HOW TO BUILD A DEGU CAGE !

[lex79]

Hi all, first post but had a look through the site and has quite a bit of info I can use, thanks.

Anyway, few quick questions.

I noticed some people using MDF for the walls of the cages, has anyone got any experience of this for long term use as MDF has a habit of swelling and going a bit 'mushy' after getting moist for a while (am thinking the toilet corner) so was a bit worried about it.

My original plan before finding this site was mainly pine tongue and grove box with a plywood backing, and mesh doors. Was also going to be thin but tall but looking here seems thats not the best plan. My new revised plan might be glass doors but that would leave the water bottle inside which I'm sure my little terrors would destroy in no time. So maybe a glass bottom half with lots of bedding and a mesh top half with shelves with edges on. Not sure yet.

Anyway, any thoughts and ideas are welcome.

[smux]

Glass water bottles are available, and if you've got wood walls why not just drill through the wall and put the (plastic or glass) water bottle through the hole?

Regarding the wood types, you'll get a lot of opinions here, all of them have their pros and cons...go through them and make your own decision based on the most important parts of those pros and cons :-)

[lex79]

Might try a ceramic waterdish in the cage they're in now, see if it gets full of poop or whether it is an option for them.
Wondering with the glass doors how they get a flush surface on the inside to stop any chewing, thinking it must be rebated into the wood then maybe adhesive. Or could drill stright into the glass and fix the hinges to that, or just go with runners.....d**n it too many choices. lol

[NightwishRaven999]

Jun 6, 2010 19:50:38 GMT lex79 said:

Hi all, first post but had a look through the site and has quite a bit of info I can use, thanks.

Anyway, few quick questions.

I noticed some people using MDF for the walls of the cages, has anyone got any experience of this for long term use as MDF has a habit of swelling and going a bit 'mushy' after getting moist for a while (am thinking the toilet corner) so was a bit worried about it.

My original plan before finding this site was mainly pine tongue and grove box with a plywood backing, and mesh doors. Was also going to be thin but tall but looking here seems thats not the best plan. My new revised plan might be glass doors but that would leave the water bottle inside which I'm sure my little terrors would destroy in no time. So maybe a glass bottom half with lots of bedding and a mesh top half with shelves with edges on. Not sure yet.

Anyway, any thoughts and ideas are welcome.

@ lex79
Hello ! How are you ?
First, I am glad you found the information in the website to be useful. I am also glad you are asking questions. No one should be jumping into this without having their doubts or questions answered.

To answer your first question. MDF is one of the most common woods for cage building. One of the cages I have build had two MDF walls. I had this cage for over a year and it was still in top condition. I eventually decided to build a new cage, not because the MDF was degrading, but because I was no longer satisfied with the size of the cage.

Your questions regarding this wood are very well founded.
When exposed to liquid, this wood will eventually swell up and become soggy. It may also start cracking in some locations.

That is why I only recommend using this wood to build the cage structure. Degus urinate in small amounts, but do so regularly.
Most degus dont have a specific place where they do this...they will simply pee here and there.
Also keep in mind that this wood should only be used for the back, sides and bottom of the cage. The degus wont be urinating directly on the cage walls. They pee on the ground...so the walls of the cage arent affectected by this.

But what about MDF on the bottom of the cage ?
Again, you must think of bedding.
Bedding is probably the most important thing in a wooden cage.
Not only does a wooden cage allow the degus to dig to their satisfaction, but it also keeps the cage dry and clean for many weeks. In a wire cage, the urine will stain everything.
You may have wooden levels in your cage and they are most likely ruined with urine and traces of calcium.

In a wooden cage, the bottom should be covered with a thick amount of bedding. I am talking about a nice thick 10-15 cm.
This amount of bedding will keep the bottom of the cage very dry and clean, free of urine stains and such.

If you are not comfortable using this wood on the bottom, nothing stops you from using MDF for the back and sides and using Plywood or Pine wood for the bottom.

Even though the cage levels should be covered with a few centimeters of bedding, of course they should not be made of plywood.
This wood is not safe for the degus to chew on and is generally much too heavy to make levels with.

So to sum up, MDF is fine when used to build the wall and sides of the cage and its fine to put on the bottom if protected by a thick layer of bedding.

