Home-made Cage/Rat grotto?

[CapriceCritters]

I saw some of the pics posted with large cages made out of bookshelves or shelving units. I quickly posted on craigslist and may have found one promising bookshelf already, and I have most of the equipment needed to finish it currently at - hand. I'm just waiting for the guy to send pictures or tell me where he lives - he's in my town.

I was just wondering what people use for bedding. I was thinking simply cloth would be smelly and need an awful lot of cleaning, since urine would simply soak through the cloth and onto the surface of each shelf. I planned on covering each shelf with the plastic shelf covering to prevent damage but... it would still smell from the urine. Other kinds of bedding would fall from the cage front. Outdoor carpeting would be the same problem. I also fear them chewing the cloth or outdoor carpeting and getting wrapped in or a compacted gut from the fibers.

What does everyone use for bedding?

[clairebee1]

There is a coating that people use its like gloss and the urine and poo cannot soak in and if you find that the urine is soaking in simpily put cloth or fleece over the top holded down with paper binders! there is a few people who have made them on here im sure they will help ya ! x

[Foxyshedevil]

I am so jealous of peoples creativity when it comes to cages! I wish I could do the whole bookshelf thing, I think it looks awesome! Good luck!

[CapriceCritters]

bump?

[clairebee1]

Cazamps and another member made a shelf cage im sure they will come along soon

[luvboyrats]

I'm working on one right now. My plan is to coat it heavy in non-toxic water based polyurethane, and then have several litter pans with bedding. Then basically do a quick wipe down with baby wipes and litter changes as needed.

I think caszamps did the same kind of system only with self adhesive plastic contact paper instead of polyurethane.

[mtmaughan]

The first grotto that I built I painted the shelves with "marine epoxy" paint for boats. It dries really hard and waterproof. It worked well, but you'd do well to do a first coat of primer because the boat paint is expensive and you need at least two coats. The grotto I have now (which I bought already built) has the shelves covered with melamine and the back with shelf paper. I don't like the paper because it's too easy to peel off, so I wouldn't use it if I were building one.

For bedding I always just use fleece. It's fairly inexpensive to get a couple of yards of it from a fabric store, then just wash it when it gets dirty. Cut it to the shape of the shelves, then use the extra to make hammocks, or just shove the scraps inside their hides for them to dig around in.

[Cazsamps]

Hi yeah i used sticky back plastic to cover the shelves and its brill the pee doesnt soak through at all and i have litter pans in there for them to use but the odd one decides they prefer the shelves and i just wipe them all down on a daily basis!!! It's so easy to keep clean and was relatively easy to build lol i love it......i am working on a second one for my boys xx

[pandamiranda7]

my mom made a homemade cage but not out of a shelf a wire cage

[Rat Man Doooo]

I did some looking around and I say I am very impressed with the creativity of these book shelf cages. i made a rabbit cage out ofe left over box spring matress and an old doc. exam table. I was always impressed with Radar's (M*A*S*H*) rodent collection and housing. Anyways I like to see the creative means bywhich we can create a plush living space for our beloved petters.
Rat Man Doooo

BTW First Post..........

[susb8383]

I made a grotto about a year ago and just recently blogged about how I did it. You might want to check it out because I added a lot of "what I would differently" including choosing a bookcase and lining the shelves.

This forum won't let me include a link to it, but if you go to athingortwo.info (make sure it is .info and NOT .com because .com is an adult site ) you should be able to find it.

The post is titled Building the Ratty Grotto.

[CapriceCritters]

Thanks, I've since made mine, fully metal, but I'll be sure to check yours out too!

[susb8383]

Great! Do you have any pictures you can post?

Now that I have my grotto exactly the way I want it and all my critters are happy, I have a new project to totally revamp it!

My girls were strays and I had never been a rat owner before. I made all the passages between shelves and between the grotto and annex out of 2" pvc pipe. Works fine for my girls, but, as is probably not uncommon with new rat owners, now I want more! I'm looking into adoption of males, which as most people know (but I didn't really think about it) are bigger than females.

So now I'm trying to change everything to at least 3" and also add onto one pipe so that I can divert it to a free-range play area.

Sigh...well it gave me a good excuse to buy a jig saw.

--Susie

[CapriceCritters]

Here are some pics:





I have since screwed little chunks of wood onto the ramps. I tried hot glueing fabric to them, which worked for a while until my three girls with litters instinctually ripped off the fabric for their nests...

So, the chunks of wood work great. They can't rip them off, at least... I also hot glued a chunk of fabric to the shelf where the wood meets, because otherwise the ramps would fall down. As long as they're covered up, though, the girls leave 'em a lone.

[susb8383]

Hey that's pretty cool! What did you use to cover the backs and the side? It looks like sheet metal in the picture. Where did you get big pieces like that?