What's wrong with the FN 142

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I think the edge was definitely a factor, the other factor being that the cross bar happens to line up with the bottom of the shelf - so her arm could slip down, but the crossbar kept it from going all the way through. If that crossbar wasn't lined up like that, her arm probably would've slipped right through and I never would have known there was a problem.

When I found her, her arm was stuck where you see the blood, and she was standing below - she never would have been able to get her arm up and out on her own.
 
Jen, I am so sorry that this happened to your little girl. It's always hard to deal with broken bones of any type. She really got into something when she got stuck there...what are the odds? Chins will always find a way to get hurt if there is a way....
 
with Kiwi? odds are good! She boings first, asks questions later.

If I'd gotten to know her better before naming her, her name would be Goofy Knievel. :laughitup:
 
This may sound stupid but I just thought about this to fix the issue with the gaps get some fleece and fold it in strips and stuff it down in the gaps so there is no hole and the problim is fixed i think.
 
ChrisSmith1980 said:
This may sound stupid but I just thought about this to fix the issue with the gaps get some fleece and fold it in strips and stuff it down in the gaps so there is no hole and the problim is fixed i think.
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Chris, that is a wonderful idea!!;) As your one of the few to be proactive in fixing a POSSIBLE problem!! (rather then ignoring it and hoping for the best) As this post may make Me unpopular,:deadhorse2: some have lost numerous chins in the past & it hurts to see & hear that!!:cry3: Stop being so hard and pay attention!! It would hurt My heart to see anyone else lose more of their babies due to a silly overlook by all of us "responsible" parents...:banghead:

I still stand by the FN's, I wouldn't have any other cage!! But at least I am willing to see the FEW flaws.:idea:
 
Thanks.I just got my ffn 142 yesterday and sold my QC and i love how the fn 142 looks so much better in my room.Now i need shelfs and stuff lol.Anyways thats a easy fix if you ask me so no more feet will get hurt.
 
Aimee & The Chinette's said:
Chris, that is a wonderful idea!!As your one of the few to be proactive in fixing a POSSIBLE problem!! (rather then ignoring it and hoping for the best) As this post may make Me unpopular,:deadhorse2: some have lost numerous chins in the past & it hurts to see & hear that!!:cry3: Stop being so hard and pay attention!! It would hurt My heart to see anyone else lose more of their babies due to a silly overlook by all of us "responsible" parents...:banghead:

I still stand by the FN's, I wouldn't have any other cage!! But at least I am willing to see the FEW flaws.:idea:
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Aimee, you're making it sound like I (we) are ignoring something that is of grave danger to chins. But I have spent quite some time inspecting it (see- I DO care-) and it just is not possible for any of my chins to get anything stuck in the gaps that are present in my cages. Maybe it's the way I built my shelves. Maybe I got lucky with all of my pans. But there is absolutely no way anything of my chins that could get stuck in a 2 mm space between a shelf and the cage. Maybe if the gap were big enough that their foot or toe could slip through, I would understand and do something to fix it. I think if something were going to happen, it would have happened by now since I have had my chins in these cages with the same set up for 2 years. I can barely slide a piece of paper in between the gaps.

Chris, that's a great idea, IF the gaps were big enough to even fit a piece of fleece. My gaps aren't, not even a single layer of fleece would fit in them.

Jen's Kiwi is the only chin I have heard of of getting a foot caught, and she said herself that the "poo edge" might have contributed to it, and I agree. They cause the shelf to not fit as snuggly in the cage, and allow more of an area for the chin to get a leg caught. NONE of my shelves have these.

I don't appreciate being called irresponsible because of a tiny gap in between my cage shelves and cage side. If driving an injured chin down to an emergency clinic on a Sunday and spending $1,000 for his treatment, and staying up with him all night until he passed...or handfeeding a chin for a month and getting up all through the night to give him meds and feed him...if having more money in their emergency vet account than my checking account is irresponsible, then yes, I guess I am irresponsible because my shelves have teeny gap. :err: I know you're jumping on this because Rick is your friend, but seriously, come on.
 
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>I know you're jumping on this because Rick is your friend, but seriously, come on.

Gee, Aimee can't have her own opinion? And why are you so dogged? How about full disclosure Stacie? Any history between us? If you want to bring personal relations into it. Ever had a chin die on you? Why? But seriously, come on.

Next, post pictures of all your edges, cause there is reasonable doubt about your veracity.

Why do you insist your perception of reality is universally shared? That your cage defies logic and physics and therefore everyone else's does too? You denied that the problem exists, then that it doen't matter, then you get personal when someone wants to be proactive. **** of a way to discuss something, but then, what else should anyone expect?

Just my opinion.
 
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>This may sound stupid but I just thought about this to fix the issue with the gaps get some fleece and fold it in strips and stuff it down in the gaps

Finally, what this discussion could have established early on. I did what you suggested when I saw the potential problem. It will work until a more suitable fix is found.
 
Okay - Enough. Keep the personal crap out of it. I'm seriously not in the mood to deal with it this morning. Stop calling people irresponsible, stop acting like only certain people care about their chins and no one else does.

