Hammocks for rats: store-bought and do-it-yourself (photo ideas)

When buying a pet, it is necessary to equip its housing. Some house accessories are better to buy, others are easier to make yourself. To understand how to make a rat hammock with your own hands, you need to understand what it is for.

What is a rat hammock for?

Hanging hammocks serve as a place to relax and sleep. Such a sleeping place increases the usable area of ​​​​the cage, forming a second floor. Animals can use cradles of various shapes to play, moving from one to another. Warm air beds serve as a cozy heating pad in winter, and closed ones serve as houses where the animal can retire from prying eyes.

Types of hammocks

Air beds for rats differ in shape, size and material. There are simple models in the form of a canvas, more complex ones in the form of a pipe with entrances and exits, and some resemble tunnels with transitions. The latter can hardly even be called hammocks. However, no matter what you come up with, each rat will decide for itself what she needs a hammock for:

• some will rest in the cradle;
• others will start to gnaw at it;
• others use it as a toilet.

In any case, this accessory becomes dirty and becomes unusable with use. It will have to be washed and updated regularly.

What should be hammocks for rats

Hanging beds should correspond to the season and temperature in the apartment.

In the heat, the rat will be fine on a thin cotton fabric, and in winter – on felt or fleece. In a cool room, a pet will appreciate a closed knitted hammock.

If the room temperature is stable, then cotton fabrics that absorb moisture well should be preferred.

Sometimes a pet rat doesn’t want to use the hammock. In this case, the animal should be gradually accustomed to an unfamiliar accessory. Place your favorite treat on a cloth and sit a rat on it.

DIY simple hammocks

Smart cradles can be bought at a pet store, but it is more profitable to make them yourself. It is not difficult and allows you to show imagination.

Jeans hammock

The easiest option is to use old jeans as a hammock. If the cage is large, you can hang them whole, but it’s easier to cut off part of the leg:

1. Cut off a piece of the “leg”;
2. Cut out 2 holes on the top for the entrance of the animal;
3. Attach 4 large paper clips to the corners of the top.

Using these clips, you can connect the leg tube to the ceiling of the cage. Usually you need several paper clips for each corner, which are connected in a chain. You can connect a hammock to a cage not only with paper clips. Strong ribbons or chains can be sewn to the corners of jeans.

Hanging fabric hammock

The convenience of this option is that you can take any old sheet or towel and make a hanging bed out of them. Tie the corners of the cotton fabric to the edges of the cage and get a rat cradle.

For beauty, you can purchase special material, such as fleece. Patterns can be square or triangular. The latter are suitable for the corner of the cell.

To create a decorative cradle you need:

1. Lay together two multi-colored pieces of fabric and fasten them with pins at the corners.
2. Cut out a square from the fabric.
3. Draw identical arcs on each side of the square. This can be done according to the pattern or just attach a saucer. Arcs should not reach the corner.
4. Cut the fabric along the drawn lines.
5. Remove the pins and fasten the ribbons bent in half between the pieces of fabric. The length of the tape is about 30 cm. The free ends are needed to tie the hammock to the cage.
6. Sew colored patches together.

The hammock is ready. It has different colored sides, bright ribbons at the corners, and an unusual shape.

Hammock from the hood

The hood can become a hanging hammock in the form of a pipe. You will need scissors, a sewing machine, thick wire for the frame:

1. Cut the zipper off the hood.
2. Bend the cut point by 1 cm and sew around the perimeter.
3. Insert the frame wire into the formed fold. This will be the entrance to the hole.
4. Stitch the former hole for the face. Now you have a bag with an “exit through the neck.”
5. Use strings to secure the mink hammock to the cage ceiling. Since the laces are on one side, cut off part of them and fasten them to the opposite end of the tunnel.

Pets love closed cradles in the shape of a cocoon or pipe. This gives them the opportunity to hide.

How to tie a hammock

For those who love and know how to use a crochet, a knitted version of a hammock is suitable. It can be made from wool in 3-4 threads or acrylic threads. A simple option is to knit a 15×20 cm canvas with single crochets. To fix the hammock in the cage, you need to make ropes. To do this, knit the fabric in a circle to 1 corner. At this point, you need to make a chain of 20 air loops and knit it with a single crochet. Then you need to move to the next corner, where all this needs to be repeated. So you should go around all the corners. The result will be 4 ropes.

Another option is a hand-knitted hammock hole. You can use improvised material. Cut strips from an old sheet. It is better to cut in a circle to get 1 long strip. Cast on a circular chain of air loops of 30-40 pieces and knit with a double crochet or without a crochet. In the first row, you need to add one loop every 5, in the second – after 8, in the third – after 15, etc. to the desired width. Several rows should be knitted without change, and then, in the reverse order, decrease the loops.

What else can you make a cradle for a decorative rat

Most likely, the pet will be happy with almost any hanging structure made of clothes. Hats, tight tights, scarves will be used. You can make a hammock from an old washcloth by tying it with a wire frame. Several hammocks placed one after the other will allow the rat to run across the suspension bridge. You can fasten hammocks with ropes, ribbons, carabiners, paper clips. You can put eyelets in the corners of the fabric and pull decorative cords. It all depends on the desire and possibilities.

A rat hammock is a universal thing. You can sleep and play in it, as well as make yourself a dining room. Animals like to live under the ceiling, so they prefer suspended structures to stay on the floor. Removable hammocks are easier to clear of debris than to rake it out of the corners of the cage.