Many cages come with plastic or wooden shelves that are supposed to provide levels for the rats, and some come with little ladders too. When you set up a cage with levels and ladders it can look really tidy and pleasing to the human eye, but it actually adds little for the rats in terms of enrichment, activity and interest.
Rats don’t need ladders and it’s much better for them to move around the cage using a variety of items that promote activity- like small perches, ropes and branches (and rats are well able to climb cage bars). Plastic shelves in a cage end up generally just becoming a place to pee (rats like to pee on hard, shiny surfaces), and as it doesn’t absorb the urine, it means the rats are going to be walking in their own pee. That means that
1. Your cage is going to smell WAY worse than it otherwise would, and
2. Any small cuts or scratches are more likely to come into contact with pee which could be an infection risk.
You can, in the place of a shelf, put a litter tray and fill with an absorbent litter. We’ll talk more about these in a future post, but these are great for litter training and mean that your rats aren’t smearing pee all over on the shelves.
My advice is to take out any shelves, large platforms and ladders you get with your cage (including the main dividing level in large cages such as the SRS95 if you are only using it for one group)- keeping shelves and ladders in prevents you from creating an active cage layout.
So what does an active cage layout mean? It means that you consider all the different natural behaviours that rats engage in and create an environment that enables and encourages them to do all those behaviours! That means adding branches, ropes, wooden toys and other items for the rats to express behaviours such as climbing, jumping, stretching, running along, digging, foraging, hiding, nesting, balancing, and chewing.
Another common mistake with cage layout is to go overboard on the hammocks. Hammocks are fine, but they aren’t the only thing that should be in a cage- too many hammocks can encourage your rats to be lazy because there’s nothing else to do, and also contributes to a smelly cage.
It’s worth bearing in mind that good cage layouts don’t need to be expensive or colour themed or naturalistic. Plastic baskets from Poundland filled with bedding are a great addition to a cage, as is an IKEA komplement scarf hanger and some branches from The Range. Cheap tea towels make excellent hammocks and fall breakers- the rats don’t care that they’re sleeping on tea towels rather than fancy bespoke hammocks!
However, many people love spending money on their cage furniture and layouts- if you are one of them then go for it! It can certainly be a lot of fun (human enrichment!) to decide on what to buy or make to furnish their cage. Just remember that you need to consider the needs of the rats before how aesthetically pleasing the cage is to you (but these aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive). Rats often like things messier and more busy than humans do so keep that in mind!
Frequent Questions:
“My rat is old/clumsy so I like having shelves in to help them get around/ stop them falling”
Having an active layout actually keeps rats more active for longer and delays things like hind leg degeneration (HLD). If you are concerned that your rat might fall, then add a few extra fall breakers into the cage e.g., scarf hangers, long bridges that stretch across the cage, or long hammocks.
Move on to Mistake 6
All the articles on my website have always been and will always be free, created by me because I am passionate about rat care. However, if you have found my articles useful then you might find my book useful too!
Azuline Rattery 