We have this cage for our 3 Degu girls! Were loving it so far, but weve added more shelves in than rather than taken away as degus need more running space than climbing :) To solve the gap at the bottom and escaping hiding goos ( or rats in your case) I found metal mesh trays in homebase that are supposed to be apart of a modular clothing storage thingy, 2 fit perfectly under the cage, side in and out easily, add some storage block acess and cost £12 each!!
Heya, degu owner as well here, and thinking of getting them this cage model. What kind of wheels are you using for them? I'm getting the trixie ones and hooking them up to the side of the cage, but I did have the issue with the bars snapping before so I'm not too excited about that :/
I think my favorite thing about this cage is the color. I want a brown rat cage so bad lol, it just looks so nice. 😍 Though, I do like my savic royale suite's sturdy bars, the plastic trays, not so much.
I don't know if I missed you mentioning it, but one major positive of this cage is that it's all metal! I use it for my Degus and they can go through plastic like it's butter. In my experience most cages on the market either the base or the shelves are plastic which is why we went for this one. So something to bear in mind especially if your rats or other rodents are chewers lol.
We have this exact same cage, got it about 2 months before you for our then 4 girls. We have since added another top half to it, making it 230cm tall. We now have 14 girls in it and they love the height. The top section is all ropes, ladders, nets (to catch any falls) and wheels. The middle section being feeding, drinking and sleeping area with a litter tray,. the bottom section has an 80l (deep and large) plastic tote bin with lid (large access holes cut in) 2/3 full of coco fibre as a dig box. The cage is massive, we find it easy to clean out and maintain. I agree with the bars should be horizontal all round. We have had a few different cages over the last couple of years and space and time permitting we are planning on making it wider, effectively a 2 wide by 3 tall (6 units total, 2 base and 4 uppers).
@@Emiology You would lose the middle set of platforms due to how they would go together and the loss of the side panels where they are joined. But with some careful measuring and drilling of holes and some nuts and bolts of the same design already used in the cage, you would never know it wasn't meant to be. Like you, we are limited on space, mostly due to lots of other animals. Mice (including 4 wild mice that were rescued and now live with our fancy mice) 3 rabbits (1 wild rabbit that had been hit by a car at 4 weeks old and had to be bottle fed and is totally tame), 4 cats and a colony of captive bred field voles.
I am planning on getting rats very soon. You are the only person I take information from and trust it! This was very helpful! I love all of your videos and I really want to buy some of your merch
As ex rat owner, emi’s vids are SUPED informative and for definitely accurate. You could base ur care just off of it and it’d be good care. Despite that I still recommend looking into outside sauces as well and always double check everything
I got mine this past August!!! They’re absolute heathen-Angel hybrids and I love them. They’re more of a financial investment than I anticipated long term, but definitely worth it if you’re an animal person who likes to buy new things for their pets :) The first 6 months flew by so fast but now they’re old enough that we have a really solid bond. Good luck with your ratties!!!
@@samcat2295 Ive been trying to do some research to find out if its ok to train your pet rats into walking in a leash. I am still not sure. Is this ok to do?
@@UrFavBlondieeee I know you’re not asking me but it’s possible AS LONG AS the harness you use is safe. The smallest manufactured harnesses are too big, even ferret ones, so you’ll need to make your own out of something like fleece strips. Pinterest has some DIY guides to make a rat harness. Also, It’s very important that you don’t take them outside with the leash until they’ve formed a close bond with you, so that if they get out of their harness they will stay near you (which should be possible, if it’s so tight that they can’t get out then it will injure them if they do try to get out of it) And remember that they’re very easy prey for birds when you’re out in nature! Be safe
Phew! I thought I was the only one having fun getting my two cheeky boys back in their petplanet cage 😂 (did have six chaps living in this but have passed over 😔😌😌) ..so now the two boys who had to live in separate cage, have the pp. Such a useful video! (love the mini perspex dig box)
I have a tip! My bars don’t break but are also wobblie what I normally do is put it on the end or on the beginning of the bars so they don’t wobble idk if this works for you but it is a tip!❤️❤️❤️
We just got this second hand and I love it! The size is great and I also love how the colour goes with a naturalistic theme. The SRS 95 is blue and I don't think I could cope with that. I don't have any snapped bars and I know the cage was used for a long time before I got it. I haven't run into any issues yet!.
@@Emiology you cannot even get the SRS 95 I've tried mine is over 7 years old and I have a perspex tray do you have a link to where I can get the SRS 95? Thank you maria
The holes are for the ladders if you use them. I have mine for about 1.5 years and I have no issues with the bars breaking. I don't hang very heavy things so maybe thats why. I also love this cage because there is no plastic involved!
Thanks for the review. My cage has only one opening door, rusts and has two vertical sides. When I get a new one I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for the extra doors and full horizontal sides.
My partner bought me this cage a couple weeks ago as an anniversary present after I watched your video on it. I also have chronic illnesses (EDS, ME, and several others that I won't bore you with 😅), so I find this cage so much easier to clean out and keep on top of. I'm probably still in the honeymoon phase with this cage, but I don't have any cons at the moment, but I'm sure they'll come in time 😂 I definitely recommend this for anyone else with chronic pain. P.s. I find rolling two or three towels up and shoving them in the gaps underneath stop my girls from going underneath. Xx
The absolute worst is trying to hang things that need agreeing to the back, unless you’ve got someone willing to help or you’re an octopus it’s an impossible painful task 🫣
@Emiology I did find that part difficult, so I ended up getting my partner to help when attaching ledges, etc, to the back 😅 thinking back to setting it up, I do wish you could lift the doors off so it was easier.
