Critter Nation Small Animal Habitat

This is a great cage- very sturdy, much bigger than I expected. I ordered the single unit to start, and have recently ordered the add on so that my babies will have plenty of space to climb.I had the Yaheetech 37-inch Metal hutch for my two rats before, but decided to replace it to protect my babies feet, make the cleaning process easier, and not have to feel so nervous about potential escapes (with that cage, I had to zip tie hardware cloth to the outside so they couldn't escape- which led to me nicking myself a lot when cleaning and whatnot.)Assembly isn't the easiest, so I definitely recommend having someone help out (I don't think I could've done it by myself.) There was at least two places where the metal was a bit warped and required hammering to bend it a bit/get it to fit in properly, but I've never bought a cage that didn't have some warping (either from shipping or manufacturing errors) but even with those issues, I still think this was worth the price.My ratties love that they can climb the bars, and I love how sturdy the wheels are, and how big the doors are, so cleaning and decorating is very easy (I will say- double check when you're closing the doors- I have to push slightly sometimes to make sure they're locked in properly, but I have to do that with my dog crate too, so it's no biggie.)Overall, definitely recommend.

Perfect for ferrets! Plenty of room and you can add more cages in future if you need to. Very well built and built to last. Not the easiest installation but once it was done, perfect cage.

I finally upgraded from a single to a double when I bought the upper level this week. Building the top was so much easier than the original single just because I struggled with putting the bottom shelf together alone. The cage is perfect with the wide opening doors. It makes cleaning very easy. The trays slide right out the front. The horizontal bars have such a small margin of spacing that this cage can house any rodent.The good parts being said, both the single and double that I ordered months apart, both came from Amazon with damages. Nothing that couldn’t be handled. I did contact Midwest over the phone because the single arrived with both plastic pans having huge cracks. The shelf pan had a busted corner and wasn’t usable, and I had already built the cage, so Midwest sent me replacements for free after I sent them photos. Their customer support is top notch and even though the pans could have been a bit better protected in the packaging, Amazon crushed the corner of the box.Last night I took the double out of the box and all seemed well at first. The pans were perfect this time but when I put the back cage wall up I noticed one of the metal squared peg holes was bent with the red plastic protector still inside of it. Luckily it wasn’t something a hammer couldn’t fix. I tapped on it enough to reposition it where it belongs, and used the claw of the hammer to pry it back into a square shape, then I was able to hammer the side wall down so the peg fit into the square, so all is well and it’s a tight fit.When it comes to pet homes, bigger is always better. My 2 rats are loving their expanded mansion.

I have owned a Ferret Nation for years (over 10), in fact I owned two at one point. Given how well those cages held up (the second was given to a friend, and is still in like-new condition), I was ecstatic when I found the Critter Nation at a local PetsMart, and did more research online.The Ferret Nation and Critter Nation are essentially the same, except that the bars on the Critter Nation run horizontal and are not spaced as far apart as the Ferret Nation. The Critter Nation bars are even suitable for sugar gliders (they are only about the size of a chipmunk). In fact, I'm thinking about buying a second Critter Nation to upgrade my sugar gliders' housing, as the first one is in use by my more numerous pet rats currently.At this point, the Critter Nation is comfortably housing 8 pet rats, and is split into separate units by locking the ladder in an "up" position (standard function for the cage). My 5 wonderful boys live on the lower level, and my 3 beautiful girls live on the upper level. I'm looking at buying the scatter guard accessory trays, but for now I'm just using the normal trays that come with the cage. While it's inconvenient to sweep up their bedding so often, it's still worth it to provide them with the extra space, and I have options to consider to help prevent this issue in the future.Pros:* The Critter Nation is SOLID. Rats are really intelligent and I always have to consider if they can escape a cage by operating whatever locking mechanism it has -- that's not a concern at all with the doors on the Critter Nation, yet they are still easy for me to open despite having tendonitis in my dominate hand. My Ferret Nation is now 10+ years old and does not have any rust on it, the door locks still work perfectly, and the cage is like new. I expect my Critter Nation will hold up just as well over time.* LOTS of room. The cage is huge and leaves plenty of room to accessorize -- the underside of the shelves even have bars on them, despite the shelves being solid, so you can hang light-weight items like hammocks or small bird toys on the underside of the shelves to entertain your pet!* The shelves have solid plastic covers. This is a huge issue for me as I once had a special needs rat that had foot injuries, wire shelves, bottoms and ramps were just not an option with him, and since then, I don't consider them an option with my other rats either. The solid shelves eliminate the potential for foot injury as there's really no way for your rat to get its feet caught in the shelf.* They make washable covers for the wire ramps -- Again, I don't like wire ramps, floors or shelves due to the potential for foot-injury with rats, but there is an option to buy ramp covers as accessories, which makes them solid and can prevent injury in the long run. I was even lucky even to receive ramp covers with my order, free of charge. The best part is that I can toss them in the washer and dryer, so I'm not scrubbing them by hand.* You can add to this cage. I bought the single unit and the add-on unit at the same time, so my cage only needs one stand. I've separated it into two cages by using the feature that allows you to lock the ramp between units in an up position against the underside of the top unit, this closes the hole and prevents pets from going up or down into the other unit. What I realized when I added my second unit onto the original is that it had the potential for even more units if I so desired. I think this is a great feature, though I'm sure I would need a step-stool to clean the third unit as it would be quite a bit taller than me at that point.* The stand has wheels. This is great when you need to relocate the cage on the same floor of a home, or if you just need to move it a bit for cleaning. The wheels have locking features for safety as well.Cons:* The doors are really big, it's sort of a pro and con all at the same time. It's easier to clean, but the size of the doors are the only thing that makes me think twice about putting Sugar Gliders in this cage -- if you have a pet that's sneaky and prone to attempt escape, and there's more than one animal in the unit, the chances of them being able to get past you are increased due to how large the doors are.* The cage is kind of expensive. This is only a con at the start, and you have the option to buy it one unit at a time. I have not found a comparable cage for a better price, however.* The cage is very heavy, but I only really noticed this when I had to move the boxes it arrived in before assembly. This is something to consider when you order it if you have to go up or down a lot of stairs -- you may be moving it a few pieces at a time before assembly. I have only moved my Ferret Nation once when I bought a home and moved out of the place I had been renting, and over all, it's not nearly as bad as moving large appliances.Ultimately, for housing rats and similar pets, I think this cage is excellent. I'd love to give my gliders the space of the Critter Nation, but I'm reluctant at this point only because of the size of the doors, the quickness of a sugar glider, and the gliders' ability to climb and fly short distances. My rats will more than get my money's worth out of this cage and I believe that for them, it was an excellent investment. The Ferret Nation is also wonderful for Ferrets and Chinchillas as I have previously housed both of those kinds of animals in my old Ferret Nation unit -- you can even buy an external ramp for it to allow your ferret or chinchilla to free-range at their leisure.I would highly recommend these cages to anyone looking to give their pets a lot of space, particularly if you know you will continue to have those kinds of animals in your life, as this cage will generally long out-last the life span of the animals it can comfortably house. It is definitely a worth-while investment.