Cage design :)

[skits]

I'm planning on building my goos a cage soon. I'm getting two females today and in a a few weeks we're going to start building a wall unit for my reptiles and I thought about adding a goo cage in it too so I'm really excited. ;D

Here's my design so far.



The lines on the far left is my ferret cage, the two smaller cubes on top are my tanks for my toad and cornsnake, the big bottom square is my boa constrictor cage, and on the far right is my goo cage. It's 62.5 inches long, 16.5 inches wide and 19 inches in width. Obviously my picture wasn't done to scale.

I was wondering if it would be fine for a cage like that. I'll add in some floors and branches, ladders, toys, ropes and everything. I wish I would be able to make it wider but my room isn't that big and it wouldn't fit, haha.

Anyone have any suggestions for products so pee wouldn't get into the wood, or anything like that. And if anyone wants, feel free to post pictures of the insides of your enclosures. It would be nice to get an idea how to do the inside. ;D

[kovu07]

158.8 cm (H)
41.9 cm (L)
48.3 cm (W)

Your cage volume is 321374.676 cubic cm. This cage is suitable for 2 adult degus.

I think it would be fine for 2 Degus, it could do with being wider, although you said this isn't possible so don't worry too much. So long as you let them out to play a lot they should be fine.

However you do seem to have alot of animals, so forgive me for being rude but are you sure you have the time for anymore?

As for products which stop pee getting into the wood, there aren't any that I know of, sorry.

[skits]

Alright thanks. If I ever need to I can always build a new one. I think I could actually build it with a 61cm width now that I look at my ferret cage. They could have a little more room and I can add more toys for them.

And it's not rude don't worry, I get that alot. I have loads of time for them all. I only have school for a few hours a day and will start working only when I don't have school. All my animals are handled daily and let our for the amount of time each needs. I wouldn't get any more if I knew I didn't have the time for them, it wouldn't be fair to them.

[kovu07]

I'm glad you have time for them, just thought i'd add in a word of caution as pets like ferrets and degus need a lot of time outside their cages each day. As for making the width 61cms I think that would be a brilliant idea.

[sam99]

My only concern would be having the boa and the corn right next to the ferrets and degus. Won't that just wind the snakes up with the smell of food so close?? I have a python in the same room as my degus and my rats but have them spaced round the room with at least 10ft between each cage, and the python is high up so the furries have no chance of getting close enough to wind him up.
Sure you've already thought it through and have to say the design looks good.

[skits]

Haha yeah. We usually always have our ferrets running around the living room and kitchen area and the goos are in another room with one person supervising either the ferrets or the degus to make sure they don't get into trouble.

And sam99, I don't think it really bothers any of them at all. I have my hamsters, mice, rabbit and ferrets all in my room and the snakes never seem bothered at all by it, I don't even think they care And I make sure none of them come out but they never really try to unless they want to be taken out and carried around. My boa has 0% hunting skills either way. It did worry me at first but none of the animals are stressed about it at all.

[kovu07]

Wow how do you manange to have time for all those pets?

Hamsters
mice
rabbits
ferrets
degus
boa
toad
cornsnake

[skits]

Lmao, it's not that hard to to be honest. The only pain in the ass is the rabbit and ferrets because they poop loads.

[kovu07]

So do Degus lol

[NightwishRaven999]

@ skit
Hello ! I am glad to see you are considering building a cage for your degus. Its a very fun and rewarding project.

You seem to have planned everything well, so you are to be congradulated.

I hate coming off as the picky guy, but since you asked our opinions on whether or not the cage would be suitable...

The cage height is great (158 cm). It offers great opportunities when it comes adding levels and ledges. But you must keep in mind, degus do not live in trees.
They are ground animals and really need a large flat surface where they can properly run and excercise.
A floor space of 41x48 is definitely too small for a pair of degus.
The ideal size floor space should be around 100x50 cm.

Augmenting the cage width to 61 cm is already a great improvement...but it still falls short of the ideal size for housing degus.

One thing is certain. If you are intent on keeping degus in a tall-narrow cage, you must make certain to let them out for a run everyday. You should also provide your degus with a good running wheel. Of course, the wheel does not replace floor space but it will help them dispense their energy while you are at school during the day.

