Below is what we use for our rats. For more care information expand each of the tabs below and/or look at the additional resources and photos provided at that bottom of this page.

Housing

• Critter Nation single for up to 5 rats

• Critter Nation double for up to 10 rats
  Bedding

Food

• Mazuri 6F  - always available in a hopper

• Homemade diet given every other day, scattered around enclosures

• Dried mealworms

• Foraging mix

Substrate/Bedding

•  kiln dried pine 

Litter

•  Pine pellets 

Litter Box

• Shoe box sized plastic tub, or corner small animal litter box

Enrichment

• Homemade from recycled items

• Foraging toys

• Crinkle paper

• See more below
  
  

Housing

• Critter Nation single for up to 5 rats

• Critter Nation double for up to 10 rats

• Female rats tend to use more space than males, but all rats appreciate additional space

• The smallest cage that we recommend is a Prevue 528 and that is only for 2 rats with plenty of free-roam time

• Another very economical option that can give your ratties a lot of space for minimal cost is a homemade bin cage. You'll want to go with a 100 qt for 2 rats - Here's how to make one

• Absolutely NO aquariums - not only do aquariums generally not offer adequate floor space, but they also do not provide enough ventilation. 

• No "hamster cages", rat manors, or similar cages. These cages are far too small, rats need horizontal floor space over vertical space and metal shelving is the absolute worst for them. 

Basic Cage Setup

• At least 2 water bottles

• Ideally a hanging water dish (must be washed daily). Rats love fresh water and they quite enjoy bathing themselves in water dishes. 

• Deep substrate base, or at least 1 deep bin with substrate that the rats can dig in

• Hammocks - 1 or 2 is fine, don't overdo the hammocks, avoid the very common "fluffy" hammocks if you can (I am moving away from these after reports of injuries, so the hammocks in the photos are a good example of ones to avoid). 

• Lava ledges are a favorite around here! They're great for chewing, making nails a bit less sharp and added climbing opportunities. We have 2-6+ in every cage, typically leading up a water dish and water bottle to encourage the ratties to file their nails down. 

• Lots of clutter - cardboard boxes, packing paper, hides (igloo hides are great), hanging rat-safe fabrics, toys, etc  - load the cage up! 

• Fill in space with "fall catches" - although rats love to climb, they're not all that great at it and often fall. When designing your cage think about layering hammocks, rope toys, boxes, etc in a way that would "catch" a rat if they were to fall. You want to avoid having large, open spaces in the cage anyways, so this is a great way to make sure you have enough clutter too!

• Food hopper - you can make your own, or buy one, but rats need access to food, ideally lab blocks, at all time. We use empty tofu containers with zip ties or pipe cleaners to attach them to the outside of the cage. Food dishes don't work well as rats will take all of the food out of them, hide it and then soil it and not want to eat it. Foraging mixes, treats, or foods like our homemade diet should be scatter fed in quantities that will be consumed relatively quickly as rats won't eat soiled food. 

• Free roam time - either in a rat-proof playpen, or room (bathrooms work great!), time out of the cage (and with you) is the best form of enrichment you can give your rats!

• Scatter feeding - spread food around the cage and make the ratties work for it! 

• Different nesting materials - crinkle paper is great (not as primary bedding, but just for nesting and foraging through)

• Dig boxes with coco fiber, or just deep bedding and live, or dried bugs (meal worms work great for this!)

• Foraging toys

• Wheels - rats require at least a 12 inch wheel, larger rats may need an even bigger wheel. Its better to not have a wheel than to have a wheel that is too small as it can cause harm to your rat's spines. 

  • Exotic nutrition wheels are pretty good! 11-12 inch Rat Wheels

• Sturdy rope climbs, ladders, even cardboard boxes piled on top of each other with holes cut into them (throw these out weekly)

• Hammocks (some reports have been made of the popular "fluffy" type hammocks commonly found on Amazon and Temu causing injury, so non-pilling fleece hammocks are recommended now). Hammocks should not be overused as having a cage full of hammocks makes rats fat and lazy. 

• Training - even basic training is enrichment! Teach your rat to "touch" your hand, or come when called. 

• Novel items- new toys, new foods, new smells all get your rats mind working, just be sure that they are rat safe! 

• Podcasts, music, even tv, different sounds and sights are quite enriching for rats

Diet 

• We feed Mazuri 6F lab blocks as a base diet, but Mazuri Rat and Mouse works fine for non-breeding adult rats

• In addition to Mazuri, we feed our homemade diet which was developed by an animal nutritionist to be a complete diet for rats

• Kalmbach 18% is also known to be a good diet

  • note on Kalmbach and most grains - ALWAYS FREEZE, Kalmbach in particular is known to have grain mites and many grains, or grain mixes can have grain mites, beetles, etc in them. Freezing kills the adults, eggs and larva of most creepy crawlys. This does not mean the food is "bad" it's just part of having large quantities of grain sitting in one place. 

