The Death and Rebirth of a Cage..

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

user 78

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
1,513
My TEK girls came down in an ALT 2 story hamster type cage that was wonderfully donated to the cause by Arlene [who was incredible and helped get the girls down to me], who had gotten the cage in a rescue. It wasn't suitable for anything but babies, and only for travel at best. I have this problem of not being able to throw anything away and I unfortunately do not know of any Hamster Rescues that would have put the cage to good use. So, I made something completely different! I have a need of a larger sized carrier for the girls. For short trips, and to/from the Pen, their tiny carrier is great. For anything longer, though, it's awful. No where to go the bathroom, no real way to hang a water bottle, etc.. With the babies due to get their spays soon, I really needed something better. I just refuse to spend $20 on a 'kit' for something I'll use maybe twice a year.

Armed with standard and needle nose pliers, I set to work to utterly destroy a cage.

The cage Before:
IM001553.jpg


The bit we wanted to keep:
IM001554.jpg


Finished and scrubbed:
IM001635.jpg


Managed to keep the shelf thingie:
IM001637.jpg


Downsides: ALT cages aren't known for excellent powdercoat. The paint was flaking of horribly during the entire procedure, and there are several large areas of exposed galvanized wire. Honestly, not that big of a deal since I do only plan to use it maybe twice a year, but esthetically not pleasing. I may go out and get a non-toxic spray paint and freshen it up some. Also, the wire that seemed so wonderfully strong to begin with is actually quite fragile. While pulling off some c rings, several of the horizontal support bars bent or came completely away from the vertical bars. The lower level was utterly demolished for the same reasons. Something to keep in mind if I ever do this again.
 
Yes, it would have taken me an entire weekend [if I hadn't gotten sick and such] and I've got several scratches and small punctures.. They'll have absolutely no appreciation for it what so ever. Silly babies. :p
 
I am the same way I just can't throw some things away. When I first got Lilly I bought the Superpet rat kit and them I bought the two story super pet with I added Flower and then I got more rats so I built a cage. I could not stand to just throw the Superpets away so I started cutting and I made a 24x24 cage out of it (I had to buy a new tray but it was cheap). Now I use it as my iso-cage and or surgery recovery cage.
DSC01477.jpg
 
Wow... java, good work. We had one of those too but I donated it... jeez, if I have your creativity, it would have saved me on other travel cages I've bought.
 
LOL Creativity, huh? It's always been called my destructive nature, hehe.

And it was really born out of desperation. Their carrier is maybe 12" x 6", which is extremely tiny when you try and squish three rats into it. After my last spay experience, they wound up staying in that tiny thing for several hours. I couldn't imagine the babies doing that, so I really needed something else. I just don't have the money to go and get a kit that I'd still have to mess around with anyhow. This was free, and I feel like I've put it to good use, even though I didn't think the rescue could use it.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top