Finalising

After completing the front and the top we could actually see what the finished article was going to look like.

The final thing was to decorate the box to match the lounge.
Sadly because I wanted to retain all serviceable functions this meant no sooner was it finished, I had to dismantle it all in order to not paint over the nuts and bolts.

Having thrown half the magnolia over the shed and garden in what can only be described as an act of divine hubris I had to double coat the box in white before giving it one thick covering of Magnolia.

After that we bought a chew proof water bottle from a well known pet chain and I attached it to the inside using a combination of it's own fixings and some eye hooks.

As you can see I glued some ceramic tiles under it.
The idea behind this is that it will help the Goos keep their claws down.

Once the structure was ready the last thing I needed to do was make sure the wood I had gathered for them would be safe from infection/pests/etc.

Firstly I soaked them in boiling water mixed with Pet Safe disinfectant (the tall plum branch was a challenge!).

Then I baked them in the oven for 20 minutes until the big bit was near point of ignition!

With all the work I could realistically do until moving day I assembled all the pieces ready.

The actual day of moving will be quite involved as the main job will be to secure the wheel to the box.
I have come up with a cunning plan for this in order to brace the wheel and protect the box from the tiny shock vibrations... but that is a tale for another day.

Fronting Up

When I began this project what seems like months and a lot of money and trips to B&Q ago I had a vision on a piece of paper. This build was primarily for the Degus,  but also to try and finish off our lounge that we had spent so much time decorating and making as we wanted (as well as the benefits of not lifting a Double Thickets cage up and down and the lack of scattered poop, substrate, sand etc).
A large part of this was the front of the box, rather than a mesh front I wanted sliding doors so we could see clearly into the cage. The successful completion of this part would determine the overall impact of the project so it was a fairly daunting task!

First off I wanted the doors to be fixed to a fully removable frame - over the course of this project I started having nightmares about the Goos eating the Perspex doors and me having to replace them with toughened glass so the ability to easily deconstruct the front to swap glass was paramount.

I took the decision to build the frames out of pine because if the girls could reach them, they would eat them (naturally) so in case of any contact I wanted to make them safe.
Also this was an aesthetic choice - to be honest about this project I could have made the whole thing cheaper, but this is going to be a huge feature piece of our living room so there were occasions such as this where I pushed the boat out.

The starting point was to measure the top and the sides and cut lengths of pine to fit.

I then attached brackets - one each end for the top and bottom brackets and two on each side pieces.

Once these were ready it was simply a matter of drilling holes and bolting them in place, securing with nuts and washers.

What this left me with was a solid frame that matched the top section, but with the added bonus that it would all come to pieces with great ease.
Step one was complete!

The second stage was the runners that housed the sliding doors.
I wanted Double U shaped twin track runners but our B&Q didn't ever have them stocked in metal for some reason - plastic fine - so eventually I decided to use a larger runner and sit the two panes of plastic in one channel.
This wasn't my ideal solution but at least in future I can always remove the runner and replace them and the doors will fit new runners. At this point the desire to get the lounge back over-rode the patience for twin sliders.

Having cut the top and bottom runners to length I used Gripfill to hold them in place as I did not want to drill into the sliders (give two doors in one channel was going to be challenge enough!).

With the runners in place I turned my attention to the Perspex panels.
A note to anyone wanting to build a Degu house using Perspex, it is not cheap.
This was actually the single biggest outlay.
It is also galling when a work colleague then tells you the week after that he could have got you toughened glass on the quiet!

Still it was with great care that the Perspex was cut to size.

Using workbench.

G Clamps.

Masking Tape to protect the surface from the jigsaw...

Eventually the Perspex was cut and it was time to test the fit.
It was (thankfully) perfect.

The process was repeated for the second panel.

Once both pieces were in place edge guards were added to act as a deterrent to rodents who like to chew everything.
Well let's face it - it won't act as a deterrent, but it will stop them eating plastic!

After these bits were added it was time to put a decorative handle on the doors.
These would serve two purposes:
1. To open the doors (Well, duh).
2. To act as a natural stop position for the doors.

First I drilled the holes in the Perspex - slowly and carefully!

Then I secured the handles.

Then I maneuvered them into position.

Once the glass effect was finished it was just a matter of adding the final trims to tidy the front up.

Filling the levels

The real fun part for me (other than when we actually come to put the girls in) was beginning to customise the levels to try and give the Goos extra enrichment.

