Entertainment Center Ferret Cage

[tuckntreysslave]

I do not have any pictures yet, since we have not started this adventure yet, but my husband and I are planning on converting an old entertainment center that someone left by the road for free, into a new cage for our ferrets.

Our two male ferrets are currently housed in a Super Pet cage that, quite frankly, I am not too impressed with. The tubes are hard for them to get through and the shelves have all sagged. That and now that they are fully grown, I think they need more room during the day when they are home alone and can't roam outside of the cage.

I have been jotting down ideas and drawing up plans for building a ferret cage because my search for one to buy has left me thinking I could probably build one for the same price as some of these bigger ferret cages for sale and it will be 10 times better.

So, we just happened upon a nice sturdy entertainment center that someone was getting rid of and tonight we are going to price out materials and check out some ideas at the home imporvement store so we can get started on this thing.

I'm still trying to figure out why I decided to get so ambitious about this a month and a half before my son is due, but on well, it'll give me something to take my mind off of the wait and constant uncomfort I have due to being pregnant. LOL

As soon as we start getting somewhere with this I will definitely post pictures and also tell everyone about our progress, so maybe you can learn from our mistakes, because I know we'll make some.

Meanwhile, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for us, that would be great.

The entertainment center we are using is an almost square 48"Tx48"W and about a foot and a half deep. We also found a small computer desk that we may incorporate into this somehow.

[tuckntreysslave]

I haven't gotten any pictures yet, not that we have really done anything, but I just wanted to update on our pricing out/search for ideas last night.

We will be covering the front of the entertainment with hardware cloth. All except for the two cabinet doors that already exist on the center. One of those will be left alone as a storage compartment and the other is going to be left there so my boys have a little dark and quiet hidey hole they can go into for peace and quiet.

The back of the entertainment center is going to be covered with tempered hardboard which we are going to drill random holes, small holes, for ventilation. We decided on the hardboard because, one: it will stabilize the unit, and two: that's the side that will be close to the wall so it will help keep our wall clean, which I know our landlord will appreciate.

All the compartments that will be covered with the hardware cloth we are actually making doors for so I can completely open up this cage for easy cleaning, not something I have right now. The doors will be wooden frames with the hardware cloth covering the open part of the door and then we find some nice and cheap trim to cover the edges of the hardware cloth and to also make the cage more attractive.

We also found some PVC pipe that hassmall holes drilled along one side of it that we thought would be good for tunnels and the air holes would help with air flow and ventilation through the tunnels.

This weekend I will get some "before pictures" of the entertainment center and will keep posting updates on how the cage conversion goes. Pros and cons.

[selzdaze]

Did you get any pics sorted?