The Rat Maze

David and I decided to get creative and build a system of tunnels for the rats so that they can come and go from their cage without needing someone to let them out. They are gaining weight and although they've been put on a diet, they haven't really lost any weight. With the addition of the maze system, they'll get a lot more exercise. I've found them sleeping in the tunnels as well. :)

That's the best picture I have. The black tunnel extending from the rat cage is just some bendable black tubing that we found at Home Depot for $4/10 feet. We cut it with a hacksaw and used zip ties to attach it to a sink organizer that we found at WalMart for $4. The sink organizer already had a hole in the center to allow food and debris to pass through it and into the drain, and it had verticle bars for holding plates upright in the sink. We replaced the cage's lower door with this sink organizer (again using zip ties) and then attached the black tubign to it. Voila - a permanent entrance to the tunnels.

The rest of the "maze" is made with 3" wide PVC pipe which had pre-cut holes in the pipes. The holes allow for airflow and light, and let the rats peek out of the tunnels and out the window as they go by. For now, the tunnel only goes up and over their cage, behind it along the top of a tv center that's not being used, and down and along the screen windows. It then curves into a turn-around which leads back up and into the cage. When David and I move out and get our own place, we're going to make the tunnels better. We have a lot of left-over PVC (it was also $4 for approx. ten feet) so we're going to keep it stored away for later.

Our other project was to plant a container garden. You can see that here:

At the top left of the photo are three red and black bins. They contain two types of lettuce seeds, tomato, and argula. The arugula is growing strong - sprouted this morning - and one of the lettuce varieties is popping up. Still waiting on the others. The big plant to the right of the containers is a hybiscus plant, which is food for the tortoise in the container to the right of it. (He's hiding in the photo). There are also snake plants and a spider plant. Ironically enough, my patio also houses snakes and spiders:

There is so much life in my house. I love it. I'll have to take some photos of our kitchen. It's kind of like walking into an aquarium because we have bettas and fancy guppies all over the counters. I could probably charge admission to my apartment. We even have prairie dogs:

And the third-largest tortoise in the world, a sulcata. His name is Cecil. He's only two or threes years old right now. Their life span is so long that he will probably out-live us. :)

Anyone want to come over and spend some time with our zoo?! -lol-