My room mate keeps on saying that im abusing my rats with the conditions they live in. Im going to type how I have them set up below, but im a little worried hell call animal control. I dont THINK im abusing them, but I figured Id double check with you guys.


I have 1 male and 1 female rat(my first breeders) in the breeding cage. they have their own seperate cages for when they are not consumating, and I have a 20 long nursery tank set up for the mother when she starts getting close to the birthing.
I plan on adding more females and one more male. Probably only 2 rats per cage. a little cramped perhaps but nothing terrible. the cages are about 2 feet long and 1.5 foot deep.

I use shredded newspaper as bedding which I change once a week. They always have fresh water, and food(alpo dog food), and I put one whole towel(the kind you would use to dry off after a shower) in each cage and they make nests using them and it keeps them warm on the colder nights.

They are housed underneath if my deck, which provides plenty of shape in the first place, and I have a tarp fixed to the decks underside so that they are never exposed to rain(I made it so that the water doesnt pool, it slides down into a drain near my basement door)

We do have a few cats that wander the neighborhood, but Ive never seen them in my backyard before, and I dont think it will be a problem. Nothing could get into those cages unless it has opposable thumbs.

So is everything im doing okay? or could I get in legitimite trouble for this?