New pair of Degus cage set up.

[degudrew]

Hey folks,

I am relatively new to keeping Degus as I have had my pair for just a few months now. I found this forum just a few weeks ago and started posting about my two boys fighting and received some very helpful advice from experienced Degu keepers.

I had expressed opinion that the size of my cage for a pair of Degus seemed only just about sufficient even though I had been told in the pet shop that the size of my cage would house 4 Degus. One person who replied to my thread had agreed that the size of my cage would not be good for 4 Degus and that in fact the 2 I had would still need more room than provided. By this stage I had already plans in motion anyway to extend the Degu cage by double the size. I have now completed this project and was hoping for some opinions from more experienced Degu keepers if my cage set up looks ok?

I have provided links to photos below. I have opted for the enclosed cage set up rather than wire cage as at the time I got the Degus I was going to buy an expensive wire cage, but sadly one of my Bearded Dragons passed away not long before I bought the Degus. With a very expensive reptile vivarium going spare I knew I could save money on the wire cage and just adapt this vivarium to suit. So I made modifications to the inside to meet their needs and added extra ventilation. Later when my other Bearded Dragon got a new vivarium I had another one then going spare so put it on top of the one the Degus were now in and made an access hole between the two. The below photos show what it looks like now. All wood used inside the cage is kiln dried pine. I'm not sure of the kind of wood the cage is made of but I have made sure there are no exposed edges anyway so they can't chew it. They have also been given a water bottle and hay cube each to save fights. I found when feeding them the nuggets they would fight over the bowl so now scatter feed the nuggets to prevent fights!

I have also made a door for the access hole between the two cages just in case I ever have to split them up from a serious fight. That way I can keep them seperate for a while until it's safe to try putting them back together. I just hope I never have to use it though! It works out well though as when cleaning them out originally I would have to put them both into a big plastic, see-thru bin with vents in it and they would start to fight in there. Now I can close the access hole door and clean out one half, then let them through, close the door and clean out the other half. Handy! 



BOTTOM LEVEL
www.dropbox.com/s/f5ks3mqoiuktyv8/2014-03-12%2018.56.20.jpg

TOP LEVEL
www.dropbox.com/s/yb07214uqkb58if/2014-03-12%2018.56.10.jpg

BOTH LEVELS
www.dropbox.com/s/k6i0kzdd9ib77ap/2014-03-12%2018.55.27.jpg

[deguconvert]

I should be in bed and sleeping, sooooo late lol, but wanted to say I can't view your photos. Will have to look into dropbox tomorrow. Hopefully there will be help for you before I get back tomorrow.

[moletteuk]

Setup looks pretty good It certainly looks neat and easy to clean, quite posh

Does it provide 12500 sqcm CARA now?

What ventilation is there? I can see the little vents in the back, is there some more in the top? You might need some more. To keep it neat you can cut holes in the sides and fit these over the gap www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Ducting/Louvre%20Vent/d190/sd3083/p16351 I would go for the 9x6" ones.

I guess you could make the shelf in the top section bigger, or hang a hammock or hanging basket or something like that in there to maximise the space.

Scatter feeding is great but if ever you want to feed something that doesn't get lost, you can use two bowls. I would put the hay in bowls or a rack with an open top, I think it's a bit tricky for the them to access the cubes, and degus can be a bit fussy about selecting the perfect piece of hay.

If they have a tendency to squabble, you can split the clean out - only do one unit at a time and then there is always a place that smells familiar.

[degudrew]

Mar 14, 2014 16:35:13 GMT moletteuk said:

Setup looks pretty good It certainly looks neat and easy to clean, quite posh

Does it provide 12500 sqcm CARA now?

What ventilation is there? I can see the little vents in the back, is there some more in the top? You might need some more. To keep it neat you can cut holes in the sides and fit these over the gap www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Ducting/Louvre%20Vent/d190/sd3083/p16351 I would go for the 9x6" ones.

I guess you could make the shelf in the top section bigger, or hang a hammock or hanging basket or something like that in there to maximise the space.

