It's been about five years since I had baby rats; I decided not to replace my last girls right away because we were expecting a baby and the pain of losing them was so hard I didn't think I could cope with that loss again any time soon. My daughter is now past those difficult baby years and I feel ready to mother some beautiful ratties again. We also, for the first time in our lives, own our home so we don't have to get permission from anyone else to have rats here. Yaaass!
I already feel that this time around I have learned a lot more about rats in preparation for the girls to arrive, and I am really excited about embarking on this journey with them for the next couple of years.
This time around I opted to buy a massive cage, much bigger than the standard rat cage sold in NZ (known as the RSK - or 'rat starter kit' cage). However I quickly realised that the cage I purchased had bars spaced too wide to safely house baby rats. So together my husband and I painstakingly added mesh around all sides of it - the result has been worth it, but boy it was a mission!! I suffered several cuts and scrapes just from the pokey bits of the mesh. We secured the mesh with a LOT of cable ties, and I feel quite proud of us as neither of us are very DIY-minded people.
I'm sooo excited about this cage. I purchased it from TradeMe for around $140, with an extra $20 to ship to New Plymouth. I've set it up with hammocks (which are basic ones that came with the cage), a running wheel, a tray, a box, pillow cases to act as safety catches if the rats fall from the levels, a Sputnik, some colourful balls, a couple of litter trays, a pipe, a hanging basket and a paper towel roll - all of which I hope will keep the girls entertained for the next while.
And now we await their arrival :)
