Post by winic1 on Feb 16, 2017 17:46:28 GMT
Been a while since I posted about making my cage, and while the basics have stayed the same, lots of smaller changes have been made, so here are a bunch of pictures.
Our original two degus, Chester and Chitter, have passed on. Now we have three brothers, Macadamia, Walnut, and Filbert--Mac, Wally, and Phil.
The cage is a Critter Nation Double unit, pretty much the same as your Liberta or Aventura.
We added in two more half shelves (really a bit more than half, to avoid falling potential.)
I live in the woods, so I was able to gather all kinds of branches and bark and things from my yard and area, as I wanted a more natural look. The shelves are covered in stick-down linoleum tiles. Originally, we had coco-mat down over everything, but the guys decided that that was for ripping up and stuffing into things. There are two coco-mat pot liners upside down with two door holes cut in them for huts, one has been completely buried in the giant nest they have created, filling a lower height level completely with hay and mat and stuff to make an 18"x24" (46x61 cm) nest with a den hole deep inside. They don't pee or poop in there, so we leave it alone.
The thick bark tubes and half-tunnel came from pet stores, in the reptile department. Chunks of wood, split logs, thinner bark arcs, sticks, rocks, etc were all collected from my yard, mostly. The terra cotta pot grouping came from the garden aisle of a local pharmacy, and the blue pot from the garden section of a building & home store.
I know my wheel is awful. It's all we can get. We check them carefully to make sure there are no slits or gaps for toes to get caught in whenever replacing one, as they do wear out. Better wheels are now sometimes available on Amazon, but most won't fit in that space unless we rebuild, and I'm trying to save up the $$ as well (one kid in college, another just a couple years away, and she dances and constantly needs pointe (toe) shoes {more than $100 a pair} and ballet shoes, jazz shoes, character shoes, tap shoes, leotards, dance tights (NOT your cheap department store type), etc.).
So, anyway, here are the pictures.
Our original two degus, Chester and Chitter, have passed on. Now we have three brothers, Macadamia, Walnut, and Filbert--Mac, Wally, and Phil.
The cage is a Critter Nation Double unit, pretty much the same as your Liberta or Aventura.
We added in two more half shelves (really a bit more than half, to avoid falling potential.)
I live in the woods, so I was able to gather all kinds of branches and bark and things from my yard and area, as I wanted a more natural look. The shelves are covered in stick-down linoleum tiles. Originally, we had coco-mat down over everything, but the guys decided that that was for ripping up and stuffing into things. There are two coco-mat pot liners upside down with two door holes cut in them for huts, one has been completely buried in the giant nest they have created, filling a lower height level completely with hay and mat and stuff to make an 18"x24" (46x61 cm) nest with a den hole deep inside. They don't pee or poop in there, so we leave it alone.
The thick bark tubes and half-tunnel came from pet stores, in the reptile department. Chunks of wood, split logs, thinner bark arcs, sticks, rocks, etc were all collected from my yard, mostly. The terra cotta pot grouping came from the garden aisle of a local pharmacy, and the blue pot from the garden section of a building & home store.
I know my wheel is awful. It's all we can get. We check them carefully to make sure there are no slits or gaps for toes to get caught in whenever replacing one, as they do wear out. Better wheels are now sometimes available on Amazon, but most won't fit in that space unless we rebuild, and I'm trying to save up the $$ as well (one kid in college, another just a couple years away, and she dances and constantly needs pointe (toe) shoes {more than $100 a pair} and ballet shoes, jazz shoes, character shoes, tap shoes, leotards, dance tights (NOT your cheap department store type), etc.).
So, anyway, here are the pictures.
