MidWest Homes for PetsDeluxe Critter Nation Double Unit Small Animal Cage (Model 162)GreenCircle Certified: Recycled Content

I ordered the Deluxe Critter Nation for $250 and it arrived the next day. The box was not damaged at all. HOWEVER, there was, unfortunately, some damage to the cage from the factory itself.One side panel has a scratched up bar. I don't mind the damage and have it hidden by facing the panel toward the wall in the back.The top door panel has a lot of issues. The two doors are slightly offset. I believe there was a mess up in the factory since the door panel originally came with the doors slightly scratched and the tab blocking the doors shut. The bottom bar on the panel was also bent because of this, but thankfully it was not permanently disfigured. One of the doors also swings fully open on its own when unlatched. I will probably end up requesting a new door panel from the company. Not sure if they're going to replace it for free, though (will update!). This defect is the main reason my review is four stars instead of five.Assembly…Putting the first half of the cage together was a breeze! Then, while setting up the second cage on top, I ran into a problem and had a bit of a rough time. The pegs at the bottom of the top cage's panels were supposed to slide into the holes on top of the lower cage's panels. Unfortunately, one of the pegs was slightly bent and I was struggling trying to get it to fit. I was thinking I was going to have to return the entire cage since I couldn't get one of the side panels to secure. I ended up using a rubber mallet to hammer the bent peg straight and it worked. Basically, assembly would've and SHOULD'VE been simple if it weren't for that one defect.Customization…I didn't find much information about cage customization through reviews here, so I'll offer some myself. This information is true for the Deluxe Critter Nation only.Lower cage: the half-shelf has to be on the right side (facing the front of the cage). It has three different heights with pre-cut holes to slide the shelf hooks into.Upper cage: the half-shelf can be on either side of the cage. It also has three different heights with pre-cut holes to slide the shelf hooks into (on both sides).Shelves: if you didn’t notice in the product pictures, there are bars underneath the half-shelving to hang hammocks on, which is so awesome!Ramps: The ramps work for any of the shelf heights. They can be attached to the middle, far-left side, or far-right side of the shelf. (This does NOT apply for the ramp giving access from the lower cage to the upper cage. It cannot be moved.)Being able to adjust the ramps on the shelves is super convenient for working around large items in the cage such as wheels. The ramps also unhook very easily for cleaning/switching covers, which is awesome.Material…The metal material of the cage seems strong and durable. However, damage is very noticeable. Scratches appear white on the dark gray metal due to paint removal.The trays are black and made of regular plastic. They aren't too heavy nor too thin, they're just… plastic trays. They fit on top of the shelves securely, and rest on top of the main floors (but don't shift around at all).The ramps are made of metal with wide bars (please cover them to protect your pets’ feet!). The ramp covers are very soft and have a dark purple side and light blue side. They slide on easily and have a Velcro attachment at the top. Haven't washed them yet, so I'll update this once I see how well they hold up in the washing machine.Size…I kept noticing people online saying that the single Critter Nation was enough space for four rats. I looked at pictures online and thought “there is no way that is enough space for four rats.”I was very wrong. However large you think this cage is in-person, it's even larger. Due to the width and depth of the single Critter Nation, you could definitely keep four rats in it. I would do four at MAX, however. I have three girls currently and they definitely did not need the Deluxe (which could quite comfortably hold eight rats), but they seem to love having the extra space to play and run around so no regrets. Might have to adopt more rats to fill the space! 😉Though assembly was frustrating and the door panel is somewhat defective, I'm still giving it four stars because that's just how awesome this cage is. I’ll up it to five stars if the company is willing to send a free replacement door panel.UPDATE: I contacted Midwest Homes through the form on their website. After emailing customer service and sending pictures of the damage, they contacted me and let me know that they are sending a replacement door panel! They responded quickly. Very thankful for Wendy!

This is truly prime real estate for rats. I only have 2, but they're making the most of the space. The climber finds the top tier and all the stuff I was able to hang up there good fun, and the more cautious rat enjoys huddling on the lower tier. Plenty of space for a larger mischief, too, as I suspect. The doors lock fine. There are different options for positioning the midsection floors, and the "bins" for floors are very convenient for later cleanup. Easily removed as well. I didn't use the ladder covers that came in the kit because I bought my own set with covers for the bins as well.Now. Assembly. It deserves a separate paragraph. It took me and 3 teenage boys working in "shifts"/pass the flag style several hours to put together. I won't be complaining about the screwdriver that came with the kit, but I WILL complain about how things don't really fit together. In order to make some of the tabs fit into the prepared slots we had to hit/bend them with something heavy. Same with the slots for some of the pegs. You don't need tools to assemble it... other than a hammer and a large vocabulary of swear words, the latter for your mental stability more than anything. It is, of course, worth it when done.Other features include a nice little rack below the cage to store whatever rat supplies you might desire to have immediately available. The caster wheels seem to work fine, though I hadn't had to roll the cage around much since its installation. Not to mention that it IS quite heavy.

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.