What?

Having decided on how many, and which gender of rats you will be looking for you can begin to prepare for their arrival. So what will you need to provide your rats with a rich and stimulating environment? You can probably start out with just a cage, cage furniture and enrichment, cage litter/bedding, food and a carrier to bring them home in. Many people also like to put together a few essential first aid items.

The cage

The cage should provide at least 2 cubic feet of space per rat, but if you are only getting a pair of rats you will still need a cage that would be suitable for at least 3 to 4 rats. A popular minimum sized cage is the Savic Freddy 2, which measures 80 X 50 X 63cm. Anything bigger than this is suitable for size.

When buying a cage it is important to consider things like the bar spacing and access. Bar spacing needs to be quite narrow (1 to 1.5 cm) if you are getting young females, and all cages should have good access that allows you to easily reach in to every part of the cage. This will be essential for cleaning, fitting cage furniture and retrieving reluctant rats. Powder coated bars help to make the cage easy to clean. Some recomended cages can be found here.

Second hand cages can often be bought quite cheaply on ebay or are advertised in the Fancy Rats Market Place. You will need to become a member to view these.

Cage furniture

Cage furniture will vary to suit your rats and the cage that you decide to buy, but should be as varied as possible in purpose, material and texture. Ideally aim to provide your rats with the opportunity to engage in as many natural behaviours as possible such as running, climbing, balancing, carrying, digging, nest building and resting. A corner litter tray is a good idea as most rats are easy to litter train. Removing ramps and ladders form your cage will help encourage your rats to climb which will in turn keep them fit. Many rats enjoy using a wheel if introduced while they are young, but don't expect them to run endlessly like a hamster. Rats tend to run using short burts of energy in between other activities. Wheel running has been shown to help extend lifespan by up to 10%.

It is a good idea to start collecting boxes, tubes, paper bags, tissue paper, old fleecy clothes and the like. Shredded household paper is also great for rummaging in and making nests. There are a number of ideas for making rat toys from junk here. Remember to vary the activities that you give them to do, and try to vary what they do during free range time, when you will often be their main climbing frame!

Cage litter and bedding

For cage substrate I use, recommend (and supply) Ecopetbed. I use this in their litter trays too all of which are used regularly. There are, of course, many other alternatives, but I have never found anything that I (and the rats) like as much. For bedding I alternate between strip shredded paper, cross shredded paper, yellow pages (DIY bedding) and hay, but many other alternatives are just as suitable.

Diet

Rat nutrition is a very broad subject and one which I have researched and written about extensively. All the information you need can be found on the nutrition pages of this site. These share the name of my book on rat nutrition which is called The Scuttling Gourmet

Carriers

In order to safely transport your rats home you will need some kind of travelling carrier or tank. This will come in useful throughout their lives as a holding pen and for travel (vet visits, shows, holiday accommodation). It is much safer (and more convenient) to travel rats in a small container than their cage. There are a range of small animal carriers available for under £10 but if you are having a three or more rats then you will probably need a small cat carrier. Another option for a pair of rats is a plastic tank (often called a show tank) which are generally sold as fish tanks or herp habitats.

Health and first aid

Health is a positive state of being and rat health is as much about maintaining well-being as it is about treating illness. You will initially need to know how to perform a health check, look for parasites and give first aid. There are lots of other health related articles in the health pages of this site.