The present invention relates to a cage (100) for housing laboratory animals, typically rodents, and in particular to an individually ventilated cage (WC). The housing cage (100) according to the present invention allows to optimize the density of cages on a shelving rack, in terms of rows of cages, while complying with dimensional constraints in terms of minimum surface of the base which can be treaded on by the animals and minimum inner height of the cage. Furthermore, the cage according to the present invention comprises environmental enrichment devices (14) for the animals integrated in the base (11).