How many rats will fit in my homemade cage?

Question
Hello Sandra, I was wondering about how many rats would be comfortable in my homemade 'cage'.

It is almost 4 ft. tall, 34" wide and 41" deep.  I have 6 partial shelves with ropes, ladders for them.  But the floor space itself, like I said would be 34" x 41".

I had adopted 2 brother rats from a person and they're under 1 yr. and very sweet but when I put them into their 'mansion' compared to their other cage, all I ever see them do is sleep on the floor in a hidey box.  I realize they come out at night but it doesn't look like anything is changed around/different, etc.

I also adopted 2 more rats from one person a few days ago and they are in a separate cage near this other one.  All 4 are aware of each other.  Any help there would be great too as I'd like to get all 4 together sometime.  These 2 newer ones are about 9 mo. old.  All are males.

Thank you,
Paula

Answer
I would not put more than 4 males together no matter how big the cage was because of their natural tendency to want to be the alpha king of the cage no matter what. If they were neutered, that would be a different story. In fact, I am a bit leary that the males, being they are not cage mates now, would even get along well since they are at the age in the life (puberty is between 6 to 9 months old) that they really have some hormone surges and if they are pet store rats and not from a reputable hobby breeder, there may be some aggression issues.


Your cage is big though and would hold at least 10 adult rats nicely, if I am right about the calculations.  Again though, less is more...the bigger the cage and the smaller number of rats you have, the more room they really have!

Also, how long have you had them in the new cage?  My boys sleep on the very top shelf of the cage and go down to the bottom when they want to run around and wait for me to take them out. My cage is pretty large too, close to your size, and I have three baby males in it. They seem lost right now since they are so young but soon enough they will be large fat males and wont seem so lost in it.