My Rat setup

[Roaming Reptiles]

Got a bunch of these and they are working great!

 

[tlbowling]

I used to breed rats, and had some as pets I always had them in aquariums though. That looks like a really nice set up, but dont they chew through the plastic? Hope they dont get bored

 

[Roaming Reptiles]

I give them things to chew on. I have had them like this for a few months with no problems.

 

[tlbowling]

Well it looks great I wish I had thought of that when I was breeding them It would have been a lot easier to clean

 

[DoubleZ]

How often do they get out for free range time? They are super intelligent and need lots of stimulation. I also recommend putting in a hide for them to sleep in, even just an empty tissue box will work. I had 3 and they were amazing. No one could ever replace Jacy, my little alpha girl. She came when called, would follow at my heel on command, beg, and go from shoulder to hand and vice versa when asked. So smart. They had a big 3 story cage and it was so fun to watch them play and run and leap from level to level.

 

[MiamiLeos]

How often do they get out for free range time? They are super intelligent and need lots of stimulation. I also recommend putting in a hide for them to sleep in, even just an empty tissue box will work. I had 3 and they were amazing. No one could ever replace Jacy, my little alpha girl. She came when called, would follow at my heel on command, beg, and go from shoulder to hand and vice versa when asked. So smart. They had a big 3 story cage and it was so fun to watch them play and run and leap from level to level.

...i dont think these are pet rats.

 

[BrilliantEraser]

I had the same though, Bridgette.:uhoh2:

 

[Desdemona]

Yea, that will work as long as they don't figure out they can chew through. It depends on their personality a little. I had a rat in high school (pet, not feeder) that did figure out she could chew through plastic and after that keeping her in a cage was tough. I had a wire cage, but a previous rat had cut her thumb on a edge I didn't notice (bought the cage) and died a day later. So, was scared to put the second girl in there. Needless to say she just spent more time out of a cage than in it until we moved and had space to set up a 50 Gal tank my dad had, but could no longer use for fish.

Stimulation is the key with those guys! Having tank mates help, the female mentioned above was a loner because she didn't get along with non-humans well at all. Guess she thought she was a person, hehe.

 

[Roaming Reptiles]

They are my breeders. I have 7 tubs with a 1.2 sometimes 1.3. I have done this for a few months now with no problems with chewing.

 

[Desdemona]

A little off topic, but if you want to have some fun with the babies... take a bowl of water, put a bunch of peas in it... and just let them play. They usually hate the water but love the peas. I had one rat litter in college and I did this. Laughed my ass off for a good hour or so.

 

[T-ReXx]

I think rats do fine in plastic cages as long as you don't give them an edge to start gnawing on. From what I see the only edge they would have available is the hole for the water bottle but it would take them a while to figure it out and you would notice long before it was big enough to be an escape route.. I may try this idea out.

 

[Desdemona]

rats are nocturnal, and our rat could chew through a plastic cage in hours... so they might sneak out. But, they are not usually that hard to catch since they really like food Then you know who your chewers are (if you even have any).

 

[Roaming Reptiles]

They leave all the holes alone. This has been a perfect setup for me. Nursing mothers get some chocolate and other treats so they stay pretty happy in the tubs. Right now I have about 50 babies with afew females ready to pop any day. So im doing pretty good with the 8 ball pythons I have right now. With all the rats I am breeding I think I need afew more snakes.