Degu Cage

[GoosofCamelot]

Me and my dad are hopefully going to be building a cage for 2-3 degus i'm getting.
The dimensions shall be like this cage, possibly taller. (it is actually bigger in real life)

Here is the Pets at Home cage, if you scroll down a bit you can see the dimensions. 
www.petsathome.com/shop/chinchilla-and-degu-cage-by-thickets-house-15966?DisplayProductList=true

It will have a non-toxic wooden frame with wire, an opening lid, and two opening hinged doors. I'm going to paint the outside of it white so it will match my room I will provide plenty of fun things for them.
Although, i'm not to sure what to have for the flooring. The base would be wooden, but I need to put a different material ontop. As the bedding would be wood shavings, but the pee would soak through to the wood making it smell. Any suggestions to what material the base ontop the wood could be?

Overall, does this sound ideal for 2-3 degus?
Here is another picture that is the same cage as the one thats linked from pets at home.

It gives you a better idea of how big it is in real life.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/large-cage-suitable-for-degus-chinchillas-and-other-small-furries-/271195757042?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Small_Animals&hash=item3f2486d9f2

Thanks! 

[ntg]

Hi and welcome to the forum! The pets at home cage is really too small for degus, for a pair you need a cage of at least 100x50x100 cm (lxwxh) with three full levels and for three you will probably need another level! Check out some of the stickied threads on the cages, housing and accessories section of the forum for some ideas!

[GoosofCamelot]

Thank you :)I'm just curious, could it possibly be around 90cm wide, and around 90 tall, with three levels?
As my room is quite small and I don't have tons of room. I'd have to put in ontop of my chest of drawers

[ntg]

Could you manage to make it 60cm deep? It's not ideal at 90cm but you can get away with it. And as long as you make sure that one level is big enough for a 30cm wheel (about 35-40cm high) then you should be able to fit two more levels in at 25cm each.

I know what you mean about it being a squeeze in a bedroom. I had a bit of a problem when my boys had to have a move into my room, where I had to blitz everything, get rid of anything I didn't use, my TV and xbox are in storage now and I literally just have the things I need to fit in their cage. Even then I have to compromise on the size of cage I was going to build otherwise it would be too deep to close my door.

[Maravilla]

Apr 29, 2013 20:24:17 GMT ntg said:

It's not ideal at 90cm but you can get away with it. And as long as you make sure that one level is big enough for a 30cm wheel (about 35-40cm high) then you should be able to fit two more levels in at 25cm each.

Actually, I would not do it.
Due to problems with some of my degus and some new introductions I had to split one cage into two to provide space for 2 pairs of degus. That meant to split each level (about 50 cm high) into two to provide enough space for all the degus. I now have levels of about 25 cm which look nice and cosy but to not provide the height I really would like to provide. I am still not sure how practical it is when it comes to cleaning or handling degus. I had no other option but would not suggest doing it. It is not a full level as I had to provide a bigger height for the running saucer or wheel, but the cage is 200 cm long. And the second level is only 50 cm wide instead of 60 cm.

As my room is quite small

Isn't there any other room the degus could move in? There is no guarantee that they sleep at night and let you sleep as well. Many degus celebrate parties during the night, doing lots of noisy things (using the running wheel, chewing wood, nuts or the cage bars, pawing the ground etc.). There are degus who get used to the daily routine of their owners but you never know. And what about studying during daytime? I am happy to be able to close a door behind me when I need a quiet time.
What would you do when you become ill? I would not risk my degus becoming ill, too. On the other hand, being exposed to things which could trigger an allergy during so many hours isn't healthy either.
I do not know how old you are. But, imagine you do not have time to care for them due to holidays, school trips or something like that. Do you want your parents going into your room??

Degus should be the animals of the whole family. And as long as you are not full-aged it is your parents who are responsible for the animals. I think it would be better to look for another place, not in one of the bedrooms.

[GoosofCamelot]

@ntg: Yeah, it's annoying having a small room!

yes, that sounds like a better size.

Maravilla: No, unfortunately we don't have an spare rooms. :/
As for studying, I study at home due to severe anxiety.
I'm 15 years old, nearly 16. And I have no problem with my parents going in my room.

Hmm, I may have to forget the idea of getting degus then, if I cannot keep them in my room

[ntg]

Apr 30, 2013 7:16:29 GMT Maravilla said:

I now have levels of about 25 cm which look nice and cosy but to not provide the height I really would like to provide. I am still not sure how practical it is when it comes to cleaning or handling degus. I had no other option but would not suggest doing it.

Interesting, so what would you say should be the minimum height between levels?

I wouldn't have thought the cleaning access would be an issue if you had full doors on the cage. Maybe the layout of metal cages with tiny doors just makes everything seem easier though!

[saddlers]

Apr 30, 2013 9:28:15 GMT GoosofCamelot said:

@ntg: Yeah, it's annoying having a small room!

yes, that sounds like a better size.

Maravilla: No, unfortunately we don't have an spare rooms. :/
As for studying, I study at home due to severe anxiety.
I'm 15 years old, nearly 16. And I have no problem with my parents going in my room.

