|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 9:08:02 GMT -5
no worries. I figured you were busy. We were outside doing yard work most of the day it was so nice out. That set up is awesome! That's the kind of stuff my husband likes building for the animals. We love the tunnel. I have a question. Don't they climb the chicken wire and try to get out? That's our biggest concern. We have an area next to the house already fenced in for the rabbits and guinea pigs. Its about 12 foot by 27 foot. They have the run of the big yard though most of the time so I want to use it for the ferrets. I'll take a pic to show what I have to work with. It's fenced in with a four foot chain link which won't work with ferrets. I don't want to take that fence out though, maybe attached something else in the inside that they can't climb up or is too small to go through. We could easily attach chicken wire but I'm concerned they will just climb out.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 9:24:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 13, 2012 11:42:45 GMT -5
And I'm going to move this to the "outdoor enclosures" thread so we don't lose it again ;D
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 12:22:21 GMT -5
OMG Heather! It is an awesome set up! Don't they try to dig under the fence?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 16:35:06 GMT -5
OMG Heather! It is an awesome set up! Don't they try to dig under the fence? That's my question! ;D I had the kids outside on their leashes & harnesses earlier (which Marley did not appreciate ) and my dad was all..."can't you just let them run around without the leash/harness?" my response: "...you ever tried to catch them INSIDE? those little buggers are DEFINITELY faster than me and i dont think you want to deal with me if I lost one!!!" ;D
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 13, 2012 16:45:33 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, Heather and hubby poured concrete or ran wire mesh underground then covered with soil. And the side walls go down fairly deeply.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 18:08:59 GMT -5
Ahhhhh, got it! That makes sense. I might just do something like this, but smaller when we finally get a place...
|
|
|
Post by Heather on May 13, 2012 21:00:50 GMT -5
Climbing does occur So we put metal flashing along the top of the play area. It's only about 10 inches wide but it's wide enough that they cannot climb over it. There is also a wire screening on the top to prevent predator attack (it also discourages wee ones from climbing out too though it's not it's primary purpose) In the large pen as in the smaller pen there is wire laid under the soil and then it's filled in with soil and wood chips. In the larger pen we also put cement patio slabs to prevent them from digging any deeper than we wanted them to ciao
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 21:25:43 GMT -5
Ahh, sounds smart and efficient!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2012 21:26:30 GMT -5
Heather, those are too cute. You're enclosure is awesome. My girls say they wanna live with you ;D They hate the heat ;D
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 0:18:03 GMT -5
You wouldn't have to do any digging. Too much work for me. Hopefully the slats work to keep it simple. -For each of the taller posts, one 4x4x? extender board (to put on top of the post) and two 2x4 sections to stabilize each extender.
-For the boulder post, just build an A-frame stand. It's similar to a sawhorse, but with different dimensions suited to the tube.
|
|
|
Post by Heather on May 14, 2012 11:06:24 GMT -5
Excellent ideas. We're going to discuss it further and probably act on it in July when our holidays are scheduled. I was going to try and set up the tubing this next weekend but .....what is it with long weekends and people needing your time ciao
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 11:16:21 GMT -5
These are amazing! If I ever have a yard, I made a promise that I will put some solid retaining walls all around the perimeter so I can let all my critters roam in the back without freaking out Great job on the enclosures!
|
|
|
Post by sirspazalot on Aug 3, 2012 15:18:28 GMT -5
Hi! I'm new to the forum. I have 4 ferrets, all girls, two of which are sisters. I have a critter nation and a ferret nation (3 box) cage for them, but I feel horrible keeping them cooped up in there so often. It's hard to find the time and conditions to set up the pen and let them run around. So I have aspirations of creating an indoor/outdoor enclosure for them. That is, partially indoor with a small ferret door to the outside. The indoor part is cake. The outdoor part is what worries me and I was hoping I could get some advice... They're in a cage in a mostly finished detached garage with electricity and most importantly AC (I live in NJ and we're entering our 6th heat wave this summer). Next to the garage there's a 14'x16' patch that I have my eye on for this project. 14' out from the garage and 16' along the garage. I know I need to put some kind of mesh down so they can't dig themselves out. I was thinking of doing that and then throwing some dirt on top and seeding it so grass can grow and root. I know 3/4" is probably the max opening size so they can't squeeze through it. My problem is that I'm dealing with a large area and I don't know of anywhere that makes mesh that big so obviously I'll have to overlap a few lengths of mesh. I feel like a seem like that would kind of defeat the purpose of the whole thing, or am I being ridiculous? I'm also not sure exactly what to use for the frame. I was thinking wood because I'm good at working with wood, but from what I understand pressure treated wood is toxic for animals. Should I be concerned about that or am I again being a little over-protective? Untreated wood would rot super quick so I'd need to treat it myself anyway. The only other alternative I came up with is PVC pipe, but I'm not as experienced with it as I am wood. I'm really not sure of the best way to attach mesh to one of these frame ideas. I want the entire enclosure to be enclosed obviously but also tall enough that I can walk around in it. I plan to put a door on the garage wall so that I won't have to mess with building a door into the external frame of this project. I was also thinking of using mesh or plastic coated chicken wire for the walls up to about 2~3 feet and then running a bar of pvc or wood to keep the fuzzies from climbing too high. And then I thought of using basically like window screen mesh to cover the rest of the height of the walls and the roof. I will probably need to angle the roof so there's not too much getting stuck up there. And with such a big area, I'll probably need a post or two in the center to help support the roof and make the frame sturdier. As you can see I've thought a lot about this and have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head. I tend to overwhelm myself with a million different possibilities and it can often be counterproductive I guess I'd really just like some feedback from the community. Hopefully getting some ideas from others will help me focus my thoughts and settle on a plan.
|
|
|
Post by Heather on Aug 3, 2012 21:21:04 GMT -5
As you can see I've used pressure treated. The guys don't play on the wood and short of painting and redoing the whole play area every year it's the only way it can work. The wire is attached with staples (lots and lots of staples ;D) The chicken wire has to be replaced so my hobs can play out in that outdoor enclosure. Right now they're playing in their own private space but it's a lot smaller. They can access it all year round whenever they want to because the access is using a small cat door. The large play area is accessed out of a french door in the bedroom. This means that they cannot access the large play area when the air con is running or in the middle of the winter because their door is in the screen door. The large play area is 6 ft high, which means my son and husband have to duck to access the play area but I can wander around without issue. Farm supply stores carry heavier guage wire with smaller spaces. I do not have a "roof" on my play area because of the size and wanting the guys to have fun playing in the rain. ciao
|
|