Best Rat Cages That Meet Ethical Cage Size Requirements

Pet rats spend most of their time in a cage, so it’s crucial to choose one that’s spacious enough to allow them to express their natural behaviors, like digging, climbing, foraging, and running.

Investing in a good cage ensures your pets’ health and well-being but also simplifies your life by making cage cleaning and decorating easier.

In this article, I go over everything you need to know when buying a cage and list some of the best rat cages on the market.

How to Choose a Rat Cage: Requirements

When you see a cage that piqued your interest, the first thing to do is to put its dimensions in the rat cage calculator. This will tell you if the cage is big enough for your rats and how many rats it can house. Remember that this calculator tells you the maximum number of rats for that cage, but that doesn’t mean your rats wouldn’t benefit from a cage that is even larger than that!

When it comes to rat cages, the more space you can provide, the better. Lack of room can negatively affect your rats’ well-being and cause aggression and fighting among the group.

Floor Space

Since rats are naturally ground dwelling and fossorial animals, floor space is a crucial aspect to consider. In the wild, rats travel several hundreds meters in search of food every day. They also dig and build extensive underground burrows so a cage should be set up to enable that behavior.

Make sure your cage is at least 30 inches (76 cm) long in one direction to allow your rats to run around. A preferred floor area would be 36×20 inches (90×50 cm) or more.

Cage Height

Rats are excellent climbers, so provide them with ample vertical space to climb and play by ensuring their cage has a minimum height of 20 inches (50 cm).

Bar Spacing

Many cages that are large enough for rats are designed for other larger pets, such as gerbils, so they have more space between the bars. It’s important to keep in mind the minimum bar spacings for rats, or they might escape from the cage or hurt themselves if the bars are too far apart.

Bar spacings:

• A bar spacing of 1/2 inch or less (1 – 1.5 cm) is ideal as it keeps all rats in – even young rats and smaller females.
• A bar spacing of 0.8 – 1.0 inch (2 – 2.5 cm) can sometimes be used for larger adult rats, but smaller rats would most likely squeeze through.
• Anything larger than 1 inch (2.50 cm) is not suitable for rats, big or small.

Horizontal or vertical bars?

Rats can climb either of those without any issues, so it’s mostly a matter of preference for the rat owner.

Ease of Cleaning

Litter trained or not, rats can be pretty messy. You’ll be cleaning their cage at least once a week, so I suggest getting a cage that is easy to clean.

When choosing a cage, consider one with large doors that open fully. This will make cleaning up after your furry friends so much easier. Just open up the cage, give it a good sweep, and you’re done. It will make your life much simpler and your back will be thankful!

What Type of Cage is Best?

Metal barred cages are the gold standard since they have many advantages over other types of cages. They provide plenty of fresh air flow, they are easy to clean, and the rats can’t escape if the bar spacing is suitable for rats. Durable enameled bars will prevent the cage from rusting, and it will look good longer.

Types of Cages to Avoid

On the other hand, you should avoid these types of cages:

• Wooden cages and cages made of wooden cabinets or bookcases – Rats and wood don’t mix well. Firstly, rats can easily chew through the wood and escape. Secondly, wood is almost impossible to clean from the rat’s pee as the wood absorbs it, and it starts to smell bad very quickly.
• Aquariums or plastic bins – Rats are prone to respiratory disease, so they need plenty of fresh air flow in their cages. Plastic bins and aquariums keep the dust and ammonia in, irritating the rat’s sensitive respiratory system.
• Wire mesh flooring – Constantly walking on the wires can cause bumblefoot on your rats’ delicate feet, resulting in swollen and infected feet. If you buy a cage with a wire mesh flooring, cover it with something solid or put a digging box over the entire floor.

The Best Rat Cages in the US

I’ve put together a list of the best rat cages that fit all requirements: they are large enough, have small bar spacing, and are easy to clean.

Critter Nation 2-Story Small Animal Cage

This is one of the best rat cages a rat owner can get for their pets. It has plenty of space for larger groups of rats. It’s super easy to clean as the front doors on both levels can fully open. It is on the pricier side, but it works great for someone with many members of the ratty family.

• Dimensions: 36 x 24 x 47.5 inches (23.75 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 1/2 in
• Can house up to 7 rats
• Sold on: Amazon & Chewy

Critter Nation Single Story Cage

If you’re looking for a cheaper or simpler solution for housing a smaller group of rats, a single-story Critter Nation cage may be the perfect fit. It offers the same comfort and functionality for up to four rats. It also has front doors that open fully for effortless cleaning and wheels so you can move it around.

