Interior Design for Rat Homes

Once you’ve chosen the ideal home for your rats, it’s time to furnish and decorate! You’ll want to include floor coverings, bedding, boxes and hideouts, hammocks, toys, a tube or two, a wheel, chew toys and litter boxes.

Carpeting

First place a liner on all metal, wire floors. I like to use this cage liner made by LuftPets. LuftPets was founded by a Canadian woman, Olfa Turki. I love her commitment to ethical sourcing and the use of materials that prioritize the safety of both animals and the environment. Depending on the size of your rats’ cage, you may need to use two liners on each floor. The ends fold up nicely so you can customize these liners to fit your cage’s dimensions. Not only does this “carpet padding” provide an extra cushiony feel, but it also helps protect your cage floor against moisture. Another option is to use plain newsprint laid down in several layers.

Bathrooms

Place your chosen type of litter box(es) in a corner on each level of their cage. (Note: some rats will want more than one litter box per level. As you’re probably well aware, it all depends on the rats.)

Boxes and Hideouts

Cardboard boxes make cozy bedrooms inside your pet rats’ cage.

Rats love to hide and sleep in small, enclosed areas. They also enjoy exploring a variety of cardboard boxes. They’re perfect for both climbing and sleeping inside or on top of them. Doorways cut into several sides of each box give your rats at least two options for entering and exiting their boxes. I do this because I think of what it’s like for wild rats: If they were to get cornered with only one door, wild rats would easily become food for a predator.

Amazon boxes, shoe boxes, just about any sort of box will work. If you do use a shoe box, make sure it doesn’t have the new shoe smell inside. If it does, allow it to air outdoors before using it. When choosing other types of boxes, make sure they don’t have any food residue, tape or staples left on them that might be ingested. If your rats don’t get attracted to eating or chewing on tape or staples, then you don’t have to worry about avoiding them. It all depends on learning your rats’ preferences (and/or ability to get into trouble).

Line each cardboard box with soft cloth such as an old t-shirt, a section of a fleece blanket or some flannel. I also like to place a soft piece of fabric on top of each box. This way I can easily change out the cloth, rather than the entire box, if it gets urinated on. I recycle the old boxes about every week when cleaning my cage. I usually place at least one box on every level of their cage. Often, I’ll also place two boxes side by side or on top of another with a connecting door so they can go from “room to room”.

Hanging Furniture

Besides boxes, pet rats also enjoy sleeping and hiding out in hanging “beds”. These can be hammocks, hanging tents and even a Pirate Ship! Hanging tubes are fun, too. (Just place a rope through a tube and tie the ends higher up on each side of the cage. The idea is to make their home as multi-dimensional as possible.

Safety

When your rats age, they’re not able to jump up or down as easily. This means you want to make sure to keep the boxes at a comfortable height. They should be able to gently pull themselves onto the boxes and be able to slide down the sides rather than jumping and landing hard. Even for younger rats, don’t make the boxes too high without providing other surfaces they can step on to make their way down gradually.

Accessories, Wheels & Toys

There are a lot of fun enhancements you can hang or attach to the walls and ceilings of your rats’ home. Some people like to use items such as rope ladders, tree branches (bought from a pet store) and anything else they can climb. Do not bring in a tree branch from outdoors for your rats.  It could contain insects, parasites and even be an unsafe wood for rats to chew. Sometimes great rat cage accessories can be found by looking at toys designed for parrots. Ladders and tree branch perches are perfect examples of accessories made for birds that also work well for pet rats.

In the past, I did use items made of wood. However, they’re impossible to clean. I’d advise, if you really want to get any of these wooden items, to plan on using them for a shorter term. Instead of wood, you can make a rope ladder out of an old t-shirt. That way you can launder it with detergent and a disinfectant each week. I’ve recently bought some stainless-steel ladders which I really like. They’re simple to clean and very sturdy.

The idea is, whatever you place in their cage, you want to make sure it’s either able to be cleaned and disinfected or recycled each week.

It’s good to have a variety of objects to place in their cage. That way you can have a completely different setup each week by rotating in and out all the accessories.

Tubes are fun to place on the floor of your rats’ home. You can buy pipes used for building construction very inexpensively. Long cardboard boxes or tubes such as those used for shipping posters are fun rat tunnels as well. (As indicated above, any cardboard tubes would be for short term use only.)

Wodent Wheels are the best! This type of exercise wheel comes in various sizes on up to “Wobust” for large rats. They are very safe since there are no rungs or spokes in the wheel in which a rat’s feet or tail can get caught and injured. I’ve found that some rats take to the wheel right away and others just aren’t interested. Whenever one of my rats does use the wheel, I make sure to praise him or her. They love being recognized for their accomplishments and, by praising them, you’re letting him/her know how much you love it when they use their wheel.

Please Note: Be sure to get a wheel that’s large enough for your pet rat. If the wheel is too small it may cause injury to your rat’s back.  Because of this some people prefer saucer or dish type spinners. For most rats, however, a Wobust Wodent Wheel is large enough.

Food foraging toys are fun to place inside their cage intermittently. Get a nice collection going and you can have different foraging toys in their cage different days of the week….and sometimes not. Making these little changes really helps keep rats intellectually challenged and satisfied.

Chew toys help keep your rats busy instead of bored. My rats love bamboo sticks as well as willow sticks.

Bedding/Nesting Materials

Fluff up their space by providing plenty of nest-building material. Plain shredded newsprint is the healthiest bedding I’ve found.

Dining Accoutrements

Glass water bottles are the best! They’re easy to clean. I like that you can see the bubbles through the clear glass whenever your rats drink from the sipper tube.

For dishes, I love using soy sauce dishes.

Ambience: Lighting, Room Temperature & Air Flow

Lighting for Your Pet Rats Home

No, I’m not suggesting you should place lamps or light fixtures inside your rats’ cage. Instead, it’s important to make sure your cage is not in direct sunlight. Even in winter, a cage in direct sunlight could overheat your rats.

Temperature

Don’t let their room get too cold or too hot. I keep my rats’ room 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Air Quality

There should be good air flow throughout the cage. You don’t want it to be drafty, but you do want it set up so any odor from their litter boxes aren’t trapped inside their cage. Keep their room free from perfumes including scents from candles, incense, essential oils, etc.

updated 8/15/23