Shopping for a new ferret bedroom (aka, cage)

[novemberkris]

Well, I disappeared this week with good reason. I got the news that I was NOT accepted into the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I've been spending a lot of time deciding on a distance program and am shooting for Kent State here in Ohio since I can qualify for in state tuition and there's always a campus option.

This news is to lead up to my other thoughts. Since I will not be saving money for housing/car costs in Boston now, I can invest my savings in a new "bedroom" for Paulie this summer (and if I get out on my own, a sib for the fuzz). I know Ferret Nation is a very popular model, but I'm also interested in the ferret cages here:

www.martinscages.com/products/cages/ferret/

I don't know if anyone has experience with these cages--I understand some people really like them and if you pick the right combos they seem to be good value. If so, which cage would you pick for a growing family of fuzzbutts. I doubt I'll ever have more than three or four, but ferret math is ferret math, right? Besides, I'd love to have extra room for fosters/hospice kids.

I'd love some recommendations. I mean, one day it would be awesome to have ferret room/ferret run outside, but that isn't happening any time soon, haha.

[tsslilsis]

Martins are good cages.. I think they were probably considered the thing to before ferret nations took over.

I'm pretty sure the cage I just got rid of was a Martins.. It was their cage for a year. My complaints were that the doors were small and the back corners of the cage couldn't be easily reached (It was a major pain) so when they would decide to use the bathroom in the back corners or to stash meat it was hard to get to. My cage had an attached, removable metel pan but I think all of the cages on Martins page have slide out plastic pans so that in itself would be much easier.

My pet peeve is cages with partial levels so I would say the more whole floors the cage has, the better. But there is no need to get anything too large if your ferrets get a lot of play time.. I like having an organized cage so in my mind I think the ideal cage would be something that has three levels.. The bottom would be the bathroom level, the middle would be the level with donut beds and sleep sacks, etc that set on the floor and the top level would be for hammocks as well as where they eat. But that is just me.

My cage was 2 1/2 levels and it suited them well aside from my dislikes.

-~Ketlin

[novemberkris]

I'm with you about half levels. Paulie likes to sleep in the top half level of the superpet cage but that is because he is a weirdo that has no interest in hammies. (The run at the petstore was huge, but there was no way to attach hammies, so they didn't have any). He likes fuzzy tubes and the like. Three levels is definitely the way to go. Mine is currently bottom level and two shelves. Its okay for him, but not great and he gets antsy when he knows I'm home but I can't let him out.

So the doors are smaller? That could be an issue. My big Ferretnation concern is how high it is off the ground. Paulie thinks he's a sugar glider as it is. Are there shelf add-on's for it (since he doesn't like hammies yet) or is there an easy way to make and attach one or two? I'm all about customizing within my means.