Splitting a Cage?

[Cheknnudol]

I've decided in light of the bite wound Brock gave Nibbler to separate them. Since space in my room right now is at a minimum I can't get another cage as large as the one I currently have, nor would it be fair to house one of the boys in the large cage and the other in a smaller one. My solution is to split my cage down the middle... but this is where I'm confused. My options at this point are to either split it horizontally like a Ferret Nation, or vertically. The cage dimensions are 52" H x 36" W x 28" D, as shown in the below photos.

The side of the cage...

The front of the cage.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both, from what I can see. But what I was hoping you all would help me do is consider things about each option that I haven't already thought of. You guys rock like that

---Ferret Nation Style---
Pros:

-Very easy to implement. Just put shelves all the way across the middle section of the cage, same as putting in ledges. Since I'm switching to fleece liners, I won't have to worry about keeping bedding in.

- Opens up more horizontal cage space for each chin

Cons:

-No way to get a pan in for the upper level, so I would have to invest in some Urine guards. Both my boys are corner peers and despise the idea of having to climb INSIDE of something to do their business.

-The lower level wouldn't be able to have anything hanging from the ceiling.

-Opening the door for one level would open the door to the other. Keeping one chin in while trying to get the other out would be near impossible, and letting them out for play time would involve the chin in the lower section walking out but leaving me to catch the one in the top half and carry him down (my boys HATE being grabbed and whatnot).


---Other Way (up and down)---
Pros:

- Each chinchilla would have reasonable height to hop around in, and they both love hanging out in the top of the cage.

- The width of the cage would be decreased allowing hammocks and things to be attachable at any height, not just from the top as they previously have been limited (assuming we made the divider out of hardware cloth or something similar)

-The boys would still be able to see each other through the divider (I realize nipped fingers and toes would be an issue here, but the lack of consistent aggressive behavior minimizes these. Each bite has only occurred when the two were sharing a very small space, and each chin has the ability to run to the opposite side of the cage if it feels threatened)

-Each section would have access to the bottom of the cage, so only one fleece liner would be necessary, as well as the seed guards (seen shoved between the wire openings because we've been moving my stuff around the last couple of weeks)

Cons:

- Hard to implement I think , depending on how we go about it. I need you guys' input here.

- There's still an issue with both sides being opened by the same door, but in this situation each chinchilla would be able to come down to the ground level of the cage to come out for play time.



So what do I do?

 

[tunes]

Have you considered selling that cage and buying a ferret nation? I have two cages here similar to that, and it would be darn near impossible to split them effectively. The biggest problem for me is the door opening on both parts at the same time.

That is a nice sized bird cage, I would think someone could use it if you sold it. Then you could get a ferret nation and not have to kill yourself trying to renovate it.

 

[Cheknnudol]

The reason for not getting a Ferrent Nation in the first place was that the dimensions of it weren't quite right to fit in my room properly (there are really only two places to effectively position the chinchilla cage; one is under my bed - FN's were too tall iirc - and the other is in a nook in my room that i'm not sure the FN would fit into). Regardless I don't have a lot of time to deal with craigslist postings and things like that, or to wait for shipping on a new cage. I'm looking to get this sorted out within the next couple of days.

Additionally I sort of get a kick out making changes to the cage. It's just fun for me. Sure it takes some time and measuring and cutting and creativity/engineering, but overall it is worth it to see my efforts enjoyed by bouncy fluffy butt head chinchillas

 

[I<3MyChinnies]

It looks like there is a pull-out tray on the top of the cage. Is there a way to mount that in the middle of the cage and use it as a divider? It already has the same measurements you're looking for :thumbs: I like the idea of dividing the space that way best anyway.

Additionally, to get around the door problem maybe you could in essence construct a second door behind that one large door out of a wire mesh of sorts. It wouldn't have to be toooooo secure (not like a primary door), just secure enough to give you time to get one chin out at a time without the other little bugger escaping and safe in general (no sharp edges or ability to be pulled off, etc.). I'm envisioning a door like on the QC cages perhaps.

