Building Degu Condo pics

[ra]

Here goes. Two chinchilla cages with plastic bottoms removed stacked to create the Degu Condo!(one on top of Condo for aesthetic reasons only!).

Top cage removed for cleaning.

Now for the bottom cage. I didn't wire the two together. Their weight holds them one on top of the other fine. Much easier to dismantle cage for cleaning this way.

This is for Carissa. It's the top view of the bottom cage where I cut the opening so the girls can move up into the top cage. Ends of wire have been filed to remove sharp edges.

This is the glass base I fabricated. Had five pieces of 1/4" plate glass cut. Glued them together with aquarium grade silicone safe for Degus. The bottom cage fits down into the glass base. The hardware cloth wire along with the glass base keeps bedding from being kicked out.

[ra]

The measurements of above Condo are 30" wide X 18" deep X 48" high.

[goofan]

That is so cool.

I did something similar with Merriweather's cage. I had a 10 gallon aquarium and a topper for her original cage. When we decided she had to stay by herself, we expanded her cage to give her more room to run. So, instead of getting a new cage, we took an identical aquarium topper and modified it. Works great.

I have the whole thing sitting in a rubbermaid-like tub to help catch flying poo. Her bedding is in the aquarium.

I like the idea of using hardware cloth. I need to figure something out for the other cage. It's a tall ferret cage with a fairly shallow base. We have sat that in a shallow plastic bin and it catches most of the bedding..but the poo keeps on flying.

Thanks for sharing your pics.

[Aimeelou]

WOW Ra! Your girls must love it!
How long have you had your ferret tunnal? Mine lasted 2 weeks before they all set upon attacking beond recognition!

[ra]

Shoot Aimeelou the ferret tunnel has been hanging up since the beginning of December. I'm really surprised neither of my Degus has investigated it. They sat on the shelf and chewed on the piping around the edge. I put the cardboard play box on the lower shelf positioned so they could easily hop into the tunnel. Nope! Tanzy stood up and looked in but did not try. I put a small carrot bone (dog toy, treat made of ground carrot and a binder no sugar or anything else for that matter added) in the tunnel with one end sticking out far enough to be seen. Took a couple of days for one of them to extract the bone but from what I can tell no one has actually been in the darned thing. I thought they would love it.

[carissa]

Ra, approximately how much did it cost in materials and services to build the 5" high glass tray? Can get this chinchilla cage (http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2213/521100528nj.jpg) dimensions: 30"Wx18"Lx33"H so I can separate girl from boys and hopefully breed the single female once.

[ra]

The glass ran me about $65 to have it cut and have the edges rounded. I put the base together myself using the Aquarium Silica bought at a pet shop. The plate glass is 1/4" thick.
I couldn't access the link for the picture but those chinchilla cages sound like the ones I used minus the base.

[carissa]

Does that work, Ra?

[ra]

Yes. Thank you. That is a nice looking cage. You may want to either replace the wire ramps with the solid plastic ones( be forewarned my Degus love to chew their ramps - have a couple spare on hand!) or fit the wire ramps with some sort of solid base so they don't get bumble footed running up and down the ramps. Must say though, sometimes mine don't bother with my solid ramps but climb up the wire cage instead. My shelves have holes for food dishes to sit down into. I put a cardboard nest box under the open hole so the girls just hop up on the top of their nest box climb through the hole to the next level - I'm not real sure how much they really need the ramps in the first place!!

I would think that cage would make a fine Degu home.

[carissa]

Just looking for ideas on how to make some kind of kick-guards for the bedding? Are there other ideas than the glass/acrylic case?

[northernstar40]

very nice, Great Job Ra! any one have ideas on how to make a hammock for a glass 55gal. fish tank. Right now I dont have any way to hang one. There is no (cage) topper on the fish tank just the glass with a top. My others have a hammock and the girls love it but after we discovered that Frat was fratalina Boo need to come out. (no more babies) and I would like to put one in his cage but cant figure out how to hang it in there.

[rhed]

How is the top attached to the glass?
Is it a mesh top? If not, what?
What sort of tools do you have available? ie, wire cutters, file, pliers, etc?

I'm sure there's a good solution, either with solid fixings or little rubber suckers.

I'll try and come up with some ideas if you can tell me more about the cage itself.

Thanks.

[Hanlou]

Carissa: How about perspex? You could drilll holes in it and attach it with wire to the sides at the bottom. If you poked it through holes from the inside, it would tie off outside the cage where they wouldn't be able to reach it, if that makes any sense? You could then have it to height you want and it should stop bedding flying around a bit.