Hmm, I may have to forget the idea of getting degus then, if I cannot keep them in my room

I don't necessarily think that you can not keep them in your room, and there are people on the forum who do keep degus in their bedrooms, but they can be noisy and we have had others who have been driven nuts by the noise their degus make when cages are in their bedrooms. I am a heavy sleeper, so it probably wouldn't bother me, but I am not the best with allergens so I would probably be wheezing all night

I know sometimes it may seem like people are telling you what you should and shouldn't do, but we all just offer up our own personal experiences, in the hope that you can avoid mistales others have already made. Two of my cages are 94cm wide and (so far) we have not had any issues whilst the degus have been in them, but they are much taller at 142cm high.

You have done the right thing by looking at the forum and asking the questions before getting the degus which was the approach I wish I had done when I started, so that my degus would have been in the best surroundings form the start, so give yourself a big pat on the back for doing that

Hopefully some of the users who do have their degus in their bedrooms may be able to offer up some additional personal experiences

....and welcome to the forum

[ntg]

My OH had them in his bedroom and they drove him mad, it's true, but they had no routine there, they would be fed at whatever time as he had no routine, so they'd be awake during the night, chewing the cage, making a racket on the wheel etc. And because he spends 90% of time in his room when he's at home it just got to him. He's also a light sleeper so it didn't help.

Yet whenever I slept over, for some reason they'd always be quiet, either that or my heavy sleeping is even heavier than I thought. So I took a risk in moving them over to mine but it's paid off, they have a good routine now, feed them as soon as I get up, close the curtains and door to my room when it gets dark and put some dandelion in the cage for them to feed on. For the first couple of nights they made a load of noise and I didn't get much sleep. Now they've settled down and I only hear the odd squeaking spell at odd times in the night. However, they do make sure you get up to feed them on time and I don't spend that much time in my room but anybody can interact with them (my door is open all day) and I study best downstairs in the dining room, which isn't ideal because of my cockatiel who HATES being ignored and will kick up a fuss but it works for me.

As far as allergies go, it could be a problem if you suffer, I don't, but the chinchilla sand can be rather dusty so it's best if you can find a dustbath that will limit the amount kicked out.

It's definitely possible in a tiny room though, mine is 2.5x2.5m so I only have my bed, wardrobe and the cage in there, and my cage designs are 120x50x200cm (lxwxh) so it's taken a lot of compromise, and their playpen takes up every bit of floorspace left, it's only there to protect the wood. But the little guys are worth everything I've had to get rid of a thousand times over! Even if Venk does drive me insane with his attention-seeking at times

If you need help finding a solution then we can talk it over with you, see if we can suggest something you haven't thought of yet!

[GoosofCamelot]

saddlers: Yes I suppose, different degus have different personalities! I suppose I could invest in some ear plugs lol.
If you don't mind me asking how many levels does your cage have?

ntg: Oh no, although I don't think i'm a light sleeper luckily haha
Oh right, I've had rabbits in the past which I had to use wood shavings in (was quite dusty at times) but I didn't get any allergies, so hopefully I won't get any reaction from dust bath lol.

Haha lol, they are such sweet little things :'D

Thankyou very much. Do you think it's worth posting a pic of my bedroom to have an idea about the size and where the cage could go? Although I am hopefully going to buy some new different furniture anyway to allow for more room

[ntg]

A photo or floor plan would both be quite good I'm sure we can figure something out between us!

[ntg]

A photo or floor plan would both be quite good I'm sure we can figure something out between us!

[GoosofCamelot]

Ok, so here is the idea of the size of my room. Bare in mind that this furniture should be gone due to space. 
I would need to get a chest of drawers, maybe a long one, that would be where the bookcase and chest of drawers are now. Could I put the cage on top of that? Not sure what size it would be yet but just a thought. 
Or where the wardrobe is? 

[ntg]

Looking at that, your room gives mine a run for it's money on the small scale is the bed completely up against the wall? Could you use wall shelves for your books and whatnot? And how deep is the chest of drawers, just to get an idea of the scale you're working on!

[GoosofCamelot]

Haha Yeah, my bed is against the wall. And yeah, for the shelves.. that's what I was thinking of doing, would save alot more room too!

And my chest of drawers is 40cm in depth, and 29.5 in length.

[ntg]

I have an idea but a diagram might be better to show you what I mean... I'll draw one up and you can see if it would work

[ntg]

My main thought is moving the bed to the window wall, the other things can be played around with to fit the room best as needed (my first though was the cage against the back wall, the one labelled wardrobe to give you a bit of a noise buffer from the cage at night:

[GoosofCamelot]

That would be ideal, how the only thing is, is that my bed is slightly too long to fit against the window :/
Hmm, unless I persuade mum to let me have a new bed lol, although that's probably unlikely haha.

Thankyou for your help once again

[ntg]

It's no bother hun, this forum has been a lifesaver to me, there's always someone around who can offer some advice!

Haha I have the bonus of having a bed that my dad made with built in drawers and storage space underneath, the storage space has turned into degu storage and it means I don't need a chest of drawers, just a wardrobe!

Have you thought about a wardrobe with drawers underneath, so you might get away without the chest of drawers? Then you could possibly put the cage where that goes and put a small desk beside the cage for your laptop/studying?

[GoosofCamelot]

Haha that's cool, good idea! Yeah, I was thinking of either having just a Chest of drawers or just a wardrobe
Yeah I could possibly fit a small desk in there!

I shall have a think about which furniture to get, and ask my parents

Thank you for your ideas!