Also, depending on what tools you have, you may be able to drill into whatever you use to divide the middle and mount hardware that would enable you to still hang toys.

Just thoughts!

 

[Cheknnudol]

In order to make a place for the tray to sit, I would have to cut through all of the bars on the front of the cage, including the door. Since the wire/bars are about 1/4" thick except on the edges of the door where they're about an inch, this wouldn't be all too easy.

As far as the door issue, I was thinking about creating something of a "pocket door" that would slide over whichever opening I wasn't currently trying to access. If split horizontally, this could be a thin piece of wood/metal clipped to the frame of the door, since the door swings on a post rather than hinges on the frame. If split vertically, I could use the top and bottom portions of the door's frame as tracks. Hmmm....

 

[Rickman]

Horizontally would be possible by;
Remove the door, cutting in half, horizontally, at the middle and installing 2 hinges so each door has two.
Cut out the height of the pan purchased from the front, close to the middle, determined by pan placement.
Install angle iron brackets on each side, so pan will slide in and out, close to the middle. Shorten the door as required.

Splitting vertically would require narrowing and splitting the door, a 28 x 52 wire divider, and more wire for the front to make it look right!
If the door is only 18" wide, it might be doable, but you'd have patches everywhere!

 

[Cheknnudol]

I'm looking more for modifications that can be done this weekend. I have no way of cutting the doors or drilling holes through the metal in the door frame or anything like that , at least not in the time that I have. One solution I'm thinking about is, if I go with vertical and implement a slider so only one side can open at once, to frame some hardware cloth in KD pine or something similar and slide it inside. I could measure so it's a bit of a snug fit, but suspend it from the wire grate on the underside of the ceiling in the cage, then fasten it further to the cage bars on the bottom. Could this be doable?

 

[stampinchick]

I think dividing horizontally is the way to go. You could put one solid tray/ divider in the middle. As far as the top chinie leaping out, wouldn't they be standing on their floor, so there for able to just climb out into your hand while the other one jumps down? I might not be getting your concern, but it would work. Also, could you use a thin sheet of wire and make two seperate barn style doors on the inside of the main door, that you could keep closed or opened seperately.

My husband just looked at your cage and said it would be very easy to spereate the door. Use wire cutters to clip the wires on the doors and then JB Weld to finish off the edges. He said you could get the supplies at Walmart.

 

[alpayton]

I say get a piece of melamine cut to 36" x 28" and suspend it as you would a ledge/shelf (double ended bolts, washers, wingnuts) in the center from top to bottom. That would provide you with the floor to the top section and the ceiling to the bottom section. Since it's melamine, you'd be able to screw things into that from the bottom to suspend toys/hammocks/etc for the bottom section and it'd be relatively easy to clean as the floor to the top section. It looks as though the door is plenty big enough to turn a board this size diagonally in order to insert it into the cage and then turn it horizontally to align and screw it in. If you need to, you can get U channel to fit around the exposed sides of the melamine so that the little one won't chew the edges. There you have it...my $0.02.

 

[Cheknnudol]

Thanks for the input everyone There are some creative ideas out there for sure!

I am intending to really keep the cage intact for the most part as I'm not sure when or if I'll do what Tunes suggested in the near future (selling it and upgrading/downsizing - whichever). Clipping the wires, adjusting doors, etc is all a bit much. I can screw in some holes to a board and staple gun some hardware cloth just fine but when we talk about cutting things up and "JB Weld"ing (????) I just cringe. I'm still not sure what in the world would cut through the larger metal on the door... A bolt cutter could get the wire, sure; but the rectangular bars around the edge and the frame? Hm.

As far as having my chin walk onto my hand from the top level: dream ON! lol... My boys? Walking onto my hand? Nah. They'd sooner leap from that level of the cage down to the floor and tease me.

