Ferret Nation parts/repair

[dmitchell]

Hey everyone Im Dustin, first post haha! Anyway... my girlfriend and I just picked up THREE ferret nation (model 142) cages for $25 each! Lol we barely have room for one but for that price I couldnt say no. One of the cages is in great shape the other two are pretty dirty as they were used to keep 40ish rats in, but after a thorough cleaning they should be fine. My question is one one of the cages at the very top of one of the side panels has the finish flaked off a little and some rust there. Can you purchase replacement panels? My original thought was stripping them and getting them repowder coated but havent had time to look into the cost of that yet. Has any one done this before?

For the meantime atleast two of the cages will be going in storage for a while, so id like to get it taken care of to prevent rust growth. We just got our chin (Stella) in September, shes currently in a tall superpets cage, which weve made the wooden shelves for and fleece liners, and as much as id like to upgrade NOW i dont want to make all new parts haha.

Other than the small rust spot the only other problems were some stripped screws and no wheels for the third cage, but im assuming both of these are pretty standard sizes and ill be able to pick up replacements at lowes.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Twilight Chinchillas]

I know bird people sometimes get lead free spray paint and touch up their cages, but would not suggest it with chins since they love to chew!
I would probably touch it up with something for now (like Rustoleum spray paint) to prevent anymore rust and store it if your going to get it powder coated eventually. I do know that if you have a specific color your interested in, that you can call and if they are running that color it is cheaper to have them done, vs them cleaning all the equipment to add a different color. Sometimes if you know other animal people, like someone with a parrot cage, etc you can go in with others and save on cost that way too.
What you could also do is if you touched up the cage and wanted to use it is maybe block off the area you question with a piece of pine. Attach it with some bolts,wing nuts, washer. Just an idea.

 

[obcsed]

I got a replacement panel from Midwest about a year ago. As I recall, it cost about $25.

 

[amignatowicz]

since your other questions were answered, i thought i'd let you know about the wheels. if you take one of the wheels off one of the other FNs, you can take it to the hardware store, someone should be able to help you find replacements. i know many people have had problems with them shattering, and have done that. just wake sure the metal part that actually goes into the bottom of the cage is the same size.