Another escape...need help on building another new cage...

[jeffbot]

Hello,

Olive has managed to escape yet again, and now i'm giving up on her current cage. She managed to jump out of her cage, and land in my trash can, where I found her...:( Feeling bad, cause its pretty cold near my floor, and she was pretty cool to the touch when i found her. I put her back in her cage, with a emergency hand warmer thingy that i keep just incase. So. Now I'm reconsidering the design of Olive's cage. I am also now in limited space to have a cage for her. So i'm really not sure how to design this cage. She's gotten pretty big so i'm weird about thinking of a good size cage. Any help would be amazing. I really just want her to have a nice size cage to roam in, with the limited space I have.

[kaiteedyd]

What did you have before as a cage?

I love my sterile cage. It's easy to clean and wasn't expensive.

I bought a sterility or rubbermaid bin that was big enough and was tall enough to house FIzzy's 12" wheel.

Because it's so tall Fizzy can't climb out and I just leave the lid off. However if you have a real escape artist on your hands you can cut a center for portion out of the lid and attach chicken wire or wire mesh to the lid. This will still allow for ventilation but she won't be able to get.

A power drill will be your best friend in this project. You can drill a hole in the side (at the appropriate height) for the water bottle to hang. You can also drill more vent holes in the side of the container.

[SherAlana]

Ditto on the Sterilite cage, the sides are smooth and it's really tall. I can put a ferret size igloo in there, which they stand on, and they still cannot reach near the top of the container. In fact, my dog likes to stand and rest his head on the lip of the container to watch the girls at play.

[jeffbot]

yeah, a small sterilite container, big enough for her 12" wheel and my drilling looking so slick, i swear the cracks were there before. Because it looks small for her size and my lack of space i kinda feel bad putting her in there. She'll feel like how I feel in my room. I'm 6' 3 with my ceilling being 8' high. I can't put on a shirt without hitting my hands on the ceiling. :|

[kaiteedyd]

yeah, a small sterilite container, big enough for her 12" wheel and my drilling looking so slick, i swear the cracks were there before. Because it looks small for her size and my lack of space i kinda feel bad putting her in there. She'll feel like how I feel in my room. I'm 6' 3 with my ceilling being 8' high. I can't put on a shirt without hitting my hands on the ceiling. :|

How big is the container? Mine it like 2 1/2 ft by 15 inches.

[jeffbot]

yeah same, im probably just going to get a new one, since the old one is pretty much visually ugly, and try to put another level via smaller container on top. hopefully she'll be happier in that, and wont escape. :)

[HedgieSpirit]

Hey Jeff, maybe you could try this out and also create one of those vented tops for it. Check out Nancy's two story sterelite cage, I think it is really cool.

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=506748#post506748

[HedgieSpirit]

The smaller bin has ridges as handles and she just screwed pieces of wood that size onto the big sterelite container so that the small one sits on those pieces of wood and doesn't move but is easy to remove for cleaning :)

[jeffbot]

yeah, nancy mentioned that to me when i first got olive, i think it's the perfect solution for the time being!

[Iluvhedgies]

I use two tupperware containers attached by a PVC tube, one container is smaller and holds only the wheel and litter, the other bigger one holds the home, blankies toys etc.
I hope you find the right house to put your hedgie in and best of luck to you!