Pet Housing

The only certainty about housing any animal is that the cage or run or aquarium will invariably be a compromise. Once you have accepted that, you have to decide whether to buy or to make home and, generally, provided that one's pocket is deep enough,good, commercially made housing is the best bet. If you can only afford models from the cheap end of the market, do not bother;make the thing yourself and it will be far better in the long run. Indo not enjoy carpentry at all. The one great advantage to making your own housing is that you can make it exactly as you want it. Before looking at different types of animal homes, there are a few basic points to bear in mind.

1.Always use the best materials you can find. Rectangular welded mesh (weld mesh) is always preferable to hexagonal wire nettings, and cheap wire netting is useless.

2. Always use weatherproof materials, or weatherproof them yourself, even if you intend to use the finished product indoors.

3.Do not leave or use anything in the construction that might be harmful. Deal with sharp ends of wire or points of nails sticking out of the wood. And do not forget that paint and preservatives can be toxic.

4.Take care over the design and make the whole thing of convenient sized panels that can be bolted or screwed together; at some stage you are going to need to alter the thing, and it is nightmare doing it if the structure is not sectional.

5. If the building is for outdoors, make sure that there is a solid floor even if on the face of it you do not want one, as for example in an aviary. There are two reasons for this: one is to stop occupants getting out - even if you build it for home-loving animals, the day may come when it is used to house a digger or a chewer. The other reason for a floor is to stop unwanted animals getting in. Rats and mice can cause havoc by killing animals and by contaminating food with urine, that may be infected, and that can be fatal to other animals.

6.Use strong timbers or whatever for the basic structure. It might seem strong while it just sits there but if you have to lift it, or someone leans on it, or if a load of snow packs solid on the top, I might suddenly find myself promoted to the world's fourth worst carpenter.

7.Arrange some way of feeding the inhabitants of this new house so that as little disturbance is caused as possible. You will ha veto work this out depending on what you are going to keep, but small door with a shelf inside for food pots might be the answer.

8.Always make a safety porch to aviaries and similar constructions, so that you can enter and close the door behind you before opening the next door. If you do not, you will certainly regret it at some time when your prize specimen shoots out between your legs.

9.Make every animal house as large as space and finances permit. If an occupant needs less space he will not use all of it,but in time you are more than likely going to want the extra space. If you are going to have to enter the animal house, do make sure you can stand upright; nothing is more infuriating,for example, than having to stoop inside an aviary.

10.Make the door as small as is convenient - the bigger it is, the more likely it will be that something will escape. Unless you are keeping really large animals, always hinge the door at the top and let it open outwards so that if you forget to close it, it will drop shut anyway. Think carefully about the position of doors.If you are making a cage and you are right handed, the best place is in the right hand wall as you face the front of the cage.

11.Ensure that the cage floor can be cleaned with minimum disturbance.

12.Paint weld mesh or bars black. It is far easier to see through them and they appear much less prominent.

13.Never assume that an animal cannot get through a gap too small for it, as this happens time and again.

14.Even if you think you are only going to need one cage, flight in your aviary or compartment in your compound, make two In time you will thank me for suggesting it.

15.When you are sitting an animal home, think for a moment about where you would like it to be if you were going to live in it. Window sills which are boiling hot and freezing cold by turn are not a good idea, neither are draughts nor places where you cannot get at the cage to service it easily. Common sense will dictate the best position.

16. Before you introduce an animal to its new home do make sure that all paint is completely dry, that all nails and bits of wire and tools have been removed, that all plants have established themselves or that pieces of plants that you have used as cage furniture are not poisonous and that food, water and bedding is where it should be Trying to do any of this at a later stage is frequently doomed to failure.

These points are equally valid if your new pet is to live in the house. There should be no dangerous or poisonous things around,doors or windows should not be left open so that a disorientated kitten can rush out onto the road when no one is looking, and food, drink and bedding should be ready.

Once an animal has been introduced, go away and leave it alone to establish itself. It is tempting for everyone to stand and watch, but it really is best for the animal to find its way around in peace.