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My Degu Cage Plans

Building a cage to house my degus is starting to take over my life. I've spent weeks jotting things down and thinking of ways to make it as degu proof as possible. The problem is that I could probably spend months just making sure I've thought of everything so I've decided to go for it.

This morning I worked out how much material I would need for a basic cage structure to the one below (allowing extra for adjustments) and popped down to my local Wickes to order it all.

I will also be adding 2 sets of mesh doors and a mesh roof but I haven't drawn these on the diagram. I've gone for mesh doors as the room it will be in is a few degrees warmer than the rest of the house and it will allow for better air circulation.

The RSPCA recommends a minumim CARA (cumulative available running area) of 12,000 sq.cm for 2 degus. Owners recommend a CARA of 17,000 sq.cm so I've gone for a happy medium of around 15,000 sq.cm. Ideally I should have at least 2 levels measuring 100cm x 50cm. Unfortunately the only place I have suitable to put the cage will only allow for a 45cm depth. This means I only have a floor space of 4500cm2 but if I can squeeze an extra 10cm on the length that will increase it to being just short at 4950cm2.

I'm compensating for having just less than the recommended by increasing the height. The height between levels needs to be between 35-50cm. The diagram I have has a distance of 60cm between the base and 1st floor, and 40cm between the others. I didn't know of the 50cm max height when I did this so I'll have to reduce this.

You may also notice what I've called Mess Guards on the ground and second floors. You need to have a deep base to allow for 15cm of bedding in the bottom so that they can dig and forage. You don't need to have 2 but I added another slightly shallower one half way up.

Shelves will be attached using brackets and I'm going to make the first level removable so I can clean the base easier. I might add extra vents in to the sides also.

One thing that does worry me is the shear weight of it. I'm going to be using 18mm MDF for around 80% of the cage and boy is it heavy! I am inevitably going to have to move this cage at some point so I have ambitious plans to make this in 2 halves which sit on top of each other and lock together with bolts. This will make it easier to move should I need to.

Planning to start this at the weekend once I have the final measurements sorted. I've even bought myself a jigsaw to make the cutting easier… Don't fancy trying to cut MDF with a handsaw!

Wish me luck!

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