PH Prevue Hendryx Rat And Chinchilla Metal Cage, Earthtone Finish

This arrived quickly and was very easy to construct. It is very sturdy which I was pleased to see! My animals love it. Thank you.

I became a first-time rat owner in October 2019 and couldn’t find a decently sized cage at my local pet stores. This one was pretty easy to put together, took maybe an hour because I took my time. I have two female rats and this cage gives them a lot of space to run around and climb. It also provides lots of room to attach hammocks and baskets and things. There’s even a shelf for storage underneath which is super convenient. The one thing I HIGHLY RECOMMEND is to just remove the bottom grate and let your pets run around the tray where you put the bedding; forcing them to run around on the grate can hurt their feet. I also removed both the ramps and one of the floors to encourage my rats to climb/jump around and stay stimulated (though I kept the ramps and floors for when my rats get older and less mobile). Quite sturdy; I’ve had no issues with things breaking or bending easily, nor have we had any escape attempts. Basically, the cage has not changed at all since I got it seven months ago. Easy to clean; I spray with vinegar and water during the week and then do a deep clean with dish soap and a sponge every 1-2 months. Overall, this is an attractive-looking cage that provides lots of space to run around and climb, all for a good price.

Gabbia molto bella e spaziosa!
Purtroppo non avendo un basamento alto il cibo fuoriesce.
È arrivata con il basamento rotto da un lato.

Recibí la jaula en excelentes condiciones y hasta el momento cumple su función maravillosamente.

I acquired and older rat, Buckwheat, who is fairly large. He’s about 1 1/2 y/o. Not ancient. Gets around pretty well, but not super nimble either. I needed to house him separately from my other rats, who are in a Midwest Critter Nation Double, which I also like a great deal. I didn’t need anything that monstrous for Buckwheat, but he still needed something fairly good size to have room to move around. Wanted shelves that were easy to reach, lots of room for hide-aways (his favorite), etc. This one fit the bill nicely. It was kind of a toss up between getting this cage and splurging on another Double Critter Nation and sectioning it off. Since I want more rats, I am kind of sorry I didn’t pay the bit extra and get the Critter Nation. Would have been a little more cost effective long term. But, since I also needed something in which I could quarantine newcomers, I went with the Prevue Hendryx.

It is not as heavy duty as the Midwest Critter Nation. The steel is much less heavy duty. But since my rat is not as strong as say, a rabid wild raccoon, this cage is plenty sturdy. I would probably not use it for a ferret or larger, stronger animal. But it is fine for rats. I don’t know enough about chinchillas, so I can’t really speak to that, but it would likely be fine.

What I like:

– It’s big. He has lots of room to wander about. Since that is what he likes to do most, that’s perfect.
– The two shelves are great for him. Just enough. Easy to reach via the ramps.
– I like the ramps a lot for him. He doesn’t love steep climbs, and the ramps are nice and wide with a gentle slope. The slope on these ramps is less than that of Critter Nation. Great for older rats who don’t move so great. The ramps are also solid, with ribs across them for footing. I like that they are not wire. They could be easily covered, which I will be doing for general comfort. I just don’t like my guys on wire or metal all the time. Personal preference. The surfaces are smooth with a little texture to them. Enough that he seems sure footed on them without it being abrasive.
– It’s fairly tall. Plenty of room to hang a tunnel and a hammock, etc.
– Plenty of room in the bottom under the shelves to add good sized hide-aways. Buckwheat has a big tree stump hide-away, which is rather large. Not only does it fit with plenty of room to spare, he can sit on top of it.
– It’s plenty sturdy without being super heavy. I rolled it across carpet to move it. No problem.
– Instructions were okay. I have yet to see a stellar set of instructions on anything, so what can I say. These were good enough to put the product together easily enough.
– Packing was very good. Read the reviews on the packaging and shipment of the Critter Nation. Combined with the bent parts, etc., with the Critter Nation, this was refreshingly easy to put together, and came in good shape. There was a little bit of bent metal here and there. But nothing egregious.
– I did not need any tools except the hex key that came with the cage to put it together.
– Relatively easy to clean.

What I don’t like:

– The bottom assembly of the bottom grate and the tray. The plastic tray goes UNDER the bottom grate. While this may be peachy for cleaning, I don’t like my rats walking on wire. SOOOOO….if you don’t like rats walking on wire, that means you will want to cover the bottom grate. That defeats the whole purpose of the plastic tray.

There is a rail on each side of the cage that has two grooves in it. One for the grate. One for the tray. It is possible to put the plastic tray in the top slot, but it leaves escape routes. It also prevents placing the grate in the bottom groove. Too short height-wise. I had hoped I could just switch them and have the grate provide enough snugness to eliminate the tray flex enough to close the escape routes. No dice. Tray doesn’t fit inside the cage on top of the grate. You could probably assemble the tray inside the crate when you put it together, but then you can’t get it out to clean it.
So I really don’t care for this aspect of the design much.

I wound up putting a large piece of cardboard on top of the crate. That is working fine. I am going to get a chunk or two of linoleum to lay in there instead, to make cleaning easier. More reusable, too.

– Without the open grate in the bottom, there is nothing to stop bedding being flung hither and yon. I have not tried it the way it was intended, but it does look like it would do an okay job of keeping the bedding in. But, hey, they are rats and that is what shopvacs are for. 😉

– The door is rather small, which makes it rather difficult to reach in there to hang things. I have not cleaned this cage thoroughly yet, so not sure how much of a hassle the small door will be. Less of an issue, I am sure, if one doesn’t cover up the floor grate and tray underneath. But, it’s serviceable, and with one rat in there, not a huge deal. I might be rather unhappy if I had multiple rats in there.

I do not sleep anywhere near the rats, so I can’t speak to how noisy this thing would be at night. Given the gauge of the steel, I am guessing that an exuberant, really active rat could make a fair racket in it. But again, no first hand proof of that.

Overall, I think this is a nice cage. I am not sure that it is worth quite what I paid for it, but it is a decent value for what you get. And if you need a separate cage like I did, so you can isolate a rat or few, from others, this worked better for me than trying to keep them separate in the top and bottom halves of the CN. I am new to rats, so I don’t yet have a pile of extra cages, etc., floating around yet. So this gave me the best overall options.

I like it. I would recommend it, especially if you only have a couple of rats and want to give them some room to play.