Product Review:
Giant Roll-A-Nest Roll-A-Basket

The Super Pet Giant Roll-A-Nest and Bamboo Roll-A-Basket are the perfect addition to your pet rat's home. Rats love little cubbies and places to hide, and these wonderful nests are easy to use in any size cage.

Rats love to chew, so you cannot consider either of these products to be a permanent fixture in the cage unless you continuously purchase new ones. That was my original concern when considering whether or not to buy these for my rats. Since I have so many rats, I thought I would go through too many, too quickly to be able to justify the cost. With a little experimentation, I discovered that by suspending the nest or basket from the top of the cage, the lifetime was prolonged for months, as opposed to setting it on the bottom of the cage, where the rats made quick work of chewing it to pieces.

Suspending one is very easy with a piece of bendable wire. I use floral wire and feed it through the top part of the nest. Then, all you have to do is put both ends of the wire through the top of the cage, be it a wire cage or an aquarium with a hardware cloth lid, and twist the wires tightly together on top of the cage, making sure it is completely secured.

My rats love sleeping in them so much that they rarely chew them at all. They will sometimes grab a piece of cloth from somewhere else in their cage or play area and drag it into the nest in addition to the natural bedding placed inside by the manufacturer. I have often seen up to three rats stuffed into one nest at a time and they all seem to be extremly comfortable.

The Giant Roll-A-Nest is manufactured specifically for pet rats, ferrets, chinchillas, hamsters, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and aviary birds, and is considerably larger than the Bamboo Roll-A-Basket. For large males, the Giant Roll-A-Nest is defintely the way to go, but I have seen some of my males stuff themselves into the Roll-A-Basket as well. There is also a smaller version made for hamsters and mice that is simply called the Roll-A-Nest.

The Bamboo Roll-A-Basket, size Large, is manufactured for pet rats, hamsters, gerbils, hedgehogs, and other small animals. Two or three female rats can fit in one of these at a time. There is a small version of this one as well.

The Giant Roll-A-Nest is readily available in pet shops, but the price varies considerably. I have seen it retail anywhere from $7 to $20, depending on the store. The Bamboo Roll-A-Basket is fairly new and is just starting to pop up in the pet shops. It retails from $5 to $15. If your local pet store currently does not carry either of these products, ask them to order them for you from the manufacturer or from their local distributor.

All products reviewed become the property of Rat & Mouse Club of America.