Building a Custom Rat Cage

Many people spent their Memorial Day weekends at the beach. I spent mine building a new cage for my two rats. I thought others might be interested in the process, so I'll outline it here. I'd intended to take before and after pictures, but I just got too caught up in the doing to step back and take photos of each step. Photos of the ratties playing in the cage will be here later! 3:)

Step 1 Keep your rats' cage in your bedroom, and be kept awake by them knocking things against the glass all night long.
Step 2 Watch your rats try to romp about their too-small cage during the day, feel guilty, and start exploring new cage options.
Step 3 Gasp in pain at how much it would cost to buy an appropriate cage at PetCo
Step 4 Look at what other people have done with custom cages online. Preferably, your rats will be in your lap while you do this, so they can ogle the pictures with you and complain about having to live in a small, boring, single level cage while other rats get to have such exciting homes.
Step 5 Feel so guilty, you get up the ambition to build your own cage.
Step 6 Go to your local mega-homestore (Lowe's, Home Depot, etc) and pick up all of the supplies you will need to convert a cabinet into rat heaven. These include wire mesh, white bathroom paint, Velcro, a paintbrush, PVC pipe joints to play in, wooden dowels or strips to make ladders, all cotton clothesline, cup hooks, and any misc hardware or tools that you don't have at home. I mainly used a hammer, two screw drivers, an awl, and my ZipSaw, along with some scrap wood and a bunch of screws, nails, tacks, and whatever else I needed. Also stop by a fabric store and buy whatever upholstery fabric is on sale. It doesn't have to be pretty, it's going to be peed on anyway.
Step 7 If you don't have a cabinet that will work at home, you're in luck. As I write this (Late spring), it is prime yard sale and flea market season. I actually found my cabinet at a yard sale on the way home from Lowe's, for $17. It's a single door cabinet that's about 17*17*36 inches on the inside -- perfect for my two girls.
Step 8 Clean the cabinet thoroughly. This is important! I used Fantastic, as it does a pretty good job and is non-toxic.

"Make sure everything is well secured, and the ratties can't drop anything heavy from shelf to shelf to hurt each other."

Step 9 Decide how you are going to convert the cabinet, and step to it! The door of mine had two panels, so I cut those out and used wire brackets to tack it in place. I cut a hole in the included shelf to make room for a ladder and their water bottle (which is attached to the door), and cut another half-width shelf which I placed about 14inches above the first one and attached with long screws. I then painted the whole thing with the bathroom paint. This stuff is really thick and goopy, and will actually fill in any crack you end up with fairly well. It also has the benefit of drying in two hours, so you don't have to wait long between coats.
Step 10 Trace the shape of your shelves onto your upholstery fabric, then add an extra 3/4inch or so on all sides. Cut the shapes out in duplicate or triplicate (they'll need to be changed every few days) and hem (sew down) all of the edges. The fabric can get stringy, and you don't want your ratties choking on loose threads or getting their footses caught. Cut your Velcro into appropriately sized squares and peel off the backing of the fuzzy side. Stick these along the edges of your shelves, peel off the backing of the cling-hook side, and smooth your fabric over it. Lift the fabric up, and you should have Squares on it that align perfectly with those on the shelves. The reason I suggest putting the hook-side on the fabric is that the fabric will be washed regularly, which should help prevent it from getting too linty and unsticky. You might need to add Velcro on top of the fabric to keep your litter boxes, food dishes, etc from going flying. Squirrel takes great delight in flipping all litter boxes in site and scattering the litter as much as possible.

"Don't forget that the cloth "rugs" will need to be changed more often than ordinary cage litter"

Step 11 Accessorize! make sure to put familiar things like their house/igloo, food dish, and toys in the cage so that it has some familiar smells. I also added some PVC pipe curves, braided clothesline, ladders, hanging treats, hammocks, etc. Hammocks are quite easy to make, and well appreciated. Just two pieces clothesline through a piece of pant-leg, and tie the ends to four cup hooks. Cut out jean pockets also make good places for them to curl up, and throw in some tissues or toilet paper for them to shred as bedding.
Step 12 Add rats and sit back to watch as their curiosity explodes!