I've gotten some good input, so I'm going to test things out and see how they go. Any further input still welcome also Thanks!

 

[Rickman]

A hacksaw woulg make short work of cutting through the frames!
I think I'd call the manufacturer and ask about a custom front, and a divider, so I didn't have that "hacked up" look - that's a pretty nice cage! Changing the front, and installing the divider while it's off, looks fairly easy!

 

[Cheknnudol]

I'm not exactly keen on destroying my cage in its present state. I'm more set on just modifying it. The "hacked up" look is definitely something to avoid and there's no way I can get around that this weekend. As far as calling the manufacturer, I have no idea who the manufacturer even is. My best guess would be California Cage who, from what I understand, recently went out of business. Furthermore, the whole custom door thing takes quite a bit more money, presumably, than I have these days with the vet bills and my poor-college-student status.

I think what we've decided to do (for now, at least) since I already have hardware cloth on hand is to measure out some pieces slightly larger than a side-slice of the cage, then roll the edges in upon themselves to avoid any sharp cuts. Flattening these folds against the rest of the hardware cloth should help frame it a bit, and then pulling it taut to clip to the side of the cage seems in my mind to be sufficient. This would act I think as a good enough (perhaps temporary) vertical divider. We'll see how it goes. My MacGuyvering is sort of impaired these days.

It was suggested via PM to simply slide the extra pan I have into the door and see if It would just rest inside the cage. Unfortunately, the pans were designed to lay flush with the outside of the frame plus there are handles on the front. This will not work

Anywho, if I can get enough finished tomorrow, I will post pictures. Wish me luck! Last time I tried to play with hardware cloth it looked like someone played catch with me over a barbed wire fence.

 

[sublime5981]

If you use just hardware cloth, make sure you attach it at close enough intervals so, they can't squeeze through. I tried that once to close off a higher shelf and a chin scaled the wire and squeezed through to the other side. I had to disassemble the whole thing to get him out!
On another note, I saw you mention a wood frame with wire. That is exactly how I split my cages. I used 1" x 4" boards and put wire on both sides so that there is a space and they can't get to each other. It is held in place by L brackets and the bedding pans.

 

[Jill of Beans]

So have you started modifications yet???? I'm interested in an update!

 

[Cheknnudol]

In light of the increase of severity in Nibbler's condition, I have postponed modifications as well as my room renovation and, to an extent, work and school. Things are rough. When I resume the cage changes, I will be sure to post here.

 

[Cheknnudol]

To those of you that haven't heard, I lost Nibbler last thursday to bloat. It was very unfortunate and after several days I have slowly begun emotional recovery from his death. His cagemate, Brock, seems to be quite lonely despite the extra attention he has gotten from everyone in the family so I have gone ahead and cruised craigslist only to find the cutest 6 month old chin I've ever seen looking for a responsible and informed home. I decided that he would be perfect to keep Brock company after a while and from the other side of the cage partition, as well as potentially help Brock overcome his apprehensiveness with people (Nibbler was so lazy he never really nudged Brock to come play on the people during play time). I am picking him up this weekend and am resuming partitioning of my cage so that he may share it after quarantine.

I have gone ahead and rolled my remaining hardware cloth on all four edges to a size that was slightly smaller than the dimensions of the cage, and fastened it on two sides and one corner to the cage bars (stretched taut by these points of contact with only a small gap on the bottom to accomodate the fleece liners). This leaves them able to interact a bit more than I would like and leaves the rolled edges on one side of the partition exposed, so I believe that I will end up rolling another piece of hardware cloth and spacing it about an inch from the other, rolled edges inwards. This will create a gap that they cannot contact each other through, and prevent them from getting hurt on the weird edges.

Pictures to come of the current state of the cage, and more as other changes take place throughout the course of my new chinny's quarantine (his name is Maud'Dib - my boyfriend is in total love).