So, that is at least the plan. With luck I will start buying the pieces next weekend!
I have three great babies who live in a Ferret Nation cage, which is great, but as they just don't get out, it is not enough. I am hoping for any insights or thoughts/inputs as I talk about what I want and why...
My first concern is ease of feeding and watering, followed closely by ability to keep the cage and the rest of my house clean. Then those are followed up by enough play room that I don't feel bad about them being cage pets and not having the run of the house. Lastly, portablility is important as on nice summer days I would like to let them be outside for a while. So the cage will be sections that latch together and easily come apart.
My design is actually originally based on looking at urban chicken coops. I want something I can walk into. This will let me clean as much as I want without working to reach corners. I can also redecorate often to keep mental stimulation high. So it is going to have an internal height of six foot. OK, hubby won't be able to stand up in it, but he only cleans the cage when I can't, so I will be doing in 90% of the time if not more. Next is that there is a 'dead zone' of area under my current cage which sits on a table as the ferret debris of frolicked clean litter and shed fur get on everything. If their cage is going to take up that much space, there is no reason they can't have that space! So the floor will lay on the floor.
Ok, so building from the bottom up, I am going to start with a basic 4x8 sheet of plywood as the base - I have to do some figures as to what size to cut it down to as it is the panels that are going to dictate the final footprint. A row of 2x4s around the edge, screwed in from the 'bottom' through the plywood will give it a good exterior structure. A 4 (maybe 3?) inch gap for my panels then the inside 'ring' will be 12" tall by 1" thick shelf boards that come with that white coating. They too will be screwed together and from the bottom. This will be my 'catch area' for all the ferret debris. This area will be heavily coated with a non-toxic epoxy so that it is water and ferret teeth proof.
The top will be a sheet of plywood with just the outside ring of 2x4s to hold everything in place.
I am going to start by making my panels so I know that I make the bottom to fit snugly.
All sides will have a 2x4 exterior frame. Cut 1/2 inch deep into the top and bottom of the frame will be shape of the basic 12 inch deep wire shelf. (Shucks, I will have to buy a router!!!) These shelves will additionally attach to 1x2 boards that will fasten at the joints so no ferret toes can get stuck between two shelves - the shelves will be going top to bottom, giving me a plethora of horzontal surfaces to add internal shelves/toys. The one inch bend that the shelves have will snug the boards and face out of the cage. The back panel will be six wide while the sides will be three deep. So the internal cage dimensions are going to be roughly 6'x3' by 6'6" tall.
One side is going to be short at 4 feet with the top two feet being a door with a permenant platform for food and water. This platform will have a bit of a rim, epoxied surface, and permentaly attached (ok, harder to clean, but the only way to make them ferret proof!!) food and water dishes.
On the front panel, on the far side of the food/water door will be the main door that will be two shelves wide. These shelf pieces will be cut a bit shorter so they clear the top and bottom frame and have at least three latches.
The panels will be seperate and then slide into the base and latch to each other with the roof making sure it all stays put.
then add tons and tons of toys, shelves, tubes, litter box, and hammocks...
thoughts????
yaldim
<message edited by yadlim on Sunday, November 16, 2014 3:08 PM>