How to Build a Bento Box

So after reading Bento Rats for a few weeks you've found yourself drawn, unexpectedly perhaps, to the intelligence, energy, and cuteness of rat and now you want your own. If you've priced anything from aquarium tank toppers to multi-level auto-cleaning Gucci emblazoned habitats you know that they are not cheap. The lowliest rat-suitable cage will run you about $60, only have one level, and have very little room for expansion or play. If you've been reading Bento Rats you might have guessed at the reason: their teeth. A rat's teeth are harder than iron, and grow at an alarming rate. Rats don't wear their teeth down by gnawing on things (they can chew through cinder blocks if they put their minds to it) but by the action of the teeth against each other. So any old hamster cage couldn't hope to contain a rat; you need a cage with a wire gauge more suited to rabbits, or bolt cutters (Note: bolt cutters make boring pets). Rats are also escape artists, so any cage has to have bars much closer together than a traditional "large rodent" cage would have.

The upstairs and downstairs are connected by the ramp in the back

After examining the factors we decided that we could build a cage for less money that would be larger, more secure, and have more room for play and expansion. I think we hit the mark with the Bento Box and though I didn't document the process exactly, I can probably sum it up well enough to get you started on construction of your own rattastic habitat.

I started with an old bookcase. It was one of two nearly identical rolling bookcases that we had on hand and were using to store junk in the basement. You can find similar bookcases at your local home store, but I'd check craigslist or yard sales first, since we are trying to do this for less than $100. In order to make sure Sushi and Sake have plenty of air circulating in their cage I wanted to use wire to enclose the front and back of the cage where possible. After measuring the height of the top and bottom shelf of the bookcase and drawing up some rough diagrams, I headed to Home Depot for supplies.

The water bottle and cage sides attach with metal clips and springs.

I picked up one 6' length of wire shelving and a sheet of LEXAN to use as the walls of the cage. These items were expensive, but the shelving had the correct gap between wires and was sturdy enough to withstand any rat chewing. I have experience working with LEXAN on arcade cabinets and controllers, so I thought it would be a good option for one level or another. I also picked up a length of pine trim to use as a ramp and assorted screws and eye hooks.

In order to make a ramp up to the second floor I cut a suitable hole in the shelf, and attached a ramp with a bit of piano hinge. This works well for cleaning because you can wipe out the cage and the ramp moves out of the way. If for some reason you need to separate your rats, the ramp can also be raised to divide the cage into an upstairs and downstairs section.

The top floor has the PVC swing and the nest.

After trimming the shelving to size using a hack saw and my pet bolt cutters, I attached top and bottom doors using the standard fasteners made for attaching the shelving in a closet. These metal fasteners worked out really well because they allow us to swing the top and bottom doors out for cleaning. The rear of the cage has wire on the bottom section and is locked in place with a few more fasteners than the front. The top section of the cage is a piece of cut Lexan (plexi-glass) that is attached around the edge with small finishing screws. The key to working with Lexan is to score it with a blade, then clamp it between two stiff boards or metal bars before snapping it off to size. Drilling pilot holes is also a smart idea because it can crack if you try to screw directly through it. If you don't have very sharp bits, consider using a dull bit running backward. It won't leave as clean of a hole, as it melts through, but it won't crack either.

To lock the cage, each door has a length of salvaged closet shelf wire bent into a hook and attached to the cage with a small spring. This allows us to open the top and bottom independently or together depending on what we need to do in the cage. The water bottle is a standard rodent bottle that is fed through a hole drilled in the side of the cage and held up with the spring it came with and a couple of eye screws in the side of the cage.

I also created a swing from a PVC T-Joint by drilling a few holes and feeding more salvaged closet shelf wire through them to create grips. I drilled a few more holes in the PVC and hung this from the top of the cage with wire. The girls love to climb on and in it and the wire provides enough swing that it's fun, but not so much that it hits the side of the cage. We use cheap dish towels as bedding in the cage and while they aren't perfect, the rats do a pretty good job of using their litter tray, so more often than not the towels get used as toys. Initially I had the idea that we would use Velcro to attach the towels to the cage but that plan was almost immediately abandoned as being too much to deal with and ultimately unnecessary.

