Precursor 490 cage

[eprezz]

Does anyone use the precise 490 per product corner cage for their degus. It’s a metal corner cage and i like the look of it. The spacing between the wires is 7/8 inch (2.3 centimeters). I’m not sure if they could escape from this. I have read some articles advising 2 cm and some saying 2.5 cm? Any insight would help, it’s a $450 dollar cage so don’t want to purchase it without being more informed. I have two females about one year old.

[savvy]

Welcomd to the forum. Its not a cage I'm familiar with, do you have a link to the cage, I'm having difficulty finding it online to check the specifications?

[deguconvert]

1 cm width between bars is the width we recommend. Young degus are real escape artist, and if it is wider than that, they will just walk right though. Those bars are way too far apart!

[moletteuk]

It's difficult to be certain on bar spacing because degus can vary in size quite a bit. Presuming you are in America, American degus tend to be on the smaller side, so I don't think I would go for less than 1.9cm for adults (babies need a lot less).

The other concern with a corner cage is that they often don't provide an adequate length of running space, you are looking for 100cm.

[winic1]

Pretty sure this is the cage eprezz is referring to: prevuepet.com/product/522/corner-ferret-cage-490

[winic1]

Unfortunately, while it LOOKS big, it is not. Being a corner cage, it loses so much floor space. Each of the back sides is only 27" long, at the most. That's 68cm. The floor area is just short of 3,700 square centimeters per full level. Each shelf shown is probably only 6 inches wide, so even with all four levels you barely make the equivalent of another full level, which means the total floor space you get is maybe 7,400 square cm. Not anywhere close to enough for a pair of degus. And a bunch of skinny shelves is not equivalent to a big floor, no matter how many there are.

The listing gives the measurements as 39" long and 27" wide. Let me explain that, it's deceptive. That 39" measurement is the diagonal across the front. The 27" is the depth from that front edge straight back to the back corner, so that would also be the length of each back side, assuming the curve of the front is based on a circle (if not, then the sides are likely shorter). So, IF the cage was square, it would be 27"x27" area, (68cmx68cm), which is still far short of the needed space, but since it is rounded off, it's nearly half less than if it was square. And without several full levels, it can't possibly be anywhere near the space needed for a pair of degus, PLUS they really need a bigger floor with longer dimensions so that they can run, really run, a distance of about 3 feet, or a meter. This one is just too small.

And then, the amazon.com listing says 7/8" bar spacing, but the manufacturer says 1". Both are too big, you are risking escape for adults, and almost guaranteeing it for young degus.

You want to look at the Critter Nation double cage (not the Ferret Nation, bars are too far apart on that one). This one: www.amazon.com/MidWest-Critter-162-leak-Proof-Measures/dp/B001NJ0DAY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=critter+nation&qid=1622658963&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-1. Yes, it takes up a bigger space. But your degus need that extra space. They really do.