# Feeders > Breeding Rats >  Making a rat enclosure from tubs

## ballpythonluvr

I have six little rat pups that I want to eventually seperate once they are weaned.  Could I make an enclosure for them out of a tub?  I know I will have to seperate the males from the females eventually.  Does anyone have any pics or instructions on how to build a cage from a tub?

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## LotusCorvus

I dont have any pics on hand (I might try to take a few once I get home from work - I need to clean this tub anyways lol), but I've converted 1 large storage tub into my breeder cage. It's a bit of a pain, but all you need to do is cut out large windows in the 2 largest sides, put holes around it, and then secure hardware cloth over the windows with zip ties (I put the hardware cloth on the inside, the help prevent the rats from chewing the edges of the plastic). Hook a water bottle on the hardware cloth, put something heavy on the lid  - normal tub lids can be pushed up by stubborn adult rats - and you're pretty much set. If you have chewers you'll want to check and replace the zip ties pretty regularly, and make sure they haven't found any other spots in the plastic to chew at.

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ballpythonluvr (05-23-2012)

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## The Serpent Merchant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJNa...e_gdata_player

http://www.reptilebasics.com/rodent-watering/

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4Ballz (05-23-2012),ballpythonluvr (05-23-2012)

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## ballpythonluvr

> I dont have any pics on hand (I might try to take a few once I get home from work - I need to clean this tub anyways lol), but I've converted 1 large storage tub into my breeder cage. It's a bit of a pain, but all you need to do is cut out large windows in the 2 largest sides, put holes around it, and then secure hardware cloth over the windows with zip ties (I put the hardware cloth on the inside, the help prevent the rats from chewing the edges of the plastic). Hook a water bottle on the hardware cloth, put something heavy on the lid  - normal tub lids can be pushed up by stubborn adult rats - and you're pretty much set. If you have chewers you'll want to check and replace the zip ties pretty regularly, and make sure they haven't found any other spots in the plastic to chew at.


Thanks for the response.  I would love to see the way you did this!

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## satomi325

I use locking storage tubs to house my rats. (The locking lids are awesome!)
I personally like giving them head space, so I use taller tubs rather than mixing tubs like in rodent racks. I cut out squares in the front of the tubs and on the lids for ventilation. I cover all the cut outs with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and secure them with zipties. Metal zip ties are the best as the rats can't chew through them. To cut the openings, I used a hand grinder.

I also keep a wheel in the larger tub when babies aren't present. The wheel isn't stationary, so I'm afraid it will crush a baby if I keep it in there.

Here's my original tub set up when I only had one breeding group:




I soldered holes into the tub and ziptied a "harness" for the waterbottle to hook on. I soldered an extra hole for the metal sipper to go through as well. To prevent chew 
outs, you can hot glue metal washers around the soldered holes and use metal ties.





I had to cut part of the lid to accommodate the wheel. I made a cage from 1/2 inch hardware cloth.





Ventilation is the key to prevent Upper Respiratory Infections, so I cut out part of the lid for more vents, which was reinforced with hardware cloth and zipties again.



This is my current set up. I'm still using the same large container, but you can see that there are some new modifications and more tubs. (And yes, I'm aware some zipties are missing from the middle tubs. Some lovely girls chewed off the plastic temporary ones. The store ran out of metal ties at the time of fabrication.)

The top two shelves are all females. The very bottom tub is my male bachelor man cave. lol





I used  a food bowl in my old set up when I only had one tub and less rats. Now I added a food hopper to each tub. The hoppers are just made out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and ziptied like everything else.





I also use a gravity water system opposed to individual water bottles now. I had to change water bottles twice a day when I had weaned babies and that was annoyingly tedious. With the gravity system, it can last me more than a month before it needs a refill. But I like refilling and changing out water more often than that because I want my rats to have fresh water.



How I secure sipper valves compared to vertical hanging ones in rodent racks.







Some girls just hanging around:





She's gonna pop!

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ballpythonluvr (05-23-2012),_hops523_ (05-29-2012),John1982 (05-25-2012),_meowmeowkazoo_ (07-26-2013),mikel81 (05-24-2012),_MikeM75_ (05-24-2012),PitOnTheProwl (05-24-2012),_The Serpent Merchant_ (05-23-2012)

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## ballpythonluvr

> I use locking storage tubs to house my rats. (The locking lids are awesome!)
> I personally like giving them head space, so I use taller tubs rather than mixing tubs like in rodent racks. I cut out squares in the front of the tubs and on the lids for ventilation. I cover all the cut outs with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and secure them with zipties. Metal zip ties are the best as the rats can't chew through them. To cut the openings, I used a hand grinder.
> 
> I also keep a wheel in the larger tub when babies aren't present. The wheel isn't stationary, so I'm afraid it will crush a baby if I keep it in there.
> 
> Here's my original tub set up when I only had one breeding group:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you soooooooooooo much!  This is exactly what I was looking for!

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## PghBall

The only problem with the Sterilite\Rubbermaid containers is that you will eventually have chew outs\escapes.  It is not an if, it is when.  I used them for the first 2+ years before I finally made myself two racks using the concrete mixing tubs from Home Depot.  I have not had a chew out since.  The Sterilite containers were great at first, but eventually they found a weakspot (inside part of the plastic where the lid locks are) and chewed through.  Good looking containers though, just keep an eye out for signs of chewing!

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## snakesRkewl

You can build just one level or two levels with home depot tubs and imo you will be much happier than dealing with sterilite tubs.

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## LotusCorvus

> The only problem with the Sterilite\Rubbermaid containers is that you will eventually have chew outs\escapes.  It is not an if, it is when.  I used them for the first 2+ years before I finally made myself two racks using the concrete mixing tubs from Home Depot.  I have not had a chew out since.  The Sterilite containers were great at first, but eventually they found a weakspot (inside part of the plastic where the lid locks are) and chewed through.  Good looking containers though, just keep an eye out for signs of chewing!


Yeah, I ended up needing to put a hardware cloth patch over where they'd started to chew out one of the handles. I removed those rats from the tub, and swapped in a different group that didn't seem to be interested in chewing (might've been because it was 3 mommas and their new litters), and then I didn't have any more chewing issues. Depends on the rats, but if you want to stick with tubs investing in a box trap is a great idea (good idea anyways, loose rats are a pain, they are way too clever lol).

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## PghBall

I picked up a live trap for squirrel, rats etc at the Home Depot last year just for such breakouts.  Haven't needed it since I built the racks though  :Smile:

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## satomi325

I haven't had any chewers or escapees yet. 
I give my rats enough activities to keep them busy. Since I have such a small group of rats, I like playing with all of them and giving them some run time out of the tubs. And they go nuts for the wheel.

Also, to prevent chewing the areas around the lock latch, you can just extend the hardware cloth on the front window all the way to the very top of the tub.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2

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