Is a Thickets cage good enough

Thanks for the reply abirose.
I think maybe we could use the Thickets as a starting point, our babies are waiting to come home this afternoon!! Maybe as they get bigger we could attatch another (I assume one on top of the other?). Once I have learnt first hand their needs, a home build sounds great but I think we need to have experience first. I was thinking of putting some form of barrier around the base to prevent them kicking out the bedding and they could have it slightly deeper then. I suppose only time will tell if we get it right.

ETA: I am in Chichester in West Sussex, incase there is anyone here that maybe local to us for a bit of hands on experience or advice.

Hi there.
Like you we had three degus in a Thicketts cage.
They were three months old when we got them in April last year and by the middle of September we were having real issues - bar chewing, anti social behaviour to us and each other.
It was horrid because they had previously been lovely.
So you might get 5/6 months out of a single cage but the CARA for 3 is much, much more than one cage offers.
I joined two together and they have been happier but I am currently building my own custom one.

To be honest if you know DIY get the single thickets cage but start now on building a new home.

Have fun today! If you are not up for building your own cage, then three Thickett's cages joined together, or we find this type of cage a decent one www.theonlinepetstore.co.uk/prod_show.asp?prodid=659

You can make the shelf in the thickets much wider to give more space fairly easily For cage stuff, terracotta pots, cardboard boxes and tubes, denim hammock, nest box, sand bath, logs.

just make sure you line the floor of the cage with cardboard or something. A thickets cage gave both of my friends rats terrible bumblefoot

But the tray pulls out from the bottom and fits over the cage floor...
It slides in and out nicely.
Must admit that we made that mistake originally.

Thanks moletteuk - I was thinking of getting a bigger piece of pine wood to form an "additional" shelf but looking at it again I think the small shelves would have to go as the cage height is not enough and their wheel wouldnt fit in. Should I do away with the 2 small ledges and just get one bigger one?
They have a nest box but don't use it for sleeping in. Yesterday we gave them a small carboard box and cut a hole in it - they made their own air holes in the back and spent the whole night in it all huddled together.

Is denim ok for them - I assumed that would contain dye that may be harmful. Will go out today and find some terracotta pots I think, they need more to play with rather than just things to eat

Oh the joy of living in the middle of nowhere
It will be 3 weeks wednesday since we got our girls. I thought I could adapt the cage a bit to make it better. So many issues.

Our little town/village only have plastic pots, we can't find them a nice terracotta one and no one would agree to order any in for us.
The local builders merchants have loads of pine but when I explained what it was for they don't know if it's kiln dried, they don't know where its from or the quality it would need to be so couldn't guarantee it would be safe to use.
The local pet store has a few parrot toys, a nice looking hanging log but everything is imported so what info there is is written in the wrong language and most of the packaging says nothing at all. No idea what kind of wood so not really a good start. They also have huge bags of hay but one brand has no sort of product info on it and the other says its suitable for bedding but to remove "foreign" objects before giving it to your pet!
Sorry I'm rambling..
The current outcome is, we still have a very basic thicketts cage. It came with a nestbox which they don't really use but its handy for them to jump from, it also is held together with staples which I am getting a little concerned about as they chew through it. They love the roly wheel (big enough for all 3 of them at the mo.) But it keeps moving, we tried attatching it to the bars but that leaves a gap that they kept trying to squeeze into and I don't want them getting squished while the others are running.
It's now free standing but each time they move it it bangs against the nestbox (much to the partners annoyance). Within 2 hours this morning I have moved the wheel 4 times, taken the nestbox out but they use it to get to and from the top shelf so were then clinging to the bars, nestbox back in not quite in the correct position so they then started squashing themselves down the side of it!
The cage door is not big enough to re-arrange furniture while keeping all 3 excitable little ones under control. The floor space isn't really big enough for all their toys without them all crashing together. We need a bigger cage already!!!

If you can select a piece of wood from the merchant with not many knots, it will probably be fine. Some of us have been using unspecified 'softwood' for a while with no problems, and as I understand it, nearly all construction wood, planks in particular will have been kiln dried (otherwise they warp), so should be fine.

The wooden parrot toys are normally OK, avoid things with obvious softwood bark still on, and little twiddly bits that could be chewed off or random items like leather.

I got some 'Animal Dreams' hay from a small independant shop once, it didn't look or smell fresh at all, so I would avoid that. Sometimes you can tell by looking and smelling before you buy whether hay is any good or not, go with what your senses tell you if you can. Usually they have hay at the supermarket...you might find planters or terracotta pots at the supermarket too at this time of year.

Could you stabilise the wheel with some twine or wire or something?