If you had to choose--wide or tall?

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Sinfonian

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
Messages
72
Hey all, I have a question about your cage preferences. If you have space and budget limitations and simply can't get an enormous chin cage, which dimension would you sacrifice to preserve the other(s)? Would you get a taller cage with less width, or a wider cage with less depth?

My initial thought is to go with a taller cage to provide more jumping room, but I don't want my chins to be cramped when it comes to lateral movement.

Thoughts? Do any of you consider any particular dimensions to be too tall, to too short, too wide, or too narrow?
 
I like the tall cage that I have. It's two superpets cages securely stacked on top of one another. Turbo runs in circles around it to get to the top or the bottom, like he's running on invisible stairs! :D

Nibbler has the other cage, which is shorter but wider and more square footage. Even though he's really my ninja out of the two, he does perfectly fine with that one. He's got a wheel, so he gets his exercise that way more often than not. He looooves that wheel.

So, I don't think they mind the lack of horizontal movement. They like to run like maniacs up walls and the like. I would lean towards the taller cage myself.
 
I would lean towards tall, but wide enough to fit a wheel. If you can fit a wheel in there, then they can get all the lateral movement they want while running.

And I know my girls spend a majority of their time towards the top of their cage. I think they prefer being up high.
 
Yup, I agree with Allison. My boys are the same, they seem to prefer to be up higher and the wheel is a great idea!
 
I would definitely choose tall over wide. Chins like to jump, and a tall cage allows you to put in ledges for them to jump on. Plus, chins tend to like to be up high when they sleep.
 
I prefer tall as well. My chins all spend the majority of their time at the top of their cages. As long as you can prevent falls with ledges, hammocks etc., I would go for height over width.
 
Definitely tall over wide, but make sure if you're going tall that you either have a middle floor put in with a cutout or hang a hammock somewhere around the middle of the cage to break a fall if that should happen.

One of my cages is six feet tall and it has a middle floor with a cutout and my other one is five feet tall with a hammock stretched out in the middle.
 
Yup my boys and girls prefer tall. Yes they are in separate cages. They sleep in their fleece tunnel which is at the top of the cage. But deffinately get a wheel, mine love theirs.
 
Thanks for all of your responses! I had a feeling that's what the consensus would be, but I wanted to be sure. Thanks guys!

And yes, the taller cages will definitely fit a wheel.
 
I like the tall cage that I have. It's two superpets cages securely stacked on top of one another. Turbo runs in circles around it to get to the top or the bottom, like he's running on invisible stairs! :D QUOTE]

How did you do this? :hmm: I have a chin in a SuperPet cage right now and another extra one just taking up space..I would love to give her a taller cage to jump in as the one she is is kind of cramped with all the ledges, shelves and hammocks in it..

Could you take pictures and post them?
 
I prefer wide and long...but I have a tripod who can be clumsy at times.
 
I prefer tall, though I do use FN 143 seperated into sections. I just make sure to put a bunch of shelves and ledges in it so they can still jump around and have fun.
 
Definitely prefer taller! However, I would not go for a cage that is less than 24" long and around 20" deep, but make it as tall as you can go :)) just make sure that the taller you make it, the more shelves/ledges/hammocks etc. there are so there is no way for your chin to fall straight from the top to the bottom.
 
Tall. For my ferret however I originally bought tall, and he never went past the 1st level, so when I bought him a new cage I went long. But yeah, my chin is almost always up. Only time he's on the floor of his cage is when he's in his hut sleeping.
 
I would go with a taller cage with less width. Like someone said previously, if you can place a wheel inside they can run forever. Also when the chin can climb to a higher level inside the cage he will feel less threatened to your entrance into a room because of your hieght compared to his.
 
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