New Martin's Cage! (Set up now!)

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KTyne

KTyne

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Messages
501
Location
New Westminster, BC
Hi guys.

So as of a couple of weeks ago my mom ordered me a Martin's R-680 for my Christmas present and I have a couple of questions that have to do with it.

#1- I ordered it as just galvanized and I just read that you should get it powder-coated because galvanized metal will soak up urine and end up stinking? Since the cage is already ordered and shipped is there a way that I can get the cage coated, or a way I can do it myself?

#2- Since the shelves and ramps are wire I was wondering if anyone knew a good way to cover them. I was wanting to use fleece to cover them but I'm not sure how that would work (I don't yet have the cage so I can't look or anything). I was also wondering if fleece alone would be good or if putting some type of hard material underneath first would be better?

UmMm, I think that's all for now.
 
It might be worth finding out if there is a place nearby that does powder coating. Getting it done would probably be cheaper than shipping your galvanized cage back to Martins.

Covering the shelves can be done in a number of ways: coroplast, dollar-store dish drain trays cut to size & attached with zip ties, even stick-on tiles.
 
Ok, I found a company/shop that's close enough to me that I could hopefully get it done at. I've contacted them and hopefully they'll reply quickly so I know if they will do it and if so how much it will be.

I'm hoping that I can rig something up to cover the shelves and such when the cage gets here! I'm worried about the fleece part of it because I am definitely not a sewer, lol.
 
I remember I didn't get mine powder coated either; I just didn't know. The cage does stink something horrible, and I have to take a toothbrush to the wires to get some of the urine off when I wash it in the shower, but as far as covering the wires, as long as I kept it clean, they didn't get bumbles (or rather, they never have).

For fleece though, I recently started covering mine, and I found it best to get a dollar store fleece baby blanket and just use large safety pins to pin the ends down. Helps keep the urine off the wires (and stinking and sticking) and keeps baby's feet clean, because I just throw them in the wash.

I also use the dollar store plastic sink pads for their heavy traffic areas. The fleece is easier to clean, but I clean the sink pad areas (like their food dish) more often than I clean fleece, so I think it's a fair trade.

~~~~~~~~

Oh, as far as powder coating goes, the places around here were REALLY expensive. Like, I might as well go buy TWO more cages for what it would've cost me (and I have a R-695). Unless your rats are like mine and love to monkey climb off the walls and THEN pee, the fleece and sink pads should be fine.
 
Lisette said:
For fleece though, I recently started covering mine, and I found it best to get a dollar store fleece baby blanket and just use large safety pins to pin the ends down. Helps keep the urine off the wires (and stinking and sticking) and keeps baby's feet clean, because I just throw them in the wash.
Click to expand...

The baby blankets at the dollar store are great and would probably work great for a martins all folded up.
I use small binder clips (from the dollar store) to help keep liners down.
 
Put the cage together with cable ties as the c-rings that martins sends will rust and the cable ties are easy to cut off if you need to take it apart for a good cleaning , to move, etc. I used 4 inch cable ties (zip ties) from Walmart.

The R680 has two wire balconies and I strongly suggest you use dollar store dish drain trays.
These make great floors, easy to wipe clean, and easy to replace when needed.
For covering the balconies, I used dollar store dish drain trays cut to fit and attached to the cage with cable ties.
Having the raised edge around the outsides of the cage shelves helped keep things cleaner.
I attached a corner litter box to each shelf. This gave the ratties a safe litte nest on each and I found the ratties liked them.

The main floor of the R 680 is a pan.
You can use hardwoodshavings, paperbased litter, dollar store fleece, etc on that level.

Looking forward to lots of pics.
But do not set up the cage or use it until it has been powder coated.
 
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions guys, I appreciate it! ^_^

I will look into getting the dollar store trays and fleece to line the shelves and ramps, and I will definitely be getting it powder coated first. I don't want to have to deal with a cage that reeks and is ridiculous to clean. :|
I really wish I had known this before ordering the cage because I would have ordered it powder coated instead of just galvanized. >_<
 
Just a suggestion, but I take the c rings off the bottom of the ramps, so my ramps are free to swing up to place stuff under them like fleece. Easier to clean too!
 
PitLuvs said:
Just a suggestion, but I take the c rings off the bottom of the ramps, so my ramps are free to swing up to place stuff under them like fleece. Easier to clean too!
Click to expand...

That sounds good! I'm not a sewer, at all, so clipping the fleece to the cage is how I'll do it :p
 
I would contact Martin's right away and ask them not to ship it yet (unless you have already gotten confirmation once it has been shipped). A lot of places will have no problem canceling an order before it has gone out, so it's worth a try, especially since you want to spend MORE money with them, they should do it.

If not, or if its already been shipped, ask them what their return policy is. You might have to pay to ship it back to them, but they might take it back in a sealed box, and that would likely be cheaper than getting it powder coated yourself (again, they might allow this since you are still going to buy from them, not go somewhere else).
 
The cage was already shipped apparently atleast a week and a half ago.
I haven't heard back from the shop that I e-mailed about powder coating, but maybe I'll see about returning, although I really don't want to have to wait another month or more until the cage gets back from them. :|
 
So I'm thinking if my mom agrees to it (since she's the one ordering the cage!) that once the Martin's cage gets here I'm just going to return it for a refund and then order a single level Critter Nation off of petstreetmall.com instead.
I should have just done this in the first place, but I didn't know about the galvanized metal/powder coated issue and I didn't know about the Critter Nations on that site until a few days ago. :|
GAH, stupid issues.
Hopefully I can figure SOMEthing out! :gaah:
 
Nothing against Martin's... I have 2 669's but the critter nation is by far the better cage and you won't be dissapointed with it! I am looking to sell my martins to get ferret nations nomnomnom :heart:
 
I've never had either so I wouldn't know! :p
The only thing that worries me about the Martin's is the fact that I did order it just galvanized, and the shelves/ramps are all wire. I don't want my girl's feet getting all mangled! Lol.
The Critter Nation on the other hand looks fantastic! Also, I checked with a cage calculator and it says that the single level one could house 9 rats. I would have to suppress the urge to get more babies! Lol.
 
KTyne said:
I've never had either so I wouldn't know! :p
The only thing that worries me about the Martin's is the fact that I did order it just galvanized, and the shelves/ramps are all wire. I don't want my girl's feet getting all mangled! Lol.
The Critter Nation on the other hand looks fantastic! Also, I checked with a cage calculator and it says that the single level one could house 9 rats. I would have to suppress the urge to get more babies! Lol.
Click to expand...

Are you sure your measuring the cage only, and not the shelf on the bottom? CN's hold 6 rats with 2 cubic feet per rat :) My 695 Martins only holds 5, I wouldn't put more than 4 though :(

*Edit to add, the martins cage you were going to get would hold 3 rats (I have this one as well) so you are really getting an upgrade with 6 in the CN!
 
I'm not sure, I'm just going by the measurments they have on the site. I have three girls so it wouldn't be a problem.

That's one reason I want to return the Martin's and get the CN is because it's bigger and can hold more ratties! :p
 
The height measurement on the site includes the space under the cage where the shelf sits. The cage itself is only 24" high. It can hold 6 females or 4 -5 males max.
 
That's what I was trying to say, darn jumbled words lol I measured the add on to get the proper cage size which tells me 6 female rats. Either way, score! Someone getting more babies??
 

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