I built a two story cardboard house for my rats!

For almost a decade I’ve had rats as pets.  Most were rescued from unfortunate situations and a few others just kind of fell into my lap.  I had an uneasy reaction to the little critters in the beginning.  You always hear about how dirty rats are and about the diseases they carry.  Turns out, almost all of these rumors are untrue.  I’ve had the opportunity to share my home with many rats along the way.  Every kind of rat, from hairless to kinky haired to dumbo rats and many others.  All of them have been obsessed with grooming themselves and keeping clean.  They are very affectionate and have the most fascinating personalities.  We currently have two rats.  A dumbo rat named Albus Dumbodore and a rex rat named Queso.  We have a mild obsession with Harry Potter and snacks, so that kind of explains it.

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Rats have a lot of energy and love to play.  We get them out of their cage and let them run as often as possible.  With supervision of course.  I felt like they needed a place to climb and play that was just theirs.  I’ve always been into making crafty things.  So, with my love for small animals and crafts, I was able to put the two together.  I thought about making a maze or something along those lines.  I have a tendency to go overboard with things and didn’t feel like that was enough of a challenge.  So, I decided to build a kind of house.  Something with two stories that they could climb up and down.  Something with windows they could peek out of.

I grabbed some cardboard, popsicle sticks, paint, hot glue, cardstock, and a few other odds and ends I had in my craft supplies.  I’m not a person who can start a project, put it away, and finish it later.  I sat down at the table for approximately twenty hours to complete it.  I think I may have taken a break at some point to sleep a little.  Carly helped me measure and cut out the pieces of cardboard that I needed to put it all together.  I started working on the bottom floor and the second story floor after cutting a hole.  I measured and cut each individual popsicle stick to fit.  I wanted it to look kind of like a hardwood floor so I painted, glued them to the cardboard, and sealed them all.

I wasn’t entirely sure how the rats were going to get from the bottom floor to the top floor without taking up too much room.  I decided to make a little popsicle stick ladder up against the wall instead of a staircase or ramp so they would have plenty of room in the bottom.  I didn’t take into account where the window was cut, so there was a little overlap there, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I hot glued all of the walls into place around the bottom floor.  Carly thought it was ridiculous, but I thought they should have some decor on the inside of their house.  We used a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper and Carly printed off some Harry Potter pictures and what not.  Not that the rats would care, but I loved it.

Queso is a little on the heavy side so I had to add some dowel rod support beams so he wouldn’t fall through the second floor.   All of this was literally just hot glued into place.  Carly had little faith in the power of hot glue until I started putting it together.  Here’s a few more pictures of the process.

We were able to find the cutest little brick cardstock for the outside.  At the time, I didn’t realize it was going to make it look like a little firehouse, but I think it turned out pretty good.  I couldn’t just leave it without a front yard or a walkway or even a few little decorations on the outside.  I think I missed my calling being a dollhouse maker, but I think I’d rather be doing this anyway.

Once the outside was covered in paper and glued together it was time to add a roof.  We needed to make sure the boys could pop their heads out or climb out through the top if they wanted to.  Carly had a black piece of foam board she cut a little square out of and it worked perfectly.  We decided at some point that little Albus would be in a Gryffindor and Queso would be a Slytherin.  Carly made little banners that we could hang on the outside of the house to give it a little more Harry Potter flair.  I then added a piece of green felt for a little front yard.  I had some tiny planters and some old fake aquarium plants that became decor for the outside.  Also found some little wooden pieces I decided to use as a walkway.  I had to glue down and seal each individual piece.  It took forever, but totally worth it.  I love the way it all turned out and I think our little buddies loved it as well.

Here’s the complete project.

Now, to get the final nail biting rattie approval from Albus and Queso.

I think we got the squeal of approval!  They have had tons of fun playing in this little house.  So much so that I’ve started working on a second one.  Pretty soon, we will have an entire room filled with a little rattie town!  Stay tuned for more posts with these two fellas.

Thanks for reading!

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