Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2015 11:20:12 GMT -5
I thought I'd post a few pictures while I'm here since I just finished washing all their linens today! It's been a while, and a few cages, since you all saw their "home"! I'm happy to provide any information that I can if anyone has any questions, even though I don't have pictures of the work in progress on the fleece flooring/ramp covers. My sewing style is just to simply put the fabric together where I want it and then stick it under the needle. If you have basic sewing skills, this is pretty cheap and easy. I'd also love suggestions and feedback from you wiser individuals. There is always so much to learn. (: Here's a profile of the whole cage as you see it in my living room ( can you spot both ferrets? d: ) and the way it normally looks just after getting fresh linens and toys:
This is the Ferret Nation 182 model in case anyone isn't familiar. The half top and legs are white, while the bottom story is the original grey color. I planned to do the whole thing in white, but the painting process is VERY long and expensive. It involved using heat shield glass paint to treat each piece (I rented a kiln for this process and was not satisfied until I could grate a knife over the paint without it chipping, which took three rounds in the kiln at 3 hours each, plus dry time), so this is NOT a task for a single weekend, and not something I would necessarily do again due to the cost. The cage itself was ~$200 and the treatment was about the same, all said and done. Though, it does have the added benefit of rust-proofing the pieces that are white.
Let's start with Ezra's room. Yes, I do currently have them separated. They were together for about three months before I resorted to separate living quarters, and I must say that they both seem significantly happier this way. They still see each other daily on their adventures around the house! Anyway, you can see that Ezzy's room is primarily blue with a few sharp action colors. I tried to stick to nursery colors for their fleece (most of it from the baby section) because it's not so busy. He has a lot of stuffed animals. This is only about a fifth of what he has in storage, and I try to rotate them out every linen wash. He LOVES them and carries them everywhere.
I've found that this size bowl is good for his meals and water. Laney has trouble with flipping her water over, so hers are different, but I'll get to that later. Ezra likes to eat slowly, so he rests his chin up there and looks out while he eats. The dome-thing here is a crinkle bed that's fur-lined inside. You can also see his star wars mice plushies. He likes to store them inside there (along with real mice, which is a little less aww-enducing). d:
He spends most of his time here, though, sleeping. He doesn't use the hammock, but since it was the first thing I ever sewed for him, I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Maybe he'll use it once it starts warming up again!
Laney's room is a little bit haphazard compared to Ezra's. Because she's younger and a hearing ferret, she has a lot of fun things that make noise! Her strawberry crinkle tunnel is where she sleeps usually, but I've caught her in her food bowl, in her litter pan, UNDER her litter pan, and maybe once or twice in her bed. Don't tell her anyone caught her sleeping, though... she likes to let you know that she's alert and ready to PLAY at all times!!
I kept with the light nursery colors in her room, but she has more fun toys in her space and everything's always a little messy with her. Her litter pan is always wherever she puts it. With Laney, it's all a game of keeping busy! I'm working on sewing a hammock that will double as a mobile, but until that's done, we do a lot of playing in the rice box and interchanging toys every week. She has bigger plushes than Ezzy, because she likes to snuggle under them. The fleece "fitted sheets" that I sewed to go around the floors of the cage fit snugly enough that she can't pull them off, which is a vast improvement to when I simply had them tucked underneath.
Her upper floor is just for eating. This is mainly because she's still flipping her litter pan for fun, and I have a big thing about food and poo getting mixed, but she sleeps in the stuffed dog's lap sometimes. Like a true princess, she has a nice little serving dish. It's ceramic, and too heavy for her to flip over (thumbs up). She attempts to flip her water out of it every so often, but the ferret nation cage is great at catching spills (what the fleece doesn't soak up) so it's not as big of a deal as it would otherwise be. 5 stars for this cage.
Bonus Ezra! Saying bye bye and thanks for checking out our rooms~
This is the Ferret Nation 182 model in case anyone isn't familiar. The half top and legs are white, while the bottom story is the original grey color. I planned to do the whole thing in white, but the painting process is VERY long and expensive. It involved using heat shield glass paint to treat each piece (I rented a kiln for this process and was not satisfied until I could grate a knife over the paint without it chipping, which took three rounds in the kiln at 3 hours each, plus dry time), so this is NOT a task for a single weekend, and not something I would necessarily do again due to the cost. The cage itself was ~$200 and the treatment was about the same, all said and done. Though, it does have the added benefit of rust-proofing the pieces that are white.
Let's start with Ezra's room. Yes, I do currently have them separated. They were together for about three months before I resorted to separate living quarters, and I must say that they both seem significantly happier this way. They still see each other daily on their adventures around the house! Anyway, you can see that Ezzy's room is primarily blue with a few sharp action colors. I tried to stick to nursery colors for their fleece (most of it from the baby section) because it's not so busy. He has a lot of stuffed animals. This is only about a fifth of what he has in storage, and I try to rotate them out every linen wash. He LOVES them and carries them everywhere.
I've found that this size bowl is good for his meals and water. Laney has trouble with flipping her water over, so hers are different, but I'll get to that later. Ezra likes to eat slowly, so he rests his chin up there and looks out while he eats. The dome-thing here is a crinkle bed that's fur-lined inside. You can also see his star wars mice plushies. He likes to store them inside there (along with real mice, which is a little less aww-enducing). d:
He spends most of his time here, though, sleeping. He doesn't use the hammock, but since it was the first thing I ever sewed for him, I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Maybe he'll use it once it starts warming up again!
Laney's room is a little bit haphazard compared to Ezra's. Because she's younger and a hearing ferret, she has a lot of fun things that make noise! Her strawberry crinkle tunnel is where she sleeps usually, but I've caught her in her food bowl, in her litter pan, UNDER her litter pan, and maybe once or twice in her bed. Don't tell her anyone caught her sleeping, though... she likes to let you know that she's alert and ready to PLAY at all times!!
I kept with the light nursery colors in her room, but she has more fun toys in her space and everything's always a little messy with her. Her litter pan is always wherever she puts it. With Laney, it's all a game of keeping busy! I'm working on sewing a hammock that will double as a mobile, but until that's done, we do a lot of playing in the rice box and interchanging toys every week. She has bigger plushes than Ezzy, because she likes to snuggle under them. The fleece "fitted sheets" that I sewed to go around the floors of the cage fit snugly enough that she can't pull them off, which is a vast improvement to when I simply had them tucked underneath.
Her upper floor is just for eating. This is mainly because she's still flipping her litter pan for fun, and I have a big thing about food and poo getting mixed, but she sleeps in the stuffed dog's lap sometimes. Like a true princess, she has a nice little serving dish. It's ceramic, and too heavy for her to flip over (thumbs up). She attempts to flip her water out of it every so often, but the ferret nation cage is great at catching spills (what the fleece doesn't soak up) so it's not as big of a deal as it would otherwise be. 5 stars for this cage.
Bonus Ezra! Saying bye bye and thanks for checking out our rooms~
