Making A Rat Spare Cage on Your Own

One may never know what may happen to their beloved pet rats and therefore, it may prove to be quite convenient to have one spare cage around in case necessary situations arise. Say for example, one of your pet rats has gone sick and it can't be placed anywhere your other pet rats for the fear of communicating the disease to the other rats that were not infected. Of course, in situations like this, you would have to prepare another shelter for your sick rat, to isolate the possible disease and to monitor its condition closely. Another instance would be if you just happen to have purchased a very new pet rat and you just can't peat it along with your previous pets. To quarantine the new rat, you also need to have a separate cage. Also, when traveling, a spare cage would be needed.

Naturally, you can buy a cage right off a vet or pet store if you really want to. But of course, that can be quite expensive and you ought to be prepared of the amount of expenses you would have to come by when purchasing for one. However, if you are not, it's not yet the end of the world for you. There are still ways on how you can come up with a spare cage yourself, without having considerable amount of monetary investment. Of course you would have to spend money in order to purchase the materials needed or at least some of the materials, but it won't be close to buying a new spare cage per se from pet shop.

This DIY cage will only cost you more or less $6 USD, and you will then have enough spare to buy your rat some pet food.

1. Go to some local department store that is putting their items on sale discounts.

2. When you get to the department store, go to the plastic wares section and look for a plastic tub about the size of a hamper, or anything large enough for your pet rodent to move around. It would also be advisable to purchase those that are with clip-on lids or covers. Make sure that the container doesn't have sharp edges as well.

3. Cut the flat bit out of the lid of the container. You may be able to do this by drilling through the corners of the container lid and then inserting a saw to cut through the entire seams. Make sure to smooth all rough edges with a file afterwards.

4. After doing the previous step, cut a wire mesh just enough to cover the opening you just made. Make it an allowance on the cut, probably around 1/2 inches, just so it would overlap the area of the hole. This is for sealing purposes. A wire mesh would probably cost less than a dollar to some store. But just make sure though you carry more than enough just in case the price would be far from what you expected.

5. After that, drill a couple of holes on each corner of the containers lid. Use these holes to insert and tie a wire that will hold the mesh.

6. You then have to place a water container on the improvised cage. A water bottle would do the trick. Just insert or poke the nozzle through a separate hole. Attach the bottle with a powerful adhesive such that it won't fall off in any given conditions.

7. Make sure then that the interiors of your improvised spare cage are homey and comfortable for the convenience of your pet rat.