cage size
- Thread starter J.huff23
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
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- 1,670
you shouldnt keep a single rat unless you are gonna spend A LOT of time with it because a lonely rat as far as i know can be very aggressive and depressed.
so you should get at t least two and i think they can be kept in a 20 gallon tank or bigger. if you cant afford a tank tubs cost half the price and you can buy big tubs even for a smaller price than a tank.
I have 3 rats and i keep them in a 55 gallon tank enough they'd do fine in a 40 gallon tank. maybe even a 30.
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2006
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- 1,596
Yup. 
Wire cages are the best for them, though. You can always line the cage with a smaller diameter screen mesh. It's cheap and available in rolls nearly everywhere.
Wire cages are the best for them, though. You can always line the cage with a smaller diameter screen mesh. It's cheap and available in rolls nearly everywhere.
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2005
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- 4,588
Even if you spend a lot of time with it, that's not really good enough. You can't be there 24/7, and you can't provide the kind of interaction another rat can, like social grooming.
If you have a rat that won't accept living with another rat, that's one thing, but otherwise you need two. One of my former housemates had two brother dumbo rats, and one started beating up the other one really bad. He seperated them, got the nice one a new cagemate (a half-brother from the same breeder), and kept the mean one's cage near the others. That way he could still smell them and play with them during outside-the-cage time (didn't get lonely), but he had his own cage and didn't have to fight anyone in it.