Print PDF
Favorite
Email
A little while ago we rescued a chinchilla. His cage came with him but it was just too small for such a busy little animal. He loved his time out of his cage but due to busy lives and kids with short attention spans he couldn't spend a lot of time out and about exercising. I had a limited budget for this project but luckily had miscellaneous materials and hardware laying around at my disposal so I went to work building our little chin an addition on his old wire cage. Unfortunately I got too busy building and forgot to take pictures along the way, so most of the pictures showing details, had to be taken after it was assembled.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Materials
With chinchillas you have to be very careful which materials you use as they like to chew on whatever they can get their teeth on! This means no pressure treated lumber, woods like cedar that contain harmful oils or plastics of any kind. I chose pine lumber, 1/8" luan or plywood, and 1" chicken wire. I wanted to get the more rigid 3/4" or smaller wire, but since I was trying to make this as cost effective as possible, I went with the less expensive wire. It still keeps him contained, but is just a little more flimsy. The 2x2's were cut to the lengths I show in the picture. One 96" board was cut to 4 - 16" pieces and 1 - 28" piece, the 2nd was cut to 4 - 24" pieces and the third was cut to 3 - 28" pieces. The 1x6 was cut to various lengths for shelves and floors and the luan was cut to fit the dimensions of the existing cage which was 19" x 31".
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
I'd just like to add an update on safe and unsafe wood for chinchillas. I'm working on building a chin-safe cage and looking for ideas and a couple of the materials used in this posting are on the unsafe list now. This actually prompted me to sign up so I may be posting my building attempt for future critiquing. :)
Luan, or plywood, is not considered safe. It's a composit panel made up of thin layers of hardwoods glued together. While the glue may be safe, the wood may not and it's not clear what woods are included in the layers. I looked up what plywood is made of and most descriptions just say hardwood but I did find one that referenced mahogany, a known toxic wood for chins. You want to also avoid using oak anywhere the chin can reach. Oak is another known toxic wood. The latch pieces in this design are identified as oak. They are used on the outside and look unaccessable in the closed position so they may be ok. The last step suggests edging the shelves. Many 3/4-rounds are made from oak or cherry (both toxic to chins) so check your wood carefully and build safe.
If you have any questions concerning your materials, search for safe wood for chinchillas. Many sites now offer quick reference lists of safe woods that can be used for and offered to chins.
How did you cut the top of the existing cage? Did you sand down the wires to make sure the chinch doesn't get scratched?
the only thing is- it took the chinchs a while to figure out how to get out on the top. I think they never thought about moving upwards in their cage before. It took like a day before they got up there. Maybe I'll add a little ramp later.
Smile.
I put an access hole for my "cages" so I could reach from my sunroof. I portray the dog because I had trouble situating camera to show ME up there. smile.
Oh I see below someone else wrapped wire around the house, NEAT. I hope to extend my "cat cage" that is 150 feet going through garage, utility room and up from basement...I will dodge where company comes, foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen....
I got a 100 feet of hardware cloth from an online company delivered and I see you can spray it gold and it's pretty, I do not know if that is toxic though? I have not figured out how to do pretty cages in the bedrooms...an awesome set up is on cats 101, favorites must love cats..the url is on my instructable..I don't know If it will post here.
I raise chins, and I would like to remind everyone not to use treated wood of any kind. Pine is good as long as it's not treated. If you're not sure when buying, ask an employee.
Her house-mates decided it needed more space, so they made lots of tubes of chickenwire and threaded them, first around her room, then around the house, through walls and under furniture.
It had such a wide range that, by the end, you could go for days without seeing it, just hearing it scritscritscrit along its tubes from room to room (even along the side of the bath...)