Just wanted to share an interesting experience that relates to homemade rat racks, particularly because I had never heard of anybody else running into this problem. In general, I notice a lot of people who make their own rat racks will recommend Lowe's mixing tubs over those sold at Home Depot. The reason is quite logical; the Home Depot tubs come with this annoying little keyhole looking dealie near the lip. Over time, some rats will chew on this hole until it grows big enough to facilitate a mass jailbreak.


My first two rat racks (four drawers each) were designed to fit Home Depot tubs. Over the winter, one tub of growouts decided to test this theory, chewing around the edges of the hole and increasing it's size. While the hole never got anywhere NEAR big enough to allow any escapes, if I had allowed this to go on for another week, it very well may have. So I gassed that group before they could ruin any more tubs and made a decision; my next rack was going to be designed for Lowe's tubs.

Fast forward several months. At this point I was not only planning to build a third rack designed for Lowe's tubs, but I had decided to convert one of the existing racks to fit them, as well. I always grab tubs/totes before I build a rack, so I headed to Lowe's to pick up a tub and begin my measurements. The first thing I noticed was how thin and flimsy these tubs seemed compared to the Home Depot ones. Apparently this wasn't always the case; customer complaints on the Lowe's website indicates that these tubs had previously been made of thicker, stronger plastic and the manufacturer has since cheaped out.

Anyway, I immediately modify one shelf of an existing rack to fit the new Lowe's tub. Not long after adding a group of grow outs to the tub, they chewed a massive hole in the tub. This hole couldn't have been there for more than a day and, had I left them like that just overnight, would surely have had a group of rats running around my house. Needless to say, I switched back to the Home Depot tubs. I haven't had any serious problems since. My guess is that the "new" Lowe's tubs are just so thin and flimsy that the rats don't even need an existing hole or groove to feel encouraged to chew on it. Take a look at the pics and draw your own conclusions.

Home Depot tub on the left, Lowe's on the left-


Stupid "keyhole" on Home Depot tub-


Massive chew hole in Lowe's tub-