Cage Glass Runners

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick post about how I fixed my glass runners to the cage.

My 1st job was to attach the side runners to the sides of the cage. These give the glass something to slot into nicely when closed. When you attach these runners make sure that the runner is flush on the inside of the cage or the degus will chew thier way out.

I used screws to attach my side runners - 3 screws, one at the top bottom and middle. When you put your screws in, do so diagonally, this should prevent the wood from splitting. Then you need to counter sink them.

To count sink : drill a larger hole above where your screw will be. Once screwed in, the head of the screw should be flush with the wood. Otherwise the Glass wont close properly.

As you can see my screw has not been counter sunk, forunately my side runners are deep enough for this not to be a problem.

Your side runners should reach the full stretch from top to bottom, as your main glass runners will fit inside them. Your side runners should also Not be "double u" runners.

See how the main runners fit inside the side runners:

The next job was to glue the bottom and top runners in place. For this I used GripFill.

GripFill is a very strong adhesive that dries relatively quickly and sets like concrete. So be careful not to get it anywhere else on your cage, its a nightmare to remove.


I squeezed a thin line of GripFill along the edge where I wanted my runner to be. Then I press my runner down firmly in place, ensuring that it was flush on the inside of the cage. Now I used all the clamps I could get my hands on to keep it firmly in place. Be careful when attaching the clamps, I myself had to make many adjustments to the runners position as every time I tightended a clamp; the runner would move slightly. Take your time and make sure you get it right.

You need to leave the runners to dry for 24hours minimum. I left mine for 48hours and they have set nicely. For the few months I have had sliding my heavy glass windows along them they have no budged at all.


If you have any excess GripFill (no doubt you will) that gets squeezed out over the edge, you can use terpentine or white spirit to remove it while its wet. Just be careful as terpentine and white spirit are dangerous.

Make sure that if you are choosing to use Glue, think very carefully about what you are planning to do. I had to remove the roof of my cage to slide the glass in, so I made sure that nothing glued would prevent me from doing this. You need to do the same. If you realise you need to take a piece off that you have glued so you can slide your glass in; you will need a new panel of wood.

Many thanks for reading, have a great afternoon.


Smithomatic

Degu Diet

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share some information with you about my Degu's deit. Please see the pictures below with descriptions. (Please be aware that all oweners feed thier degus differently, this is my way and will not be suitable for all.)

My collection of food

I always purchase a few bags of mountain medow and country garden herbs from the local pet shop. You get lots of exciting things in these like dry crispy birch leaves, rose petals and small twigs which my degus love to chew / gnaw on (especially the twigs!?)

Seeds: I purchase 3kg of bird seed, it is very cheep the more you buy and keeps for a long time. This bird seed lasts for about 8 - 9 months. I buy 3 different kinds of birdseed.

The first seed I buy is Niger seed.

I also purchase 2 different bags of regular bird seed. One is lower in fat and the other higher, containing sunflower seeds etc. The reason for 2 different bags is because I can easily decrease or increase the fat % of thier diet without having to individually pick out the fattier seeds.
 

Low Fat

High Fat

I buy 6kg of assorted Guinea Pig / Rabbit / Chinchilla food. This selection consits of dried carrots, peas, locust beans, rolled oats and a few other things. There are 2 important things to know about these mixes; 1st is that you should make sure that there are no raisins or other sugary foods in your mix, 2nd is that if you are choosing to use locust beans try to limit them to about 1 -2% of your mix as they contain very small traces of sugar. Degus are diabetic, this is why the no sugar rule is important!

Although there are some pellets included in the rabit mix I also offer Pets at Home Degu Nuggest as well. My degus tend not to bother eating these but I like to offer them as they tend to be very hard which is good for degus teeth. 

Treats

My favorite treat to offer is millet spray. Some owners offer this as a regular supplement to thier degu's diet, which if fine. The reason I offer it as a treat is becuase my degus get so excited whenever I open the box, I dont want to spoil thier excitement by always making it available.

Next we have Oats. I list this under treats however more and more owners have started to move toward feeding this as something to build wellness after injury or sickness, including myself.

Also under treats, I have Monkey nuts. These are so high in fat! Please do not feed your degus more than 2 of these a month. Degus go very crazy for monkey nuts, VERY!

Finally, Carrot logs. I tend to keep 1 of these in the cage almost all the time. They are great for the degus teeth, as they try to get to that "carroty" inside they must 1st chew the wood around the carrot.

Hay

Finally and most importantly - HAY. All degus should be provided with fresh hay all the time. In order to keep my degus interested in thier hay I try to change it up once a week. I generally rotate between regular hay, dandelion hay, camomile hay and natural hay from a local farm shop which is really fluffy and long (below).

I am intending to create another post that details my completed mix, portion size, proportion of ingredients and my Degu's eating habits. Hopefully this should help with any questions anyone might have.


Thanks everyone for reading.


Many thanks,


Smithomatic

Degu Cage is finished! Bottom level looks like a forest..

Hey everyone, I know I have not posted for a long time but I have been really busy with my degus lately. Please see below some pictures of the bottom level of my finished degu cage.

 I have added Birch tree and Oak tree branches (with the leaves still attached) to the cage. It helps the cage look much more natural, it gives the degus something to clamber on, they can chew the branches and they love to tear and rip at the leaves! They will often eat these leaves too.

 When introducing a mini-forest to your degus you must be careful. You must remember that nearly all degus are born and raised in pet shops and often do not have access to these materials. Most degus will be completely fine with Birch and Oak (Degus are adapted for a high tannin intake) but precautions must be taken when introducing these items.

It is best to introduce the new woods and leaves slowly. I began with introducing the Birch first. I added a few leaves removed from the branch mixed in with thier hay and a few twigs of Birch littered around the cage. I then monitored thier reaction to it over a week, once I was happy with the "all clear" I began to introduce hole branches of birch with the leaves still attached. Increasing over time. I repeated this entire process for introducing the Oak Branches. They have gone down a treat!

 I used some slabs of Oak and some Bark to create this small shelter in the corner of the cage (below). They are currently using this as thier nest, it is crammed full of leaves they are using as nesting material. On the bottom level they also have access to clay roof tile tunnel (above). These make fantastic tunnels as they are a great shape, durable and easily cleaned. Bury these under your bedding as your degus love to dig and uncover these tunnels!

This is just the bottom level of my degu cage guys, I will hopefully post some more pictures soon of the hole cage. I would like to do this level by level so I can talk a bit more in detail about each one.

Many thanks,

Smithomatic - Have a great weekend!