ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 19, 2011 20:56:27 GMT
Thanks for the advice I was planning on sanding/planing the wood, so it shouldn't be too rough when we're finished with it, but I will take a look at the smoother wood (the chains also).
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 22, 2011 19:50:15 GMT
We've begun building the cage Well, we've drawn the lines on the MDF and have all the materials, sawing it tommorow and everything else we can get done. Should be done soon! Does anyone have any suggestions for nesting boxes or whatnot other than just making one out of wood?
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Post by Kins on Sept 23, 2011 11:20:56 GMT
Excellent work. Look forward to seeing (hopefully...hint, hint) your progress. With regards to nesting boxes, I just used cardboard boxes for all of mine. They can then do an DIY/home improvements they feel necessary, then once the box no longer resembles a box due to too many home improvements simply give them a new box
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Post by Kat on Sept 23, 2011 18:29:52 GMT
Hanging baskets are always received well in this house.
For the coconut bowls could you drill a small hole near the rim, then screw a small hook in the cage and hook it on to thar?
The terricotta things are called saucers by the way.
Kat X
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 23, 2011 22:03:55 GMT
We've sawn and planed most of the wood. Took a whole day because we found the saw we were going to use was rubbish, so we had to walk to town and find another, then the plane turned out to be blunt and so it took us ages to plane the edges of wood we cut. I also got banged in the head with a very large, heavy piece of MDF, which was fun This cage building business is treacherous Hence no progress pictures yet - but I will take some tommorow! Thanks for the advice regarding nest boxes, Kins and Kat - think I'll try cardboard boxes for now, we seem to have a lot of them at the moment anyway. Kat, Simon says he's going to try something similar to that (with the coconuts)
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 24, 2011 22:26:00 GMT
How's it going for you today then? Are your heads OK?
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Post by harpic01 on Sept 25, 2011 9:15:27 GMT
Hi Ava We just help but join in with designs Suggest for the sand bath - my other half has made ours sunken - i know posh eh, he cut the whole out slight narrower than the P&H (sorry for swearing) metal sand bath lip so it is secure and just above floor level the sand stays in the tray and does not end up all over the floor.
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 27, 2011 10:06:16 GMT
Deguconvert - Luckily there were no more head injuries ;D Mine's fine now. Apologies for not replying before now... all we've done so far is tried various methods of making the table sturdier, and chiseling a notch in the bottom level for the perspex. I'm hoping that today will be the day we get most, if not all, of the cage done. I'll take a photo of the table today too. The problem was, that while it could take a lot of weight, it was quite wobbly and we were worried someone might knock it and tip it over. Or just scare the degus. It's much better now though. Harpic01 - Wow, I do like the idea of a sunken sand bath, it sounds great. Wouldn't work with what I bought in the end eventually, though - a large glass bowl from Ikea - I couldn't find any of the other stuff that was suggested unfortunately I think it'll work though.
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Post by fuzzymum1 on Sept 27, 2011 15:33:19 GMT
Ok... well, I'm hoping they will be somewhat tame (I will spend a lot of time with them personally and I'm sure my brother-in-law-to-be also will, as they'll be his as well), but if they're that difficult I don't think having two doors will make much of a difference. I'll just have to be careful and get someone to help me out when I'm cleaning. However, I thought it was recommended to let the degus out to play each day anyway? So surely I should try to get them to come out? Thanks for the warning, anyway. They're pretty tame already - I get them out to play several times a week at least and they come out and into the travel cage when I clean their cage. They're a little bit skittish at the moment (as all the pups have been at this age) but catching them and getting them out isn't usually too much of a problem unless they're in a difficult mood
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 27, 2011 21:23:49 GMT
Ah, great Good to know - I thought they'd be quite tame anyway, since you've said they're regularly handled, but nice to have it confirmed
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Post by smithomatic on Sept 27, 2011 23:00:51 GMT
@ ava Id love to see the pictures of your degu cage progress (you can find mine here smithomatic-degu.blogspot.com/). It already sounds like its too late but I definately recommend taking the wood to a BNQ store to have the wood cut if you can. They can do the cuts in absolutely no time at all with accuracy to the millimeter for a very cheep price. Then you can build nest boxes and ledges out of your off-cuts! ^^ Smithomatic
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Sept 29, 2011 23:18:15 GMT
I've taken pictures, but they're not all that interesting to be honest, lol - I'll wait until we've made more visible progress (we should get it finished tommorow, but a lot of what we're doing is preparation work) and then put them all up.
And yeah, lol, too late - thanks anyway though. I wish we'd realised. We were informed that the cuts we wanted would be too complicated, so we only got the sheets basically halved at b&q and did the rest ourselves. Ah well - at least I know for next time.
I need some advice, again. I'm making the vents, and they're basically square holes with wire mesh over - it'll be the inside of the cage - and strips of kiln dried pine nailed around the sides, so that holds the mesh down and will stop them from getting at the edges of the MDF. The problem is, we have the edges of the mesh sticking out. It's a little sharp, and I've done my very best to cut it down so it's barely past the edge, and I'm hoping they couldn't really get at it, but I do worry whether it'll be ok or not? Simon suggested putting tiny blobs of wood glue on each end, but I don't think this would be a good idea on the off chance they tried to eat it, small as it would be...
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Oct 2, 2011 15:02:47 GMT
Thank you everyone, for all the help with the cage! I've finished it and it now houses two wonderful degus I will post pictures soon.
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Post by fred on Oct 2, 2011 15:12:44 GMT
Wouhou!! Congrats on the cage and finally becoming owned by goos ;D Looking forward to see the pics
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