Is this cage good?
- Thread starter Evelyn
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Jenn
ZooKeeper
It looks good to me, although the ramps should be removed and the plastic shelves replaced if your chin starts to chew on them. Otherwise it looks plenty big to play around with by filling it up with ledges, bridges, hidey houses, toys, etc!
Mt. Zion Chins
Barb
I have 2 of them - I like them. However unlike the Ferret Nation there is only 1 door per level. But then again if you don't have the room it is smaller than the Ferret Nation and still plenty big.
ChinnyMom
slave to Rhino and Guss
it's a good enough cage, but don't use the hammock that comes with it, as it is not made of chin safe materials.
ChinnieShop
Well-known member
I have one of those, just switched the plastic for wood and I was good!
BooBoo*TheKiddo*
Well-known member
They one have 1 door per level? Hummm...I always thought they had two or maybe it just looks that way in the pictures. That is good to know!
ChinnyMom
slave to Rhino and Guss
yup, only the right hand side is doors, the other side is just cage wall. the latch makes it seem like both sides open up, but that's just due to a really big door latch (if you click the cage photo in the link you can see the left side is not a hinged door).
Evelyn
Well-known member
I bought it. I chose it because of the pan in the bottom and I thought I would stick with the shaving because I don't have much time to clean and change out his fleece. However, when I put gizmo in for the test run the wire spacing on the floor seems to be too big. Or I might be paranoid. So I put the fleece on the bottom instead. I don't clip them with anything and in the morning I would see corner fold up and pee on the pan which is below the fleece line. My question is,
Is the wire spacing too big for chin's feet?
I don't mind fleece and now that I have 5 set of them i can change them out easily but I don't have time during the week. And the pee smell is awful after 1-2 nights. I heard about the shaving pan but I can't really picture hows that like. when I use shaving Gizmo i will try to eat them. Its pine. But If i put the pan in the cage wouldn't he take that as a big dinner???
Is the wire spacing too big for chin's feet?
I don't mind fleece and now that I have 5 set of them i can change them out easily but I don't have time during the week. And the pee smell is awful after 1-2 nights. I heard about the shaving pan but I can't really picture hows that like. when I use shaving Gizmo i will try to eat them. Its pine. But If i put the pan in the cage wouldn't he take that as a big dinner???
mistywaterwoman
Pooper Scooper
Usually they will "taste" shavings but not truly eat them. They are made of the same thing as the pine chew things we give them, so it makes sense that they are attracted to trying to chew on the shavings.
My friend has 3 Feisty Ferrets and she puts fleece over the bars, and like a hutch and stuff on top of that to hold it down.
My friend has 3 Feisty Ferrets and she puts fleece over the bars, and like a hutch and stuff on top of that to hold it down.
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
I have two of them (only using one at the moment). I don't actually have anything over the bars, I find the chins stay up at the top and don't really spend much time at the bottom, so I'm not too worried about their feetsies.
I like the cage, it's pretty decent - not so crazy about only having the half-open, but it is what it is. I'm alright with it, and I think it's a pretty good cage. Like the FN's better, but still a good cage.
Bonnie - this is how the doors open:
I like the cage, it's pretty decent - not so crazy about only having the half-open, but it is what it is. I'm alright with it, and I think it's a pretty good cage. Like the FN's better, but still a good cage.
Bonnie - this is how the doors open:
LovinTheSmallAndFurry
Well-known member
I have two of them (only using one at the moment). I don't actually have anything over the bars, I find the chins stay up at the top and don't really spend much time at the bottom, so I'm not too worried about their feetsies.
I like the cage, it's pretty decent - not so crazy about only having the half-open, but it is what it is. I'm alright with it, and I think it's a pretty good cage. Like the FN's better, but still a good cage.
Bonnie - this is how the doors open:
I'm just curious (and confused). Your chins have wire bottom on both floors of their cage--no metal pan/fleece/etc.--and it's safe/okay to do that?