Overall we spent about $60 on parts for the cage and another $50 on extras like the water bottle, wheel, nest, hammock, and litter tray (which we would have had to buy regardless). In the end we have a cage that is far easier to clean than an aquarium and gets much more ventilation, plus it was significantly cheaper than a cage of similar size. It also turned out looking far more professional than I had anticipated, which is a definite bonus. The most obvious reason I think it's been a success however, is that Sake and Sushi seem to really like it

If anyone has any questions, post them below and I'll try to answer them all.

Cats and Rats

We woke up yesterday morning to a terrific banging noise, as Penelope was hitting her paws repeatedly against the front of the rat cage. Saké was sitting immediately on the other side of the wire, looking at Penn impassively. I swear she just knows she safe and taunts Penn.

They are a long way from the cat and rat in this video, but perhaps someday....

Cheerio!

We feed the rats a mixture of lab blocks, monkey chow, seeds, dried fruit, and various other things (we buy their food mixed at the store). They also get fresh vegetables daily (cauliflower and carrots seem to be their favorite), as well as fresh fruit when we have it on hand. Their favorite overall treat though, seems to be Cheerios. They will stop whatever they are doing and drop whatever they are eating if they hear us open the ziplock bag of Cheerios that we keep by their cage. It seems like a pretty boring cereal to me but they love it.

Saké carefully holds onto her Cheerio.

Saké and Sushi Go Exploring

It doesn't take much to entertain the rats. We generally just put them on the bed and let them play while we clean their cage, read, etc. Depending on the mood, the girls might simply curl up next to us and nap, climb on us like a jungle gym (my favorite variation of this is when they continually jump back and forth from Dave and I), or on more exciting days, they do some exploring.

Sushi scopes out the pillows.

Saké contemplates her options.

Saké looks for her sister.

Sushi finally joins Saké's exploration.

The Bento Box

We spent at least a year talking about getting a rat before actually bringing Sushi and Saké home. Dave and I both had rats previously and knew we loved them, but it never seemed the right time. After I had accidentally picked out Sushi while killing time at Preuss Pets (note: this is why I cannot go to pet stores or animal shelters), we had to come up with a cage of some sort. We had an aquarium on hand and talked about getting a topper for it to provide more room and browsed all sorts of other cage options online. Then I discovered the Dapper Rat's page of custom cages. This greatly expanded the realm of what seemed possible for our own rat cage and then it only remained necessary to convince Dave that making a custom cage was what we (read: he) needed to do.

We converted a disused pre-fabricated shelving unit into our rat cage. This would provide a more aesthetically pleasing cage while also giving us room for TWO rats. After all, rats are social animals and do better in pairs, so if we had the room for two, why wouldn't we get two?

The Bento Box.

Dave used coated shelving units to create two doors, allowing us to open either the top or bottom floors separately. We also have coated wire on the back of the bottom floor, and plexiglass on the top. In retrospect, it would be more useful to have plexiglass on the back of the bottom floor. The rats are finally litter box trained and a solid back of the bottom floor would stop them from shoving litter (and sometimes food) out the back of the cage. Because they are litter trained, we can simply use towels on the floor of the cage and it is easy to replace these every few days when we clean. Even though it took some effort to litter train, it was worth it to not have to deal with an entire pen full of litter every time we need to clean.

Penn and Saké check each other out.

The wire gives the cage a really open feel, while at the same time is narrow enough that cat paws cannot slip inside. The openness also helps with ventilation, and because rats are pretty clean, there isn't an issue with odors, etc.

The lower level.