I have this two tiered cage, and five female rats. I like that I can fit lots of different climbing apparatus etc. I also only use one shelf. I have a question for @Emology , I've had three rats for 15 months, and the other two for 12 months. And all five have been relatively fine together for a year. However, recently one rat (Nadja) has started getting really grumpy and is constantly asserting her dominance over the other four. I wouldn't necessarily be concerned but it doesn't seem to be settling down and remaining four rats are stressed and startled. Lots of videos on TH-cam about introductions, but what should you do if this starts happening after a year of them getting along fine?
i would do anything for a cage with big doors that open up the whole front!! where i live, there is a very limited amount of cages suitable for rats, and i had to search long and hard just to find a cage that was big enough for even just 2-3 rats
Interesting that you've had a few bars snap! Not what you'd expect from such a pricey bit of kit. I've just bought the bottom half for my two boys, they seem happy with the space! And yeah that crawl space underneath is annoying when its bed time haha
Large opening front doors will really make life a lot easier, I adore mine! It enables me to clean various parts of the cage everyday. Mine is a different brand but similar in look.
I have this cage set up for two separate pairs for now. I love it. Some of the bars are a tad flimsy and mine came with issues but the company I got it from were lovely and relayed the info to manufacturers. I love the colour too. It is in our lounge so I like the pale colour. The massive double doors are brilliant for access to my boys :)
When I had 2 females, I used a single critter nation which worked really well for putting plenty of toys, enrichment, hammocks, etc. But the tray it comes with is so shallow there is no way to put bedding without making a huge mess, so you would have to improvise, I used fleece. I love your videos and what you do, I've been watching for years now! :)
hello, just wanted to say thank you for your videos! they're always very informative and nice to listen to, and you've covered so many important topics! honestly your channel is perfect for a rat owner, many of your vids really helped me with managing my rat girlies 💖🥰 the only thing, i was wondering if you would ever consider putting subtitles in your videos? some things like brand names and difficult words are sometimes hard to decipher for someone who's not a native english speaker. 😂 but no pressure!
Shame ya'll can't get Critter Nations over there. They're SUCH sturdy cages. I currently have 9 of them. 3 are setup and the others are in storage until I start breeding and need more of them for babies and such.
In Canada we have a “full cheeks” brand that we purchased for our two boys. They are our first rats we’ve owned. It seems to be a decent cage $450 though we got it on sale. It has 3 full “floors” with a cutout for a ramp and they’ve never tried to chew on any of the plastic this far which has been great! A decent bottom tray. The only downside I can see is that with each level being full size it doesn’t allow much vertical space for climbing, I’ve been considering taking one out for more height.
I am now a proud subscriber to Emiology, love this channel! Question, do you think exercise wheels/treadmills are important for rats? I noticed there are no wheels inside Emilology rat cages. I expect this is a controversial topic but just so you know I don't always have the opportunity to let my rats play outside their cages, but the cage is big with lots of ropes, ladders, toys, etc...
It’s not always necessary and some rats won’t use one. Females are more likely to use a wheel than males, but you can try them with it if they dont get outside of the cage time often
If you have the ability to get the critter nation, I would go with that next time. It has the horizontal bars all the way around, I do not believe any screws are necessary at all, and the bars should be strong enough to hold up anything you need to hang. I use triple critter nations for both my chinchillas and my sugar gliders and they have a ton of heavy stuff in their cages ( heavy wood shelves, granite slab shelves, heavy plastic toys, etc and I’ve never had a shelf break in any of the four triple critter nations that I use. And the best part is that you can stack them or attach them together side by side so if you have a bigger/different size animal room when you do move you can always change the configuration of the cage to best fit your room ie. go from a double critter nation (one on top of the other) to a single/single (a single critter nation attached to the side of a single critter nation. Technically critter nation does not market their cages this way but you can just remove the side piece of each cage and zip tie it tightly together and so long as it is on a stable surface it is perfectly good and done by thousands of people this way.
I too have a triple CN, and was going to comment about the horizontal bars all around :) Also, even though the CN doesn't have the option of splitting the sections fully with an opening/closing hatch, if you put in a perspex box at the bottom anyway, you'll be left with a "whole" floor piece which you can the use as a divider (I did that with my cage, when I needed to separate one floor off for a while). Of course you have to take the cage apart to install a floor in between since it's built that way, so it takes effort, but is doable. I blocked the hole on the metal floor part by attaching one of the ladders on it with zip ties, so if my rats would've thought of chewing on the plastic floor, they wouldn't get through. I think the latches on the doors are good, too. They close quite reliably.
pet loving granny with old collie dog jenny,, old dawf hammy ,, 3 funny but shy pet mice with me 24/7 wake me up 4am on wheel haha , i would love some rats and keep coming on these sites they are so cute
Which cage would you recommend? I want a tall One bit seeing this is £325 it’s a bit above my budget. I have two male rats but will add another two soon x
It's such a shame that the liberta explorer isn't widely available anymore. They're really solid cages and ours has held up to a lot of moving about. I've heard great things about the critter nation though and now that they're available in the UK for a similar price to the lzv, I think I'd go for that one when we next need to buy a cage.