Scatter feeding is great but if ever you want to feed something that doesn't get lost, you can use two bowls. I would put the hay in bowls or a rack with an open top, I think it's a bit tricky for the them to access the cubes, and degus can be a bit fussy about selecting the perfect piece of hay.

If they have a tendency to squabble, you can split the clean out - only do one unit at a time and then there is always a place that smells familiar.

Thanks Moletteuk

There are those little vents you see which where the pre-installed ones in each level when it was a reptile vivarium but I also made the vent at the very bottom wider as the fresh air comes in through the bottom and then the roof of the top cage is mostly made of screen mesh. The access hole between the two is about a third the size of the floor space of the top cage so good airflow there too. Then there is one circular vent at the very top left as well.

It's probably hard to spot in the photos but tucked away in the corner just under the dividing line at the right hand side is a little fleece hanging nest which they sleep in. For some reason they never took to the wooden one which I had bought first. They do go in there sometimes when they want to eat a treat undisturbed by the other, or sometimes they bury treats in there but they never sleep in it. At the time when I bought it they just would push the box away from the wall and sleep behind it instead lol! Then I got that hanging nest and they never sleep anywhere else!

I use one of the cubes to put strips of paper towel in on clean out day and they love to pull the strips out and put them in their nest. Then it goes back to being a hay cube until next clean out day. They seem to have gotten the hang of the cube pretty well though. They can empty it pretty darn quick! lol! Then they like to forage among what spills out onto the ground.

Thanks for the idea on splitting the clean out... I'd never thought about doing it that way. That's handy to remember!

They have completely destroyed their wooden wheel though so I'll be replacing that with a plastic one the same as on the bottom. They seem to like the plastic one better though as they can both fit on it side by side and run together whereas on the wooden one they have to go one behind the other and it doesn't work out so well. Plus they haven't been able to chew the plastic one as it's a very hard type of plastic.

Since the photo was taken I have also hung up some half coconut shells for them which they are now investigating and enjoying!

[degudrew]

Oh, P.S. How do I measure the CARA?

[ntg]

Mar 14, 2014 22:27:32 GMT degudrew said:

Oh, P.S. How do I measure the CARA?

Say your levels were currently 100cm X 50cm for the bottom and 80cm X 50cm for the top layer with two platforms of 40cm X 50cm then you would calculate the CARA as foll0ws:

100x50 = 5000cm^2
80x50 = 4000cm^2
40x50 = 2000cm^2
40x50 = 2000cm^2

Add all four together for your final CARA -> 13000cm^2

[degudrew]

I'm ashamed to say I am so bad with maths that I still don't understand how that works :/ Can anyone work mine out for me? lol!

My bottom cage has a floor of 3ft long by 1 1/2ft wide and my top cage has a floor of 2ft long and 1 1/2ft wide. Each cage is 2ft high (4ft in total) if that matters? The ledges in the bottom cage are a total of 4 1/2ft long by 1/2ft wide and the ledges in the top cage are a total of 3ft long by 1/2ft wide.

Sorry I know that's probably a pain in the neck but it'd be very easy to underestimate just how bad at maths I am! lol!

[moletteuk]

No problem

36 x 18 = 648
24 x 18 = 432
+ = 1080 square inches

The ledges are too small too count properly.

You are looking to provide 1850 sq inches.

I think if I were you I would make the gap in the floor of the top cage much smaller, it only needs to be about 4" square, but making a slot 4" wide front to back would work well too. Since each section is 2' tall you could turn the ledges into big shelves, full depth and right up to the water bottle.

This would give you something like:
base 36 x 18 = 648
level 2 approx = 600
shelf 1  24 x 18 = 432
shelf 2  24 x 18 = 432
total = 2112

I think you could make the modifications fairly simply and it would easily bring you up to the recommended minimum CARA without having to add any more units on.  My calculations show you would have a bit extra too, so that gives you some scope if you didn't want to modify the level 2 floor so much.

Just say if you aren't clear on any of that