New Cage

[alspeari]

I just got my first chinchilla today! I'm very excited about having him home. I got him from a woman who was moving and couldn't take care of his needs anymore. The cage he came with has the holey floors; with the pull out trays. I've noticed that he doesn't like to walk on it at all. I'm afraid it hurts his feet too much. He won't even go inside the igloo, he just sits on top of it. It's an old cage and kind of rusty in some spots. Should I start looking for a new cage? I also thought I could maybe make some thin flooring out of wood or something hard to put in the cage, so his feet don't touch the wire. It's only a two story and it has a ramp.

 

[GahhItsLee]

You dont need ramps and you could put wood over the floors or fleece
Depends on what you want to do
But you cant take the ramps out completely i did with my cage and my chinny is soo much happier now that he can jump more

 

[Rickman]

You've a couple options;
1] Remove the wire floor - then he'll be on shavings, which is preferred! Just be careful - remove him when changing/washing the pan, and if it's plastic, some chins will chew them - maybe order a galvanized pan!
2]I've a large 3 floor cage with a wire bottom - covered 1/3 with 1" wood houses on each level, and the rest, including ramps with 1/4 x 1/4 hardware cloth - big enough for 'tic-tacs' to fall through! And the houses prevent 'golden showers'!
Bad thing is it's a wrap-around pan, and now the cage itself weighs about 50 pounds - you've got to pick it up, out of the pan, to clean it! Real PIA!

 

[QnMidnight]

If it's rusty in spots, I know that I personally would look into getting a replacement cage. I'd be worried about him chewing on the rusted areas, and if they're rusty enough to have weakened the metal, I'd be worried about him escaping!

You should be able to remove the ramp with no trouble; it may take him a few tries, but he shouldn't have any issues just jumping onto the second level.

As far as the igloo goes, you could try changing its placement to see if he has any interest. Many chins like to sleep as high as possible, so that's a thought. It's also possible he just has no interest in hiding in it. Also, is he a big chewer? If it's been chewed a lot, you may want to consider replacing it with something wooden just to make sure he's not ingesting plastic. It's best to keep as little plastic as possible in chinchilla cages, as they like to chew on just about anything (whether it's good for them or not)!