Poo Everywhere!

[Skittles1101]

I'm having a problem, which I'm only noticing now that my rats are practically full grown...

I have them in this cage, which I bought off craigslist. Now, they poo wherever they want (I have bought a litter box and will probably install it tonight...hoping it's not too late to try and litter box train). When they poo on one of the upper levels, when they run around and wrestle they kick poo around and they end up around the cage and on the floor. It's pretty gross, I have to vacuum like twice a day to avoid rat poo on my floor. I've thought about buying plexiglass to go around the outside of the sides and back...does anyone else have any other suggestions?
Thanks..
Leah

[Eric Doane]

Put a large tray under it that extends out past the cage to catch the poop. Used to have to do it with my gerbils.

[Rhasputin]

Step 1: Get rid of that cage, I had the same one, it's AWFUL.

Step 2: Get a giant plastic storage bin.

Step 3: Convert into rat cage:

Tada

[babyknees]

I wouldn't encase the entire cage in plexi because ventilation and climbing are good for rats. You could just do like inch high blockers at the levels. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I'm making sense at this point Litter box training is also AWESOME if you can pull it off. I had a couple of my girls being good about it but a cage mate just pooed wherever and so all progress went backwards. They also liked to play with the litter box and eat the litter. But hey you can train rats to open doors so I'm pretty sure you can teach them where to poop. If you are playing with plexi I'd suggest covering the floor of the levels with it as well. Not solid floors aren't really good for rats. It makes for more cleaning because they like to pee, poo and throw food all over the levels but it's better for their feet.

[Rhasputin]

Babyknees, I tried that when I had the same cage, they still fling crap everywhere.

[babyknees]

My rats must be really well behaved because I have this cage, this cage and a third cage similar to the second one and don't have any problems with poo. My rabbit on the other hand refuses to keep any bedding inside whatsoever.

[sniper]

it depends on the age of the rat on how long it take to little train, all of mine are little trained for the first few days you may have to pick up the poo and put it into the litter bax,(if you see them poo pick it up and place it in the litter then place the rat in the litter to, so they get a sence of where it belongs) the other thing to keep on mind is you may place it where you want it but they may poo some place else , if they doo that move the litter box (og to the dollar store and get a rubber made storage thing and use that and a strainer to sift the litter. the first time you place the little you may need to hold off cleaning it for two days so the order can set into the tub, then you should be fine.
hope it helps

[SlitherinSisters]

Yeah...cages like that are no good for rats if you don't want their poop everywhere. They make A frame cages for Chinchillas that are pretty awesome. The slanted sides keep the chinchilla poop and hay in the cage, it would do the same for rats. It would be fairly simple to make an A frame cage yourself as well. The only problem is that on the sides that are straight up and down, the rats will be able to climb and poop out of. You could make those sides solid wood or plexiglass.

http://www.4jsplantation.com/cages.html

[janett]

Step 1: Get rid of that cage, I had the same one, it's AWFUL.

Step 2: Get a giant plastic storage bin.

Step 3: Convert into rat cage:

Tada

Awesome idea....I need to get rid of my aquariums and do this for my rat and mouse breeding. What do you do when you get a female pregnant, where do you remove her to? I thought about building a rack system but this is so much easier and cheaper!! What kind of wire is that you used? I have 4 females to 1 male right now, when a female gets pregnant, I take her out and put her in another aquarium, then when she has babies, at about 4 weeks I take them out and put all of them in a separate aquarium together, then, they start eating eachother or the mother eats them if I leave them with her for longer than 4 weeks....Ive had horrible luck breeding rats/mice. Any advice or more pics of some of the amazing housing,etc you have?

[Rhasputin]

Oh man it's soooo cheap. You can buy the hardware cloth (screen) at any hardware store, I use half inch in my bins. You can buy the bin at walmart for $11 ish, and get some zip ties to hold it all together.

You just cut out a window on the side, NOT on the very bottom, because you want that edge to prevent them from kicking litter out, and you also want to cut out a rectangle on the lid, for ventilation. The side window is mostly just for view, the top is for ventilation, and together they provide great air flow.


I don't breed rats, mine are just pets, but if you were going to want to switch to bins for breeding, you could use a large one like that for your colony housing, then pull pregnant females out, and have smaller invdividual bins for birthing. For smaller bins, you would probably only need a hole in the lid. You can get clear bins in that size, so making a window on the size isn't necessary so much.

You can email me if you need more help: Rhasputinn@gmail.com