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.