Is This a Good Cage ?

[tommonewton]

Just asking weather this is a good cage or not

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tall-CHINCHILLA-RAT-DEGU-CHIPMONK-CAGE-NCL59-/250907282369?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3724431883150377684#ht_642wt_1037


Thank you

[zoebaz]

Looks ok, but make sure you ask for the one without a mesh bottom,!

[degualot]

welcome to the forum, there's a lot to learn about proper cage requirments for Degus.

IMHO I would say that cage is not good to house Degus. you see,
57 xcm 46cm does not give enough floor space for them to run about. Degus love to run a lot, and the more floor space the better, think similar to a Lion running across an open field, that is what they need. Alough that's not to say they don't enjoy rope climbing and climbing ontop of things and going through tunnels, because they do. what i'm trying to say is, make the cage somewhere they can run about first and something they can climb in second.

It's a common misconception that Degus are climbers so people get them tall cages and little floor space, Although Degus do like a little climb, they are not climbers by nature. They are runners, they like to run all over the place. So you see that cage has hardly anywhere to run a good distance. For instance an old cage i'm using has 100cm by 70cm on the floor, doesn't sound like a lot but it's quite abit of floor space. I'm building a new cage which is even longer.

The height of the cage is good but they need floor space more than height, now if the cage was wide and deep and that tall with full levels to run across , then we would be talking about a seriously good cage.

There is a lot about cages on this forum so read all the links about cages, and ask questions. It's a vast subject to cover, don't rush out and buy a cage straight away, I would read up a little first and find out how you can get a first decent cage for your Degus. Also it's worth checking out how to build a cage yourself, it's surprisingly easy and doesn't cost as much as petstore cages can be built a lot larger.

anyway I kicked it off, i'm sure someone else can give you more infomation, we have some great people on this forum who can help.

I'm sure someone else can explain what i'm trying to say better.

go to this link to view a topic under disscusion by jbaggs92, on the second post NightwishRaven999 gives some very good advice which may help with your understanding.

deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Cage&action=display&thread=9237

[tommonewton]

thank you , will be a long time before i get degus so i have plenty of time to research.

How much roughly does it cost to build a cage /

[degualot]

I'm glad I could, help, well that's good to hear that your taking your time to have a look around and check out information on Degus before getting them, very responsible of you, so good on you.

As for price that's a hard one to guess at, because materials can be different prices depending on where you go and what your using. Most people build them out of wood because it's cheap and you can buy it in large sheets.

The walls can be made out of anything sturdy say, MDF or Plywood, MDF is a lot cheaper than Plywood so if your budget doesn't suit Plywood then go with MDF. Have a look at the Designs on here and if you like contact NightwishRaven999 and ask him to point you in the right sirection, he has some great tips for cage building.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get a price for the build, just source out the materials and add up the cost. I think B&Q will even cut up the wood for you so as long as you have a plan of what your building you can work it out how many sheets you will need.

It may seem like a lot of work but it isn't really, it's great fun to build your own to!!, you'll need help, 4 hands are way better than 2. But just remember, your Degus will be very happy with a home made cage. you will be able to make it much longer and deeper than anything store or internet bought.

Good luck with this, trust me, you won't regret building your own cage, plus think of it this way, with good health a Degu can last 6-7 years, Plenty of space will only add to their happiness for those years.

[tommonewton]

ok thank you , good advice there

Do they not chew the wood ? my gerbils could chew for england and i hear degus are the same.

Also do they not stain the wood ? also instead of glass could i use mesh ?

Thanks for all your advice so far

[degualot]

They can't chew on a flat surface so the walls are safe, as for the levels, what you do is you build say 2 huge levels out of say Plywood, Then you line the edge with a thick bit of kiln dried pine, which can act as a lip. Now this does two things, firstly it gives them something to chew other than the edge of the plywood because plywood is not good for them to chew on, as it contains glue, as does MDF. but because the lip is made of kiln dried pine, they can chew on that. Now as for chewing, well Degus need to chew wood , so they will chew the edges of the levels which would be covered with Kiln dried pine, over time the edges might need replacing but not the levels if you get what i'm saying.

As for Urine, the lip also let's you put bedding on the levels which absorbs the urine, without the lip, it would simply get kicked off. Secondly the base can be made very deep, allowing a lot of wood shavings be be used, this is great for digging and stops the wood being soaked with urine.

now believe it or not, but a wood cage is a lot easier to clean than an all mesh one, wood is a flat surface so it's easily wiped off, where as cages have bars and it get's hard to clean. Plus with a wood cage they can generally stay clean longer than a mesh one.

[tommonewton]

ok thank you for the advice ! how long roughly do the shelv edges last before you have to replace /

[degualot]

it's hard to say, you see the bigger the cage, the less the Degus will focus on escaping, because why would they want to, when they have so much space.

If you provide enough wood toys or branches or other interesting things to nibble, they should focus less on the shelves and more on what is in the cages itself. As for replacing, you won't need to replace a whole shelf, just the lip, but they can last a long time and sometimes after they have warn down the nice hard edge on them, they forget about it an leave it alone and move onto something more interesting, if however they do destroy the whole lip, then simply replace it with a new lip once it's worn down.

I can't tell you how long the lips will last because it all depends on too many factors to mention but hopefully they will last a long time, I wouldn't worry about it. again I'm probably not the best at giving advice so please seek out NightwishRaven999 and look at his cage buidling journals and as him questions, he's alot more knowledgeable about it than me. I'm building my first wooden cage as well, well I'm still designing it so, we're all learning.