Making the play area safe

[degumomofmany]

I have put aside a corner of my unfinished basement (cement walls and floor) for my degus and rats. I have two cats and a miniature poodle. I also have a Bedlington Terrier that would kill my critters if given a chance, and a family that is somewhat lax at following my directions to make sure the dogs and cats don't get downstairs.  So far, (3 weeks), we haven't had an incident, but it is my job to make it safe for them since they can't defend themselves.

Right now I am using two 4 foot (1.2 meters) tall metal ex-pens, connected, to surround the three animal cages in the basement. Here is a picture of what they look like. If I could set them straight up around the area, they would cover (16 panels x 2 feet wide = ) 32 linear feet.  However, It won't cover quite that much because I need to overlap the two panels to connect them and zig zag them to keep them from falling down.  That is because unlike the picture, they won't be connected into a big circle.  They will come up to the cement walls and be held in place with cement blocks.  



Not only do I have to keep the dogs and cats out, I have to keep the degus and rats in. On the inside of the ex-pens my plan is to attach chicken wire with 1 inch openings (no baby rats or degus here), and at the very top I will put about 1 foot (.3 meter) of cardboard attached with plastic zip ties.  I know the rats and degus can climb, thus the smooth cardboard at the top.  Facing outward on the top I will either put more chicken wire, or more cardboard to discourage the cats from jumping over the fencing.  They tend not to jump when they see the fence sticking out over their head.  It goes without saying that I will remove shelves or couches from the outside of the fencing so my other pets don't use them as a launching pad. I will have some chicken wire overlapping the cement walls on the ends where the panels are held in place by the cement blocks.

So, I am asking everyone if they think I have covered all the bases here.  I am thinking to put the shelving units holding their supplies outside of the fencing, thus leaving the maximum amount of running space.  I am a bit concerned that the degus or rats might climb up each others' cages and wonder what kind of ruckus that might cause.  Any input there?  Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[moletteuk]

My degus are pathetic at jumping and climbing compared to others, but my thought are that you will need to just try it and see if it works for your degus, their escape abilities and determination varies a lot. Safe jumping height for degus varies from 60 to 100cm. They can certainly climb chicken wire and mesh. It seems logical that a certain depth of cardboard might stop them, but it depends how determined they are, you might find them trying to chew the cardboard from dangerous positions, or other difficulties might crop up. If that is what you already have then it is certainly worth trying and see how you get on. If you were starting from scratch then I would have suggested smooth wood or maybe opaque perspex panels that none of the pets can see through, this usually reduces their interest in getting to the other side, and there wouldn't be footholds low down to encourage them.

I'm also not sure how interested the rats and degus might be in each other. My immediate concern would be that they can't reach to bite each others toes or tails.

Will there be natural sunlight?

[deguconvert]

What about building a frame using 2X4 boards and attaching the ex-pen pieces to it. That way you can maximize the length and prevent them from falling over. You would likely have to use cement screws to attach them to the walls and the floors, but if that is not a problem, it will give you a very secure enclosure with all the other things you have planned for it.

Interactions between the rats and degus . . . that is difficult to say. Some have had no issues, and have degus living with gofers (ground squirrel/prairie dog), rats, chins, and I think I have also heard of a sugar glider. But I really don't know what they did for introductions or how these living situations came about.

[degumomofmany]

Thanks for your replies. Well, I haven't made the enclosure yet, but finances are tight and I have the pieces as I described. The dog will know the critters are there whether or not she can see them. LOL I certainly won't be letting the groups of animals out together, but if either one climbed up the other's cages, tails could be an issue. Of course I will be there supervising, but with my group of 6, things might still get out of hand. Moletteuk, If I could attach smooth wood to the inside of the ex-pens, that would prevent climbing, but wouldn't they still chew it? Also, I have three window in my basement and two of them are inside or close to the area where my critters are.

[moletteuk]

Most degus won't chew a smooth, flat surface of wood, but if you faced your panels with wood and they were in the zig zag pattern so it stands up, then they would very likely chew zig zag corners facing them where they can get their teeth on the edge. If it was semi permanent, you could protect these edges with thicker softwood battens or metal strips. Hope that makes sense.

[degumomofmany]

Here is a picture of my basement area showing the lighting and cage arrangments.  I need to take out the aquarium for more room .  

small basement4917 by theborginco, on Flickr

So what I've decided to do is to use tall cardboard boxes as a playpen.  I'm using what they call in the states, wardrobe moving boxes.  They are 21" x 24" x 48" tall (53 cm x 61 cm x 122 cm).  They will actually be a little taller because the top flaps will be taped together in an up position.  The bottom flaps will be folded under and outside of the play area.  The boxes will be held together by binder clips.  I'll post pics when I actually get it going.  The boxes were used and about $5 each.  So now I have some additional concerns.  My plan is to have the playpen around only the cage of either rats or degus that will be playing.  That way there won't be any interspecies fighting. One of my concerns is that my cages are so tall, that if the rats or degus climb up to the top of their cages, they could jump over the playpen.  I'm hoping that I can just wheel the cage into the middle of the playpen and leave at least 3 or more feet of space between cage and pen walls.  I know rats can jump at least 3 feet high, how high can the goos jump?  Do you see your goos launching themselves off of the sides of their cages? I could put a large piece of cardboard on top of the cage so that it overlaps the sides. That way the goos couldn't get to the top of the cage.

Also, watching dingle87's videos of her new goos reminded me that I don't know how to get them out of the cage.  Do I make a ramp to the floor? Do I get some of those steps like you use for your dog to get up on beds? I use the Critter Nation cage (Aventura) which sits over a foot above the floor.  What are you all doing?
Thanks,

[moletteuk]

Most degus would not launch themselves in the way yours would need to, I would try it supervised for a while and you should get an idea whether they have any thoughts of massive jumps. They may try chewing at the cardboard though, it depends how big into nesting and destruction they are and how stiff the surface of the cardboard is.

A ramp works well because they can all run up it quickly if they get scared, it can be steeper if you attach small battens across it for grip. YOu could also make a series of steps, mine use a strawberry pot to get onto a stool whcih has some extra steps added. They used to use the stool with a rug draped over it for ages, they just ran up and down the rug.