Quality Cage vs. FN

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Chinnies

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So after going through the recent FN thread and becoming very jealous of the sweet pads some of these chins inhabit, I've come to a problem.

See, I'm a poor college student currently saving up for two Quality Cage townhouses, as I was under the impression that these were pretty close to as good as you can get. Now, I'm debating if I should go further and buy the FN 142 now. It seems like you can customize the FN so much better and the chins really seem to like them.

I would like to hear the opinions of the members here that have them. I've heard some people saying they have a QC cage and would want a FN now. I'm just wondering what would be the better investment for me and my babies. The FN seems like it would last longer too, with the coating it has.

I would want to remove the middle shelf like I saw in some of the pictures. Is that relatively difficult? How about removing the plastic/wire shelves?

As for the fleece liners, was it difficult to get your chins transferred over to that? One of my chins can't even be on bedding because he eats it all. He has to have the wire grid bottom. They seem like they would be more cost efficient too.

Thanks for any and all help you can give me!
 
My chins love the fleece liners!!!!! honestly the plasic shelfs in there are find the chins dont seem to mess with it but if you dont want them in there they just pop off
 
I absolutely love my Ferret Nations and would never use another cage for my chins. There is no extra effort in having the second pan omitted- all you have to do is leave out the wire grid that goes in the middle when you are assembling your FN. Shelves and ladders are no problem either, just leave them out while assembling.

The full front opening doors are a huge plus and extremely handy when cleaning your cages or trying to catch your chin. I can't imagine trying that in a QC!

I had no problems switching my chins over to fleece liners, that hardly even noticed. I keep a pan of litter in their cages that they usually use as the potty.
 
I have the QC Townhome and Mansion, and my old roommate had ferrets in a FN. I personally prefer the QC cages because they come with wood shelves, don't have to be 'altered' to house a chinchilla, and I love love love the slide out pans. I helped the roommate put together the FN and it was difficult (not to mention poorly packed and the pans were broken, you'd be replacing those anyway).

The powder coating on the slide out pan of the QC will hold up just as much as the coating on the FN in my opinion. I also prefer to have the smaller doors on the QC versus the big full side doors of the FN, because my chins are jumpers and there'd be no way to keep them from escaping if I had to open the entire front of the cage.

I also have fleece liners, and it was as easy as putting a litter pan in the corner they usually pee and voila pee corners and soft clean fleece that I change 1-2x a week! If you want to litter train you can try that, or just have fleece (you will need to swap them out more frequently this way).
 
I have an FN 142 and I love it! What's really nice is that if you have chins who aren't playing nicely, you can block them off from one another and give them their own "apartments". I've just started with the fleece liners, and the only issues I see with them so far is that hay gets all over them quickly and having to change them so frequently. The chinnie girls themselves LOVE them! They were confused at first, but now the will lay anywhere in the cage, and the fleece provides them more padding when they go bouncing around like nuts!
 
I've had a couple different cages for my chins, and by far, my favorite has been my FN 142. There are several people on here who make shelves for very cheap, so that shouldn't be a problem if you do purchase a FN. I bought shelves and a wooden bridge from a member here for around $50 (and that was enough to cover the inside of the FN and I still had some left over).
 
If you are handy you can make more than enough shelves for $20 :) Pretty much any home improvement store sells wood for really cheap.
 
I agree with gella. The small doors are better for me because there would be no way I could open an FN without Binx escaping. A QC makes it easier for me to get in and out. Honestly, cleaning is no big deal. The opening top helps tremendously since I have a Townhome and the door isn't that small. The slide out pan is amazing and I love how there is no altering to it- all you have to do is set it up, and add to it if you like! Also, QC sells Chinspins, coop cups, shelves, shelf guards, cage guards- all in one place. I just found it easier to order everything from one place.
 
I honestly have no problems with my chins getting out of their FN's- Smudge who is an escape artist and always looking for an opportunity to get out of his cage hardly ever escapes while I have a door open.
 
Hmmm... decisions, decisions, decisions! Hahaha.

I have two males that still don't get along very well and I don't really want them sharing a cage anyhow due to the fact that there are also two females in the room that they could fight over when in heat.

If I got an FN 142 and split it in half for the boys, is that plenty of room for them? I was planning on going to the local pet store and measuring the top and bottoms and comparing them to what they're caged in now. It would be pretty sweet to eliminate a cage, I must say.
 
Chinnies said:
If I got an FN 142 and split it in half for the boys, is that plenty of room for them? I was planning on going to the local pet store and measuring the top and bottoms and comparing them to what they're caged in now. It would be pretty sweet to eliminate a cage, I must say.
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One half of the FN is ample room for 1 chin. I have a pair that was having excessive arguments so I have their FN split. They still have more than enough room.
 
Stackie said:
One half of the FN is ample room for 1 chin. I have a pair that was having excessive arguments so I have their FN split. They still have more than enough room.
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Thanks! You all have thoroughly convinced me that the FN is the way to go. I'm so excited to get one now and decorate it all fancy. I think my favorite part will be eliminating a cage! Whooo! :rofl:

I was just concerned about moving them into what I thought might be a smaller set up. I'm glad that it's not! Oh, they're so spoiled!
 
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