From Lianne McLeod, DVM,
Your Guide to Exotic Pets.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

I had a tough time finding a good cage for my pet rats, so ended up making my own. Showing the final result has proved difficult as I changed something about this cage almost every week for the first few months. To be completely honest, there are things about this cage I don't really like or would have done differently.

Size
I will give you instructions for the original size of the cage I built: 32 inches by 16 inches, and 36 inches tall. This makes a nice roomy cage, but it is very heavy (I eventually lopped 10 inches of the height of mine, which helped a bit). The cage shown above is my shortened version.

Additional Levels
You may need to experiment a bit with shelf options; that is the aspect of this cage that I have struggled with the most. In the end I opted for a single shelf, and added a hammock as well as corner litter boxes which are suspended higher in the cage and are used mainly as beds.

Materials Needed

• 4 Closet Shelves (vinyl-coated wire shelves), each 6 feet long by 16 inches wide. If possible, get your hardware store to cut these in half.
• Large pack of plastic zip ties (cable ties)
• Large Underbed Storage Container (at least 16 inches wide and 32 inches long)
• 8 foot long piece J-channel - vinyl siding component
• Clip to hold door closed such as a bolt snap

That is all that is needed for the basic cage shape, but you'll also need to have some decent tools, especially a saw capable of cutting the wire shelving. A power saw is recommended, as some of the wires can be pretty thick and this was the most difficult and time consuming part of construction. A good pair of scissors is also needed for trimming the cable ties.