I'm looking to replace my very worn explorer. It has been well used before me and I gave it a full overhaul, painted the lot but getting in the need of more tlc x
Check out something called the Full Cheeks 4 Story Small Pet Habitat - its AMAZING. Most the drawback about the bars are no where to be seen in this cage, and its 4 stories!
Someone needs to design a descent cage, every one has a problem. I mean, how hard is it to add a deeper base tray, or right sized bar spacing, or descent sized doors?
Hi, I'm twelve and I have eight rats. We intended to have one, but she had a litter of 5 boys and 3 girls. One of my guys looks really ill, he has porphyrin around his eyes and nose, doesn't want to be touched or around his brothers, and screams when we touch his hind leg. I checked his leg, but he doesn't seem to have any injury there. We also checked for a respiratory disease, but he doesn't have one. My whole family is down with flu and we have only one vet. She isn't very good either and stays around 2 hours away from us. I am really hoping you can give some advice, and I'm really worried for Yoda. Thank you so much from Captain, Yoda, Neo, Newt, Calvin, Serenity, Spirit and the mom of them all, Luna.
Hi I absolutely love your videos but I'm a bit confused. My girls tend to chew on wood a lot and you use quite a few wooden objects. How do you stop your rats chewing on them? Thanks a lot ❤
Great info as always , any tips for encouraging rats to use a hammock ? My 2 female rats have a new cage and new hammock but they will not use the hammock at all
what helped me was: washing the hammock in advance with the same thing that you usually wash their other hammocks with. then, putting some small toys/things that were scattered around the rats' cage inside the new hammock and then putting their favorite treats inside it too!
@@l-VeNoM-l haha real, my rats do that too. 😂 and you're welcome! to me the most important part is just making sure that the new hammock smells familiar for the rats. i remembered another trick that i did once: i put the hammock in the rats' free-roam space so they explored it in a calm and safe environment with no pressure to immediately go sleep in it. after some time they got used to it a bit + it smelled a bit like them, so it was easier for them to get used to it inside the cage ✌️
Thanks again that would be a great idea if they didn’t chew it and ruined it 😂 they still haven’t slept in the hammock and have now chewed the corners where it hangs so now need to try something else that is not so chewable
I really need advice. We have three female rats but it's super difficult to find care for them while we are away. We go away approximately 3 weeks per year. Can they travel with us in the car? The trip is about 5 hours each direction. What is the SMALLEST cage the girls could live in for two weeks at a time max? This would be our travel cage only.
They should be fine they travel quite well 😊 I’m not sure what country you’re in to suggest cages but the Ferplast furat collapses down quite well into a car and I used to take that with me when I travelled with mine
I have a HUGE favor to ask you, I was really hoping you could respond. So I volunteer at a small business, local pet shop. And I am getting rats from this shop. I go there 3-5 times a week and handle all the animals including the infant rats (the ones I am adopting). I just binj watched all (or at least I think all) your videos about getting new rats so my question is should I do the same strategies to bound with them once I bring them home? I’m wondering because I will have already bonded with them so I am just wondering if they will change significantly from now being in my house. I hope this makes sense and I hope you or someone else that know what their talking about to understand and reply. Also I commented on this video because it was the most recent on rats so I thought maybe it’s more likely you’d replay than a video from five years ago lol 😂.
Probably someone has asked, but does anyone have a comparable US option? I want this so badly and was about to just pay shipping but I saw they don’t ship outside the UK.
Could you recommend a cage for 2-3 younger rats as a temp isolation/introduction cage which can be stored away when not used... space and low cost are important :) thnx
hi ya my love so i just bought 6 young rats 4 ladies and 2 gents the girls are 5 weeks older then the boys and the boys have been with each other since birth so i introduced both boys to all 4 girls everything has gone great and they seem to have bounded as im a new owner is there anything i should watch out for
Uhhh… unless the boys have been neutered take them out right away. You don’t want a bunch of babies and even if you do that’s definitely not the right way to go about it 🫣
@@Emiology neutered well Ive been told that. I do plan to breed feeders and pets in the future but these guys are purely pets :) and for me to gain experience before breeding
How can I keep my cats away from my rats????? I've been wanting rats for almost a year now and I have almost convinced my parents to let me have them. The only problem is our cats. My parents are afraid the cats will try and kill them. I can't keep the cats out of my room because I have sliding doors so they know how to open them. Even if I got real doors I share a room with 2 sisters so its almost certain that the door will be left open at some point. Does anyone know what I can do?