I know several cage builders who have been using MDF in their cages and always had good and lasting results.

Your idea of going half glass and half mesh is great.
I usually tell those who are new to this to keep things simple.
But if you plan well, you will have no problem.
If you are comfortable with this idea I would say go for it

Feel free to browse around this section of the forum.
You will find many members who have or are in the process of building their own wooden cage.

If the cage is well planned and well built, it will last you many many years.

Hope this helps...
Let us know if you have other questions.
We will do our best to provide you with an unbiased and informative reply.

[lex79]

Cheers guys. you've given me alot to think about. Think the pine will give a better finish and more strength, but also more cost. So will have to weigh that up.
I like the idea of a shelf on the front of the cage where they can run out. Might help when training any as would give them a chance to come to you rather than stick your hand in the cage and scare them.
Mine seem to pick a corner and all wee out of it, as you can tell with the cage. has to be the highest corner where they can spray it out the most too.
Found screwfix for mesh and vents, basic fixings, have a local wood merchant for all that and a local builders who will do same day glass sheets. Even found some rope merchants for me to creat toys with. Think only thing left to do is go on a scouting mission for some rocks asnd branches. To the cliffs!

[emz]

Pine is ridiculously expensive in that size. I really would suggest Plywood for the outer walls if you're really worried about MDF warping. Though if you were to coat the walls in a none toxic paint then the surface would become smooth and then it would not warp. It would also be easier to clean and perhaps look a bit more cheerful! Depends if you want a more natural look or not.

[lex79]

Is an idea, along with metal strips to neaten up the edges maybe. Now to find metal strips and non toxic paint.

To be honest the cost isn't a huge problem, so I go without a new graphics card and beer for a few weekends. But would prefer value for money so will cost it all up and see whats best.

I think I could end up spending more building one than just buying a big metal beasty. lol.

[emz]

Yeah I was going to use aluminium angle myself for certain edges though it may change depending on how the build goes near the end.

Just get water based paint and it should be fine. The main issues are lead, zinc and chromate and lead isn't in new paints.

And depends on how much the card is - the cage might cost more in Pine! I think smux priced up some Pine to be like 300 pounds or something whereas the MDF usually costs like 30 quid and it does the job.

[smux]

To be fair I was planning on using a lot of pine with what I was planning...a decent-sized cage shouldn't cost more than £100-£150 in proper pine although that's still a lot :-)

[NightwishRaven999]

I will need to do some editing on the website.
The wood that I can buy at the store comes from my own country, so its very cheap. I was not aware that wood was that expensive in UK.

So I will need to clarify about the price range and cost of materials in different locations around the world.

One thing is for sure though...a wooden cage is still relatively cheap. The biggest parrot cages (about 120x60x120 cm) are often sold for 400-600$ here.
But even these cages are smaller than what you can build with wood for half that price...not to mention these parrot cages have all the inconveniences of regular metal cages.

The price also depends on the materials used.
Plywood is very cheap compared to Pine and MDF tends to be in between.

Emz ended up paying more than I would have thought...although the cage she and her boyfriend built is fairly large...it still came out to a large amount of money.
The thing to remember though is that wooden cages have so many benefits as opposed to metal cages.
Once you go with wood...you never go back.

If you follow the instructions in the website very closely and come up with a solid plan, you will succeed in building a very long-lasting cage.

[emz]

The key thing that took up a lot of my money was the plastic sheet I bought for the doors and the small metal grates as I wanted to get a small piece instead of a roll. Without those it would've been a much cheaper thing lol. Plywood and MDF are fairly cheap - Birch Plywood is pricey.

I don't mind paying for what I want though. I should only have to do it once and hopefully it will last a long, long time. So I'm happy. ;D

[lex79]

Another quick thought, when using glass with 2 sliding doors, how do you stop them chewing on the inside edge? Was worried about them managing to do themselves damage with the glass.

[emz]

The base should have a raised part of about 10 inches to allow digging otherwise their bedding is still going to get everywhere. If your shelves go across the full depth of the cage then they will be ale to chew the edge where the two panels sit in the centre but if you get glass and not a sheet of plastic they shouldn't be able to do themselves any damage.