• Dimensions: 36 x 24 x 24 inches (12.00 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 1/2 in
• Can house up to 4 rats
• Sold on: Amazon & Chewy

Other Suitable Rat Cages (US)

Although the Critter Nation cages are the gold standard in the rat community, they might not be for everyone. If you’d prefer something else, there are many other suitable options. Let’s look at other cages that might be a better fit for your needs!

Ferplast Ferret Tower Two-Story Cage

This is another spacious cage that can house a large group of rats. It has a 6-inch plastic base to hold the bedding for digging and burrowing. This cage won’t work well if you have chewers, though! If your rats tend to chew the plastic, they should be housed in a metal cage.

Do keep in mind that this cage can be a pain to clean and decorate as it has small doors, making it tricky to reach all parts of the cage.

• Dimensions: 31 x 29 x 62 inches (32.26 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 1/2 in
• Can house up to 10 rats
• Sold on: Amazon & Chewy

Prevue Hendryx F050 Cage

While not built specifically for rats, this cage is huge, allowing for plenty of toys, hammocks and other accessories. Cleaning can be a bit of a chore through the smaller doors, but it’s not a dealbreaker. The bars of 1/2 inch spacing are small enough to prevent even the smallest rats from escaping.

The main downside of this cage is that it has grated floor which can increase the risk of bumblefoot, but this can be easily mitigated by adding a tray, plastic digging box, or using perplex sheets cut to size inside the cage.

Since this cage is pretty tall, you’ll need to add a good amount of fall breakers to prevent any injuries.

• Dimensions: 36 x 22 x 47 inches (21.54 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 1/2 in
• Can house up to 7 rats
• Sold on: Amazon, Chewy, Petco

Prevue Hendryx Black Feisty Ferret Cage

The main downside of this cage is that it has a wire mesh floor. Under it, there’s a removable tray that is designed for convenient cleaning, but a wire mesh floor is not something you want your rats to walk on every day. Constantly walking on bars can cause a foot infection known as bumblefoot.

If you choose to go with this cage, you’ll need to do some simple updates so your rats don’t have to walk on grates. Your best option is to make a DIY dig box using acrylic sheets or use a large cardboard dig box to cover the cage floor.

• Dimensions: 31 x 20 x 41.5 inches (14.89 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 7/8 in – for larger adult rats only
• Can house up to 4 rats
• Sold on: Amazon

Prevue Rat and Chinchilla Cage

This cage makes a suitable home for up to 4 rats. Just like the Prevue cage, this one also has wire flooring, which can cause bumblefoot – but it should be an easy fix. Simply put something solid over the floor or use a DIY digging box to cover the grates.

• Dimensions: 31 x 20.5 x 27 inches (9.93 ft³)
• Bar spacing: 3/8 in
• Can house up to 3 rats
• Sold on: Amazon & Chewy

Best Rat Cages in the UK & Europe

The above suggestions are primarily geared towards our North American readers. Are you located in the UK or Europe? Here’s a list of some of the most suitable rat cages available in Europe, to make your search a little easier.

Next Step? Cage Setup & Enrichment

Choosing a rat cage is one of the most important tasks when adopting your new pets, but the work doesn’t end there. Most cages come with a few basic accessories such as shelves, ramps, and a hammock, but this is not enough to keep our rats entertained and happy. A large cage that is not set up in a way to maximize the space and promote activity is just as bad as a cage that is too small.

Our pets’ wild relatives dig burrows, climb trees, run and explore to find food. You want the cage to encourage that behavior.

Here are a few ideas on how to set up your rats’ cage and enrich your rats’ lives with a few simple additions to the cage:

• use different toys such as ropes, wheels or flying saucers, digging boxes, hammocks and tunnels… The sky’s the limit!
• include various cage accessories and fun decoration,
• use bedding that is suitable for digging,
• add branches and twigs (but first see which woods are safe for rats)
• try different DIY toys.

Your rats will spend most of their time in a cage but make sure to provide some free time out of the cage too. Let them roam free and explore in a safe area where they can’t escape or cause any mischief. Aim to provide as much free time out of the cage as possible. This will also help you bond with your rats while they climb on you, hide in your clothes, and enjoy a nibble from your hand.

Hopefully, these tips helped you choose an ideal cage for your rats. Spending some extra time to find that perfect rat cage is so worth it! And your rats will thank you for it.

Which cages are you considering for your rats?

Let me know in the comments!