Newly Built Rat Rack

[Wild Bill]

Here is a pic of my new rat rack.



Pic of built-in food holder.



Pic of 1.3 rats in tub.



This is my second rack I have built, made some minor changes from the first. It seems to work very well, rats seem fat and happy. With this setup keeping them is very easy. Built-in food holder holds up to a weeks worth of food, right now I am using water bottles but plan on making an automatic waterer. Any comments are welcomed.

[Wild Bill]

I see the pics didnt show up, here is link to my gallery.


I got it working now!!! LOL

[Adam_Wysocki]

Very cool!

-adam

[Jeanne]

Thats awesome! And I think the built in feed rack is pretty nifty too. Hmm automatic waterer, huh? From what? My only thought though is unless you can find a way not to have water in the cage in a resivior (sp) type thing, so thier bedding dont get in it, an automatic waterer may not work. Let us know what you come up with though!

[Wild Bill]

Hi Jeanne,

Thanks for the comments, I found a site that sells the systems for waterers. It is a system that uses a bucket with a valve on it that connects to black tubing (same as in the garden section of home improvement stores) which you use a tee connector to branch off to each tub. Then they sell a brass valve that connects to the wire mesh above the tub. The valve has a "pin" valve they lick to get water, plus they cant chew and destroy because it is brass. I would post the link but I dont know if I can for sure. Let me know if I can.

Bill

[Wild Bill]

Very cool!

-adam

Thanks Adam!!

[Jeanne]

Yes, you can post a link to that since it is a product that could benefit the rest of us to know about..heck you got me curious..... sounds like a neat idea actually.

[Adam_Wysocki]

The valve has a "pin" valve they lick to get water, plus they cant chew and destroy because it is brass.

Be careful ... the rats love to jam bedding into the value which leaves the pin in a constant open state .... then you've got FLOODS!!

Also, it's a good idea to have a regular routine for flushing the entire system ... over time "gunk" works it's way into the lines and the sippers and cuts off water to the tubs.

Auto watering systems are a lot easier than water bottles on a day to day basis, but they do have their own issues.

-adam

[Wild Bill]

Here is the link for the valves.

Here is the link for the bucket.

Link for tubing.

Link for tee connector.

You can customize this to your application, such as buying valve and using larger bucket etc. Some of the components are available at Lowes, Home Depot and Menards ( black tubing and tee connector). It does have some intial cost, but the time saving will be awesome!!

[Jeanne]

Thats pretty neat! Let us know how it works out if you decide to go with that.