 The lower level of the rat cage has a hammock, wheel, litter tray, and food. We have a hinged ramp to the second level. Originally the ramp was just roughed up wood, but since it was still too smooth for the rats to run up easily, we added self adhesive felt strips to provide more traction.

The water bottle is attached from the outside.

Dave also rigged things so the water bottle is on the outside of the cage, leaving less opportunity for the rats to chew it to pieces.

The upper level.

The top level is where the rats sleep most of the time. We rigged a PVC pipe to hang from the ceiling, where it swings slightly and provides ample opportunity for rodent acrobatics. There is a nest with all sorts of bedding and a variety of items for the girls to gnaw on.

Almost anything works for bedding. We have bought a variety of natural fiber bedding for them and it is entertaining to watch the girls move it throughout their cage, stuffing it through the wire, into their wheel, etc. Lately however, their favorite bedding item are remnants of an old pair of jeans. These seem to make the perfect nesting place.

Sushi demonstrates that jeans make a perfect bed.

Overall, I think the cage is a success. We have no issues with them chewing on the cage itself, and both Saké and Sushi often just sleep in the open, which I think means they are pretty comfortable and secure in their pen. I love how open it is and friendly it appears. Hopefully Dave will chime in with a "how to build" post in the future.

Mornings

Every morning we wake up not knowing what we will find in the bento box. Rats are nocturnal, which means they are extremely busy at night while we are (attempting) to sleep.

Tomorrow I will share some pictures of the bento box right after cleaning, when it is in its intended (read: ordered) state. Saké and Sushi quickly make it their own after each cleaning. In other words, they throw things down from the second floor to the first, haul items from the first floor up the ramp to the second, etc. They are very busy rats.

Hanging out in their hammock. Note the disastrous state of their cage.

Real Bento Rats

Searching for "bento rats" on Google brings up a variety of different things, including this:

Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuteobento/2515843374/.

I love the idea of making adorable food and I'm glad rats aren't left out.

Saké's Tooth

We had a bit of a surprise when Dave was cleaning the bento box the other night - a tooth. It was long but not horrifyingly so. Since Sushi just had her teeth trimmed last week, we knew it couldn't belong to her. It took a bit of effort to get a look at Saké's mouth, but sure enough, she had broken off one of her bottom teeth.

The break is clean, and since rats do not have feeling in their teeth (except once you approach the blood supply), I don't think it bothered her too much. It hasn't slowed her eating down at all. We have plenty of wood blocks and other things for them to chew on in their cage, so I assume that may have played a role. Now she has one long bottom incisor and one short. Hopefully that won't give her any problems.

Adorable Saké

Blogging Rats

In case you might think the rats have no real involvement with this blog, they do keep tabs on it.

Saké and Sushi check in on the blog.

Sushi examines the latest post.

Sakè and Sushi Recommend Comics

One question that we get constantly asked is, "What have Sakè and Sushi been reading lately?" While it is true that Sarah and I are both avid readers, the rats seem to be more interested in eating, sleeping, and running on their wheel. Additionally, rat-sized books are a rare commodity. However since they're newly minted Internet Celebrities, it's important that they give their fans what they want. In the spirit of starting out small, I'm going to run down a couple of Sushi and Sakè's favorite comics.

There is a distinct lack of rodent role models in comics, with those characters often being relegated to the role of villain or nare do well. Superhero comics are pretty much right out, since rats only ever appear as set dressing or a minor plot device. You could even say that they are into a bit more haute coture than spandex and capes, though they do have a soft spot for Bat-Man (bats are flying rats after all).

So without further ado, and in no particular order, I present to you: Sakè and Sushi's Must Read Rat Comics!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Sakè and Sushi are huge fans of Master Splinter. Starting out life as the pet of Ninja master Hamato Yoshi, Splinter learned the art of the ninja by watching his master train and copying his movements. When he was exposed to radioactive "ooze" he was transformed into the anthropomorphic hero we know and love. Many of our younger fans may be familiar with the television cartoon or the live action movies, but Sakè and Sushi both recommend hunting down the original comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

Ratfist

Long-time fans of Earthworm Jim and The Neverhood, both rats were unbelievably excited to hear that Doug TenNapel started a web-comic. They went absolutely crazy when they found out that the titular character was a rat, with a rat sidekick. Though this one just started, It's absolutely amazing so far and totally worth keeping an eye on!

