Housing

When searching for a rat cage, it's important to factor in a few things, but the most important thing is whether your rats will have enough space to play and live happily. In New Zealand, pet shops are notorious for selling a poor selection of rat cages, or selling ones that are just way too small for a pair of rats (or more) to live in comfortably.

Some things to keep in mind when finding a good rat cage are:

Is it big enough?

Ideally you want something big enough for at least 3-4 rats, even if you only have two rats, So before buying a cage, you'd want to run your cage through a cage calculator.

Bar spacing

For rats, its best to keep them in a cage with a cage bar spacing of 1.5cm MAX. Any larger and your rats can escape, and you'll unfortunately need to cover the cage in a mesh to avoid rats escaping.

It's better to stick with cages designed for rats or birds, as these typically have smaller bar spacing.

Rat cages

Strong Rat Cage

The strong rat cage (aka SRC) is a fantastic cage for around 4-5 rats. Its got a deep base, which you can fill with your preferred substrate. We use pine or aspen shavings in ours.

The shelves they come with are a bit average, so we'd recommend getting baking cooling racks like this. You can cover them with plastic place mats or corflute, and zip tie the shelves to the cage.

Cage specs:

100cm L x 54cm W x 65cm H
1.5cm bar spacing

This cage is sold at Animates only

All pet rat cage

This is the mini version of the SRC and is ideal for 2 rats. Some say you can keep 3 in there, but it'd be a squish.

It is a perfect hospital & maternity cage, and like the SRC it has a nice deep base which you can fill with your preferred substrate.

Cage specs:

79cm L x 44cm W x 51cm H
1.5cm bar spacing

This cage is sold at The Pet Centre (In Store only)

Photo credit: Scruffians Rattery

Double "RSK"

Rat Starter Kit aka RSK is a great cage, but only if its doubled. As a single cage, it is technically big enough for 2 rats, but it is a very small cage and we personally don't recommend the use of them unless its temporary (i.e. a hospital cage).

However, once doubled (either vertically or horizontally), they make an ideal cage for 4-5 rats.

You can often pick up these cages 2nd hand off Trade Me or Facebook market place, but are readily available at most pet stores.

Cage specs:

61cm L x 37cm W x 60cm H (single)
1cm bar spacing

Photo credit: Tails of Tuppence Rattery

Ferret Kingdom

The Ferret Kingdom is a fantastic cage, which can be split into 2 cages or left as one giant cage. The four doors open completely, which makes cleaning the cage much easier.

You can easily have 10-12 rats in a double cage, but any more and it'd be a bit cramped.

They are a wee bit hard to find these days, as they're not sold in NZ anymore but you can occasionally find them on Facebook marketplace or Trade Me.

Cage specs:

Overall Size (including stand) : 93.5 L x 63.5 W x 159.5cm
Overall Living Space (excluding stand) : 93.5 L x 63.5 W x 121cm H
Bar spacing 1.25cm

Photo credit: Scruffians Rattery

"4 Levels Pet Cage Rabbit Hutch Cat Hamster Guinea Pig Ferret Chinchilla House"

Aka "knock off ferret kingdom"

Much like the ferret kingdom & critter nation, this is a great cage. All the doors open, can be split into 2 cages and it comes with metal pans.

You can easily have 10-12 rats in a double cage, but any more and it'd be a bit cramped.

They are a wee bit hard to find these days, as they're not sold in NZ anymore but you can occasionally find them on Facebook marketplace or Trade Me.

Cage specs:

93cm L x 63.5cm W x 160cm H
1.5cm bar spacing

Critter Nation

This is arguably the best cage on the market for rats. Like the Ferret Kingdom and knock off FK, the doors open completely - making cleaning super easy. The lock is superior to the FK's, and has a better quality powdercoat so it doesn't rust as fast.

You can easily add more critter nations vertically & horizontally, and it can also just be split in half to make two cages.

To get one of these you'll need to buy it off Amazon, but they are currently over $1000 with cage + shipping. Occasionally they pop up on Facebook or Trade Me. But dont get fooled by the Ferret Nation. This is also made by the same company, but has a much larger bar spacing leaving it unsuitable for most rats.

Cage specs:

91.5cm L x 61cm W x 120cm H
1cm bar spacing

Photo credit: Scruffians Rattery

Bird cages

Tall bird cage

These cages are great value for money. They have a lot of space for your rats to explore, and can be easily modified to add levels.

You could easily house 8-9 rats in here.

They look awesome if you tip them on their side so the rats have more horizontal space rather than vertical.

It is important to note: If you leave the cage vertical, you need to add levels and safety hammocks to make the cage safe. A fall from the top would be deadly.

You can buy AviOne 604Ts from most petshops, but there are much cheaper alternatives (such as the one in the picture) available off Trade Me.

Cage specs:

77cm L x 46cm W x 130cm H
1cm bar spacing.

Bird cage

This is actually a really great & affordable alternative to the RSK.

Based on its size, it really is only ideal for 2 rats

It has quite a few doors, including one that opens from the top.

You can easily fit a 30cm wheel and a sputnik, with room to add even more goodies.

Cage specs:

77x45.5x45.5cm

Bar Spacing: 1cm

Flight cage

This is another great value for money. Its very similar to the tall bird cage, and you can modify it in the same way.

You can house 5 rats in here comfortably.

They are regularly available on Trade Me.

Cage specs:

76cm L x 46cm W x 97cm H
1.2cm bar spacing

Avi One 604

This is another great value for money. You can house 4-5 rats in here comfortably.

You can buy these from most pet stores,

Cage specs:

82cm L x 46cm W x 152cm
1.2cm bar spacing

The overall height of this cage is cage + trolley.

Unsuitable cages

DIY Cages:

While it may seem like a good idea to make a DIY cage, it’s actually a lot more hard work than simply buying a commercially available cage. There are a few things you need to think about before making one, specifically:

Airflow - if you’re making it from a converted cabinet, airflow is SO important. Just meshing out the side or the front is NOT sufficient - you need to have at least 3 sides meshed to allow adequate airflow to prevent ammonia build up
Wood - if you’re building the cage out of wood then you will need to seal or paint all exposed woods with a non-toxic sealant. If the wood is not sealed then urine will seep in and cause it to smell. Once the urine has permeated the wood, no amount of cleaning will get the odour out.
Escape proofing the cage - If your cage is made of wood then your rat will likely gnaw on the wood over time, and if you have left spots open where they can chew and haven’t adequately meshed the cage then you could have a rat escape. This is something to look out for, especially if you have other pets in the house
Usable space: When making a cage out of a cabinet or bookshelf, you need to look at how much usable space there actually is for your rats to use. Narrow shelves or no spaces to climb don’t make for an ideal cage set up for your rats. This goes for DIY cages that have no shelves at all

Tanks, Aquariums or similar

In New Zealand, these cages are not recommended or widely used in the rat community. The main issue with tanks is that with 4 glass sides it does not allow for adequate airflow in the cage, which can cause dangerous amounts of ammonia to build up. This can cause many issues for your rats, due to their sensitive respiratory tracts.

Even with a cage topper these are never going to be suitable for rats.

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