The first level I wanted to tackle was the digging pit.
Having read up a fair bit on Degus being burrowing creatures and having swept up enough sawdust/Finacard to know they love kicking all the substrate about I wanted to create the opportunity for them to root about and have a  natural play area at the bottom.

The first thing was to ensure they could get up and down.
I mentioned when building the shelves this was a reduced size entrance to give the feeling of going underground so I needed to make sure they could in turn get back out.

I made a little ledge which was going to be the most 'non-natural' part of this level other than the terracotta tunnel which will be added when it is finished.
This platform will allow them to jump in and out fairly easily.
I also added two branches either side to bridge the gap.
They seem high but then when it is complete there will be a deep layer of substrate.
As you can see I started adding branches I had collected.

]The only issue with this level was that I hadn't closed it off yet because of adding these branches.
Now that was done I could seal the front.
However due to a moment of stupidity I had used the correct sized piece so had to improvise by making it from two sections.
Left

Right
(Gratuitous G Clamp shot)

On the next level was to be the sand bath, however I wanted to make each method of traveling between different so hopefully it will be more challenging for the girls.
I also wanted to augment each level with ledges so I thought I would incorporate this level's ledge with the way of getting to the next one.

Removing all the chains from the spare ladder we had I attached it to the shelf with eye hooks and clipped it to hold it steady.

I originally was going to hang it from the chains but it was very unstable and I didn't want the Goos falling off all the time (ours are surprisingly uncoordinated at times!) so I fixing the other end to the wall without the chains.

Removing the chains then allowed me to add a corner ledge run above this entrance on the next level up.

The top level would have the wheel on it so apart from adding two perches I wanted to leave this clear.
In addition to this I cut some holes in the lower level shelf support so they could play hide and seek (or rather they can't hide from us as easily). This will play havoc with my easy to remove shelf so when I permanently install the build I will alter the fixings on this.

Put a Lid On It

Despite the delay in updating this blog work has continued at a steady pace.

Having got the walls and the shelves in place the time came to cap it off.
This was a fairly simple adition of a piece of MDF that was approximately half the depth.
The reason for this is because the box would be a sealed environment and like all things even Goos need to breathe.
Plus this is their home in our home and to help with the smell air circulation is key.
Having installed the lower vents to help the digging pit and bottom level I needed to establish the main source of airflow.

This would be in the form of a mesh lid.
Ultimately Degus in cages will rattle bars and so I thought I would at least offer them a guesture.
Hopefully high enough up so that the world renowned poop throwers would not be showering the living room in feces, but flexible so we could still open the front to clean them.

The first step was to cut the pine - this would make it safe for them to chew (although I will be protecting it later in the process) so it was important that this part is as serviceable as any other bit.

The next step was to build a frame - I wanted to make a hinged lid that could be easily opened so I had an idea that a set size could, if the need arose, be removed and duplicated.

I then utilised the cut off bottom of the second Thickets cage that I built the double decker house from to create the top.

The wire was then attached to the frame.

As you can see this was to be the top piece (The bottom of the Thickets cage wouldn't actually yield enough for all four complete panels). I thought I would use the first complete piece to hold the rest of the box together for stability.

With the first half complete the idea was to replicate the framework.
As mentioned I was now out of sufficient mesh to completely clone the top section so I pressed on with the hinged section.

With the hinges in place it was simple to attach to the main box.

This system allows us to open the top up for playtime or cleaning.

Here I realised that with all this lovely Degu safe pine our girls would have a field day and I would forever be replacing the frame on the front which would cause it's own problems with housing so I took the step of protecting the edges with metal strips held in place with Gripfill.

This would leave us with a nice neat finish inside too.

And here the front project ground to a halt as I was stuck for inspiration as to how I could scrap together materials for it.
My initial plan was to think of some way to temporarily bodge the gap so the Goos could not escape and I cannibalisied their current home.
The other plan was to keep them in their carry case, but if that was going to take hours I felt it was unfair to contain them for that long because I was dithering.
However inspiration struck this weekend and using left over bits of perspex from the doors (also not big enough to create full panels) I created a dual material front.

We were actually quite pleased by the benefits of this. There is still the ventilation capacity and now we have a clear view of them lower down - which will pay off when the wheel is installed on this level.

Once that was finished is was merely a case of Goo proofing the inside.

And the top part was complete.