Our Caging Philosophy...
Here at Got Chippies the care for and the needs of your animals comes first! Let us custom build a cage for you that lets your little ones stretch their legs. Our cages are large enough to provide adequate territory to reduce fighting, and provide excellent views for you while still being easy to maintain. Our cages are built with quality products and craftsmanship. We care about our product and it shows!
What about using aquariums???
Please do NOT keep your Chippie in an aquarium! Chippies need lots of room to climb and scamper about in order to be happy. An aquarium may be the hot setup for Hamsters or Gerbils, or other rodents that don't need room to climb, but are absolutely the
WORST thing for your Chippie. An aquarium also lacks proper ventilation so your Chippie
doesn't get the fresh air that it needs.
Can the cage be too big?
Absolutely NOT! It can however be too
small, especially when keeping more than 1 Chippie in a cage. The absolute minimum cage size for a single Chippie in our opinion is 24x24x48 (2x2x4 feet). Our most popular size for 2-4 Chippies is 24x48x72 (2x4x6 feet). We can build a cage to suit your animals needs from Iguanas to Sugar Gliders to Birds!
Exercise Wheels?
After much research, we have concluded that exercise wheels DO
NOT have a place in your Chippie's cage. There are too many stories of tails getting caught in the wheels, causing amputation of the tail. Although your Chippie might live to tell the "tale", it will simply
NOT grow back! Your Chippie is now
permanently disfigured, has been put through unnecessary pain and suffering, and it's means of balancing itself as it scampers about the cage has been removed!
An example of what NOT to do!
Take a close look at this setup: If this is your idea of properely taking care of a Chippie, we beg you
PLEASE DO NOT
BUY A CHIPPIE! You will end up with a Chippie that will always hide and never be tame enough to handle. You will shorten
the life of your pet dramatically! We put one of our tame females in a cage twice this size for several days due to aggression
and she went from tame to a spastic animal that ran into the walls trying to get away from us. Within minutes of being put
back in her larger cage she was back to her normal self. These guys just do not do good in small, confined cages. If you can
not provide the proper habitat for your pet, please do not buy one. We all mean the right thing and tell ourselves that our
pet will only be in the little cage "until I can afford / build / buy a bigger
setup", which 9 times out of 10 NEVER happens.
Do the right thing and don't buy a Chippie until you have the right cage setup physically located in your home
BEFORE
picking up your new Chippie. Your Chippie and all of us here at Got Chippies thank you!
Cage Frame
We build the frame of our cages using pine 1x2 lumber, and have designed it so that it can be taken down and layed flat for storage or shipping. It can then be re-assembled quickly and easily with the supplied screws!
Cage Bottom
The bottom of the cage is made from 3/4 inch thick Melamine coated fiberboard. It serves two purposes: first it's heavy and acts as a counterweight in the event you bump into your cage, and second it allows for the easy cleanup of any mess. Chippies are extremely clean animals and they choose one corner of the cage to use as the bathroom. You can with patience "litter train" them and use a plastic corner box that can be easily removed to clean and then replaced in the cage. The sides of the bottom are made from solid 1x6 or 1x8 pine lumber to keep the bedding where you want it, otherwise your Chippies will take great pleasure in scattering it across the room!
Cage screening
We use a heavy guage mesh with 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch squares. The mesh is securely fastened to the frame using staples, and then the exposed edges are covered with a quarter round wood trim piece that protects your animals from exposed wires and at the same time keeps them from chewing an escape route in the corners.
Animal access / Doors
Our cages feature two hinged doors at one end, one for the top half of the cage, and one for the bottom. In addition, we custom build a smaller drawbridge type door inside one of the doors (usually the upper) in order to limit the chance of your Chippies rushing out of the huge door. This feature is a must have when you have multiple Chippies, they will gang up on you with the larger door and while one distracts you the others escape! We use heavy duty hinges and barrel latches at the top and bottom of each door to keep the good animals in, and the bad animals out. We can also install locking hasps if you need the ultimate in security or have small children you need to keep out of the cage.
Hide Boxes
You should supply one Nest Box for each Chippie in your cage. The Nest Box will be their primary place of residence while they are sleeping, and they will also hoard extra food for a "rainy day". They will fill the box with bedding material. Our Nest Boxes have a hinged lid for easy access to check on your Chippies and to aid in cleaning them out, and have a front porch for them to step out
upon without fear of falling.
Bedding
Your Chippies need suitable bedding in the bottom of the cage in order to hide food, burrow, and play. You should supply them with 3 to 6 inches, our cages are designed to allow this depth in the bottom and minimize the amount your Chippies spill while playing. They will also use it for nesting material in the nest box. We use pine shavings that we purchase from the local Farm Supply / Feed Store in bulk. It's much cheaper than buying it from a pet store. DO NOT USE CEDAR SHAVINGS with your Chippies! The natural oils that cedar contains can cause rashes or respiratory problems. Other products to consider would be "Care Fresh" recycled paper from your local pet store and straw.
