Houseing for your pet rat

 Are you keeping your small animal in a wire cage?  If so here are things you need to know  that could just save your pets life.
First is your cage rat friendly?  Never keep you pet in anything that is galvanized metal.  Your pocket pet can get zinc poisoning if he chews the wire or even from washing his feet after he has walked on it.  galvanized metal will also corrode from urine.  So if you want a wire cage look for one where the bars are vinyl, epoxy, chrome, or powder coated.

The next thing to be concerned with is the spacing of the bars.  The bars should never be more than one-half inch apart.  Because if they can get their head out they will get the rest of them out too.  Wire mesh cages should be .05 inch.  This makes it impossible for any rat to escape.  always avoid cages that have bars that are 1 inch x .05 inch  those pose the risk of your rat getting it leg stuck or broken.  Dont even use this size wire as a covering for a glass aquarium due to the fact that rats will make their way to the top of the cage as soon as you turn your back.

If you choose to keep your rat in n aquarium be sure to have a well vented top for the cage.  Never use the plastic tops like you see in the pet stores, a rat can chew threw those in under 10 minutes.  What I have chosen to do is build my own using 1x2's nails and wire mesh to prevent escape.

One of the main considerations this time of year is keeping your rats away from drafts.   Since rats are prone to colds this makes for a good argument on using aquariums over wire cages.  But in the summer time rats can over heat in aquariums in an unairconditioned home.  Thus making for the argument in using wire cages.  Or use a different cage to fit the season to kept your pet healthy and happy