Maus: A Survivor's Tale

Art Speigelman's tale of his father's survival of the Holocaust is one of the most powerful comics ever written. Maus transcends the genre and has become one of the most celebrated books of any kind in the modern era. Sakè and Sushi really can't recommend this book highly enough.

That's all for now, perhaps once they've had some time to read some more books we'll be able to add some more titles to this list. Until then, keep on reading!

Tormenting Penelope

Saké and Sushi are under near constant observation. However, they don't seem to mind and do an awful lot of observing themselves.

Penelope is unaware that she is being watched.

We have four cats. Two of them have never had an interest in the rats. The third, Marty, was interested initially but since he can't stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time, the charm of the rats quickly faded. However, our fourth cat, Penelope, has more than enough interest to make up for the rest of them.

Penelope stares at Sushi; Saké stares at Penelope.

Penelope spends most of her time sitting on the edge of the dresser next to the rat cage. Her paws are too fat to fit through the bars, so the most harm she can do is smack her paws against the front and try to bat the occasional tail that pops out. The rats learned quickly that Penelope is harmless in the current situation.

Penelope realizes that Saké is only inches away.

As a result, much of the time Penelope spends watching the rats is also time when the rats are watching Penelope. Sushi is far more cautious than Saké, who often goes nose to nose with Penelope.

Who will blink first?

Eventually, Penelope loses interest. Since she's our only cat who catches mice, I imagine she is aware of much more fun the rats could be, if only they were not confined.

Penelope looks unimpressed with the situation.

She always returns quickly though. She probably spends part of every hour checking in on the rats.

Pillow Time

As I typed the title to this post, Saké climbed up the front of my sweatshirt. She's suddenly rather rambunctious tonight, so I may end this prematurely to chase her down wherever she may wander off to. Now, as their play time is winding down, she and Sushi are finally acting energetic.

We handle the rats frequently throughout the day. They're cute, which makes it difficult to walk by their cage without getting them out. However, in addition to holding them, we also try to give them play time outside their cage every night. Usually this means laying on the bed reading while they climb, explore, wreck havoc, etc.

Tonight, however, they were feeling a bit lazy. Instead of climbing on the pillows as usual, they instead decided to climb inside. And nap. That really isn't the quality of play time for them that I envisioned.

Saké wanted nothing to do with playing.

Sushi wasn't much more impressed.

Saké finally considered venturing out of her pillow fort.

Sushi leads the charge out of the pillows.

Despite their reluctance to play when the opportunity was available, I guarantee they will wake us up at 4 a.m. tonight playing in their cage. They are sleepy rats when they want to be. They are not quiet rats when they do not want to be.

Teeth Trimming Pt. 3

Over the previous days, I have shared pictures of Sushi's most recent trip to the vet, where she had her teeth trimmed for malocclusion. Today we have the final part of the process, when Sushi slowly wakes up from the anesthesia.

Once Sushi's teeth are trimmed, it takes a few minutes for her to wake up.

I hate seeing her like this.

She's given a few seconds of pure oxygen before they remove the tube, which is supposed to help her exhale the anesthesia gas and wake up.

Not quite ready to open her eyes...

Gentle rubbing from the vet helps Sushi wake up.

Once she wakes up, it is as if someone flipped a switch and she is ready to go.

Wide awake but her legs are not working yet.

The tough part of Sushi waking up is that once she's awake, she is ready to move immediately, but her coordination is off. Shortly after the above picture was taken, she ran up the vet's arm, around to her back, and then just about fell to the ground before we could grab her. We have to contain her while she loses her sea legs and returns to normal.