Considering getting 4 bucks later on this year. Can't decide whether we want to get just the lower half of this cage or the full size pet planet? Can anyone give me some advice please? 😊
I need your advice. I picked up a friendly albino rat today, however she may be pregnant 😬 the previous owner told me she thought so but wasn't sure. She offered to take the babies if she does give birth but she still needs company. Is she better off having one of her possible daughters as company or should I introduce another rat to her. Plus, is there any websites you recommend? Thank youu! :)
I recommend taking her to a vet and seeing if it’s not too late for something like galastop to prevent the pregnancy; even if you’re not sure if she is or not. Get that sorted first and then try to do intros with another rat 😊
@@Emiology Thank you! Looking at her size she seems to be pretty average so I'm sure if she is pregnant she's not too far along, I'll take her to the vets and get that checked over :)
Hello! My mouse has an upper respiratory infection, and she is on medication, and is currently isolated. Should she be issolated or is it ok for her to be in contact with my other mice? (The enclosure she is in is above the minimum) ❤ ur channle
No not really, the stress of being alone can make their symptoms worse. All mice carry the mycoplasma bacteria from birth and if they didn’t they’ve already come into contact with the sick mouse by the time symptoms present so you don’t need to worry about taking her away from her friends, if she needs to go into a hospital cage for whatever reason she needs a buddy with her 😊
@@Emiology thank you so much for replying! good to know! (This is totally unrelated, but your channel is amazing and the reason my mice don’t live in something from a pet store!)
@@Emiology Hey, I added her back with the group after I got this, (my vet said the same thing) I was also wondering if you have ever had this happen: after I added her back with her friends (they have been bonded their whole life) she has been very territorial and keeps garding the wheel. She spends most of her time on the wheel, and when the other mice tries to use it, she sqeeks at them. Any experience with this?
I'm in need of some guidance. I don't actually have rats yet but I bought an enclosure and filled it with toys ect with the intention of keeping a pair of rats. Unfortunately I've been told (very harshly) on FB groups that this is wrong and my cage is too small and I shouldn't keep any rats at all in this cage alongside being told I should never have less than 3 rats anyway therefore this cage is useless. My issue is the cage I bought seems to be with the "good cages" it's 80x80x50 cm and is a savic freddy max 2 uk cage. Having had such harsh criticism I have decided against getting the rats I had planned on because the last thing I want to do is be "abusive " which is what has been suggested if I put a pair in this cage. I also have a large play pen for out of cage time. I was so excited about getting the rattles and I really thought I'd done all my research. Tbh given the response I got it's kind of making me reconsider owning rats at all because people seem so against people doing anything differently. My mental health has taken a massive hit since I live alone and was so excited getting some companions and I was already pretty fragile and isolated. So I really just want some constructive advice on cages rather than harsh criticism. 🤞🫶
This cage is perfectly fine for a few rats, I personally wouldn’t put more than two males in this, and you are going to want to get more rats in the future as the dynamics of having a trio tend to be better and as they start to get older you don’t want to risk having one left alone, but everyone starts somewhere and I guarantee 90% of the people being rude to you over this started with a similar cage too. I started with a Ferplast furat cage and although I personally wouldn’t go back to ever only just using it, it’s a start, and buying this cage isn’t a waste because you’ll always need spare cages for hospital cages or for different stages of doing introductions. Not everyone can afford great big cages especially when they’re first starting out, for many that’s the end goal. I’d leave that Facebook group you’re in and join something like rat care uk instead 😊
@@Emiology thanks I appreciate your feedback 👍. Having thought about it as I'm new to rat care it's probably easier to start off with bonded rats as opposed to trying to introduce new ones so I guess I should wait until I can get a larger cage and then relook at my options. I have been looking at a pet planet cage that's £199 that's 96 by 63 by 169cm so I guess I'll wait a few months until I can get that then re look at finding some rats. I guess people are coming from a place of passion for the animals it's just frustrating when you try so hard to do the right thing and people jump on you saying you shouldn't be owning rats unless you have everything perfectly immediately
Will I ever have a rat, mouse or cage-needing creature? No, but I am going to watch and learn about this anyway.
Just like me fr
😂
We have this cage for our 3 Degu girls! Were loving it so far, but weve added more shelves in than rather than taken away as degus need more running space than climbing :) To solve the gap at the bottom and escaping hiding goos ( or rats in your case) I found metal mesh trays in homebase that are supposed to be apart of a modular clothing storage thingy, 2 fit perfectly under the cage, side in and out easily, add some storage block acess and cost £12 each!!
Heya, degu owner as well here, and thinking of getting them this cage model. What kind of wheels are you using for them? I'm getting the trixie ones and hooking them up to the side of the cage, but I did have the issue with the bars snapping before so I'm not too excited about that :/
I think my favorite thing about this cage is the color. I want a brown rat cage so bad lol, it just looks so nice. 😍
Though, I do like my savic royale suite's sturdy bars, the plastic trays, not so much.
I love the pretty colors-I’ve always wanted to give my rats a natural styled cage to match my room and I just think m it looks so good.
I don't know if I missed you mentioning it, but one major positive of this cage is that it's all metal! I use it for my Degus and they can go through plastic like it's butter. In my experience most cages on the market either the base or the shelves are plastic which is why we went for this one. So something to bear in mind especially if your rats or other rodents are chewers lol.
We have this exact same cage, got it about 2 months before you for our then 4 girls. We have since added another top half to it, making it 230cm tall. We now have 14 girls in it and they love the height. The top section is all ropes, ladders, nets (to catch any falls) and wheels. The middle section being feeding, drinking and sleeping area with a litter tray,. the bottom section has an 80l (deep and large) plastic tote bin with lid (large access holes cut in) 2/3 full of coco fibre as a dig box.
The cage is massive, we find it easy to clean out and maintain. I agree with the bars should be horizontal all round. We have had a few different cages over the last couple of years and space and time permitting we are planning on making it wider, effectively a 2 wide by 3 tall (6 units total, 2 base and 4 uppers).
