A Home Made for a Queen Rat

During the week of Cyber Monday back in November, I began scouring online pet stores for a new rat cage for Nibblet, my pet rat. I finally decided on a cage from Petco. The price was right at about $150 and shipping was free, which is awesome because I'm sure shipping alone would have jacked the price up to $200.

The cage I selected is a WARE Living Room Series Ferret Home. It's about 2.5 feet long by 2 feet wide. It's very tall too at just over 4 feet. I wanted a cage that had lots of levels for Nibblet to explore, and this one is perfect.

Nibblet's new castle.

There are two main levels with other smaller panels that Nibblet can sit on. First, let's take a tour of the lower level of Nibblet's new castle.

The lower level of the cage. 

The bottom level I have lined with a towel. I tried the litter box thing in this cage, but Nibblet just pushes it out of the way to poop in her favorite corner. It's nice that she goes all in one spot though.

There are 2 of those "balconies" with ramps leading upwards as you can see in the bottom right photo. I try to add towels, boxes and other containers throughout the cage because Nibblet likes that sort of stuff.

In the bottom left photo, she's creating some sort of food pile from her food dish that's on the top level.

The upper level of the cage. 

There is a hole that leads up to the upper level of the cage from one of the ramps. I have a towel down up here too because it gets chilly sometimes. And Nibblet also has her various boxes and the hammock. The hammock came with the cage, by the way. There's one more balcony in the top level too.

I have Nibblet's food bowl and water bottle in this level. And as you can see, there are doors that open up on the side of the cage. There is another door for the bottom level as well. There are also smaller doors on the very front of the bottom and top levels.

Overall, Nibblet and I are very pleased with this cage! I was nervous about some of the reviews on Petco's website because most stated that the ramps were too slippery to climb up. Nibblet seems to do fine with them, but if she were an elderly rat I could see her possibly having trouble. I may have to adjust the ramps later on.

Also, some reviews stated this may not be a good cage for rats because the platforms are plastic and rats like to chew. So far, Nibblet hasn't chewed up any pieces of the cage but I assumed that she wouldn't.

As for putting it together, I think I did a pretty good job. I managed to get it all together with minimal mistakes all by myself in about an hour and a half while fending off a curious toddler that wants to play with all the pieces

Queen Nibblet the Beautiful. 

This is a rat home fit for a queen! Nibblet is so happy in her new castle and I've been looking on Petfinder at a possible new friend for her. I was hoping that I could find a neutered male rat, but was skeptical. The rat rescues here in town mostly seem to adopt their rats out neutered and/or spayed which is great news.

Hopefully, this cage will last over time but so far it seems wonderful! Perhaps Nibblet can invite all of her friends over for a pawty sometime in her brand new mansion. :)