[email protected]

In a message dated 10/23/2002 11:43:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
> We put her daughter in our lovely 3 level cage
> with her mom and Mary (rat #1) but the two boys are sharing a cage that's
> really too small for them, and 5 rats is really too much for us. We
> thought they had a new home when they were younger but the person sort of
> flaked.
>
We have two ratties too. Ren's boys fell in love with the "ladies", Olivia
and Rhia. They are delightful pets. We got 15 the first time and 12, the
second from two breeders in Florida for a homeschool "class" I hosted over a
year ago.

The kids each got two-three female rats to train. They learned the most
amazing things!

Several of the kids made their own cages (ours is made of shelving with a
plastic tray bottom). It was less than $50 to build---and it's a condo.

Yeah.Mary! Watch out for us rat lovers! <G>

Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

james e thomas

Kelly,
can you give more info. on the $50.00 cage you build? Sounds like
something we would like to try.

thanks
sharon

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<<Kelly,
can you give more info. on the $50.00 cage you build? Sounds like
something we would like to try.

thanks
sharon>>

Sharon

I have seen a few pics of homemade cages, some with plans, on the
internet. Would you be interested in the urls? Lanora is always
searching sites for info on rats and she could tell me where to find the
pages, I'll write them down and send them on if you're interested.

Kris

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james e thomas

Kris,
the urls would be great. thanks for sharing ideas....it may have been
just testing. I am afraid I have been much more used to hamsters "biting"
and may have mistaken this behaviour. I was told by the pet shop guy that
rats were great pets. less likely to bite than hamsters,guinea pigs
(that's pretty gentle) and ferrets.
sharon

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In a message dated 10/24/2002 1:39:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
> Are there any health issues with owning rats? Anything like iguanas
> (shouldn't be in the house with young children)? We tried hamsters, and
> that was a disaster. I still have all the hamster cages and play stuff and
> Tyler has been asking for some sort of little furry friend

You can't keep rats in hamster cages, Too small. Very clean critters, though.
Smart. Smarter than all the other rodents. They'll even come when you call.
Hamsters hide.

Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Myranda

Is this any kind of hamster cage? We have 3 plus some play things that all hook together. One is plastic, about the size and shape of an aquarium. It has a built-in hidey-hole underneath the exercise wheel, and a tube that leads up into a spiral kind of toy thing. A tube leads from that into a maze that's approximately two feet long and a foot wide, 4 inches high. There is another tube going up into a spiral toy in the middle of that. Then there's a tube that goes in to a wire cage that resembles a bird cage but that has three different levels and two "houses", and that has a big round ball thing wired to the side of it.

Hope that all made sense! LOL It takes up about 5 feet long-ways when set up.

I can definitely deal with a smart critter! The hamsters seemed pretty dumb to me! :-)
Myranda
You can't keep rats in hamster cages, Too small. Very clean critters, though.
Smart. Smarter than all the other rodents. They'll even come when you call.
Hamsters hide.

Kelly





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/24/2002 3:12:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
> Is this any kind of hamster cage?

Hamster cage. Not a rattie cage.

We have 3 plus some play things that all hook together. One is plastic,
about the
> size and shape of an aquarium.

Rats don't do well in aquarium-style housing. Not enough ventilation.

>> It has a built-in hidey-hole underneath the exercise wheel,

Big no-no on the wheel. Rats have tails that get caught in wheels. It must be
HUGE and be plastic, not wire.

and a tube that leads
> up into a spiral kind of toy thing. A tube leads from that into a maze
> that's approximately two feet long and a foot wide, 4 inches high. There is
> another tube going up into a spiral toy in the middle of that.

Tubes aren't good.

Then there's a tube that goes in to a wire cage that resembles a bird cage
but that
> has three different levels and two "houses", and that has a big round ball
> thing wired to the side of it.
>
>
"Bird cage" would have to be three feet tall. Levels would need to be big
enough to comfortably hold two rats. Rats are a lot bigger than hamsters. But
fancy rats are smaller than wild or feeder rats.

Wood is not the best idea for rat cages although I have seen it done well.

You can google "fancy rats", "fancy rat breeders", "rat health", etc. Someone
here mentioned The Rat Lady---that's how she's known. She has an excellent
website as well as a book.

Our rats cost maybe $10 each? But we bought a mess of them---all pet quality
from show breeders. They come in delightful coat colors and
combinations---hooded, Bershire, lilac, champagne, even marked like Siamese
cats---Beautiful! They have satin, rex, teddy bear coats--and even hairless.
They even have tailless for those who are sqeamish about tails, but since
they perspire through their tails, theyr'e not recommended for hot areas of
the country. The cost may be higher in different parts of the country or
according to the color or show quality.

Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Mary Bianco

My husband made a really nice cage for our snake. Didn't use any plans, just
kind of winged it. Figured out how big he wanted it and got some pressed
wood for the sides and back and bottom. He used wire for the tops and front
and put latched on it. He even covered the bottom with some stick on vinyl
tiles to make it easier to clean. Pretty easy.

Mary B








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[email protected]

<<Kris,
the urls would be great. thanks for sharing ideas....it may have been
just testing. I am afraid I have been much more used to hamsters "biting"
and may have mistaken this behaviour. I was told by the pet shop guy that
rats were great pets. less likely to bite than hamsters,guinea pigs
(that's pretty gentle) and ferrets.
sharon>>

Sharon

I tried finding the web sites I mentioned, I kept getting dumped off my
server. I went to "google" and put in "fancy rat breeders" and "pet
rats" and got a LOT of results. Many of the ratty lovers with web sites
have a "my cages" page and those who built their own usually have a
description of how they did.

There is a site...www.martinscages.com...who sells rat cages. They are
very reasonable and come in "powder coated" which is better for rats too.

Kris

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http://www.afrma.org/rminfo8.htm

How to care for orphan mice and rats, should you happen upon them. From the
American Fancy Rats and Mice Association

Hard to keep them alive, but if you do manage it they'll be exceptional pets
as they'll be strongly bonded to you.