think I've been sold wrong cage!!

[mel]

Hi - i bought 2 degus on Sunday along with the complete set up. I must admit to not knowing an awful lot about them but have been doing loads of research since and already love them to bits!
I wanted to get them a massive cage so spent £180 on a 6ft tall one at my local garden centre. It's massive and they love running about in it. I thought it wa fantastic and the man in the garden centre said it would be great for them. However, it has a plastic base. The actual bars of the come down on the inside of the base so they don't have access to the edges but after reading about how destructive they are I'm wondering whether it would be possible for them to eat their way through the flat bottom?
I'm so annoyed to think that he might have sold me the wrong one especially as it was so expensive! Should I contact them and ask for a refund or do you think they'll be ok in it? I have an old rat cage which I could put them in temporarily and if I did need a new one would get one made to order from John Hopewell online as his cages look fab. I hope it wont come to this though!

[fred]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum

You clearly have been sold the wrong cage. They can chew their way through the plastic over night, so you would need to cover it asap. I would suggest to take a picture of the cage and post it here. It will then be easier for us to give you advice whether minor changes can be effective or to try to return it to the garde centre.

[mel]

Here's a picture

[mel]

As I said before the bars of the cage actually go down inside the base so they have no way of getting to the sides of the plastic base. They would literally have to nibble through the smooth plastic sheet of plastic across the bottom to get out. I am not bothered about having to replace the shelves etc if they get demolished. At the moment they haven't chewed anything except their wooden house and their wooden wheel which is fine as I can replace these as and when.

[fred]

Since you already mentioned other options, let me be blunt: this cage is completely unsuitable for degus I think this is a clear-cut case of misselling a product and you should be able to return it to the garden centre. If your old rat cage can accommodate them for a short while, that's what I would recommend.

Have a look at this site to get an overview what we suggest what degus cages should look like octodondegus.weebly.com/. If you want to buy a wire cage, the most suitable on offer these days is probably the Sky Xtrail ( www.mybigpetshop.co.uk/mybigpetshop/prod_1241554-Xtrail-Pet-Rodent-Cage-Free-PampP.html as an example).

[mel]

I've spoke to the garden cantre and they have agreed for me to take it back and they will either give me an exchange or refund which is good. I feel awful now though as my poor little degus are still very new and nervous so this change isn't going to be good for them.
I would love a wooden style cage like those shown on the first website you quoted but unfortunately neither myself or my husband would be capable of building something like that. Shame you can't buy them ready done like it! I have seen some nice large wire type cages on Amazon and there's the John Hopewell site too so we'll have a good look around. Fingers crossed they wont eat their way out of this cage before we get to return it on friday!
Thank you for your advice.

[nubbin]

I would say the main issues with this cage isnt the plastic base but the plastic shelves, its not that they shelves would need to be replaced but any pieces eaten by the little nibblers could seriously damage their insides.

[moletteuk]

Overall size and running space are everything to a degu. I agree with Fred's recommendation, John Hopewell ones are well made, but tend to be small.

Perhaps the garden centre could order you in something more suitable and you could do a direct swap, so the degus would only be in the rat cage a couple of hours?

[mel]

I've since spoke to the garden centre again and they have agreed for me to buy a new cage elsewhere (have ordered the Xtrail one online), and move my degus into it at my leisure then return the old one to them for a full refund after. This should hopefully work out great as I can set up the new one when it arrives then put it in front of the old one with the doors open and hopefully they will go in themselves and I wont have to attempt to catch them and upset them. Fingers crossed the new one arrives soon so I can stop fretting about them escaping!!!

[deguconvert]

You've done a great job of getting this settled in a manner that accomodates both you and your degus. Well done!

[nubbin]

wow that xtrail cage looks amazing, it would suit me perfectly as at the moment i'm in the middle of trying to reintroduce mine back togeather, i might have to get that on pay day

[winic1]

Question--if you took a cage like this one, and replaced all the little plastic shelves with full levels, say, made of wood, with ramps inbetween, so that it ended up more like a 4- or 5-story set-up instead of a tall cage, would that make it more suitable? (And make a deep bottom liner, and maybe edge one or more of the upper levels to hold chips as well.)

Just wondering, since tall and narrow fits in many homes better, and this shape cage is more commonly found than long and wide.

[mel]

It would be possible to modify it as you described but I spent so much on it and don't really have the funds to spend anymore! There's also the principal of the matter - I'm really annoyed that the staff at what I thought was one of the best pet shops and most knowledgable staff round here would sell me something so unsuitable. I want to get a refund to prove a point and hopefully stop the same thing happening to anyone else! I also want my degus to have the

[mel]

Best home I can possibly provide so think a new cage is the best option all round. (He xtrail looks much better and I'm very excited as had an email to say it has been despatched today. Hope its here soon as I'm totally out of cash after having to buy a 2nd cage. And need my refund!
Sorry my post ended up in 2 bits! Typing on my mobile and pressed send accidently!

[fred]

winic1 Length is the most important dimension of a degu cage and the recommended minimum area is 100 x 50 cm. There are hardly any (affordable) wire cages of 100 cm but several with a length between 90 and 100 cm which are considered OK (with a depth of around 60 cm they have the same area). The cage which mel originally bought would fall too far short of this.

mel You were right to make this a point of principle with the vendor. It's not just the dimensions but all the plastic that made this cage so unsuitable for degus. Several of our members have the xtrail and seem to be happy with it. You may want to consider wooden trays ( deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Cage&thread=8858&page=2#66338 ) but this is not something you need to do immediately.

[winic1]

Oh, I fully understand and agree that they should not have sold you this cage for degus, and your making them make it right by getting the refund. I was just wondering what people thought about altering a cage like this in general, if it's what you have or what you can get, or all you have space for in a small home.

[mel]

Thank you all for your advice. I will certainly look into getting some of the wooden trays made. Excellent idea!

[mel]

Well new cage is here and all set up and the goos have moved in. They love it and seem very excited by their new environment. Only downside is that the wood chippings are flying out of the cage all over the place so I need to give my hubby a gentle prod in the direction of B&Q for some wood to make trays for the shelves!
The old cage was returned to the garden centre tonight and a full refund was given with no quibble. They have spoken to the sales assistant who sold me the cage and said they will make sure it doesn't happen again. Successful outcome all round really!

[fred]

Good to hear Once you have the wooden trays, please give a report how you and your goos like it. The xtrail seems to become our default recommendation for a wire cage and it would be nice to get some feedback.

[sophie9901]

My cage has a plastic bottom, i've had all 4 of my degu's in it at various times for long periods and they have never chewed it or tried to so I think the whole "plastic is going to get chewed through over night" comment is not always the case It's up to you what you want to do, I would give them a couple of weeks and see how they get on, if you get lots of wooden chew toys and things to keep them occupied then it should be no problem having a slight plastic base
Although you may want to change the shelves from plastic to wood as they are more likely to chew those