nibblesandspazz
Going Natural
Forum Artist Extraordinaire[/color]
Posts: 165
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Post by nibblesandspazz on Aug 20, 2009 21:09:49 GMT -5
I have 2 ferrets. a boy and a girl who so far has a habit of fitting through small spaces. she weighs about 1 lb (I'm guessing). My fiance and I are looking at getting them a new cage in October and this is the one we feel best fits our budget and what we need for them, but I do have a few questions since the website does not have many reviews. this is the link to the cage www.ferret.com/item/super-pet-deluxe-care-home-multi-floor/650764%20004/Is it difficult to clean? Is it difficult to hang things inside it? If anyone knows any pros or cons about this cage please list them. I also considered the Ferret nation 142. It is sturdier but its twice as much as the super pet one. for the price of a ferret nation I could give them twice the space with two super pets. |
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Post by sprtx on Aug 20, 2009 21:24:13 GMT -5
I had one of those cages years ago, in my opinion if you have a Ferret that doesn't like to use the litter box, it's difficult to clean, snapping the levels off and on gets tiresome, and scrubbing into the divots around the shelves are a pain. The doors over time don't latch to well due to the wiring bending easily. That cage you listed was $125, the Ferret Nation is $175, which isn't doubled. I highly suggest spending and extra $50 more for a cage that has more room, easier to clean, sturdy wires, tough doors and lots of ways/spots to put in toys!
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Zoshi
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder[/color]
Actually, he's a cave bear <3
Posts: 203
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Post by Zoshi on Aug 20, 2009 21:30:01 GMT -5
SuperPet cages are pretty cool, especially with hanging things in them.
The plastic floor levels will start to bend under the weight of your ferrets, although it'll take a while. It doesn't get too bad, but they do start to sag after a while.
Cleaning Super Pets is a little annoying: they have small doors, so it's hard to get a larger litter box in without lifting the wire frame off of the cage. Also, to get the levels out you have to play around with the doors a bit. Cleaning is a bit of an exercise in agility if you don't want to take the whole cage apart.
The good thing with this specific cage is that it gives you a few options for full floors; that means that you can have the litter box on the bottom and full floors above for the ferrets to play on while they're in their cage, without having to worry that they're rolling around in poopies.
Your little girl shouldn't be able to squeeze out of that one, although you'd always want to be sure to close the doors securely.
Still, overall they're decent cages. I'd suggest going for the FN, but if that's not in your budget than of course you need to look at something else. Look around on craigslist if you can, however, sometimes people put FN's up for good prices. Occasionally they're missing screws or a pin but that's easily fixed.
Still, like I said, if the FN is really not an option, this should be okay. Just make sure to put in lots of hanging hammocks and stuff. :3
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nibblesandspazz
Going Natural
Forum Artist Extraordinaire[/color]
Posts: 165
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Post by nibblesandspazz on Aug 20, 2009 21:57:58 GMT -5
I was thinking of the petsmart price for the ferret nation. oops. anywayI reached down in the super pets today just like i would clean it out and it didnt bother me, I also removed all the shelves and it was easy. then i disassembled the whole cage. needless to say i was getting some funny looks. I then put it all back together and It was extremely easy compared to my ferrets previous cages. I'm just wondering which is the easiest one to clean under $150
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Zoshi
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder[/color]
Actually, he's a cave bear <3
Posts: 203
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Post by Zoshi on Aug 20, 2009 22:52:13 GMT -5
Believe me, the FN is much easier to clean, considering how large the doors are. Everything slides out very easily, and you can reach in everywhere.
Still, the Super Pet cage isn't that bad to clean. Like I said, the levels will bow after a while, but they're easy to clean off with a good scrubbing, and you can easily disinfect them as well.
I'm... really bad at pushing people in one direction or the other. Haha. But I will say this; if you were to find an FN in a similar price, I'd suggest taking it. It's heavier, for sure, but honestly I can't imagine going back to a Super Pet after it.
It's very good that you went to check it out! Good they had it on display, as well. It's hard to pick something out without having seen it firsthand before.
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nibblesandspazz
Going Natural
Forum Artist Extraordinaire[/color]
Posts: 165
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Post by nibblesandspazz on Aug 21, 2009 15:15:37 GMT -5
zoshi, do your ferrets paws ever get caught in the FN doors? we had a cage we had built them a few months ago and their little paws would always get between the shelf and where the door touched as we were closing it. we would push them back into the cage and as soon as we let go they made a mad dash for the door, we also tried closing it gently with no luck. are my ferrets little weirdos or does anyone else have that problem?
