Enclosure from Ikea wardrobes (img heavy)
Aug 12, 2018 17:50:11 GMT
deguconvert and bouncy like this
Post by shun on Aug 12, 2018 17:50:11 GMT
Hello again, after a really long time! I've been dealing with some major personal issues these past years, but I have still been lurking every now and then. Now everything's seeming to normalize and I have finally had time to focus on the degus. So I started slowly and decided to build them a proper enclosure.
They have been living in this modified bird cage + aquarium mess ever since I brought them home. (CARA around 12 000 cm2) They were doing fine even though there could've been more space, but I was so sick of sweeping the floor dozen times a day. And since they live in my bedroom it wasn't once or twice I found out I'd been sleeping on degu poo when I woke up, I guess they'd been having a competition of who can throw poo all the way to my bed... I had been looking for some suitable cabinet a while already, when I found out ikea sells those empty wardrobe-frames without doors or shelves really cheaply. I have no idea why I didn't think of that before.
So I dragged my brother for a fun shopping trip (notice the sarcasm, we both hate going to ikea more than any other place) and came home with four platsa-frames. A pair of 60x55x40cm and a pair of 60x55x120cm. I tipped the large ones on their sides, so I got two long and two short sections.
The other long one was waiting to be assembled here, and would be placed on top of the others. I was kind of shocked how big the enclosure was going to be, and even thought of leaving the last frame out of the plan. (I'm glad I didn't in the end.)
At this point I had to teach myself how to use a power drill and a jigsaw, since my brother wasn't of any help in this project. I guess he was traumatized at our shopping trip and didn't want to have anything to do with ikea-related stuff anymore.
I cut the holes and to my surprise found cardboard in the walls sandwiched with thin layers of chipboard. I knew ikea furniture isn't good but I didn't know it was this bad... The soft cardboard layers proved to be problematic when I was edging the holes with builders band, but I think I did a fairly good job with it.
Then I had to practice my measuring and sawing skills to cut the boards to keep the bedding in. Surprisingly the saw cut the pine board much easier than it did those cardboard frames, are they that bad after all??? I added a support for the middle of lower section, since the frame wasn't intended to be used that way. I also got lazy and ran out of money at this point so I used plain old duct tape to seal the holes on the lower section's floor. Initially I wanted to cover all the shelves with some vinyl tiles, but I was too impatient to look around for cheap ones so I decided to do that later when doing a full clean up.
Here I moved the previous cage, washed the floor and the walls around it (how do they manage to pee all over the place?!) and placed the first section on the spot. I added a shelf with supports and a ramp, some screws and angled metal parts to support the acrylic doors. I couldn't find those sliders anywhere where I live and kind of just made it work with what I had around. Not the prettiest or the most practical but it does what it's supposed to.
It's rising!! I attached the two narrower frames from the back with the clips that came with them so they're staying together.
I forgot to take a picture but here I added two shelves and a ramp in the long top section. I even managed to lift it on top of the others all by myself, I'm so proud of myself!
Then came my favorite part: furnishing the whole thing! I mixed the bedding from wood shavings and alder ships. I also added some hay in layers for the long sections to help hold the degus' digging masterpieces.
And (mostly) DONE! After these photos I added air vents on the back walls on every section, can't believe I forgot to do that while actually building the whole thing... The CARA on this new cage is 19 800 cm2, not counting the small shelves.
I'm still waiting for my order for the led strips to put in there, I hope it helps to reduce the glare when you can see in there properly. I also picked some more branches and twigs today to put in there, in hopes that the degus will nibble on those and not the shelf holder holes I didn't cover on the middle sections' walls... Nano and Charlie have been in their new home for a day and a half now, they're still pretty timid but when nobody's moving they enjoy running and digging around like I've never seen before!