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
I'm not sure what you mean "on both floors of their cage" - there's only one floor in that cage, and it is the wire grate that came with the cage. The spacing is larger than the recommended size, but as I said, the chins are almost never at the bottom of the cage. I'm sure some people would say it's not safe, as the spacing in the grate is bigger than the recommended size... but it works fine for us. I've tried fleece liners in some of our cages, and the chins all pull them up and get under them -- so they'd be pointless in a cage like this.
Everyone has to decide for themselves what is safe. I would never give goji berries or some of the other treats that other people give... yet those people swear they're safe. It's personal preference I guess.
Everyone has to decide for themselves what is safe. I would never give goji berries or some of the other treats that other people give... yet those people swear they're safe. It's personal preference I guess.
Don Ciccio
Active member
I have the Feisty Ferret. Its a great cage if you have space issues, and can't fit a FN.
For the bottom grate, I covered it with a piece of cardboard, ceramic tile over that, and a fleece liner on top. His litter pan and a few pieces of tile in each corner keep the fleece liner down. Don Ciccio doesn't fuss with the fleece, but if he did, the ceramic tile underneath keeps him off the wire and is easy enough to clean. The cardboard layer is really not necessary but it helps keep the noise down when he walks over on the floor.
For the bottom grate, I covered it with a piece of cardboard, ceramic tile over that, and a fleece liner on top. His litter pan and a few pieces of tile in each corner keep the fleece liner down. Don Ciccio doesn't fuss with the fleece, but if he did, the ceramic tile underneath keeps him off the wire and is easy enough to clean. The cardboard layer is really not necessary but it helps keep the noise down when he walks over on the floor.
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LovinTheSmallAndFurry
Well-known member
Sorry, I realized after I posted that it's only one floor. The reason I asked is after I posted some pics of my cage months ago, I was given the 3rd, 4th and 5th degree about letting my chins walk around on the flooring---and I had fleece down, with chillers weighing down the fleece. Like I said, I've just found it confusing to decipher what's "safe" for my chins; there's so much conflicting information on here. In truth, they did tend to bounce around on the wire a lot, but I thought the fleece saved their footsies. I since put down metal pans because I was so afraid the wire was hurting them, as I'd been pushed to believe.
I'm just surprised no one's giving you crap about it,
I'm glad though.
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
Hey, I'm with you on that one. I'm used to people jumping on me for the slightest thing, they must have missed this thread or something.
I admit that the wire is big enough that a chin could probably get a foot through, I don't even debate that. But we haven't had a problem so far and our chins pretty much live at the top of that cage, except going down to eat, so so far so good... but it's like anything else... some people will say it's ok, others will say it's not. Just cause I do it doesn't automatically mean it's perfect and following the words of everyone out there. That's why I say everyone's got to make their own decisions, because I would rather someone decide to not do something, thinking it's not safe, than to say, "oh, she did it and I only did it because of that..." and for something to happen.
I admit that the wire is big enough that a chin could probably get a foot through, I don't even debate that. But we haven't had a problem so far and our chins pretty much live at the top of that cage, except going down to eat, so so far so good... but it's like anything else... some people will say it's ok, others will say it's not. Just cause I do it doesn't automatically mean it's perfect and following the words of everyone out there. That's why I say everyone's got to make their own decisions, because I would rather someone decide to not do something, thinking it's not safe, than to say, "oh, she did it and I only did it because of that..." and for something to happen.
Pooky125
Well-known member
This ^^ By far and away my biggest pet peeve of this forum.
Also, LOVE your giant chinnie play house in that cage. May have to borrow that design...
LovinTheSmallAndFurry
Well-known member
I really really appreciate your honesty--you have oodles of chins, so you obviously know what you're doing, and as you said, you do what works for you. :bow: Yes there are definite guidelines--but they're guides, not laws.
I could NOT agree more. And I'm glad people are finally saying something about it (or maybe people have and I haven't seen it). The extreme/all-or-nothing statements I've seen on here that make people feel bad just because they're new to the chin world are catty and frankly pathetic. We don't all magically arrive at this forum and *poof* ascertain exactly what to do in every conceivable situation that arises.
Pooky125
Well-known member
I've never seen anything said about it, and frankly didn't want to be the one to bring it up. How are you supposed to learn anything productively, when anytime you ask a question you get 15 people screeching at you about what a horrible person you are?
