Degu Dwelling
A simple, modular and inexpensive house for your loving rodent.
Only a few simple tools are used, except the power drill, which was used for drilling out the holes. A wood chisel can be used instead of it.
Design, trying to make it as simple as possible. Wood used is 7 cm wide, 1.2 cm thick pine planks.
Total measurement is 28 cm wide, 23.4 cm thick and 14 cm tall.
Tools used:
- saw
- screwdriver
- wood file
- sanding paper
- clamps
- tension belt
- power drill and few drill bits
Materials used:
- wood planks
- wood glue
- screws
Cut to size. You need:
- 3x 25.5 x 7 x 1.2 for roof (10" x 2 3/4" x 1/2")
- 4x 21 x 7 x 1.2 for front and back (8 1/4" x 2 3/4" x 1/2")
- 4x 28 x 7 x 1.2 for sides (11" x 2 3/4" x 1/2")
If you want yours to have a floor, you'll need 3 extra planks. The reason I haven't made the floor is because the rodents pee and poop a lot in their dwelling and it's very hard to clean it if you have a floor.
Glue the sides together. Also the roof and floor if you're making one (3 pieces of plank). Depending on your wood glue it might take 10 mins to 24 hours. The horizontal joints are the only place wood glue is used because rodents will chew on wood and this is the last place they'll get to chew.
Drill a hole in the wood for the entrance. It can be straight down the middle of off to the sides. Use the wood file to enlarge it to the proper size for your animal.
In case you don't have a power drill you can just cut out a V shape in the wood of the top and bottom plank and sand it into a circle.
A bit more filing until you get the right size. Sandpaper the rough edges out, you don't want your animal friend to get splinters.
Drill two smaller holes on the top plank. Those are extra air holes, in case you have more animals and one of them likes to camp on the habitat entrance. Use tension belt while gluing the front together, if you use a clamp you risk breaking the entrance hole if you squeeze too tight.
Again, if you don't have a (power) drill, saw off two corners of the upper plank for air holes.
After the glue has dried off, drill small holes for screws on the sides. You can skip these entirely in case you don't possess a drill but it helps the wood from not cracking when using screws.
When you have all the parts prepared comes assembly. If you're adding the floor you will have one extra 3 piece. First screw the front to the roof.
I suggest the screwdriver instead of the power screwdriver so you can get the screws nice and aligned and not to force them too much to make the wood crack.
Screw the side to the front. Then screw the back to the roof and the side.
Screw in the other side to the front and the back. (Screw in the floor if you were making one)
Almost finished.
Introduce the new home to your animal companions.
Hope you enjoyed the instructable and happy building!