My cage....

[Hanlou]

Thought I'd finally post some pics of my degu set-up. The cage is a Ferplast Duetto cage, it's an indoor aviary and is split width-ways into two totally seperate cages. The rats currently live in the top half and the degus live in the bottom half.

Sadly, my ratties are all two years old and over (4 of them), and I have decided, for various reasons not to get any more rats at the moment when they all finally pass on. So the degus will eventually have the whole cage. Here's the rats' half:



Here's the degus half (bottom half) - it's not poo you can see ont the shelf, it's pellets, they pick them out of the food as they prefer the new food! It's not really dark though it looks it on here:



The left half (close-up):



The right half (close-up):



..... you can just see the degus in the top pic so you can get an idea of the size.

[Hanlou]

By the way, the yellow paint is Japlac - non-toxic child friendly paint. I'd heartily recommend using it on any wooden shelves etc as it makes cleaning so much easier.

[ra]

Wow that is really, really nice. You've done a wonderful job adapting a bird cage for your Degus. I looked at bird cages because some of them are just about perfect except for the price!!!

I had a sand bath house just like yours but the Degu Girls chewed the corners off - hard to keep the sand in the darned thing with holes in it!!! Went to a glass jar used for counter storage in the kitchen.

[Hanlou]

Aw, thanks ra!! :-)

Well, I did manage to buy it when there was 20% off the price but it still wasn't cheap. But mum wanted a 'nice looking' cage to go in the conservatory and this is the only type that looks nice which splits into two. It is a brilliant cage, access is fantastic, dead easy to clean. It's funny but they haven't eaten the sand bath at all yet, I was worried they would (it's always in the cage) but they haven't touched it .......... yet. ;-) The plastic Ferplast shelf has survived fine too.

They did have a plastic tube, now that did get gnawed!!

[Sunshinemeg]

can you tell me more about painting the shelves? it seems a really good idea.

[Hanlou]

Hi Meg!! I painted the shelves / sleep n' ledges using Japlac - it comes in a range of colours, all very bright because it's designed for childrens toys.

B&Q sell it, but I had to ask as I couldn't find it!! The tins are small, but they do go a long way, and it covers really well. I used two coats for all my shelves, it dries to a nice shiny coating which doesn't absorb wee and is easy to wipe.

I left the shelves to 'air' for a week or so after the last coat just to make sure there were no fumes or anything before using them in the degus' cage. It's definitely non-toxic so there's no danger to them if they nibble on the wood. Apparently 'plastikote' sprays are also non-toxic, but they aren't as good at repelling wee and a can doesn't go that far according to some people who have used it. Most prefer Japlac.

I got the idea from a rat forum, and if you've seen how much ratties can wee / poo compared to degus, then you'll realise how essential japlac is!! The wine rack in the rats' cage that you can see (bright yellow, lol) is now about 1 year and a half old, and still going strong because it's washable. When I've been lazy and haven't bothered to paint things I've had to bin them a couple of months down the line because wood is so hard to thoroughly wash.

So now everything gets 'Japlac-ed' in the oh-so-tasteful canary yellow. (well, it was either that or pillar box red!)

[Sunshinemeg]

Thats a fab idea Han, I will try it with the replacement leap n ledges I get. The ones I have right now are so chewed and tatty already, its not worth it, but I think it looks great, and makes a lot of sense!! And hey, the bright yellow might put my grumpy older guys in a better mood!!!