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Post by weloveourweasels on Aug 21, 2009 15:23:25 GMT -5
In my opinion and many other the Ferret Nation cage is the worlds best ferret cage. I have the 142 model which is popular. PROS: It is roomy You can buy an add on unit to make it a 3 room cage (called the FN143) Has wide shelves (The widest from any cage I have ever seen) Easy to clean Fun to customize Won't break like flimsy plastic cages Lasts for YEARS Has wheels that lock in place Has a place to store ferret stuff on the bottom You can also put stuff on top You can put the ramp up between the 2 rooms if you have to separate your ferrets for any reason. Only one CON: Price....But if you put into consideration that in a FN 142 model how happy it will make your ferret than price is no matter. I got my cage with my ferret for $250 you can get one brand new on ebay for $149.99 with free shipping cgi.ebay.com/Ferret-Nation-Two-St....4QQcmdZViewItemIf you don't trust ebay you can get one on sale for just a couple more days at ferret.com for $179.99 with $5 shipping but then after that it cost $299.99 with an extra shipping charge for the 90 lbs it weighs. You can get one here www.petstreetmall.com/Rat-Cage/5156/3440/details.html for $279.95 with free shipping. Here are pictures of my cage so you can get an idea how it looks dressed because a lot of people choose to not get the cage since it looks univiting when bare. ferretharmony.com/viewtopic.php?t=92I bought doggy stairs from CVS so they can get in and out of the cage easily plus it doubles as a dark sleeping area which my ferrets LOVE. www.petsmart.com/product/index.js....ent=Doggy_Steps+3345332362www.ferretharmony.com/viewtopic.php?t=92 |
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Post by murphysmom on Aug 21, 2009 16:35:11 GMT -5
I am a FN girl! I have 2 FN 142's. I will say that I have never had a ferret part caught in the cage or doors. They are super easy to clean and move. They are a pain to put together though. But it can be done!  It boils down to what you want, really! There are A LOT of people that LOVE the FN cages. Not as many that rave about the other brands. Doesn't mean they are bad cages, just not nearly as loved as those that own FN! LOL  And ferret.com is having a 5.00 special on shipping right now too. |
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Post by crystalineshadow on Aug 21, 2009 19:37:57 GMT -5
Ok, I have this exact cage for my ferrets, so I can give you a good (or at least thorough) opinion of it. The little cage clips they use to hold it together break and when they don't break the ferrets will remove them (and sometimes chew on them) - do yourself a favor and get some zip-ties to hold it together with. Also think: once you have the bars all zip-tied together, will it still be just as easy for you to take apart and clean? Another point to consider is whether you will be taking out all the shelves and bedding every time you need to lift the cage off of the base to clean something down there as the weight of that sort of thing does add up. The large doors are quite easy for a ferret to open. I have to keep a binder clip on mine at all times (and not just clipped on either, the wings have to be folded down or the ferrets have learned how to remove the clip) I have tried other methods to hold the doors closed, and they figured a way around / through all of them. The side doors are very nice as they actually hook under the bar above them instead of just holding closed with friction. If you are using scooping litter you will want to take the litter box out regularly to thoroughly clean it... good luck finding one that will fit through your doors. The only one I found was here: www.craftycreatures.com/forferretsonly/accessories/custom_commode.html you will want the 16" standard, which runs $48. I didn't have an extra $48 to spend on a litter box, so I ended up making my own which I keep having to replace as it wears out. Fortunately I have since switched to newspaper for litter so I don't need to remove the box nearly as often anymore. As time passes it becomes a High Holy Pain to get those shelves clipped on. They don't want to clip down, sometimes they will clip halfway and then spring back up when you are trying to clip the other side, and some of the arm contortions needed to get the shelf in just the place you had imagined for it are quite interesting. Especially when a ferret opens one of the doors and climbs inside then tries to run all over the shelf you are trying to install. The bars are fairly sturdy for clipping things to. Unfortunately on mine the top doesn't fit square with the sides anymore, but the vertical bars are lined up well front and back which makes hanging things straight a bit easier. The divots in the shelves are difficult to clean well. I end up soaking them for several hours before scrubbing them with a brush and then disinfecting them and letting them dry and even then I don't feel that those little ruts are completely clean. One plus side about the shelves not being flat is that it helps to keep the ferrets from flinging their food dish off of the level when they discover that it's empty. I can't say a thing about the ramps, as my cage didn't come with any. I got mine used and have had it for 6 months now and it's holding up pretty well. I tried storing things