Hello all, just wanted to say hello and thank you for such a wonderful resource! I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time for a girl at work to need to re-home two chins, a male and female, a little under 2 years old. One of my daughters sadly lost a hedgehog about a year ago, and had always been looking for a replacement - now we have two replacements! The first thing I did when I agreed to take them, was scour the internet and this forum in particular, for information on care, cages, and safety. Obviously I will still have plenty to learn as I go but I'm hoping to make as few mistakes along the way as I can.
Today, our new Critter Nation cage arrived, and with the exception of the doors being slightly out of square (which I have yet to figure out how to fix), it went together very easily, and I'm sure after the first run, I could whip one together in ten minutes now. Amazing how simply they go together.
We're going to try the fleece option for now and see how they take to that, with the Bass metal pans as a backup option. I opted for homemade wooden shelves instead of the included plastic ones, and only used one ramp with it's cover. I ran out of shelf hardware, so I still have another to find room for, and to get a couple proper houses for them. Turns out I didn't have large enough clamps to make one myself, so the "house" is basically a tunnel at this point.
All wood was Select grade Pine from Lowe's near me, as it was the only stuff I could find that I felt comfortable enough with. In hindsight, I might have over-sized them, but it's hard to really say. I opted for 1" thick, and most of the shelves are 8" widths with one longer 6" shelf to run a good width on the top. It almost feels like the 1" (well, 3/4" in practice) thickness is too heavy for the bars, but I wanted to make sure I had enough to take a good bite on the mounting screws. For now though, they'll work. I haven't sanded them down yet, but wanted to get them in place for the little guys to enjoy, and I can pull them out one at a time and take care of the sanding after work.
We also added a couple simple hammocks, a hanging crinkle tube (that they'd rather tight-rope across the top of, instead of going in) and a few chew toys, and a granite resting plate. That's more a formality though, as the cage is located near the Air Conditioner so I'm more concerned with them getting too cold, if anything.
I will say that their demeanor has completely changed in the new cage! We had them kind of cramped in an older guinea pig cage we had, and I felt horrible but there was just no way to get the CN any faster than it was coming. I was just hoping they would forgive us for the tight quarters, and I sure believe they have. As soon as we open the doors now, they're right to our hands, and crawling on our arms, and curious as can be! The extra space has certainly livened their spirits, and it makes us feel better too knowing they've got so much more room to play.
I still need to get a few better food dishes, some hay boxes, and a wheel setup (I'm putting a homemade one together based on some designs I've seen online, just a few bolts left to buy and should be able to get that in there). I'd love the treadmill wheel, but after the outlay for the cage and what we've got so far, that might have to wait a check or two.
Melvin and Kokomo are happy as can be though, and it's a large part in thanks to the wonderful advice found here!
Today, our new Critter Nation cage arrived, and with the exception of the doors being slightly out of square (which I have yet to figure out how to fix), it went together very easily, and I'm sure after the first run, I could whip one together in ten minutes now. Amazing how simply they go together.
We're going to try the fleece option for now and see how they take to that, with the Bass metal pans as a backup option. I opted for homemade wooden shelves instead of the included plastic ones, and only used one ramp with it's cover. I ran out of shelf hardware, so I still have another to find room for, and to get a couple proper houses for them. Turns out I didn't have large enough clamps to make one myself, so the "house" is basically a tunnel at this point.
All wood was Select grade Pine from Lowe's near me, as it was the only stuff I could find that I felt comfortable enough with. In hindsight, I might have over-sized them, but it's hard to really say. I opted for 1" thick, and most of the shelves are 8" widths with one longer 6" shelf to run a good width on the top. It almost feels like the 1" (well, 3/4" in practice) thickness is too heavy for the bars, but I wanted to make sure I had enough to take a good bite on the mounting screws. For now though, they'll work. I haven't sanded them down yet, but wanted to get them in place for the little guys to enjoy, and I can pull them out one at a time and take care of the sanding after work.
We also added a couple simple hammocks, a hanging crinkle tube (that they'd rather tight-rope across the top of, instead of going in) and a few chew toys, and a granite resting plate. That's more a formality though, as the cage is located near the Air Conditioner so I'm more concerned with them getting too cold, if anything.
I will say that their demeanor has completely changed in the new cage! We had them kind of cramped in an older guinea pig cage we had, and I felt horrible but there was just no way to get the CN any faster than it was coming. I was just hoping they would forgive us for the tight quarters, and I sure believe they have. As soon as we open the doors now, they're right to our hands, and crawling on our arms, and curious as can be! The extra space has certainly livened their spirits, and it makes us feel better too knowing they've got so much more room to play.
I still need to get a few better food dishes, some hay boxes, and a wheel setup (I'm putting a homemade one together based on some designs I've seen online, just a few bolts left to buy and should be able to get that in there). I'd love the treadmill wheel, but after the outlay for the cage and what we've got so far, that might have to wait a check or two.
Melvin and Kokomo are happy as can be though, and it's a large part in thanks to the wonderful advice found here!
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