Easy DIY Foldable Playpen for Rats 

My rats were getting pretty bored lately. I just moved back in with my parents and they weren't too fond of my two rattie boys, but after i built a playpen for them, my parents enjoyed watching them play! You're a real lifesaver!

Me: why in the world would you leave a gap? Them: Bendy!! Me: OH!

lol also love how your ratties follow you in the play area haha too cute

You could also use Velcro for connecting the end pieces

I bought 5 of the 36”x48” boards to make this. Instead of cutting off both of the side flaps on each panel, I only cut off one flap and then used it to reinforce the bottom. One side flap cut off is exactly the same size on its side as the remaining panel with one flap. A lot less cutting this way! I just made sure to cut the left panel off on one piece and the right panel on another to have “doors” to binder clip. Doing it this way I had exactly enough tape with 20 yards of Duck Tape.

Guru, you are my idol, I'm only 13 but I'm really great full for all your diys, meet my rats and of course rattipedia. I love you and your rats I already have loads of pets but I have taken a huge interest into rats! I wouldn't be where I am with out you xx 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀

The rats really love you, you can see that! Well done. Thanks for making the video for us. You've given me some inspiration to get busy and keep our ratties entertained 😉

LOVE THIS! I used 7 and wrapped it around my DCN so that they can come out of their cage whenever they feel like it! (as long as i'm home) They really seem to love it

I recently became a rat mom and I’ve been obsessively watching your videos. I’m making this today. So excited 🤗

Thank you, this is a great idea, my rats (girls) are a pain to keep away from wires so this is a great idea to give them a safe place to exercise. Saturday afternoon sorted!

the solid brown rat you have looks just like my Charlie Templeton that I had when I was in high school/college about 30 years ago. I still to this day miss him.

Omg, thank you so much for this video! I'm getting two male rats next week and I've been searching all over for a way to make a playpen without breaking the bank or needing an architectural manual. xD

I just made this! It worked perfect, thank you, Rat Guru :) Guys, I just bought one of those display boards for just a dollar at the Dollar Store! I wish Rat Guru had mentioned you could buy more for larger play pens if you have more space, but it was partly my fault for not paying attention! I ended up using the cut off sides to make an extra 1.5 panels ;D

thank you so much I did this. and before I didn't no how to play with them you saved me and the rates relationship

Lifesaver!!! Thank you!!!

hi thanks so so much for this tutorial it’s my second time having rats now and i’ve used this tutorial for them and my past rats too it’s so helpful and cheaper than buying those plastic ones that aren’t even tall enough to keep them in !!!

This was a little too expensive for me (each board that size is about $7.50 CAD here) so instead i bought unfolded boxes about that height, but they were longer, and tape the ends together, and taped shut the spaces in between flaps. The boxes only costed $2 CAD each, plus the $10 Gorilla tape. I used 4 boxes for a total of an $18 pen that was the same size if not bigger than yours! Just an idea for anyone who doesn't want to drop up to $50 on anything.

So adorable how they follow you! Haha!

I can't wait to try this out on my 4 girls! I've been looking for a decently sized playpen that wasn't super expensive but nothing looked good or performed well.

I’m dying because of how cute it was all of your rats were following you around in the pen 😂😍 it’s clear they love you a lot!

Thank you so much for making this one of my girls recently learned how to jump out of her current free range area so I will definitely use this idea!

i had a bit of trouble when i couldn't figure out what to do with the second side piece from every board, but i figured out that we are supposed to tape two together and make one bigger piece! mine looks really good! i was initially using gold glittery tape but two boards in i ran out of that so i used a black backup. then i ran out of black backup tape. so i searched my cupboards and found some packing tape and finished the job with clear tape. its a bit butchered in the color scheme department but it does the job nonetheless.

Thanks for this tutorial! It came out great.

That is fantastic! I'll be making one of these for my boy's this week.

I love how as you walked around the pen they followed you❤️☺️ Soooooo adorable and awesome vid👍🏻

Thanks, I just built one of these and it looks great.

I LOVE YOUR DAYS N DAZE PATCH !!!

This is brilliant. Thank you!

This is perfect. My girls are accomplished wire climbers because the cage that came with them has vertical bars, not horizontal. They'd know how to get out pretty much every wire pen I've seen. I can make one of these easy and have play time with them after work.

This is amazing! Thank you.

Thank you! I'm making one right now!

This is brilliant, thank you

This is exactly what I need THANKS!

Im excited to try this out! Im taking my ratties to my parents to spend Christmas week and needed something easy to pop up for my rats to play in.

Thanx for the upload! and omg cute overload!!...they are all so cute, happy n healthy. Great job

wow! thanks so much! this actually really worked for my girls! they have much more room to play!

This is amazing!!! I'm 100% going to do this on the weekend for my rat

Thanks very much! Very grateful for this video, I absolutely love it and so do my rats. Subbed x

This music made me laugh so hard! Made my day! 😂🐭🐭🐭(Ps. You are my go to for rat info)

i really love all ur videos!!!!! thanks! so useful

YESSS!!!! Choking Victim!! 🙌🏼 I’ll never forget in Highschool when I went to a show and Stza handed me the mic to sing the first verse of Crack Rock Steady!!! It was epic. I already loved you, but you just got 10x more awesome!!!