I’d definitely be interested in having a second added on to make mine wider if I ever have the space to do it! 😍
@@Emiology You would lose the middle set of platforms due to how they would go together and the loss of the side panels where they are joined. But with some careful measuring and drilling of holes and some nuts and bolts of the same design already used in the cage, you would never know it wasn't meant to be. Like you, we are limited on space, mostly due to lots of other animals. Mice (including 4 wild mice that were rescued and now live with our fancy mice) 3 rabbits (1 wild rabbit that had been hit by a car at 4 weeks old and had to be bottle fed and is totally tame), 4 cats and a colony of captive bred field voles.
I am planning on getting rats very soon. You are the only person I take information from and trust it! This was very helpful! I love all of your videos and I really want to buy some of your merch
As ex rat owner, emi’s vids are SUPED informative and for definitely accurate. You could base ur care just off of it and it’d be good care. Despite that I still recommend looking into outside sauces as well and always double check everything
I got mine this past August!!! They’re absolute heathen-Angel hybrids and I love them. They’re more of a financial investment than I anticipated long term, but definitely worth it if you’re an animal person who likes to buy new things for their pets :)
The first 6 months flew by so fast but now they’re old enough that we have a really solid bond.
Good luck with your ratties!!!
@@samcat2295 Ive been trying to do some research to find out if its ok to train your pet rats into walking in a leash. I am still not sure. Is this ok to do?
@@UrFavBlondieeee I know you’re not asking me but it’s possible AS LONG AS the harness you use is safe. The smallest manufactured harnesses are too big, even ferret ones, so you’ll need to make your own out of something like fleece strips. Pinterest has some DIY guides to make a rat harness. Also, It’s very important that you don’t take them outside with the leash until they’ve formed a close bond with you, so that if they get out of their harness they will stay near you (which should be possible, if it’s so tight that they can’t get out then it will injure them if they do try to get out of it)
And remember that they’re very easy prey for birds when you’re out in nature! Be safe
Thank you very much for your answer, this really helped❤️🤩
Phew! I thought I was the only one having fun getting my two cheeky boys back in their petplanet cage 😂
(did have six chaps living in this but have passed over 😔😌😌)
..so now the two boys who had to live in separate cage, have the pp.
Such a useful video!
(love the mini perspex dig box)
I have a tip! My bars don’t break but are also wobblie what I normally do is put it on the end or on the beginning of the bars so they don’t wobble idk if this works for you but it is a tip!❤️❤️❤️
We just got this second hand and I love it! The size is great and I also love how the colour goes with a naturalistic theme. The SRS 95 is blue and I don't think I could cope with that. I don't have any snapped bars and I know the cage was used for a long time before I got it. I haven't run into any issues yet!.
If the SRS wasn’t a horrible navy colour I’d have considered it 😂
@@Emiology It's just a me thing but I'd be agitated looking at it lol
Red and blue make me angry 😂
@@Emiology you cannot even get the SRS 95 I've tried mine is over 7 years old and I have a perspex tray do you have a link to where I can get the SRS 95? Thank you maria
The holes are for the ladders if you use them. I have mine for about 1.5 years and I have no issues with the bars breaking. I don't hang very heavy things so maybe thats why. I also love this cage because there is no plastic involved!
Duh! Of course they are lol silly me
Thanks for the review. My cage has only one opening door, rusts and has two vertical sides. When I get a new one I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for the extra doors and full horizontal sides.
My partner bought me this cage a couple weeks ago as an anniversary present after I watched your video on it. I also have chronic illnesses (EDS, ME, and several others that I won't bore you with 😅), so I find this cage so much easier to clean out and keep on top of.
I'm probably still in the honeymoon phase with this cage, but I don't have any cons at the moment, but I'm sure they'll come in time 😂
I definitely recommend this for anyone else with chronic pain.
P.s. I find rolling two or three towels up and shoving them in the gaps underneath stop my girls from going underneath. Xx
The absolute worst is trying to hang things that need agreeing to the back, unless you’ve got someone willing to help or you’re an octopus it’s an impossible painful task 🫣
@Emiology I did find that part difficult, so I ended up getting my partner to help when attaching ledges, etc, to the back 😅 thinking back to setting it up, I do wish you could lift the doors off so it was easier.
I have this two tiered cage, and five female rats. I like that I can fit lots of different climbing apparatus etc. I also only use one shelf. I have a question for @Emology , I've had three rats for 15 months, and the other two for 12 months. And all five have been relatively fine together for a year. However, recently one rat (Nadja) has started getting really grumpy and is constantly asserting her dominance over the other four. I wouldn't necessarily be concerned but it doesn't seem to be settling down and remaining four rats are stressed and startled. Lots of videos on TH-cam about introductions, but what should you do if this starts happening after a year of them getting along fine?
i would do anything for a cage with big doors that open up the whole front!! where i live, there is a very limited amount of cages suitable for rats, and i had to search long and hard just to find a cage that was big enough for even just 2-3 rats
Interesting that you've had a few bars snap! Not what you'd expect from such a pricey bit of kit. I've just bought the bottom half for my two boys, they seem happy with the space! And yeah that crawl space underneath is annoying when its bed time haha
I just noticed, I think we have the exact same glasses :D
Thank you for you videos! I have been thinking about getting rats, but the hardest part is choosing a cage
Large opening front doors will really make life a lot easier, I adore mine! It enables me to clean various parts of the cage everyday. Mine is a different brand but similar in look.
