Post by saggy on Mar 14, 2020 3:09:54 GMT
Hey guys
I have the liberta explorer cage which is about 4 years old now
I come across some bad rusting which has happened quite quickly. One of my degus has a habit of digging, specifically at a certain time of the month and she will dig at the metal floor - she's goes into a bit of a zone and won't stop, she's not to be messed with at this time and all degus and humans know to steer clear - all substrate is removed and will spend hours at the paintwork. She is also the nest builder and going by the contents of the last nest I emptied, she's now also decided that the flaked off paintwork makes excellent nest building material and has been at the bit under the nest too?
Offering any other type of dig box doesn't work as tried everything previously - she wants to get rid of the metal, who knows why?? It's best to leave females to their devices at this time perhaps - huh?
Anyway, the last few times I cleaned the cage out, I noticed some patches without paint and then a bit bigger and meant to do something about it but didn't. The last time I checked properly through, one particular bottom corner along the edges has rusted and I'm not sure why as not all of this area is used for peeing as also the shelf directly above it has rusted in the same place at the edge nearest the wall and she doesn't particularly dig there - it's almost as if that particular end wasn't painted properly?? It hasn't rusted where water drips continuously from the water bottles or even where they've peed a lot BUT I think I might have inadvertently created some sort of humidity corner as it's right by the radiator and pipework at the back wall of the kitchen and admittedly, I also hang wet washing over the radiators etc etc and this is on their nest end as the end they prefer so maybe they are also contributing to the condensation.
I've covered it over temporarily with cardboard and furniture walls which will work only whilst she's poorly so will try and work out something more semi-permanent over the weekend. I looked about just sanding it all down to the metal or something but it appears not constructed as I had thought which was as described - wrought iron with powder coated paint. There's a really thin bit of metal but layers of something else I'm not sure what as can only see it on the edging. Anyway, there's not much I can do about the degu's habits nor the pipework so see it just getting worse. I don't see anything that i could paint it with that would stop it either.
I might just have to get a new cage and could re-position a few things so stuff drys out quicker in the corner but I don't really want the expense, to be honest I'd rather pay someone to make me some new stainless steel trays to fit as the frame is fine (until I come to move it anyway as imagine i'm going to have to throw it out the window). I knew of one person but they've ceased trading. Any other ideas?
As much as my cage has a lot of benefits over the aventurer for example, I don't really want to buy the explorer again as there's a couple of issues I can't deal with - firstly the wheels are so crap I can barely move it without the help of someone as puts to much load on certain areas without a puller and a pusher. Plus they ruin the floor. Secondly and really irritatingly, the trays have this bit along the sides where lots of stuff accumulates. Yes it keeps it off the kitchen floor I suppose but I'd rather just do a quick sweep. This is a completely unnecessary design possibly to allow you to hang them lower and don't understand why they couldn't be just straight like the front and back where nothing accumulates and is easy to remove anyway. It might not be so bad an issue if the wheels worked as I could simply wheel it out and pull the trays out but I can't in the position it's in and I end up swearing at this all the time and it's nigh on impossible cleaning these stupid spaces out without emptying the entire cage. Plus she's only going to start again more insistently now she knows and this time give me less years out of the trays.
I thought there might be something more exciting on the market since I last looked but not quite seen anything. I need a similar design in terms of large double doors, deep trays, two sections but just better. Unless they've sorted out what I deem annoying design flaws in recent model? Some of the pics online seem to show flat sides but also half the depth in the tray possibly and who knows which pics belong to the version you'll end up getting??
The Savic has plastic trays doesn't it? Has anyone had the rat and ferret cage from petplanet? It appears almost the same as the explorer even with the same hammocks so likely same manufacturer but looks like it has trays that are flat on all sides - possibly shallower though? What is this cage like? It's quite a bit cheaper so wondering if there's a reason why?
