building a cage

[Beckabean11404]

Well this has been harder than I imagined lol. The original cage I have for the rats was just a 10 gallon aquarium, and a rodent topper with 3 levels. I liked the idea at first, plus it saved me from having to build one....untill it came time to clean the cage, or get the girls out of it. If they were in the aqaurium then I would have to take the topper off to get them out, same with having to clean the cage. I eventually started to hate the topper lol. Of course eliminating the aqaurium section was unpractical since it would have left the girls with just a wire surface and no place to put bedding (since it would fall through the holes). In comes the building of a cage...ugh lol. I forced hubby into fashioning me a pan out of sheet metal for the bottom of the topper, smooth surface and bedding problem solved. Now the cage is just to...I don't know...um...unfun lol. Next we go out and buy the cage wire to add some height to their cage....and why this stuff has to come in rolls is beyond me! Does anyone sell flat sections of the wire? I couldn't find anything that matched the strength, or density the topper has, so the stuff we got came from Home Depot and has the small sqaure pattern. The more I try to get the ripples out and make it flat, the worse it gets lol. I've just about given up all hope on this cage building episode lol. Well anyways here are some pictures of the ratty girls. They finally started useing the cocoanut swing...yay!

[Nara]

Aww, they're very cute! I'm sorry you're having trouble with building a cage. For about a day I was considering getting a tank topper for my mice once they're a little larger and wouldn't be able to squeeze out but decided against it for the same reasons you're having problems with it. Good luck with your cage! Can we see some pics of how you have it with just the topper?

[Skratikans]

There has already been a topic on building cages...in the end i ended up ditching the idea of building a cage...but instead a found a neat website on this forum i believe it's www.martinscagescages.com or just look up Martin's cages.........the prices are really good- you wont find cages that are that big and have a good price attached to them!

[pinkie1205]

I hated my tank topper. I wrote a check for it and had to wait 2 weeks to take it back. Even though the holes in the wire were small, my mice could still fit through. I will never buy a tank topper again. www.martinscages.com has some good cages and www.rmca.org has some good ideas for building a cage. Just google building a rat cage and you'll find something.

[candyraver]

I wouldnt be able to build a cage for the life of me,I swear by martins cages though.I have 1 & will be ordering another very soon!