Overall, we ended up spending less than twenty minutes at the vet and by the time Sushi was home, she was ready to eat and test out her newly shortened teeth.

Teeth Trimming Pt. 2

Yesterday I shared pictures of the first part of Sushi's teeth trimming process. Today I want to show what happens during the actual teeth trimming.

Once Sushi is asleep, she's taken out of the bell jar, but still needs to be given gas so she doesn't wake up too soon. The vet tried to use the tiny mask, but it was still too big.

Sushi could wear the mask as a hat!

Instead they ended up taking the tube off the mask and using that directly over her nose. Using only the tube also makes it easier to work on her teeth.

Malocclusion at its finest.

The above picture provides a good look at Sushi's teeth. You can see that there are two bottom teeth pointing to the side, and on the top there are also two teeth, even though it almost looks like just one. Her malocclusion is so severe that her teeth completely miss each other. Normally the top and bottom teeth line up and grind themselves down naturally. Sushi's teeth turn so quickly that they never touch. Unless they are trimmed, her bottom teeth grow into the inside of her right cheek and her top teeth grow into her left upper gums. There is only 3.5 weeks of growth in the above picture.

Rat teeth are similar to fingernails, in that they can be trimmed without pain, unless you get too close to the blood supply. Sushi's teeth are yellow and look disgusting, but they are actually completely healthy.

Beginning to trim the upper incisors.

The vet uses a diamond tipped saw to cut Sushi's teeth. According to one of Sushi's vets, the saw cuts through most teeth "like butter" but because of the strength of rat teeth, it does not cut quite as easily. Trimming the teeth takes a little bit of time and the vet has to be careful not to cut the teeth too short. The vet also has to be very careful not to cut the tongue, and the vet tech uses a cotton swab to keep the tongue out of the way.

With such a tiny patient, there isn't a lot of room to maneuver.

Once the top teeth are cut, there is more room to work on the bottom teeth.

The bottom teeth naturally aim straight at Sushi's cheek.

Near Sushi's foot is one of her just removed upper incisors.

Once the teeth are removed, the vet takes a few more moments to even them. Sometimes malocclusion can be helped by cutting the teeth at an angle, encouraging them to meet. Since Sushi's is so severe, it does not matter if the vet angles them or not. Instead they focus on getting them even and comfortable for her.

A slightly different blade is used to even the teeth.

In the end, her teeth look drastically different, guaranteeing Sushi a few more weeks of comfortable, pain-free life.

It's amazing that the removed teeth are nearly the length of Sushi's paws.

While we were waiting for Sushi to wake up, the vet also trimmed her claws. I am pretty sure Saké will not be nearly as cooperative when we trim her's.

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of Sushi slowly waking up. While I hate seeing her under anesthesia, she is a remarkably adorable sleepy rat.

Teeth Trimming Pt. 1

We have a ton of great pictures from Sushi's visit to the vet yesterday and I will probably share them over the next few days. My hope is that if someone has a rat with severe malocclusion and finds this blog, these pictures will give them an idea of what to expect. We had no idea what was going to happen the first time Sushi's teeth were trimmed. Now I'm beginning to feel like a pro.

The worst part of the trip to the vet is waiting. I'm not sure if this is worse for Sushi or I.

Sushi hangs out in her carrier.

Actually, the worst part might be handing her over. She's so tiny compared to everything else in the room.

Immediately after this picture she tried to escape via my scarf.

Sushi was given a pretty thorough exam prior to getting knocked out. Watching the vet listen to her heart with a stethoscope was pretty comical, not to mention palpating her abdomen.

Sushi was less than cooperative for the exam.

Once it was time to knock her out, Sushi fell asleep pretty quickly.

First few seconds of gas.

Starting to slow down...

And she's out!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the actual teeth trimming. In the meantime, if you are reading this and wondering just how severe Sushi's malocclusion is, this should give you a good idea:

This is only three and a half weeks of growth!