I belong to another hobbiest pet forum with well over 50,000 members, and in the 9 years I've been a member there, I've NEVER seen the holier-than-thou attitude I see displayed here. Frankly, it puts me off of this forum quite a bit. If it weren't for the vendors, I wouldn't be a part of it.
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
Oh believe me, everyone on the forum recognizes that people get jumped on... but that's just how some of the forum members are. There's no changing them... sad to say, they've been that way since CnQ and they'll probably be that way for awhile. I don't understand it. To me... I'd rather have someone calmly answer my question, nicely say, hey, I wouldn't do that. At the end of the day, you can't change someone's behavior, they have to change it themselves. But you can educate. I have to say, if someone's yelling at me telling me how wrong everything I do is... I'm not very likely to listen. But if someone's saying, hey, let me tell you that that's wrong, here's why, and you should change it to this... there's a big difference. Some people will never learn... but there's oodles of ones who will, and those are the ones who people don't need to jump on and scare off. The forum's a great place for info, I've been here since it was CnQ, but I've seen a million people come and go because they get jumped on.
The funny thing is that "knowing what I'm doing" came after a lot of mistakes. And I think that's true of most people. I don't think the grand majority of people find this forum, learn everything about chins, and then buy one from a quality breeder. Um.. probably not. My first chins had cages with plastic shelves, raisins as treats, plastic igloos... I did things wrong like everyone else. And got jumped on, though those posts were on CnQ so they're long gone now. Now I know better, and through the rescue, I can educate people about chin care and the correct type of cage to have, the correct type of feed... but the idea's the same. If someone put that they were going to feed Kaytee Pellets on my form, I would tell them that it's not a good idea and why and ask if they want to change their answer. Telling them how stupid they are wouldn't do a darn thing. But the point is, I'd like to think (and have found this to be true) that many people would care for their chins (and pets) better, if they only knew how. I had the plastic shelves and bad treats because I didn't know any better... when I did... I changed what I was doing. I try to make it even easier for the people adopting our rescues, because we sell just about all of the supplies people could want for their chins... and we've been told that people appreciate that, because they wouldn't know where to get the "right stuff" otherwise.
As for doing the wrong stuff... I think this grate is probably the only thing I do that's not "on target." Maybe I don't dust often enough cause I have asthma. But the grate... for that being the only thing (and it not creating any problems for me)... I think I'm doing alright.)
ETA: wow that's a long post.
LovinTheSmallAndFurry said:
The funny thing is that "knowing what I'm doing" came after a lot of mistakes. And I think that's true of most people. I don't think the grand majority of people find this forum, learn everything about chins, and then buy one from a quality breeder. Um.. probably not. My first chins had cages with plastic shelves, raisins as treats, plastic igloos... I did things wrong like everyone else. And got jumped on, though those posts were on CnQ so they're long gone now. Now I know better, and through the rescue, I can educate people about chin care and the correct type of cage to have, the correct type of feed... but the idea's the same. If someone put that they were going to feed Kaytee Pellets on my form, I would tell them that it's not a good idea and why and ask if they want to change their answer. Telling them how stupid they are wouldn't do a darn thing. But the point is, I'd like to think (and have found this to be true) that many people would care for their chins (and pets) better, if they only knew how. I had the plastic shelves and bad treats because I didn't know any better... when I did... I changed what I was doing. I try to make it even easier for the people adopting our rescues, because we sell just about all of the supplies people could want for their chins... and we've been told that people appreciate that, because they wouldn't know where to get the "right stuff" otherwise.
As for doing the wrong stuff... I think this grate is probably the only thing I do that's not "on target." Maybe I don't dust often enough cause I have asthma. But the grate... for that being the only thing (and it not creating any problems for me)... I think I'm doing alright.
)Haha feel free! It was a pain to make, and took forever, but I love it! And it is bolted to the back of the cage with four carriage bolts, so no worries of squished chins cause it can't fall over. Pictures of the progress on facebook --> http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.278034655596191.65473.144858985580426&type=1Pooky125 said:
ETA: wow that's a long post.
