The perspex and adhesive arrived yesterday! So began the next build part of Dennis-Sama`s home
First job was to put Dennis-Sama in his old home, the Pets at Home small cage
And as usual, he never left his tube for the time he was in there! I then emptied out all his substrate out, knocked the walls off with a hammer and gave it a good clean out.
First order of the day was to cut 3mm of perspex off the top as it was just a little bit too tall. To do this i clamped it between two sheets of plastic tostop it chattering when I cut it with a jigsaw with a metal blade (this required a special visit to B&Q).
With the perspex, glued together and resting on a plank to set I set about measuring, cutting and sanding the wood that would sandwich the perspex between the main box.
Once this was complete and the perspex cement set, I placed the sheet on top and then realised the top would need a brace too. This would prevent the two sheets from coming apart creating a gap, stop the lid from bashing against the perspex and possibly chipping it, and finally stop it from bending when leaning over.
I cut down the corner support posts to allow a wooden plank to sit across the top, cut a piece of baton to sandwich the perspex again and then it was ready for screwing in.
To do this I fitted a wood drill bit and drilled straight through the wood into the perspex, then replaced that with a metal bit to cut through to the wood underneath. After all the holes were complete I peeled the protective film off and screwed it all into place.
That was it for the window, all nice and see through
Next on the agenda was the platform, I cut it down to make it smaller, but instead of just having just the one I made 2 smaller ones and retained the stairs. The one against the window is removable so we can access the underneath to clean it as this is where I identified his potty area. The left side is sandwiched tightly between two support batons and the post is large and screwed to the platform itself.
I refilled the substrate, placed his toys and wheel in a similar place to last time and put his bedding back in the same corner i found it. I also placed his potty dish in the same spot I assumed he was peeing in (although there seemed to be poop in his home?)
This part of the build easily took the longest in just over 4 hrs, but that`s it complete (for now) but structurally I am happy. We have a window into his hidey hole which he seems happy with and we can now see hims snooze which is soooooo cute!
He did try and dig a hole through the perspex for a few mins which I could have imagined was really confusing for him but other than that he seems to be settling really quickly
Next on the agenda is TOYS! I want to hang a rope bridge of some sort off the cage ceiling between the two platforms and maybe to the roof of his cardboard fort.
