Any carpenters out there? (or "I have no room for another cage")

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:44 pm


On Friday, we adopted a senior male -- Harold. We weren't really looking to add anybody else (just took in a "neurotic" hamster two months ago), but the rescue contacted me and asked if we might be interested. I have a soft spot for senior guys; even softer spot for black abbys.

Harold came with a very small cage, which I'm just using as his quarantine cage for now. The problem is...I have almost no space at all for another large cage. All of our other guys, except for the hamster, are in the kitchen area and that's where I want to house Harold, too. Amos is on a 6 ft. folding table; Harrison and Jeremy live together in a cage under the 6 ft. table; Sammy is disabled and lives in a small cage on the floor next to Harrison and Jeremy.

I also have my small desk in the kitchen sort of caddy-corner to the cages. If I were to take out my desk, I'd have plenty of room for another cage, but this is the ideal spot for my desk (only alternative is the living room, but the television is too distracting). What I need is some sort of creative cage table that could also somehow double as a desk. :(

Anyone else have a very tight space with cages that also doubles as a home office and/or kitchen? I could really use some creative ideas on how to make this work.

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:10 am


This might be an idea. In the Dutch area, it's called a cavy flat, namely a deep cabinet revamped with some plexi rims and ramps.

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One ledger/level could be retractable as a desk to hold a lappy. They sell boards on rails for that purpose, to create extra space on a desk, we even had it many years ago.

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Or if you need more space to put stuff on that's retractable:

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:31 am


Oh my word, YES! I need one of those! And it even has rollers, I see. That would do very nicely. Wonder what something like that would cost, even if I could find it in the US (highly doubtful).

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:29 am


What super and lovely ideas, pigjes! I have seen that top cage before (I imagine you posted it) but would not have remembered where to find it. People do come up with some really creative ideas. It is one of the prettiest stack cages I have seen.

Some of the rescues have stack cages that might give you ideas, too.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 9:49 am


You could probably find an old hutch like that at a resale shop or flea market. A handyman could add the plexiglass and cut the end holes, and a little paint would brighten it up.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 2:49 pm


Solved the problem, at least temporarily. Found a cage locally that, while not as big as I wanted for him, is the exact dimensions that would fit underneath my desk (the desk is really a sort of parson's table and is somewhat narrow but long). It's a bigger cage than he has now, at least, and in that location he can see/interact with the other two cages on the floor. I can figure out a better solution later on, but I figure this will work for now.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Jun 24, 2019 11:43 pm


Image

If your desktop is long and wide enough, you can build something like that and put the cage on top of it where I have Scruffy's cage. You would then have enough space under it (where the other cage is) for books, computer tower, monitor or whatever you keep on the desktop. As an added bonus, you could visit with Harold while you work too! It cost me less than $20 in materials to make that. I used pressed wood, but you can get better, decorative wood and stain it too look very nice.

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