Adventures in Cage Restoration:Bye Bye Birdcage, Hello DCN!

[Cinderwolf]

Haha thanks, They do seem to like it.

One question, for you guys with Cn's and FN's. How doyou train them to stay away from the doors when closing them? These doors are pretty easy to crunch a toe or a nose or a tail, and when I'm tryign to close hem, they like to try to escape and smoosh their faces and hands into the doors. I don't wanna hurt them.

 

[temblabamomo]

That's one seriously awesome cage! Your girls must be thrilled.

 

[hopefloats]

I blow on mine LOL no training involved. I blow they move.

 

[Cinderwolf]

I blow on mine LOL no training involved. I blow they move.

Oh hey that's smart, I was pushign them but as soon as I moved my hand to close it, they ran back up. Blowing should work haha.

 

[MissGuardian]

I think Nirvana has told the rest of them, because they all started moving after she got a toe caught in between(no injury) :giggle:

 

[KatTheHippie]

I forget who said it.. but I read somewhere on here about someone who would toss a handful of cheerio's into the back corner of the cage and say "BACK!" before closing the doors each time. After a while, all they had to do was yell "Back!" And all the rats went scrambling away from the door, toward the back corner.

I did something similar with my girls once I got my FN. It worked like a charm!

 

[Cinderwolf]

I forget who said it.. but I read somewhere on here about someone who would toss a handful of cheerio's into the back corner of the cage and say "BACK!" before closing the doors each time. After a while, all they had to do was yell "Back!" And all the rats went scrambling away from the door, toward the back corner.

I did something similar with my girls once I got my FN. It worked like a charm!

Awesome, I will do that, cause the blowing worked the first time, but now they just close their eyes and bear it haha.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

I forget who said it.. but I read somewhere on here about someone who would toss a handful of cheerio's into the back corner of the cage and say "BACK!" before closing the doors each time. After a while, all they had to do was yell "Back!" And all the rats went scrambling away from the door, toward the back corner.

I did something similar with my girls once I got my FN. It worked like a charm!

Awesome, I will do that, cause the blowing worked the first time, but now they just close their eyes and bear it haha.

I crushed a couple hand's and toes in the doors, never on purpose and they squeal before the door even touches them...so no real injuries. But I will def. try both the ideas.

I just push them back but I don't really like spending five minutes trying to close the cage door's for the night!

 

[mamarat]

Your cage looks great, all decorated. Makes for happy ratties, for sure.

 

[Cinderwolf]

Your cage looks great, all decorated. Makes for happy ratties, for sure.

They do like it haha.

Awesome, I will do that, cause the blowing worked the first time, but now they just close their eyes and bear it haha.

I crushed a couple hand's and toes in the doors, never on purpose and they squeal before the door even touches them...so no real injuries. But I will def. try both the ideas.

I just push them back but I don't really like spending five minutes trying to close the cage door's for the night!
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I gave up on the cheerios, since it didn't work either haha, now I either push them away or pick them up and move them to a hammock or some other place then shut it before they can get back.

 

[kscanuck785]

great job!! :nod:

I too painted my cage red last year, mine is a feisty ferret

I think you did a better job than me!! and yes it does take a LOT of cans, since so much gets wasted :?

I wanted to give you just a little advice, use plastic hooks for your hammocks versus the metal ones, I ended up scratching my cage with the metal ones.
I personally prefer using baby rings anyways

 

[Zooy]

The cage looks really awesome! Great work!

 

[jorats]

I love it! The colour looks great too!
The rats sure are enjoying it.

 

[Cinderwolf]

great job!! :nod:

I too painted my cage red last year, mine is a feisty ferret

I think you did a better job than me!! and yes it does take a LOT of cans, since so much gets wasted :?

I wanted to give you just a little advice, use plastic hooks for your hammocks versus the metal ones, I ended up scratching my cage with the metal ones.
I personally prefer using baby rings anyways

So it was your cage I saw . I liked the look of it so I copied you haha.

I doubt I did I better job haha I can still see through the red in a lot of places : P

Thanks for the tip, I'm goign to toysrus today, so I will look for some baby rings, cause I have also noticed the scratching.

 

[Brax]

Very nice change. Reminds me of my old cage.

 

[Cinderwolf]

So I did my first cleaning last night . It was breeze!

Now some photos of the new set up!

Top

Bottom

And Rats : ) Snuggling <3

Also I picked up 24 baby chain links from the dollar store, so I will be adding them in there now :3

 

[Cinderwolf]

Guess who is in a bad mood. Now guess who has to get her cage sand blasted and powder coated. You guessed it. Cinder : ( . Yup while I was doing a cage cleaning today I noticed that the pressure from the shower head was blasting lots of paint off of the cage bottom, so after peeling most of a layer of paint off, I have decided that my rats are no longer allowed in this cage and I will be getting it blasted and powder coated because I should have done this in the first place. So the girls are in the big ol' bunny cage for the time being while I find a place that will do the coating for cheap, since I found a somewhat cheap blaster. ( 25 cheap? )

We think it peeled because half way through we switched from the spray on painters touch paint to the roll on painters touch paint and assumed it was the same thing. It just never sealed to each other. C'est la vie.

So that cage lasted me about 3 weeks ? ish. But once it is powder coated this thing will last me forever. Honestly I feel like crap about the whole situation because of the money and time I wasted on this red paint. however, I adore this cage and everything about it so It isn't that bad, since now I know I can use it forever without worrying about it one bit. This cage is like a double cn suited for a few rats and honestly I can not see me having more then 4 rats so this thing is perfect. I will probably never have to buy another cage again.

One more thing, it ain't stayin' red. I will probably have it black, simply because in many places black is cheaper, and it would match my furniture wince I am slowly transitioning from white furniture to black.

I'll keep you guys posted on the redecorating process with this beast. for now, I must take it apart and grab soem measurements so I can get a bunch of quotes.

 

[Zooy]

Ugh that's a really crummy deal! You put so much effort into the cage and it looked awesome!

Hugs to you.

 

[Cinderwolf]

Ugh that's a really crummy deal! You put so much effort into the cage and it looked awesome!

Hugs to you.

Thankss

 

[Cinderwolf]

Alright, thye have been in the bunny cage for a while now , since starting uni I've been far to busy to so any quote hunting. But alas, I got one coat for just a paint job, for 100 bucks and I'm waiting on a quote from a place that will do the blasting AND painting. If it's a good number I'll go with them. Because its getting to be winter and getting this cage means I an move it next to my desk, get a new bed ( that doesn't cover up my heating vent) and finally get some heat in my room! ( plus not such a bad back ugh). Anyways, I cant get the new bed til I have the new cage because the bunny on is too wide to fit anywhere : P )

Its so difficult to find anywhere around here that does powder coating or blasting, its liek pulling teeth getting quotes from the places that so offer the services. I'll be soooo glad when this is all done with and I can finally use my new cage.

In another note, I have the pull out tray thing from the bottom that I really want to convert into a middle floor ( sooo much more floor space for the girls.)

( I dont have an image of the pull out thing alone but thats it on top of the cage. )

So I have to take the thick frame part off ( cut I guess) and cut a corner out for an entrance between levels. Problem is I have noooo clue what to use to cut this stuff. SO I know a lot of you guys have cut parts of your cages before.. so my question : What do you use ? : O I wan to do it before I get it blasted and painted cause then the sharp edges wont be sharp when the rats are in there.