RESIDENTIAL EXPANSION!
Updated May 16, 2006
Technical progress has been temporarily delayed because of a need for architectural progress.
Degus get bored easily, so their 40-gallon aquarium is BORING
to them. They need something to do, somewhere to GO.
Half a coconut shell, bunches of apple sticks, Alfalfa cubes, a sandbox, etc.
soon grow old.
Degus love "UP", so a two story home was in order. A trip to Wal-Mart landed a 10-gallon aquarium for $10.00.
My attempt to cut a hole through its thin glass floor was
futile, the glass shattered. Cutting glass is best done on thicker stock.
I had some 0.055 thick 316 Stainless Steel flat stock from a
previous trip to the junk yard, so got it sheared to form a replacement for the
broken aquarium bottom.
A few minutes with a hole saw and it was ready to provide a lifetime of floor
for the upper cage.
A welded steel frame holds the upper cage securely in place. Sandy was happy to model beside the hole in the upper cage floor.
I put their hay, Alfalfa Blocks and Apple sticks in the upper cage, and the Degus do their best to move everything downstairs each night.
A trip to Home Depot for a dozen bricks provided stairs for the Degus to get
from level to level.
Creative stacking turned them into "Sesame Street" stairs, allowing Over, Under,
Around and Through.
A Stainless Steel welded wire "roof" keeps the Degus from leaking out of the upper level and provides ventilation.
Degus seem to love to pose to have their picture taken.
I had planned to replace the bolts that hold their "window" in place with
shorter ones ASAP, but the Degus love to chew on the bolts, so I'll leave them
in place.
They will get their USRDA of Stainless Steel that way, and keep their teeth worn
down if needed.
The next stage will be introducing Sandy and Apple to Cheech, then I'll be adding tube so they can all share cages as they wish.
For now, Sandy and Apple are still pretty wild & crazy. They live in their cage and Cheech lives in his cage two feet away.
We are working on that. :-)