under it and the ferrets moved stuff and decided to sleep there, I tried storing things on top of it and they climb up the outside and knock them off. It is a good size for two or three ferrets. It just started holding 5 ferrets about two days ago and so far they don't seem too cramped in there (of course, the fact that I have 4 levels, 3 hammocks, and a hanging cube (err, triangle) might be helping with that). To be perfectly honest with you, I'm keeping my eyes out for an FN that's selling for a reasonable price and when I find it I'm planning to upgrade. This is not so much because my cage is terrible now as because I can see how it will become terrible not too far down the road and I'd rather replace it before it gets to that point. I suggest that you look around on Craigs List for this cage, they regularly show up for about $75 where I live and that way if you like it you've saved money and if you don't like it you aren't out as much and you can probably re-sell it once you have your replacement cage in hand. |
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nibblesandspazz
Going Natural
Forum Artist Extraordinaire[/color]
Posts: 165
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Post by nibblesandspazz on Aug 21, 2009 19:47:00 GMT -5
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Post by sprtx on Aug 21, 2009 22:09:29 GMT -5
You can also get a Ferret Nation on this website www.cagesdirect.com/ferret-nation-habitat-625h-p-1019.html for $164, it isn't a special or anything so the price *shouldn't* change anytime soon. That Marshall cage you listed, in my opinion isn't worth it. It has 2 very small shelves and by the time you buy more shelves to actually make another level you could pay the difference for a Ferret Nation. Those two shelves it comes with if you put them together they wouldn't even make a level. Plus they're wire shelves, completely uncomfortable. Plus by the looks of it it seems the doors slid up to open? That cage compared to the Ferret Nation also lacks the storage area which comes in handy. I have a limited eyesight ferret and those short shelves and steep falls scare me to death! |
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Post by Heather on Aug 21, 2009 22:29:28 GMT -5
You're going to find problems with each of the cages. I'm sure that no matter what, you're going to find inconveniences and some of the problem down right dangerous for your furbabies. What you have to do is weigh the price vs the inconvenience/danger and wether you can work around this. I presently have 1 superpet (2 floors), 3 marshals folding cages (by the way thats full of hokey, they fold all right, what a pain my fingers still remember) and 2 ferret nations and a bunch of other miscellaneous ferret cages. The joys of doing rescue is you get to find out how the ferrets you're getting got to spend their time  If you have tiny ferrets the superpet deluxe is way too easy for them to escape out of. I've got several of the big boys who've figured out the door and 2 little girls who have found alternative exits (through the bars  ). As you've already ruled this one out, I won't go into the difficulty in cleaning or setting up but it is easy to disassemble and clean. The marshals, I took out the shelves (they're dangerous, too narrow and too high) and replaced them with super sized hammies (they also won't poop on those ) The hammies take the place of the floors (they cover the whole space) I will take photos if you like . They are difficult to clean or were (the bottom is grooved to hold the cage in place and all sorts of goodies  collect in there. I've got an awesome little vaccuum cleaner that it really good at cleaning up this stuff, otherwise you will have to take the cage portion off to deep clean. They offer good space but my absolute fav is my two ferret nations. They're easy to clean, you can close off the floors, they're large and roomy. You can switch them out, and clean entirely in less that 15 min. You can hang all sorts of stuff and for all the time that my brats "have" to live in them (my guys free roam) the cage doors to all the units are left open, they prefer to sleep in the Ferret Nations (thank goodness because I've got a couple of piggy ferts who refuse to acknowledge the use of a litter box....both were caged without litter boxes all their lives. I understand that some people have had problems with ferts getting feet caught, but I've had two ferrets catch their feet in the Marshals doors (one suffered a compound fracture of the femur) and have thus far not seen any problems with the ferretnation. Like I said, you're going to find complaints no matter what cage you choose (I don't think they've devised a perfect cage yet ). The big thing is finding out what they are and what methods you can work around them, or if you can work around them. Good luck with your search. ciao |
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Post by weloveourweasels on Aug 22, 2009 10:57:03 GMT -5
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Post by sprtx on Aug 22, 2009 11:11:22 GMT -5
I clicked on that link and it says $75 shipping for me... I was considering it |
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Post by weloveourweasels on Aug 22, 2009 11:19:37 GMT -5
funny it had free shipping yesterday
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