Building my own cage-what materials?

[Peep]

soo this is actually for ferrets but the ferret forum is pretty in-active.. so this may be removed I guess but I was just wondering if I could try it here as well...   
For my friend's birthday we will probably be gettting her two ferrets... and ferrets are expensive!
So are their cages, so we want to build one ourselves to save money. I built a cage for my ratties but this needs to be much stronger for ferrets of course. We were thinking of using wood but I know that can end up really smelling horrible, does anyone have any cost-effecient ideas for building a suitable cage?
(my one friend has tons of extra wood from their hockey rink from winter)
I'm in Canada, so no target or anything.
Thanks

[baileyjane]

You might be better off looking for someone selling a used cage; sometimes you can find them pretty cheap.  I think you will find that making a sturdy, suitable cage is not going to be as inexpensive as you might imagine.  Good luck!

[Peep]

ahaha well thanks

[Willard]

Get a Ferret Nation, they're pretty cheap, and designed for Ferrets =)

[JR1030]

Mmmm...this may be overstepping the original question, but does your friend know about the ferrets?  IMO a pet as a surprise gift is never a good idea.

[Rascal_Ratties]

in the make cage sticky look at the link for the camelot cage!

i took in a rescue ferret that was living in a tommy then i got him a friend and needed a new cage, since i was (and still am) broke and these 2 were not realy typical ferts they were OBSESSES with climbing, i made his cage out of what was laying around.
we had 6 sections of 5 ft long by 20" wide 1" space wire closet shelving and a big peice of plywood and some large wheels and a big bag of cable ties.

took the sections and put them together in a rectangle 2 in back, 1 for each side and 2 for the front... and measured to be sure.
then i headed off to home depot, i picked up another couple peices of the 5ft and had the home depot guys cut it into the lengths i needed to make a top and the rest to make shelves.
and picked up some of the sticky back lino tiles.
and some Small bungee cords

while there my dad cut the plywood so it would fit just inside of the cage and put the wheels in each corner.
then he painted it with a couple of coats of polyurathane.

apply sticky tiles to poly coated ply (those tiles will stick to ANYTHING lol!) and then drilled some small holes just big enough for the cable ties.
Built the back first by putting 2 peices together and cable tieing every couple inches TIGHTLY.
then put the sides on cable tied TIGHTLY again.
now for the front i had my dad take bolt cutters to 2 existing peices and cut it into 3 equal sections for the door.
for the front i alternated, the bottom right i zip tied tight bottom left i zip tied loose so it would move easily, then i placed a precut peice at the top of the bottom right door and zip tied to the front back and sides tightly making the first shelf. repeat for the next level but switch sides ad shelf, repeat alternating the third time for the final level so i had 3 doors alternating left and right (giving me easy acess to all sections of the cage without compromising on solidity on the shelves)
then the roof got added by loosly attatching to the top with cable ties at the back so i could lift the top up to acess form above.

on the shelves inside we then put a thin peice of polyd ply with linolium tiles stuck on top.

add ladders, tubes hammocks and a corner litterpan on each level to begin with, then as they got familar with the cage i weaned down the litterpans so there was just one on the lower level.  we never had any issues, the ADORED their cage and it looked awsome.

the biggest problems with the cage
it was HUGE.  my rooms on the lower level so i just wheeled the entire thing outside and hosed it down out there...theres no way in heck you could lift that thing alone...it was BIG and heavy! (but very sturdy)

unless you add plexi you cant add litter to the bottom without a litter pan, this was not a problem for me as i prefer box training especially with ferrets...
the lino however makes clean up fairly easy as lino whipes clean VERY easily! so any accidents were very easy to simply whipe up.

the cage whent witht he ferts when i had to rehome them (parents rules) and their new owners LOVED it, they still use it now even thought the 2 origional ferts passed away!


the shelving can be kinda expensive...if i didnt own the origional peices of shelves already it would have cost about $200 to build the castle...but compared to fert cages of similar size avaialbe locally even buying everything new it worked out fairly cheap comparitvly.  you can also make this cage ANY size and shape by simply cutting the shelving to whatever lenghts...want a shorter but wider cage go for it  as long as you get your measurments right for the guys at the home improvment store to cut the peices it comes together VERY easily and not half as dangerous and scaring as trying to use hardware cloth!

it may however still be cheaper to keep your eyes on craigslist for a cheap used one!


as a side note:

get your frined the cage for her birthday and give her the coupon for 2 ferts...(a gift card or an ioU or something) and let HER pick out the ferts after the birthday crazyness...

and be CERTAIN she wants them before you do anything, ferets take an awefull lot of time and effort, there not pets that can simply be left in their cage.  even in the castle with lots of space and toys my ferts were only in the castle during the night or if noone was home...mabe 2 hours a day and overnight total...the rest of the time they were loose in my bedroom.

[RatAttack59]

I constructed a bunny cage that might do for ferrets - not sure how much more they chew than rabbits, but it went like this:

buy a couple of sets of Wire stick-together "cubes"
Discard plastic connectors and ziptie them together into panels, leaving one (or two) hinged only on one side as a door.  Mine was "long" not "tall" but it could be reversed. 

Connect "floor" and three sides, then add shelves
Reinforce "open" ends of the shelves with a dowel or sturdy curtain rod.

Complete cage portion with front (containing door) and top.  Secure doors with bungees or "springy thingies" (if you do a double door, secure with four).

For two ferrets I would probably do top, base, and sides 2 x3, front and back 3 x 3.

Bunnies are down to one, and he's moved into a smaller cage, but I think I may have a picture somewhere of the cage when we first built it.  And no, the bunnies did not eat the zip ties (much to everybody else's disbelief)

Build a coroplast box forthe base (get that at a sign store)
For ferrets I would pro

[Rascal_Ratties]

baby ferrets can and WILL squeeze out of the gaps that make up the holes in those organize it cubes (the holes are almost 1.5")  the biggest spacing i would go with is 1" even for adult ferts, they can SQUISH.

the good news is ferrets wont gnaw wood (there not rodents) however wood without some kind of many layers of protection WILL however soak up ferret smell and they can be rather stinky!

[RatAttack59]

baby ferrets can and WILL squeeze out of the gaps that make up the holes in those organize it cubes (the holes are almost 1.5")  the biggest spacing i would go with is 1" even for adult ferts, they can SQUISH.

Hmm... I was thinking adults, I guess.  Good point.