I have this cage set up for two separate pairs for now. I love it. Some of the bars are a tad flimsy and mine came with issues but the company I got it from were lovely and relayed the info to manufacturers. I love the colour too. It is in our lounge so I like the pale colour. The massive double doors are brilliant for access to my boys :)
When I had 2 females, I used a single critter nation which worked really well for putting plenty of toys, enrichment, hammocks, etc. But the tray it comes with is so shallow there is no way to put bedding without making a huge mess, so you would have to improvise, I used fleece. I love your videos and what you do, I've been watching for years now! :)
I love the LZV, the chins have one too and they're the best cages I've had by far!
hello, just wanted to say thank you for your videos! they're always very informative and nice to listen to, and you've covered so many important topics! honestly your channel is perfect for a rat owner, many of your vids really helped me with managing my rat girlies 💖🥰
the only thing, i was wondering if you would ever consider putting subtitles in your videos? some things like brand names and difficult words are sometimes hard to decipher for someone who's not a native english speaker. 😂 but no pressure!
can't believe I got here this early, I just want to say thanks for your hard work to help all pets💗
Picking up my new rats in 2 days!!
4:46 - these holes are for the ladders that come with the cage, aren't they? (edit: Oh, I just saw someone already commented this. 😄)
Yes I’m just forgetful 😂
Shame ya'll can't get Critter Nations over there. They're SUCH sturdy cages. I currently have 9 of them. 3 are setup and the others are in storage until I start breeding and need more of them for babies and such.
I really want rats in few years so this is some good preparation for me :)
This cage is so pretty 😍 I don't know why but I just love the brown 😊
helloo!
@@itslewisandcats Hi!
In Canada we have a “full cheeks” brand that we purchased for our two boys. They are our first rats we’ve owned. It seems to be a decent cage $450 though we got it on sale. It has 3 full “floors” with a cutout for a ramp and they’ve never tried to chew on any of the plastic this far which has been great! A decent bottom tray. The only downside I can see is that with each level being full size it doesn’t allow much vertical space for climbing, I’ve been considering taking one out for more height.
Also wanted to say it’s painted a nice deep blue and the shelves are tan which is really nice
I love this cage i bought it around a year ago and my 2 rats love it
I am getting two more rats soon
I wonder if you could use a soldering iron to "glue" the bars back together 🤔
I am now a proud subscriber to Emiology, love this channel! Question, do you think exercise wheels/treadmills are important for rats? I noticed there are no wheels inside Emilology rat cages. I expect this is a controversial topic but just so you know I don't always have the opportunity to let my rats play outside their cages, but the cage is big with lots of ropes, ladders, toys, etc...
It’s not always necessary and some rats won’t use one. Females are more likely to use a wheel than males, but you can try them with it if they dont get outside of the cage time often
You could buy larger washers for stuff attached to the bars, that way the weight of the items will be distributed over several bars, and not just two.
The ropes have pretty large washers and they’re the ones that have been bending the most 🥲
Oh no :( I guess they really are quite weak, then.
If you have the ability to get the critter nation, I would go with that next time. It has the horizontal bars all the way around, I do not believe any screws are necessary at all, and the bars should be strong enough to hold up anything you need to hang. I use triple critter nations for both my chinchillas and my sugar gliders and they have a ton of heavy stuff in their cages ( heavy wood shelves, granite slab shelves, heavy plastic toys, etc and I’ve never had a shelf break in any of the four triple critter nations that I use. And the best part is that you can stack them or attach them together side by side so if you have a bigger/different size animal room when you do move you can always change the configuration of the cage to best fit your room ie. go from a double critter nation (one on top of the other) to a single/single (a single critter nation attached to the side of a single critter nation. Technically critter nation does not market their cages this way but you can just remove the side piece of each cage and zip tie it tightly together and so long as it is on a stable surface it is perfectly good and done by thousands of people this way.
I too have a triple CN, and was going to comment about the horizontal bars all around :) Also, even though the CN doesn't have the option of splitting the sections fully with an opening/closing hatch, if you put in a perspex box at the bottom anyway, you'll be left with a "whole" floor piece which you can the use as a divider (I did that with my cage, when I needed to separate one floor off for a while). Of course you have to take the cage apart to install a floor in between since it's built that way, so it takes effort, but is doable. I blocked the hole on the metal floor part by attaching one of the ladders on it with zip ties, so if my rats would've thought of chewing on the plastic floor, they wouldn't get through.
I think the latches on the doors are good, too. They close quite reliably.
pet loving granny with old collie dog jenny,, old dawf hammy ,, 3 funny but shy pet mice with me 24/7 wake me up 4am on wheel haha , i would love some rats and keep coming on these sites they are so cute
Great video as usual ❤
Which cage would you recommend? I want a tall
One bit seeing this is £325 it’s a bit above my budget. I have two male rats but will add another two soon x
It's such a shame that the liberta explorer isn't widely available anymore. They're really solid cages and ours has held up to a lot of moving about. I've heard great things about the critter nation though and now that they're available in the UK for a similar price to the lzv, I think I'd go for that one when we next need to buy a cage.
