ideas for connecting burrowing pit to cage?

[fred]

Having just seen NightwishRavens' pics of his degus' burrowing pit, I would like to press on with connecting cage and burrowing pit on a permanent basis. This is my current temporary (for play time only) setup:



Now I want to connect the side of the cage with the top of the burrowing pit (I already have a wire mesh lid for it). Unfortunately my DIY skills are terrible wanting The best I have come up with so far is a plastic drain pipe, covered at the ends to protect from chewing, and inside partially lined with sisal rope to give them some grip. I am far from happy with this and would appreciate it very much if anyone had a suggestion.

[nuttz]

i also have a digging pit pretty much the same as yours (an old fish tank filled with soil, chin sand, sawdust and hay) i used to keep it in the cage permanently but now i only put it in every week or so to give them a change.
cant help you im afraid as my DIY skills are a bit naff to say the least...lol but i do have a question if i may ;D
you mentioned that you have a plastic drain pipe and youve covered the ends to prevent them from chewing..
i have three big plastic pipes that i was thinking would be great for my goos but i was worried that they would chew on them so i havent as yet put them in the cage, how have you protected yours and with what?
thanking you in advance

[fred]

I am afraid the the drain pipe option is only at the concept stage right now (still hoping for a better idea). If I follow this up and find a good way to protect the edges I will of course inform my fellow DIY-challenged

[nuttz]

lol
ok.. thanks, i shall look forward to an update once youve figured it out as at the moment im at a loss end..lol

[deguconvert]

Questions . . . do you wish to keep the digging pit in the same position it currently holds? Have you imagined it anywhere else? Have you considered putting an aquarium topper on it, removing one side of the topper so that it could be open to the vivarium, and then securing the edges of the topper and vivarium to each other so that it doesn't have gaps? Or would that mess with the vivarium too much?

[NightwishRaven999]

Fred, in the article on building degu cages, I wrote a short text on how to add a digging pit extension to a wooden cage.
Basically you would need to create a support for the cage and fit the aquarium underneath, without having the cage sit directly on the aquarium.

Here is the short text I was talking about...

"Different ways of expanding a wooden cage (advanced)
One way to give your degus even more room is to provide them with a digging box.
Aquariums are highly suitable for this purpose. Fitting a glass tank under the degu cage is quite easy.
Not only can an aquarium hold large amounts of bedding, but it also offers a clear view of whats happening inside.

Unlike degu cages that consist of aquariums with mesh extensions on top, this aquarium will merely be there to give the degus additional room...the cage on top is much more important and should not be considered an extension. Rather, the glass tank should be viewed as the lower extension...not the other way around.

How can you fit a tank under the cage and what would be the purpose ?
First of all, a wooden cage measuring 100x50x100 cm can be quite heavy...so it should never be placed directly on a glass tank.
Although glass aquariums are quite sturdy, remember you will be putting lots of bedding, wood branches and toys in the cage...all this weight can quickly undermine the structural integrity of the aquarium. So the best way to go about this is to have your cage on a support. Preferably elevated 40 to 50 cm off the ground. You can make a solid cage stand very easily.
This way you can fit a glass tank under the cage, without actually having the cage sit directly on it. Aquariums come in many different dimensions. You should have no trouble finding tanks measuring 40 to 50 cm in height. Choose a tank that will fit nicely under the cage. Ideally the cage bottom shouldnt be more than 3 cm above the top of the glass tank.
As discussed earlier in this article, the bottom of the degu cage should consist of wood. Cutting out a circular or square opening through the bottom of the cage and placing a 30 - 55 gallon tank under it is the best way to go.

What is the purpose of fitting a glass tank under the cage ?
There are several benefits of fitting a tank under a degu cage.
This is especially beneficial to those who cannot provide their degus will large amounts of floor space.
Cages around the 100x50x100 cm recommended minimum can greatly benefit from the added space of a tank.
An "underground" digging tank also satisfies the degu's need to dig and burrow.

You can use ordinary wood shavings in the tank. But be careful ! A tank is a very closed up system, so choose low dust bedding.
You can use dirt, coconut shell substrate, shreaded cardboard, tissue or timothy hay. Fill the tank up halfway with the burrowing material. Choose a long, thick branch and place it through the opening you made in the cage bottom right into the tank.
This will allow the degus to easily go in and out."


Other than transforming the bottom floor of the degu cage into a digging pit itself, the method described in the paragraphs above is the simplest way I could come up with.

[NightwishRaven999]

Fred, I made two images using Paint to better illustrate the method of fitting a glass tank under the degu cage.

Hope this helps.




The end result...

[sam99]

An alternative to the drainpipe is to make a tube using aviary mesh. Roll into a tube and secure together with wire. Make sure there are no sharp edges. This is how I connected two units for my rats and they love whizzing up and down the tube. The bonus is that you can still see them while they are in the tube.

[fred]

Thanks for all responses.

@nigthwishraven - This is what I would like to do eventually. I am only deferring it until I have found a second vivarium unit. If this is larger or smaller, it will affect how I best integrate the burrowing pit.

sam,jamie,travis(sid n moose) - I had seen the picture of your cage and tried to replicate it but it wouldn't work well with the wire mesh I had. Could you please give me the specification of the aviary mesh you used?

deguconvert - coming from your aquarium topper suggestion, I realised that I can achieve this with the glass vivarium itself. This leaves only a small gap which I can easily secure. They will loose their second cage exit for now but that seems a small price for having permanent access to the burrowing pit.

[sam99]

I used 12mm aviary mesh and just curled the edges together to make a tube of about 26cm circumference. You can make it as long or as short as you like.