Martins cages

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R

rhsm

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Messages
17
Location
US - florida
Hi I have a few questions about Martins cages. I have been looking at the R 695 but not sure as I have been reading about combining two martins into one and am curious about this cause I could get a one of the smaller ones now and add another a little later. Which ones do you recommend going with in order to add on to them.
Also how do you go about doing this?

One more question I keep reading about the pull out tray too so how does this differ from the other pan? Why is it better?

thanks so much
Looking forward to your replies as I am anxious to get my guys a new cage and I'd like to make sure I get them the best cage I can for them.
rhsm
 
I love the 695. It's best to get one with the pull-out tray because it is MUCH easier to keep clean. The other kind of tray has the bottom of the cage inside it, and bits of litter get stuck in between the bars and are hard to clean... only way is to lift the cage out.

With the 695 you will also want the huge front door. For a while they made 695s with the pull-out tray & big door but no bottom balcony. I wish that I had asked them to put in the lower balcony.

Martins is very accommodating. Give them a call and describe what you need, and they will do their best. Just make sure you get your cage in the powder-coating, though.

As for putting two cages together, you don't have to make the arrangements now. At some point, if you got another cage, you could cut holes in the cages to allow them to go from one to another. I think Martins now makes connectors. Back when I did it, I used SQ's method of putting a gizmo from a dryer vent on each cage hole and then putting a part of a cardboard tube for them to cross through the opening. Worked like a charm.
 
I think I was one of the first ones adding martin's cages together. If you want them side by side, you'll need the pull out tray. If you want one cage on top of the other, to make it a tall cage, then you could ask the martin's to send you a full floor with hole. I've done that as well in the past. It all depends how much room you have and how many rats you'd like to keep.

Here's a pic of my martin's cages... two put together:

newcage5.jpg


This one is with three cages:

sm18newcage2.jpg


And one on top of the other, a 695 at the bottom and a 685 at the top but I moved around the levels to make it work for my rats.

smNewcageforthe7.jpg
 
I think the 695 comes with the big doors now. But I could be wrong.

And if you plan on using fleece you might prefer to use the drop in style as opposed to the pull out tray, as the cage can keep the fleece in place that way.
 
I hate the pull out tray as they get chewed by ratties (as happened to Godmothers cage -- her ratties destroyed the pan). The trays where you set the cage into the tray have always worked great for me and the ratties can not chew them.

As Jorats mentioned, people have found different ways of attaching martins cages.
Shelagh and Jorats have attached one on top of another.

And Jorats designed and ordered R695 cages that allowed her to have a huge long cage as seen in her pictures. I believe the extra large doors on the R695 and the pull out tray were Jorats ideas.

I had a R695 and when my group of ratties increased in numbers in 2005, I ordered a second R695 with small side doors so that I could attach them side by side with tubes. At one point, I had 3 martins cages connected side by side with tubes.

2connected.jpg

close up

I would suggest that if you can, you get the R695 instead of attaching smaller cages together later on.
You can never have a cage that is too large and one cage is less of a hassle then attaching two small cages together.
Although the cage Jorats made by attaching R695s to one another is awesome and an amazing cage.
 
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I LOVE my Martins. It has extra large doors and a pull out pan. Since I use litter in the bottom it works best for me. However Moon I like your idea of the drop in pan with the fleece.

However, how you use your cage depends on how it will be for you. I haven't covered the wires and my girls refuse to litter train (I didn't work at it hard enough). So we take the cage to the shower to wash. It can be a harder cage to keep clean but because we can take it to the shower it's not an issue. When we were at my mom's we couldn't do that and had to wipe it down and it was a pain.
 

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