• Oxbow 

Treats

• • Foraging mix - we sell foraging mix, or you can make your own, just make sure that it makes up less than 10% of their diet. 

    • Dried pasta, quinoa, buckwheat, wheat berries, oats (rolled, oat groats, steel cut), chia seeds, hemp hearts, etc

  • Dried mealworms 

  • High quality small dog treats (we like Old Mother Hubbard)

  • Small amounts of fresh fruits and veggies (avoid higher sugar fruits, or large quantities of fruits, or veggies as they can cause diarrhea)

  • Whole foods - nuts, seeds, oatmeal (no sugar added), cooked pasta (plain is best), cooked sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, small pieces of bread, etc. Our rats are exposed to all kinds of foods from a very young age, so they are quite adventurous eaters

  • Baby food - Great for training! A favorite around here is chicken. 

  • "Treat tubes" - various brands but our kiddos love chicken, or fish "Churu" cat treat tubes

Feel free to do your own Google Searches for rat safe treat ideas, but we have compiled a list of safe and unsafe foods below

Other than unsafe food options, you should avoid feeding too much high sugar, or high fat foods. High sugar fruits such as grapes, citrus, dates, bananas, cherries should be given in extreme moderation and definitely not daily (think of them as candy and remember how tiny rats are when you give portions. 1/2 of a grape is a big serving for a rat!)

✅ Safe Foods for Rats (When Given in Moderation) 

• Apples (seeds removed), blueberries, bananas (ripe), melons, and mangoes.

• Citrus Fruits: Oranges, lemons, and other citrus pulp are safe in small amounts. Avoid excessive quantities or peels to prevent potential issues from d-limonene exposure.

• Broccoli, carrots, kale, zucchini, bell peppers, and peas. Avoid giving vegetables with high water content in more than small amounts as they can cause diarrhea. 

• Cooked chicken, eggs (scrambled or boiled), and occasional low-fat fish. You can also feed frozen raw fish, we do minnows and things like that, in small amounts as an enrichment opportunity. 

• Cooked lentils and black beans

• Whole-grain options like brown rice, oats, dried or cooked pasta or quinoa.

• Caution: Limit oxalate-rich vegetables like spinach or beet greens to occasional treats.

❌ Unsafe Foods for Rats

• Avocado (skin and pit): Contains persin, toxic to rats.

• Onions and Garlic: Can cause anemia.

• Rhubarb: Contains oxalic acid, harmful to rats.

• Green bananas, green potatoes: contain toxins like solanine, which can cause digestive upset and neurological issues 

• Uncooked Beans and Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes: Contain anti-nutrients like lectins or solanine.

High Sugar or High Fat Foods

• Avoid candies, sugary cereals, fried foods, dairy products, etc

• Avoid any foods with added sugar. It's okay to give them a little bit of a treat every now and again, but a bite is all they should get and it should be infrequently. 

Beverages

• No caffeine, alcohol, or carbonated drinks.

Other Hazards

• Moldy foods: Potentially contain harmful mycotoxins.

• Chocolate: Contains theobromine, toxic to rats.

⚠️ Foods to Use with Caution

Sticky Foods

• Peanut butter or honey should be offered sparingly and thinned to prevent choking. You can spread it on toys or the side of the cage to give them something to lick up, but only in extreme moderation. 

High-Nitrate Vegetables

• Spinach, collard greens, and turnip greens are nutritious but should be limited due to potential nitrate content.

Citrus being dangerous to rats is a myth. This articles compiles the facts well - Dispelling the "Rats can't eat Citrus" myth — Rachie's Ratirement Home Inc. 

Bedding

• We use kiln dried pine which can be a bit dusty, but we haven't had any issues with it. There is no "perfect" bedding as each has pros and cons. 

• Safe wood bedding 

  • Kiln dried pine

  • Shredded aspen

  • Hemp

  • NOTE: Although it is "safe", we do not recommend large flake aspen as it is comparable to CareFresh as far as its inability to absorb ammonia. It isn't going to kill your rats, but if there's a choice, go with kiln dried pine. There are shredded aspen options that work quite well, but the large flakes are no good at ammonia absorbion (aspen is also very expensive generally).

• UNSAFE bedding 

  • Cedar

  • Straight pine (not kiln dried) this is extremely uncommon though

  • Extremely dusty bedding - some wood-based beddings are extra dusty. You can use a mesh laundry bag to shake out any extra dust or avoid buying brands that you've found to be particularly dusty. The brand we use does have some dust, but we have seen MUCH dustier bedding and a bit of dust isn't going to harm your rats. We also spray all of our bedding with diluted ivermectin spray which significantly reduces the dust when we first put it into the cages. 