I'm looking to replace my very worn explorer. It has been well used before me and I gave it a full overhaul, painted the lot but getting in the need of more tlc x
Check out something called the Full Cheeks 4 Story Small Pet Habitat - its AMAZING. Most the drawback about the bars are no where to be seen in this cage, and its 4 stories!
It doesn't look like the floor space in any good at all for rats
what cage would you recommend getting? I am planning on getting my boys a new one.
Someone needs to design a descent cage, every one has a problem.
I mean, how hard is it to add a deeper base tray, or right sized bar spacing, or descent sized doors?
I reached out to all the big cage manufacturers to work on making a suitable cage together and got ignored 😩 would’ve been a good opportunity for them
Hi, I'm twelve and I have eight rats. We intended to have one, but she had a litter of 5 boys and 3 girls. One of my guys looks really ill, he has porphyrin around his eyes and nose, doesn't want to be touched or around his brothers, and screams when we touch his hind leg. I checked his leg, but he doesn't seem to have any injury there. We also checked for a respiratory disease, but he doesn't have one. My whole family is down with flu and we have only one vet. She isn't very good either and stays around 2 hours away from us. I am really hoping you can give some advice, and I'm really worried for Yoda. Thank you so much from Captain, Yoda, Neo, Newt, Calvin, Serenity, Spirit and the mom of them all, Luna.
omg I have literally never been so early for a vid
I have the double critter nation for 6 females I wouldn’t recommend anything better in my eyes
Hi I absolutely love your videos but I'm a bit confused. My girls tend to chew on wood a lot and you use quite a few wooden objects. How do you stop your rats chewing on them? Thanks a lot ❤
They’re there for them to chew if they want to 😊 they do need replacing over time
I am
Going to get 2 pet rats so I don’t think I would need that cage as it is made for more than 2 but I am getting something like that
Would this cage as a single be okay for 3 females?? :)
Hi there i noticed i have a lice problem and was curious if i could use diatomaceous eath to kill them is it safe for rats both old and young
Great info as always , any tips for encouraging rats to use a hammock ? My 2 female rats have a new cage and new hammock but they will not use the hammock at all
what helped me was: washing the hammock in advance with the same thing that you usually wash their other hammocks with. then, putting some small toys/things that were scattered around the rats' cage inside the new hammock
and then putting their favorite treats inside it too!
Thanks , I’ve put treats in but they grab them then run to another part of the cage to eat them or hide them 😂
@@l-VeNoM-l haha real, my rats do that too. 😂 and you're welcome!
to me the most important part is just making sure that the new hammock smells familiar for the rats. i remembered another trick that i did once: i put the hammock in the rats' free-roam space so they explored it in a calm and safe environment with no pressure to immediately go sleep in it. after some time they got used to it a bit + it smelled a bit like them, so it was easier for them to get used to it inside the cage ✌️
Thanks again that would be a great idea if they didn’t chew it and ruined it 😂 they still haven’t slept in the hammock and have now chewed the corners where it hangs so now need to try something else that is not so chewable
@@l-VeNoM-l get the metal shower curtain hooks my rats do the same lol😊
I really need advice. We have three female rats but it's super difficult to find care for them while we are away. We go away approximately 3 weeks per year. Can they travel with us in the car? The trip is about 5 hours each direction. What is the SMALLEST cage the girls could live in for two weeks at a time max? This would be our travel cage only.
They should be fine they travel quite well 😊 I’m not sure what country you’re in to suggest cages but the Ferplast furat collapses down quite well into a car and I used to take that with me when I travelled with mine
@@Emiology What is the smallest size you would recommend to house three females for a couple weeks?
hi I was wondering how much should you feed your rats. like if you have 3 rats should you give food to each of them. thanks!
About 12-15g a day per rat 😊
do you know any rat sellers in michigan?
I have a HUGE favor to ask you, I was really hoping you could respond. So I volunteer at a small business, local pet shop. And I am getting rats from this shop. I go there 3-5 times a week and handle all the animals including the infant rats (the ones I am adopting). I just binj watched all (or at least I think all) your videos about getting new rats so my question is should I do the same strategies to bound with them once I bring them home? I’m wondering because I will have already bonded with them so I am just wondering if they will change significantly from now being in my house. I hope this makes sense and I hope you or someone else that know what their talking about to understand and reply. Also I commented on this video because it was the most recent on rats so I thought maybe it’s more likely you’d replay than a video from five years ago lol 😂.
Hi if you are already bonded with them it shouldn't be a problem when you bring them home hope this helps😊
Probably someone has asked, but does anyone have a comparable US option? I want this so badly and was about to just pay shipping but I saw they don’t ship outside the UK.
Critter nation 😊
Off topic but, is coco fiber save to use with my pet mice? 🐁
Yep just don’t let it get too dry
@@Emiology okay
Could you recommend a cage for 2-3 younger rats as a temp isolation/introduction cage which can be stored away when not used... space and low cost are important :) thnx
That’s what I use my Ferplast furat for 😊
@@Emiology I had my eye on one of those after watching your vids :) Thanks again for taking time to answer... keep up the great content
hi ya my love so i just bought 6 young rats 4 ladies and 2 gents the girls are 5 weeks older then the boys and the boys have been with each other since birth so i introduced both boys to all 4 girls everything has gone great and they seem to have bounded
as im a new owner is there anything i should watch out for
Uhhh… unless the boys have been neutered take them out right away. You don’t want a bunch of babies and even if you do that’s definitely not the right way to go about it 🫣
@@Emiology neutered well Ive been told that. I do plan to breed feeders and pets in the future but these guys are purely pets :) and for me to gain experience before breeding
You’ll be able to tell if they’re neutered or not as they’ll be completely flat or have huge balls 😅
@@Emiology have you ever seen a deflated football? it looks like that XD
@@Emiology their currently having a sugar rush i think, from the custard cream i gave them for the daily treat
How can I keep my cats away from my rats?????