You should definitely look into building a larger degu cage in the future. You will find these animals to be very active and energetic.
In small cages, degus use chewing as a means to burn off excess energy. So keep this in mind when building the cage.

As far as a means to keep urine from soaking the wood...use bedding. Make sure the pine bedding you use is dust extracted.
By using bedding on the cage floor and on the levels, you will have no problem with urine penetrating the wood.

I understand that space might be an issue, but think about what I said. It would be great for you to make plans to build a larger degu cage in the future.

Hope this helps...
Jordan

[skits]

kovu, true haha. I forgot about that.

And nightwish, I'll try to figure out a way to probably manage to be able to put in a bigger floor space. Maybe what I could do is shorten my boas tank down a couple of inches because she doesn't like to climb much anyways, and have the degus cage above the tanks so they can have a huge 73 inch lenght floor space. I'm sure they would love that so much haha.

Especially when I went to pick up our degus today (we got them off someone) she had males and females in the same tank (brothers and sisters). What had happened was her male tank broke and she had nowhere to put them so she had them in with the females because they didn't want to buy a new cage for them and than she was looking to rehome the females. She had them in the same tank for about a week and I'm really nervous if by some chance one or both are pregnant.

But if they would have babies, I'd feel horrible rehoming them and I would like to keep them all so I'll definitely give them a much larger home. I'll re-do my design and I can turn the supposed to be degu cage into shelves. ;D

[NightwishRaven999]

I am sorry to hear this.
Female degus can be impregnated as early as 8 weeks of age.
There is a chance that the females are pregnant...so I am glad you are planning ahead.
Nothing is worst that having a surprise litter in a cage that is only fit for two degus.

I am glad you are thinking about providing them a larger home.
Keep us posted on your project and show us some photos of your new degus if you can ;D

[skits]

At least if any are pregnant, we'll have a good sized cage ready. And if not, better for my 2. ;D

I came up with this. The height isnt so great though at 13.3inches (33.8cm). But the lenght and width are pretty good. I'm hoping this would be fine. The height is enough for their wheels too, I want to get them wooden wheels, possibly one on each side and maybe one in the middle.

This is what I, hopefully the height won't matter as much as floorspace. Also, I calculated everything in inches.


And I'll have pictures up in a new thread in a while. ;D

[w8152]

a toad as a pet? thats probably one of the strangest pets i've heard of...

I want to get a cornsnake but dont have the time to keep it happy.

[malteser60]

My boyfriend has two frogs as pets, also had a toad but he(she?) sadly passed away a couple months ago!

Just following on from what nightwishraven has said, putting the bedding on the shelves is a lifesaver. My cage hardly ever smells and you even can reduce the cleaning frequency. Just to say that degus are the least smelly rodents I've ever had (rats the worst, bless them, especially male rats) however having pee impregnated wood after a while does start to smell a bit.

[kovu07]

Sorry but I don't think 33.8cm is tall enough, the length is much much better but Degus need to climb, meaning height is just as important as floor space. Also 33cms is only just bigger then a 30cm ruler which is tiny when you put it into that context. However you've made a wise choice in asking us lot before you built the cage, so we can all help make it the best it can be.

[skits]

I've always had frogs or toads since I was young, I guess it doesn't seem so odd haha. They are a little bit weird because of the fact I can't hold her and she hates it, but she's interesting to watch when she hunts crickets and it's fun to re setup her tank and watch her explore.

Malteser, alright I'll have to try putting alot of bedding. I'll just try to spot clean it every day, see how it works

And kovu, definitely I had no idea how much space they needed. I'll try to think of something new and worse comes to worse I can build them a cage that won't be connected to my design.

[kovu07]

Sounds like a plan, and now you're making me want a pet frog

[skits]

Haha, you should look into getting one. ;D

And I redesigned my set up again, hopefully this time it will be big enough? I can always add a second floor or a few small floors in the degu cage. So now it's 73cm high, 101cm lenght and 48cm in width.

[kovu07]

That's a much better set of dimensions, may I ask how many level you are having in the cage?