Discuss the cage, stop hurling insults or I'll hurl a few warnings.
 
The shelf fits snuggly against the bars. I'm not going to post pictures of every single ledge in my cages. I have 3 cages with multiple ledges. They all look like this. The gap in the front is the front of the ledge. I leave a one inch clearance space between the cage door and the ledge itself.

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I appreciate you trying to point out problems, Rick. It may be an issue in some people's cages, but I think the majority have never had any problems with it what-so-ever. So instead of spending the time and energy on petty problems, why not try pointing out more obvious issues that pose more danger. I think it's silly to nit-pick. You can find little faults with every cage. It's just silly getting people riled up over issues that have hardly caused any problems to begin with.

Want to know what the suitable fix is? Screw your ledges on really tight. ;)
 
One of My original questions/concerns were how everyones bass pans fit... (how tall, and if they fit on top of the "frame" making it possible for NO gap to exist) Like I said, I had ones made & didn't buy from bass.

Just an observation, my gap is big enough to catch poop. It's hard to believe that I am the only one that has this, even if it isn't a threat to the chins...

For the record, when I posted "responsible parents" I really didn't mean for it to be taken as I was calling anyone irresponsible, maybe hardheaded but I know EVERYONE cares for the chins or We wouldn't be here... :handshake:
 
tunes said:
I guess a good question would be - has anybody ever had a chin get it's leg stuck while wall surfing in a ferret nation cage? I don't recall this ever being an issue for anybody at any time. I'm assuming we would have heard about it if it had happened.

I guess you can look for stuff to pick apart in any cage and any situation if you look hard enough. I have to agree with Stack's points though. I can't recall anybody complaining about any of the issues you've raised Rick. People who own Ferret Nations do nothing but sing their praises, so your warn list seems kinda odd.
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I totally agree with tunes.

No cages are 100% accident proof. IMO, FN is the least accident prone cage out on the market. Ultimately, it's up to the owner to set it up safely and comfortably according to their chins lifestyle and personality.

I do wish that they had better wheels though and that the very bottom wire shelf is made solid or at least have the option to remove it.

BTW the steel might not be the highest quality but it sure is more sturdier than my QC cage.
 
Aimee & The Chinette's said:
One of My original questions/concerns were how everyones bass pans fit... (how tall, and if they fit on top of the "frame" making it possible for NO gap to exist) Like I said, I had ones made & didn't buy from bass.

Just an observation, my gap is big enough to catch poop. It's hard to believe that I am the only one that has this, even if it isn't a threat to the chins...
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Well it's more likely that you have the gap and not everyone else because as you said, you didn't buy your pans from bass, unlike pretty much everyone else who has ordered their pans from Bass.

There is a slight gap between my pans and my cage, but once again, not enough to make me feel a cause for concern. My chins don't really have access to the edges of their pans because of the wheel, hidey house, hay holder, etc that is on the floor of their cage. What gap is exposed, the chins aren't really getting close to anyway, since it's on the edge of the cage. They don't walk on it persay, so I don't worry about them getting a leg caught. It's not that big of a gap, anyway. I will take some pictures of it when I get home tonight.
 
amberlin said:
and that the very bottom wire shelf is made solid or at least have the option to remove it.
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When I put Bella's cage together I left out the very bottom grate - the storage area? You can remove it, but you'd probably have to have the cage on it's side to be careful about it.
 
HMM what's wrong with the Ferret Nation? 1 it's not called the Chin Nation which is should be and 2 it doesn't already come with wood shelves and ledges. I guess I could say 3 it doesn't come with chins, but I like to pick out my own chins LOL!

I LOVE my ferret nations. As a woman of 30/16 and having 2 sets of FN's with 5 individual cages--yes one of them I have is 3 stories, the cleaning of these babies are easy enough for me to do on my own if I have too! I can reach just far enough to slide out the bass pans I have on the 3rd story in the one but it's not something I do on a regular basis. That's the whole reason you have kids--to help you out. So at 6'5" Stewart does the cleaning of the 3rd story level.
 
I own both and find pros and cons in both the FN cages and the QC cages. But, I do have to say that One of the ledges that I put in my FN cage did fall and could have probably hurt one of my chins (thank god it didn't). But, that could have been my fault, maybe I didn't make it tight enough? Poor Kiwi! Thank god she's doing well now. That's horrible!
 
One more thing to fix the gap.You can always go buy some small molding at home depot and cut it and glue it on top of the shelf where the gap is.No big deal.You find things wroun g dont make a fuss about it just think of ways to fix it.:)
 
nicky said:
I own both and find pros and cons in both the FN cages and the QC cages. But, I do have to say that One of the ledges that I put in my FN cage did fall and could have probably hurt one of my chins (thank god it didn't). But, that could have been my fault, maybe I didn't make it tight enough? Poor Kiwi! Thank god she's doing well now. That's horrible!
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It could have been you not making it tight enough, or that the washers weren't large enough. I have never had a problem with shelves or ledges falling, or even coming loose, but I also have larger washers on every shelf to make sure it's nice and secure.
 
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