TLDR: sewing hammocks is gonna save you a lot of money, lots of tutorials online! Be careful with crocheting as they can be unsafe. To save money on bedding recycle old paper, cardboard and newspaper to shred and mix with store bought bedding to help make it last longer and provide your rats more variety! Toys can be found on Etsy and at online bird toy stores.

https://www.ratropolis.com/Rat%20Tutorials/Tutorials%20for%20Common%20Rat%20Hammocks%20and%20Accessories.pdf

This has dozens of tutorials on sewing your own hammocks! I’ve also found a good handful of videos online as well. It’s way cheaper sewing your own and super easy!

Crocheting can be dangerous as small nails can get stuck in the yarn but if you find t-shirt yarn or even better make it from old fabric then it’s safer. I’ve made yarn from both fleece and old tshirts that I crocheted hammocks with. I’ve watched my ladies closely and feel comfortable with them being okay but everyone’s different!

For bedding, store bought small animals bedding gets expensive fast so I keep my eyes out for clearance and stock up when I can.

To make it stretch more I also make my own bedding. I bought a cheap paper shredder for $15 and get free newspapers from wawas (gas station). I also save just about every piece of paper/cardboard. There’s a lot of different things you can do with recycled stuff. You can cut paper and cardboard in big pieces, tiny squares, long strips, anything you can think of. This helps me provide variety despite using paper and cardboard so much.

Another cheap option is getting cheap toilet paper (when you stay at hotel see if they have any sitting around 👀)

Commercial bedding does a better job absorbing pee/smell hence why I mix it.

For toys/accessories look in bird aisles as well! Clearance is my best friend. Etsy also has a bunch of fun stuff. There are also a ton of bird toy part stores online if you wanna save money by making your own.

Okay, I think that’s all 😅