I did search a little on here but didn't find anything new but grateful if you know of anything more suitable that I don't have to make myself
Many thanks in advance, Sarah xx
I have the liberta explorer cage which is about 4 years old now
I come across some bad rusting which has happened quite quickly. One of my degus has a habit of digging, specifically at a certain time of the month and she will dig at the metal floor - she's goes into a bit of a zone and won't stop, she's not to be messed with at this time and all degus and humans know to steer clear - all substrate is removed and will spend hours at the paintwork. She is also the nest builder and going by the contents of the last nest I emptied, she's now also decided that the flaked off paintwork makes excellent nest building material and has been at the bit under the nest too?
Offering any other type of dig box doesn't work as tried everything previously - she wants to get rid of the metal, who knows why?? It's best to leave females to their devices at this time perhaps - huh?
Anyway, the last few times I cleaned the cage out, I noticed some patches without paint and then a bit bigger and meant to do something about it but didn't. The last time I checked properly through, one particular bottom corner along the edges has rusted and I'm not sure why as not all of this area is used for peeing as also the shelf directly above it has rusted in the same place at the edge nearest the wall and she doesn't particularly dig there - it's almost as if that particular end wasn't painted properly?? It hasn't rusted where water drips continuously from the water bottles or even where they've peed a lot BUT I think I might have inadvertently created some sort of humidity corner as it's right by the radiator and pipework at the back wall of the kitchen and admittedly, I also hang wet washing over the radiators etc etc and this is on their nest end as the end they prefer so maybe they are also contributing to the condensation.
I've covered it over temporarily with cardboard and furniture walls which will work only whilst she's poorly so will try and work out something more semi-permanent over the weekend. I looked about just sanding it all down to the metal or something but it appears not constructed as I had thought which was as described - wrought iron with powder coated paint. There's a really thin bit of metal but layers of something else I'm not sure what as can only see it on the edging. Anyway, there's not much I can do about the degu's habits nor the pipework so see it just getting worse. I don't see anything that i could paint it with that would stop it either.
I might just have to get a new cage and could re-position a few things so stuff drys out quicker in the corner but I don't really want the expense, to be honest I'd rather pay someone to make me some new stainless steel trays to fit as the frame is fine (until I come to move it anyway as imagine i'm going to have to throw it out the window). I knew of one person but they've ceased trading. Any other ideas?
As much as my cage has a lot of benefits over the aventurer for example, I don't really want to buy the explorer again as there's a couple of issues I can't deal with - firstly the wheels are so crap I can barely move it without the help of someone as puts to much load on certain areas without a puller and a pusher. Plus they ruin the floor. Secondly and really irritatingly, the trays have this bit along the sides where lots of stuff accumulates. Yes it keeps it off the kitchen floor I suppose but I'd rather just do a quick sweep. This is a completely unnecessary design possibly to allow you to hang them lower and don't understand why they couldn't be just straight like the front and back where nothing accumulates and is easy to remove anyway. It might not be so bad an issue if the wheels worked as I could simply wheel it out and pull the trays out but I can't in the position it's in and I end up swearing at this all the time and it's nigh on impossible cleaning these stupid spaces out without emptying the entire cage. Plus she's only going to start again more insistently now she knows and this time give me less years out of the trays.
I thought there might be something more exciting on the market since I last looked but not quite seen anything. I need a similar design in terms of large double doors, deep trays, two sections but just better. Unless they've sorted out what I deem annoying design flaws in recent model? Some of the pics online seem to show flat sides but also half the depth in the tray possibly and who knows which pics belong to the version you'll end up getting??
The Savic has plastic trays doesn't it? Has anyone had the rat and ferret cage from petplanet? It appears almost the same as the explorer even with the same hammocks so likely same manufacturer but looks like it has trays that are flat on all sides - possibly shallower though? What is this cage like? It's quite a bit cheaper so wondering if there's a reason why?
I did search a little on here but didn't find anything new but grateful if you know of anything more suitable that I don't have to make myself
Many thanks in advance, Sarah xx