Wow! Thank you! I used to use my bathtub but this is way better and less stressful for them. and now I actually can have them run around without worrying that they will escape😄

Aww, thanks for this video!😝

congrats on 5000 subscribers

Awesome. Gonna make that. Something I actually think I can do. Yay. Thanks 🙃

Great idea !

Super helpful!!!

this was soooo helpful thxxxxx

i made this and its awesome! my girls love it and it fits right into my closet. thanks!😊

i love this Playpen idea im going to make it

I need this because today my rat Custard was playing with me in the bathroom and I didn’t know that there was a small opening underneath the counter and he went under!!! I guess the builders of the house where to cheap to put an inch of wood plank more 🙄. It was TERRIFYING. I thought it lead to the house and the floorboards, thank god it didn’t. Custard was in there and we had to break the plank entirely. I used a walking stick to get him out and scoop him up into a hide. Lesson: don’t play with new untame rats without checking every inch of the room! Or just use a playpen 😅

I came onto RU-vid today looking for a DIY playpen for my four girls and voilà! Thank you!

very good I shall make this for my ratties thank you always full of great ideas :-)

Awesomeness!

just made this! Now my rats can finally have safe playtime :)

this is helpful thanks

great idea

The Elmer's foldable trifold things were super expensive but we shipped them in from the US from ebay they had a great deal! MY rats will always really want to go back to just running around my room but they were causing a really bad smell and now ive got this playpen i dont need to worry about it anymore! also i have recently got two new rats and one of them isnt very well handled and keeps biting me (im working on it guyss) :D but she usually runs off and hides somewhere in my room and it is a struggle to give them a play when i cant keep losing her in my room sooo.... This was a great help thx so much! i love rats lots and i k someone at my school that absolutely obssessed with u two ur soo amazing! THxx ;))))))

cool! I will definitely try to do this ^^

your rats are so cute

it is tooooo awsme . thanku for such a great idea

This is so cool! I think I am going to make this for my guinea pig, so he can be outside.

so cute

I see that Days N' Daze patch!

great video! ;)

Nice days n daze patch!

I made this for my mice and they love it

Days n Daze rules and rats rules too!

This is also good for ferrets

thank you i needed a mouse playpen for my mice: loona minnie and kynaya

I have a rat that looks exactly like yours it has a black face and a black stripe down the back all of your videos are so helpful and I thank you for putting this channel out

I have girls, and they know what freedom is like, so when I made them a playpen like this they jumped trying to get out and also tried to burrow under it.

I really need to make this for my rattie girls!

I had two med to large bird cages and using a plyer i cut out the top of ine and the bottom of the other to create a LARGE rat home for 4 rat babies to grow up in :) must cover the edges with cardboard of course and be very careful to take your time and pay attention to detail BUT it worked great for a beginner rat mom on a budget:)

This is amazing, thank you so much!! I’ve been trying to find or make a good playpen for sooo long, my room isn’t rattie safe unfortunately :( Your boat toy is the cutest thing, where did you get it?? 😍😍

there all like "Follow mommy! she has food!"

Hi.. great video.. can u put a link to where u got the boxes please.. xx

I made a quick scraggly one without reference but eventually my hamster and mice have figured out how to escape. Will be trying this next !

My rats got out every time 😭they squeezed through the presentation clip part

Can we make this play pen for a kitten ???? Because i only have a kitten

That pen is like the entirety of my floor space haha

Can you use regular cardboard boxes?

I plan on building one of these but larger for 5 girls, but i'm somewhat confused. When you created the part where they overlap for the binder clips, did you leave side panels there or what? only reason i am asking is because its different then the rest of the pen.

Where do you get the boxes from ????

I have a similar set up that is definitely too small. Now many panels did you use? It seemed like a lot more than 5-6. I want a huge space so my son and I can both socialize with the rats while they are babies. Thanks so much. Sure this video is old.

Will corrugated cardboard work?

How many did you use to make the one in your video

How many trifold boards did you use?

How many boards do you use?

I posted my rats on my channel do they look ok and is the cage right I just got them

How many square feet do you think this is? If you dont know square footage then how long is it from one side to the other? Thank you

this is a fantastic idea! and a cheaper option. I looked some pens at the store, and they were about 60 dollars, found the same one used for 30, but sometimes they still climb it.

I don't have Gorilla tape, can I use Duct tape brand design duct tape? I found decorative ones in the hardware isle at Walmart, and they are just as thick as normal duct tape from that brand.

Wanted to report that sadly one of my rats is a jumper. Despite the amount of toys, Stormy loves leaping from the ground and reaching the very top of the playpen! In the end I had to look into free ranging my bedroom instead

How many did YOU use exactly?

Where do you get the boxes from?? I can't find any tall enough near me😭

Me either

I want to make mine the same size as yours , how many trifold boards did you use?

how do you get in and out of the play area if you are short and cannot step over it?

id love to see a video about good toys for rats in cage and especially in play pens. and a potty training video because im really finding potty training a challenge