  • Paper - this is a hotly debated topic. Some folks use paper-based beddings like CareFresh without issue, others swear up and down that it causes URIs. We choose not to use paper-based beddings and ask that you don't use shredded paper, newspaper, CareFresh or any non-absorbent paper beddings as a primary bedding source. If you choose to use a paper-based bedding do so at your own risk as we have not tried these. There is limited research in this area, but the studies linked below do conclude that CareFresh in particular, does not absorb ammonia as well as other bedding types. If you know of any PEER REVIEWED studies that look at the use of paper-based beddings in rodents please send us a message with a link to the study. 

    • • Absorbencies of six different rodent beddings: commercially advertised absorbencies are potentially misleading

      • Comparison of Four Beddings for Ammonia Control in Individually Ventilated Mouse Cages - PMC 

      •  This study supports our choice of pine as the best choice in most instances i.e. it seems to absorb ammonia as well as corn cob, which generally beats out other beddings for moisture and ammonia absorption. It also found that all bedding options had significant particulate matter Bedding-generated particulate matter: implications for rodent studies - PMC 

  • Fleece on its own, or any fabrics if you aren't cleaning regularly. Fleece does not absorb urine, so it really isn't the best option as a primary bedding. There are numerous reports from breeders and pet owners alike of increased occurrences of URIs when using solely fabric bases. If you choose to use fabric it needs to be absorbent, spot cleaned daily and likely changed out at least 2-3 times per week. You also need to provide dig bins for the rats, for example on one of the shelves if you use a critter nation cage. We do use U-Haul packing blankets, small amounts of fleece and washable puppy pads in some of our cages, primarily on the ledges, but we typically use deep bases with wood-based beddings and/or bass pro trays, which are a bit more shallow. If you use any fabric at all, including for hammocks, you have to be very careful not to use fabric that is going to come apart in strings that could wrap around rat legs, toes, etc. Even with the puppy pads, we trim off any bits that come loose each week. 

• Litter - we use pine pellets for litter and as the base of our cages (it is very absorbent and helps to reduce odor). All of our ratties are used to having a litter box (we use show box sized plastic tubs, they're super cheap!)

We do not "litter box train" our rats, other than providing them with a litter box + rock to use, as outlined below. There is no way to guarantee that a rat is "litter box trained" and we cannot give you any more information other than what we do, which is outlined below. You are welcome to do your own research on rat litter box training. 

Litter Box Training Rats with a Rock: A Quick Guide

Rats cannot be litter box trained like cats; they don’t fully control where they go and you're never going to get a perfectly litter box trained rat, but they generally prefer to potty in the same place, so you can encourage them to do so using a rock and litter box.

How to Use a Rock for Training:

1. A litter box can be any plastic container, we use plastic shoe box sized tubs, or corner litter boxes made for small animals. Some folks just place a stone in a corner, or two and spot clean that area more often, that works too!

2. Place a smooth, flat rock in the litter box. Rats are drawn to mark their territory on rough or distinct surfaces.

3. Add some soiled bedding or droppings to the litter box initially, reinforcing the area as their bathroom.

4. Use a different substrate in the litter box than the rest of the cage to help them associate it with toileting.

5. If you notice your rats prefer to go to the bathroom in a certain spot, help them out by moving the litter box there. 

Consistency is key! Clean the rest of the cage regularly to encourage them to stick to the litter box. While this method won’t make them perfect, it will significantly reduce scattered waste. Although you do need to clean the litter box, it's best to leave it smelling like the rats as much as possible, so avoid bleaching it out every week. 

Tubs for top shelf of Critter Nation cages 

Sterilite 32 Quart Latch Box, Clear Plastic Storage Bin with Clear Lid, Blue - Walmart.com

or (not as deep, but last longer)

Ferret Nation and Critter Nation Replacement Pans

Tubs for bottom of Critter Nation Cages 

Plastic tray (cement mixing tub)

Black Large Concrete Mixing Tub A-42 - The Home Depot

Metal tray (made specifically for critter nations)

Ferret Nation and Critter Nation Replacement Pans

Bedding that we use

Nature's, Bedding Pine Shavings, 10 Cu. Ft. - Wilco Farm Stores

Litter that we use

Nature's, Bedding Pellets, 40 lb - Wilco Farm Stores

Bonding, Training, other resources 

This site is great, it has some interesting, scientifically valid info on bonding with rats and training: 

Rat Tickling FAQ - The 3Rs Collaborative 

Shadow the Rat is a great training resource!
10 Tricks To Train Your Rat/Mouse First - Mini Tutorials 

Bio - Rat Trixs - Do More With your Rats!