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I've just built this cage. It has plenty of shelves, and has a pull out litter tray in the base. On this page you will find details of its construction together with hints and tips gained from my experiences. I will not include exact measurements as it was built to fit into a specific alcove - you may require a slightly different size. It was not too difficult to make, and should be possible with very little DIY experience. |
Your first step will be to decide if you want a cage with solid sides and top, or mesh sides and top. Also will it have a solid base, or a mesh base with litter tray? Remember that solid sided cages do not allow the air to flow as freely and in summer are likely to be warmer for your chin than a cage with a mesh sides and top. This cage has a mesh base with pull out litter tray.
My next step was to find a local supplier of large rolls of cage wire. The wire needs to be of an appropriate size and gauge (thickness); 3/4 inch square galvanised welded mesh is fine (1 inch will be too big if your chin is likely to have babies). 16 gauge wire is ok if the cage has a wooden frame as this one does, but if building a self supporting cage then you will need 12 or 14 gauge wire, as these are thicker and stronger.
TIPS |
To avoid extra wire cutting try to buy wire which is the same width as the height of your cage, e.g. for a 2 foot high cage look for a roll 6 meters long by 24 inches wide, for a three foot cage then 6 meters long by 36 inches wide. |
Next I drew a rough sketch of each section on paper jotting down the expected measurements of each section. I then added up the lengths of each section to work out the expected amount of wood needed for the frame of the cage. An ideal wood to use both for the frame and interior shelving is untreated pine which can be bought from a timber merchant or DIY store, never use plywood, as it is toxic to chinchillas.
TIP |
If you are confident of your measurements then you can ask the timber merchant to cut the lengths of timber you require. |
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Once I had bought a litter tray (available from Paul Spooner) I constructed a frame for the tray. For the vertical sections at the side and back of the frame I used the same wood as I did for the main body of the cage; I then attached these side sections to thinner sections of wood to form a base which the bottom of the tray rests on, at the front the thinner wood creates a letterbox effect. The frame is held together with screws, which is why thinner wood is used underneath. The tray itself provides some support to the piece of wood above it at the front (allow a little clearance both for the tray, and to fix a screw from this piece of wood into the front frame of the cage) - this piece of wood supports the wire mesh at the front of the floor. |
The mesh was cut to size before being stapled into position using a staple gun and 14mm stapes.
The cover for the front of the litter tray is a piece of skirting board that I asked the timber merchant to cut down from 8 cm high to 5.5 cm high. Because the litter tray is slightly inset a slim piece of wood acts as a spacer behind the cover. Finally a handle is fitted - drill holes in the front side of the litter tray, insert the screws from the rear and screw the handle into place.
TIPS |
Hand saws are lousy, but jig saws are great!! |
This cage was constructed so that individual sections can be removed and replaced, therefore the remainder of the cage consists of:
a front panel,
a back panel,
two side panels,
and a top panel.
The sections were constructed such that the side panels fit between the front and back panels, to give the cage a neat appearance when viewed from the front. On the front panel the door is positioned centrally to allow greater access to all parts of the cage. The individual panels can be seen here (to reduce loading time on this page).
The mesh was cut to size for each section and any sharp edges were filed down before being stapled into position, again using 14 mm staples. Where possible the cut edges of wire and the staples were positioned where the chins could not reach them. The side panels were fixed to the back panel with screws, and then the top was added before turning the cage upside down and fixing the bottom into place.
TIP |
Because the base is quite deep either very long screws are needed, or it is necessary to countersink the screws used to fix the base into position. To countersink drill a hole the width of the screw head in the underside of the base, but be careful not to drill too deep. Next pre-drill a hole for the screw - when the screw is inserted it will lie below the level of the wood. |
Flush fitting hinges hold the door in position, and two hook and eye fixings keep the door closed - I used two to be certain there would be no escapes! Before fixing the front panel in place I cut the shelves to size and fixed them in place. To prevent the screws from passing through the wire a thin piece of baton was placed on the outside of the wire and the screw inserted from that side. You can see this in the picture below. Finally the front was fixed in position.
TIP |
To ensure two screw holes in a baton line up with two screw holes in the shelf, hold the baton where it needs to be on the shelf then drill holes in the baton and the shelf at the same time. |
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The upper shelf in this picture has been shaped in order to give more space to land safely when jumping down to the short shelf below. Again for safety reasons, the edges of the short shelf have been rounded. Chico and Lexie provided quality control - here you can see Chico examining the mesh while Lexie makes sure the shelves are up to scratch. She will check the shelves for chewability later. |
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We've checked it and its ok. |
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