Also with a large enough cage a degu would be too happy in their space to chew about. A degu usually chews when they are bored but if the space is large enough with enough chew toys they shouldn't want to chew it much.

[NightwishRaven999]

@ lex79
The glass fits in to metal sliders (double U or W tracks).
To get to the wood, the degus would first have to chew through the metals glass sliders, something that would not happen.

And as Emz said, when you build a wooden cage, its usually because you want it to be large.
Degus that live in large cages dont spend as much time looking for a way out.

[emz]

Just thought I'd add my cage here for when my own topic gets lost one day. This topic is stickied so seems like a good idea to keep the information here too.


Dimensions: 1.5(w) x 1(h) x 0.5(d) in meters.

Topic: deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Cage&action=display&thread=6097&page=1

[NightwishRaven999]

It looks fantastic.
Your two boys must look so tiny inside
Well done and thanks for posting here.

[ettolrahc]

Some great advice here regarding cages, they all look so much better than anything I've ever seen in a store!

I'm building my own cage at the moment, ready for my first pair of degus (I've been waiting about 2 year to finally be allowed them so am really excited! ;D). Anyway, so far I have built the main structure of the cage and am in the process of making the levels. And this is where I get confused...

I made the main structure of the cage using plywood and had to buy 2 big sheets to have enough wood, even though I only used a tinnny amount of the second sheet. I have a lot left over and was going to use them as levels. I know that plywood is toxic when injested, but I would make a lip along the edges using kiln-dried pine to keep the sawdust on anyway, so don't see how they would be able to chew it? I thought degus weren't able to chew on a flat surface, and surely the ledges will be a flat surface? Also, I was planning on having a layer of cardboard on the ledges, and then have the sawdust on top of that, just for a kinda extra protection...

Anyway, I didn't think there'd be any problem with doing it this way, until I read this board and saw that apparently it won't work Building this cage and getting the things for inside it (excluding the degus ofc ) has already cost me about £150-£200 (plexiglass was considerable more expensive than I had anticipated) so I kinda don't wanna have to spend loads more on wood...kiln-dried pine is hard to find here and pretty expensive; so far the only bits I've got are in thin strips from a timbre yard so not really suitable for shelf building...Obviously the safety of the degus is my main priority, so if I MUST re-do the shelves then I will, but I'm really hoping somebody can suggest something else since I'm running low on funds...

Thanks in advance, sorry if this is too long to bother reading >.<

[samovilafox]

>_<

Wow....wow..........wow......


Those are insanely awesome cages! Makes my head spin just thinking of all the craftsmanship that went into them!

I need to take a picture of our enclosure at work so you know what we're dealing with. After I get it cleaned out tho, the snake did a real number on it in the last few days.

I'm not sure we can affix shelves in it, but what about swings? If we got some rope or string stuff like in emz's pic, what if we hung some shelves from the top? (It's more than strong enough, we hung nests for the birds and then later branches for the snake.) We could use wood or maybe even card board can cartons maybe? (We could easily replace those every day or every other day if needed.) What do you all think?

[smux]

Swings and shelves hung from rope should do fine, but they might climb the rope so I wouldn't have it too high up or too near the escape hatch :-)

Look into wood that degus are allowed, if you can get any of that for free from local forests or parks (as branches), perfect...if not, some of it you can buy easy enough in timber yards (as logs) but it might turn out costly. Cardboard holds some amusement but you have to ensure it's safe (no staples, bare minimum of glue and preferably none)...and it is a good idea to swap it every few days even if they haven't nibbled on it, just to keep them on their toes and amused (that is if it's there for their amusement and it is easy enough to replace)

[samovilafox]

Cool thanks! I'd be afraid to take anything out of the woods around here for fear of a mite infestation. We've had to deal with one twice already and don't want another one. We have 4 sets of decorative branches that came with the enclosure, I'll have to check to see what kind of wood they are as I'm sure the little guys will love to munch them. Those cardboard shelves are part of our can packages. No staples and we chuck the ones that have too much glue. Still, we have so many we can easily replace them daily if we need to. ;D In fact, we get so many boxes on a daily basis, we could probably make a ready supply of box mansions for them! We get some really uniquely shaped boxes.