Happy degus, happy me. I can't wait not to sweep the floor or wash the walls. All in all this project cost me a little bit over 300 euros (including the lights that aren't here yet), which I think is an okay price. I could have saved a bit by buying wood from the local wood worker and making the frame from scratch, but I don't think I could have done that by myself, and also I was really impatient to get started.
What do you think? I'm open to improvement ides.
They have been living in this modified bird cage + aquarium mess ever since I brought them home. (CARA around 12 000 cm2) They were doing fine even though there could've been more space, but I was so sick of sweeping the floor dozen times a day. And since they live in my bedroom it wasn't once or twice I found out I'd been sleeping on degu poo when I woke up, I guess they'd been having a competition of who can throw poo all the way to my bed... I had been looking for some suitable cabinet a while already, when I found out ikea sells those empty wardrobe-frames without doors or shelves really cheaply. I have no idea why I didn't think of that before.
So I dragged my brother for a fun shopping trip (notice the sarcasm, we both hate going to ikea more than any other place) and came home with four platsa-frames. A pair of 60x55x40cm and a pair of 60x55x120cm. I tipped the large ones on their sides, so I got two long and two short sections.
The other long one was waiting to be assembled here, and would be placed on top of the others. I was kind of shocked how big the enclosure was going to be, and even thought of leaving the last frame out of the plan. (I'm glad I didn't in the end.)
At this point I had to teach myself how to use a power drill and a jigsaw, since my brother wasn't of any help in this project. I guess he was traumatized at our shopping trip and didn't want to have anything to do with ikea-related stuff anymore.
I cut the holes and to my surprise found cardboard in the walls sandwiched with thin layers of chipboard. I knew ikea furniture isn't good but I didn't know it was this bad... The soft cardboard layers proved to be problematic when I was edging the holes with builders band, but I think I did a fairly good job with it.
Then I had to practice my measuring and sawing skills to cut the boards to keep the bedding in. Surprisingly the saw cut the pine board much easier than it did those cardboard frames, are they that bad after all??? I added a support for the middle of lower section, since the frame wasn't intended to be used that way. I also got lazy and ran out of money at this point so I used plain old duct tape to seal the holes on the lower section's floor. Initially I wanted to cover all the shelves with some vinyl tiles, but I was too impatient to look around for cheap ones so I decided to do that later when doing a full clean up.
Here I moved the previous cage, washed the floor and the walls around it (how do they manage to pee all over the place?!) and placed the first section on the spot. I added a shelf with supports and a ramp, some screws and angled metal parts to support the acrylic doors. I couldn't find those sliders anywhere where I live and kind of just made it work with what I had around. Not the prettiest or the most practical but it does what it's supposed to.
It's rising!! I attached the two narrower frames from the back with the clips that came with them so they're staying together.
I forgot to take a picture but here I added two shelves and a ramp in the long top section. I even managed to lift it on top of the others all by myself, I'm so proud of myself!
Then came my favorite part: furnishing the whole thing! I mixed the bedding from wood shavings and alder ships. I also added some hay in layers for the long sections to help hold the degus' digging masterpieces.
And (mostly) DONE! After these photos I added air vents on the back walls on every section, can't believe I forgot to do that while actually building the whole thing... The CARA on this new cage is 19 800 cm2, not counting the small shelves.
I'm still waiting for my order for the led strips to put in there, I hope it helps to reduce the glare when you can see in there properly. I also picked some more branches and twigs today to put in there, in hopes that the degus will nibble on those and not the shelf holder holes I didn't cover on the middle sections' walls... Nano and Charlie have been in their new home for a day and a half now, they're still pretty timid but when nobody's moving they enjoy running and digging around like I've never seen before!
Happy degus, happy me. I can't wait not to sweep the floor or wash the walls. All in all this project cost me a little bit over 300 euros (including the lights that aren't here yet), which I think is an okay price. I could have saved a bit by buying wood from the local wood worker and making the frame from scratch, but I don't think I could have done that by myself, and also I was really impatient to get started.
What do you think? I'm open to improvement ides.