I've been wanting rats for almost a year now and I have almost convinced my parents to let me have them. The only problem is our cats.
My parents are afraid the cats will try and kill them. I can't keep the cats out of my room because I have sliding doors so they know how to open them. Even if I got real doors I share a room with 2 sisters so its almost certain that the door will be left open at some point.
Does anyone know what I can do?
Get a cage with small bar spacing so they will be safe from the cats my rats chased my cat! Are you getting males or females? Good luck❤
Considering getting 4 bucks later on this year. Can't decide whether we want to get just the lower half of this cage or the full size pet planet? Can anyone give me some advice please? 😊
I’d get a full size cage for 4 males
@@Emiology thank you for getting back to me! ❤️
I need your advice. I picked up a friendly albino rat today, however she may be pregnant 😬 the previous owner told me she thought so but wasn't sure. She offered to take the babies if she does give birth but she still needs company. Is she better off having one of her possible daughters as company or should I introduce another rat to her. Plus, is there any websites you recommend? Thank youu! :)
I recommend taking her to a vet and seeing if it’s not too late for something like galastop to prevent the pregnancy; even if you’re not sure if she is or not. Get that sorted first and then try to do intros with another rat 😊
@@Emiology Thank you! Looking at her size she seems to be pretty average so I'm sure if she is pregnant she's not too far along, I'll take her to the vets and get that checked over :)
I personally don’t agree with the price point. And with the bars breaking, there’s no resell value.
Hello! My mouse has an upper respiratory infection, and she is on medication, and is currently isolated. Should she be issolated or is it ok for her to be in contact with my other mice? (The enclosure she is in is above the minimum) ❤ ur channle
No not really, the stress of being alone can make their symptoms worse. All mice carry the mycoplasma bacteria from birth and if they didn’t they’ve already come into contact with the sick mouse by the time symptoms present so you don’t need to worry about taking her away from her friends, if she needs to go into a hospital cage for whatever reason she needs a buddy with her 😊
@@Emiology thank you so much for replying! good to know!
(This is totally unrelated, but your channel is amazing and the reason my mice don’t live in something from a pet store!)
@@Emiology Hey, I added her back with the group after I got this, (my vet said the same thing)
I was also wondering if you have ever had this happen: after I added her back with her friends (they have been bonded their whole life) she has been very territorial and keeps garding the wheel. She spends most of her time on the wheel, and when the other mice tries to use it, she sqeeks at them. Any experience with this?
🤍
First
Rats cary diseases, why would you keep one😂
Name a disease that domesticated rats carry
STOP ABUSING ANIMALS
Me? What lol
STOP BEING A TROLL
I'm in need of some guidance. I don't actually have rats yet but I bought an enclosure and filled it with toys ect with the intention of keeping a pair of rats. Unfortunately I've been told (very harshly) on FB groups that this is wrong and my cage is too small and I shouldn't keep any rats at all in this cage alongside being told I should never have less than 3 rats anyway therefore this cage is useless. My issue is the cage I bought seems to be with the "good cages" it's 80x80x50 cm and is a savic freddy max 2 uk cage. Having had such harsh criticism I have decided against getting the rats I had planned on because the last thing I want to do is be "abusive " which is what has been suggested if I put a pair in this cage. I also have a large play pen for out of cage time. I was so excited about getting the rattles and I really thought I'd done all my research. Tbh given the response I got it's kind of making me reconsider owning rats at all because people seem so against people doing anything differently. My mental health has taken a massive hit since I live alone and was so excited getting some companions and I was already pretty fragile and isolated. So I really just want some constructive advice on cages rather than harsh criticism. 🤞🫶
This cage is perfectly fine for a few rats, I personally wouldn’t put more than two males in this, and you are going to want to get more rats in the future as the dynamics of having a trio tend to be better and as they start to get older you don’t want to risk having one left alone, but everyone starts somewhere and I guarantee 90% of the people being rude to you over this started with a similar cage too. I started with a Ferplast furat cage and although I personally wouldn’t go back to ever only just using it, it’s a start, and buying this cage isn’t a waste because you’ll always need spare cages for hospital cages or for different stages of doing introductions. Not everyone can afford great big cages especially when they’re first starting out, for many that’s the end goal. I’d leave that Facebook group you’re in and join something like rat care uk instead 😊
@@Emiology thanks I appreciate your feedback 👍. Having thought about it as I'm new to rat care it's probably easier to start off with bonded rats as opposed to trying to introduce new ones so I guess I should wait until I can get a larger cage and then relook at my options. I have been looking at a pet planet cage that's £199 that's 96 by 63 by 169cm so I guess I'll wait a few months until I can get that then re look at finding some rats. I guess people are coming from a place of passion for the animals it's just frustrating when you try so hard to do the right thing and people jump on you saying you shouldn't be owning rats unless you have everything perfectly immediately
First