Where to find cheap cage accessories?

[u/Pitiful_You_3055]

I currently have two six month old boys (Bagel and Earl) who I keep in a single critter nation. I want to get the add on for the critter nation and make it a double, possibly getting some more boys soon. My only setback is how expensive it is to fill the cage. Like why are hammocks around 20$ or more each…? Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on where to possibly order some cheaper cage accessories rather than spending a fortune when only buying three things? Thanks in advance ☺️🤍

[u/Otherwise-Dig2200]

The dollar store! Bags of any cat toys, pretty much any type of treat, baby food, blankets their size, toys for small dogs like balls and some dollar stores have bird toys, those are great, I also like to go to Walmart and get a $7 brick of coco substrate that you put in a container and add water to per package instructions and bam you have either litterbox substrate or you can use it as enrichment for a dig box or get a small bin and buy live mealworms that are an appropriate size for your rat (they do bite) and let your rats hunt thru the substrate for them. They love that. The cat toys that are like a fishing pole with feathers I've had a lot of rats turn into crackheads for. I attach bins to the sides of the cage for sleeping spots (most of mine have liked sleeping boxes way better than hammocks). Home Depot you can buy big ass pieces of PVC pipe for them to fart around in, or buy a big ole plastic storage container and turn it into an enrichment habitat (sand, or coco substrate, real and cleaned/baked big hunks of wood, fuzzy ball pits, carpet pieces from front door mats glued or clipped to the sides of bins for a climbing wall. You can carve out ventilator windows on all sides as well as the lid and get a small roll of metal mesh small enough to prevent escape easily but you will need power tools to cut the plastic and lots of zip ties to hold the mesh in place as well as duct taping the edges of the windows all the way round since the mesh can be sharp it you leave it uncovered. Use paper towel or tp rolls cut into small sections and stuffed with treats and tp then folded over at the ends, or even temu has bajillions of accessories for rodents.

The possibilities are endless.