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Hello! It's time for another project, as if I don't have enough going on already. I would like to build a new home for my rats. I say home because "cage" implies a certain construction style and I don't want to prejudice things here. Those of you with rats (there must be some) will be aware of their propensity for respiratory infections, (or more often flareups of infections they have since birth). Cages help with this in a sense, because they're open and thus well ventilated. Where they *don't* help is that the rats will still piss on the bars and the ammonia will hang around and irritate their wee snoots. They're also quite hard to clean; ideally you'd want to power wash it from time to time or at least sluice it in the shower, but the cage weighs quite a lot. So, what I'd like to do is build something custom for them, made of materials that they're comfortable with and will encourage a clean environment. And ideally do it with the tools I already have or reasonable expenditure on new ones. Here's the main points I'd like to hit, and I'd love to get your input on how I'd best do it. And then I'll document it!
I'm sure there's more but I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm entirely open to using existing assets like stackable plastic containers, provided there's a good way for me to work them into the shapes and openings I need. As a baseline here's a photo of their current set up so you can see the sort of features it needs. 
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May 15, 2018 09:29
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| # ? Jun 4, 2024 01:16 |
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Alright no feedback yet, that's OK, you can follow along as I hamfist it up myself. While I was at the hardware place buying a buncha stuff for my own house, I picked up a couple of extra stacking boxes, some hinges, latches, things like that. I'll dig out my dremel and use that for the cutting along with some stacked bits I bought for another project (that I never completed for safety reasons), as I've found this plastic to be very unforgiving when drilled and likes to split. I bought some superglue and specialised plastics epoxy but it turns out they don't work on polypropylene which is what these boxes are made of, so I'll need to take those back and buy something else online.
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May 23, 2018 14:59
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PP is a sonofabitch, bumper repair epoxy is a good option but expensive. Otherwise if you have a soldering iron with a big head on it you can "weld" it with the leftover scraps you cut out, embedding some stainless mesh will add strength. Check out some bumper repair videos on youtube to get a feel for it. edit: Forgot another good option is to just drill a bunch of small holes on either side of the seam and lace it with stainless wire.
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May 23, 2018 22:05
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That's good to know, I do have a soldering iron handy. It seems that there's some PP/PE glues available at around a fiver for a couple of grams, so it may come to that. The specific situation I'm looking at is creating a lip around openings in each floor so the litter doesn't fall down, so the wire option is a difficult one there. Maybe I would be better off using tubing for travel between floors. The stuff I have accordions and is threaded, so I could probably cut a hole and screw the tube into it, leaving it proud slightly and achieving the same effect.
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May 24, 2018 07:53
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Actually now I think about it, if I use the tubes I can have them go up the outside, meaning I don't need holes in the floors at all. Now I just need to figure out how to attach the locks and hinges without superglue, I guess cutting down the screws so there's no sharp points.
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May 24, 2018 11:07
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Jaded Burnout posted:Alright no feedback yet, that's OK, you can follow along as I hamfist it up myself.  . How would you compare the mess of rats to ferrets? My sister used to have a ferret cage, drat creatures poo poo everywhere all over the walls next to the cage, I don't think I ever want to own a ferret.I'm still a little confused by the scope of your project, are you replacing everything in the current cage or just modifying and improving it? As for easy cleaning, it seems like some way to easily remove the walls might be a good idea, like maybe with panels that are clipped on?
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May 24, 2018 13:20
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Crotch Fruit posted:I think this is fascinating, but rats are disgusting dirty creatures (I kinda want one now. . .) and for that reason I believe this should be in the Crappy Construction thread I've not seen what ferrets get up to, but I have male rats which are supposed to be the smelliest, and they're not too bad at all, so at least that's less of an issue. There are piss marks on my walls near the cage, this is part of why I'm doing this. It's not because they're targeting the walls, but they're pissing in the corners of the cage, it's dropping down a floor, and splashing. Solid walls plus no open-barred floors should solve that. They have pretty much free run of my desk most of the time and they don't poo poo on it, they prefer to use the cage and in fact prefer the litter boxes I added. They do piss pretty much everywhere including my desk but that's a marking behaviour rather than normal bladder control, so that's just something you need to live with. Crotch Fruit posted:I'm still a little confused by the scope of your project, are you replacing everything in the current cage or just modifying and improving it? As for easy cleaning, it seems like some way to easily remove the walls might be a good idea, like maybe with panels that are clipped on? I'm aiming to replace the entire cage. My current thought about cleaning is that if each floor is a separate crate I can lift them off one by one for cleaning, giving me a fully open top to reach in and/or pour litter out of. Plus it'll be smooth plastic, so easy to wipe down.
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May 24, 2018 13:34
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Jaded Burnout posted:Actually now I think about it, if I use the tubes I can have them go up the outside, meaning I don't need holes in the floors at all. Consider also double flush rivets, they don't leave the little metal bellend protruding inside when fastened.
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May 25, 2018 10:16
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| # ? Jun 4, 2024 01:16 |
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cakesmith handyman posted:Consider also double flush rivets, they don't leave the little metal bellend protruding inside when fastened. Hmm! I’d have to get a rivet gun of some kind but I’m assuming the manual ones aren’t too pricey. Good suggestion. They’re okay with metal, they don’t chew it (though they will steal it), just want to make sure they don’t poke themselves. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 10:47 on May 25, 2018 |
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May 25, 2018 10:43
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