description but I don't know what they are called. Or you could use something else if you found it did the same job. |
| STEP FIVE You are now ready to attach the lino to the shelves. Once done, give the cage another good clean out. Attach the hooks in the cage however you want them. They should be easy enough just to screw in. You can buy some ladders or I had some cut to length from metal. If you attach a couple of hooks in the hole you cut in the shelve, you can just hook the ladder over them. Hope you understand that!! |
| STEP SIX Now all that is left is to decorate as required. A cage like this would benefit from having litter trained rats as its not able to have a 'litter base'. |
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