My natural DIY cage

[abirose]

Ok so I started off with a double thickets cage for my three googles, but after seeing all the wonderful DIY cages on here (and feeling very jealous) I made this one about 4 months ago. I have been trying to make it look as natural as possible as Nightwishraven and many other users are doing. What does everyone think?

[malteser60]

I love the logs, where did you get them from?

One of the things that I noticed is the shelves, what are they made out of? As the degus can chew the edge of the shelf. Also if you line it with a lip it means the bedding won't fall out.

[abirose]

The shelves are pine and I've stuck tiles down to stop the urine staining. They've been in it four months now and tend not to be as interested in chewing the shelves as yet, but chew everything else instead The wood is java wood that I've been lucky enough to get on ebay although the postage was high I only paid 99p for one of them a real bargain

[NightwishRaven999]

Abirose, this is wonderful.

The wood, the clay pot and the hay...they all look great together, dont they ?

I do have a few ideas for you...but none that are related to the look of the cage.

Adding an edge to the two levels might be a good idea.
Keeping in mind that the hay's ability to absorb is low compared to wood shavings, enhancing the levels with edges would permit you to cover them with absorbant bedding.
Have you thought of increasing the depth of the levels ?
It would be a good way to give your goos even more running space.

Looking good so far !

[abirose]

Yes I certainly think this will be the next step with the cage, I don't know why I didn't make the shelves the full width of the cage when it was being built!

I have found such an amazing difference in my goo's by having them in the wooden cage, they have been far more confident and just look more settled in my case. This has been the first time that I have tried using hay as bedding they normally have wood shavings so I'm going to see how things go. I think I might use hay ever now and again just to kind of give them something a bit different, same with the paper bedding I use for my rats which they love making into nests.

Something that has been quite interesting, Tinker seems to have stopped her destructive streak, they used to have the flying saucer wheel in but ever since I have changed it to a metal one she isn't chewing the cage up which I am really happy about!
I'm on the look out for a larger terracotta pot to use as a sandbath so I don't have to use the metal one. Fred has some lovely looking ones in his setup that look like jugs.

I really appreciate the feedback

[leespiers]

Looks really good that!

[abirose]

Thank you so much! Needs more work, but I think its alright for a first attempt!

[fred]

This looks really nice, I am not surprised you observe a difference in your goos.

As a quick fix solution, perhaps this www.diy.com/nav/build/timber/sawn-timber/construction-timber/CLS-Timber-L-2400-x-W-89-x-T-38mm-9275993 would be suitable to extend the shelves. If you used them horizontally they would add some space to run and sit for your goos and also provide a lip to keep the bedding in.

The terracotta pots in my setup are plant urns from Poundstretcher. They work well as a sandbath.