My Rodent Rack!

As boredom set in I decided to start building my rodent rack. Here is the bottom two shelves, I am planning on adding 4 more shelves, it would be 6 feet tall when finished, at the moment this is 2 feet tall. When I get around to buying a gravity watering system I will post pictures of this all finished.

I used a basic plan for these racks and tweaked it just a bit to meet my needs and made it a better constructed rack. The shelves are not hanging, they have a sturdy base to sit on, thus not giving the tubs a chance to fall from a nail or screw striping out of the wood. These two shelves hold two 22"W x 16"D x 6"T rat tubs and three 16"W x 12"D x 4"T mice tubs. This small setup is 46" long x 16" deep x 24" tall. With the empty tubs on, it weighs roughly 6-7 pounds.

For those that do not need a large rack for breeding both rats and mice this is a great size. Or if you only need a rat rack, or a mice rack. This design can easily be changed to accommodate only mice, which would make the rack not as long and hold 6 mice tubs, or it can be used to hold 4 rat tubs at this size.

If anyone would like a more detailed info on building this rack, including pictures, I am more than welcome to put it together here. Anyone who wants to use this rack plan is more than welcomed to do so, I have no problems with that.

Hey Michael, I would definately be interested in any more info you can post about this. It looks great! I would love to have an easy assembly for some rat/mouse breeders....I just paid $1 each for pinky mice at a store!!!! (the closest store charges me $1.50!!)

What brand of cat litter boxes are you using? And the size of the hardware mesh? I'm sure I could figure it out eventually, but would love as much input as I can get.

P.s. I need the "hey-I'm-a-woman-can-you-pass-me-that-saw-looking-thingy" instructions...that year in wood shop just didn't pay off LMFAO.

kelly

You got it. I am away for the weekend, but I will put together an easy to follow instructions(with pictures), as soon as I get back.

I was spending a great amount of money on rodents, so I started breeding them at home using all the left over glass tanks I had sitting around(you can see a couple on the shelves in the background). I want to take down that huge 7 feet tall 4 feet wide set of shelves they are currently on.

How much time on average do you spend cleaning those out? And dont the little mice/rats get bored without a wheel? And with that plastic, isnt it a possibility that they will smarten up and chew themselves a hole to crawl out of?

Originally Posted by Xelas

How much time on average do you spend cleaning those out? And dont the little mice/rats get bored without a wheel? And with that plastic, isnt it a possibility that they will smarten up and chew themselves a hole to crawl out of?

I have around 40 or 45 of these type bins in operation now, I can't remember the exact number, but it takes less than an hour to clean them all.
They're too busy making more rats to get bored. Must be nice to live with 3 or 4 females who all get along and have nothing better to do. Regardless, when you have a couple hundred mice and rats breeding, providing them with toys isn't a real consideration.
The tubs are completely smooth inside so chewing isn't a problem. They require an edge of some sort to get them started making a hole.

With the tops of the containers flush against the screen, it is not that easy for them to chew their way out. Also, having their food on the top of the screen creates a challenge for them that will keep them busy trying to eat stimulating their minds a bit.

would love instructions if you can just send me what you sent Guinnyone thanx
also what do you do about watering issue's?

I WOULD LOVE TO GET THE PLANS
want to build one on a lager scale 20 50 bins
also what do you about the watering issue?
didnt see any water bottles watering system??

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

I have around 40 or 45 of these type bins in operation now, I can't remember the exact number, but it takes less than an hour to clean them all.
They're too busy making more rats to get bored. Must be nice to live with 3 or 4 females who all get along and have nothing better to do. Regardless, when you have a couple hundred mice and rats breeding, providing them with toys isn't a real consideration.
The tubs are completely smooth inside so chewing isn't a problem. They require an edge of some sort to get them started making a hole.

well we both know this isn't true.

on occasion you will get a rat that is smart and strong enough to scratch his way through a tub (has happened ONCE to me). This occured on the very bottom of a tub of mine. He became boa food.

This normally takes constant days of scratching at one spot to accomplish. I normally use a 5 tub rack and when cleaning I swap my bottom colony to a bucket, clean their bin, and swap the colony above into their bin thus giving the colony a new bin each time. When cleaning I inspect the tubs for such types of damage. Since we also have a cat, I use a VERY light dusting of cat liter under the bedding to help absorb whatever dampness is left after dumping the old bedding. It is very hard during the winter to take bins outside for a proper washing, so this technique has gotten me through last winter. (all excess cat litter is dumped into the trash bag with the old litter, it is merely used to absorb wet areas, NOT as bedding)

Originally Posted by suzuki4life

well we both know this isn't true.

If I knew it wasn't true I wouldn't have said it. Don't tell me what I do or do not know to be fact, and do not insinuate I'm being untruthful.
I made the post you quoted two years ago. At that point in time I had never had a chew out with the cat litter pans. Now two years later I have had two, both of which were due to the tubs slipping in the rack and allowing one corner to drop down, giving them an edge to chew on.
In the 5 years I've used litter pans for both rats and mice, I have never had a chew out through the bottom or any chew out at all as long as the tubs were properly seated in the racks.