"The Ferrets" website at http://www.mentisfugit.com/theferrets

Making The Cage Top Opening

I thought a lot about where to put the access door to the top level. If I cut a third door on the front of the cage, directly on top of the other two, I was afraid it would make the front of the cage weak and unstable. Then I tried unhinging the top of the cage to use that as a door but it really weakened the entire structure. So leave the original top hinged in place. Instead of unhinging it, you're just going to cut a REALLY BIG hole in it on the top! It'll still be ok. :) Leave the width of 2 rectangles on either side of the hole, and leave the length of one rectangle along the back. Bring the front all the way up to the bar along the front edge that is about an inch or so from where the corner turns down. Cut flush and use more black plastic edging.

Now take the 21.5" x 33.75" piece of black cage mesh from Skip Martin and hinge it along the back rung on the top of the cage. Again use the c-rings. It should extend past the front rung on top of the cage and go to the actual edge of the top front where the bend is.

Here again, I found that 2 or 3 "spring with hook" latches worked best to keep this "door" closed. However, the springs don't quite reach. I added a little length to them with some wire and they worked fine. Actually, if you get the ferret plastic "funnels," what I used were those little metal hooks that come with them, and a "dime sized" key ring loop to bridge the gap. I'm sure you'll figure something out. Attach the ends of the latches to the door/lid itself and hook straight down from the top to the next rung in front to close.

Hopefully you now have a top opening cage with two functioning doors in the front (and an old door or two in back that you may or may not choose to use.) Check all your hinges and make sure they're all secure. At this point I wrapped some twist ties around some of the corners of the cage where the side panels meet because there was woman (I don't remember who) that had a story about a little foot getting caught in the space between the panels in the corners and that story made me paranoid!

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*One more little thing: When I made my cage I had some plexiglas left over, so I used this for the top instead of wire mesh. I scored and cut it to the correct size, bought more plastic edging, drilled holes on the back edge of the plexiglas for the c-rings, and for the front edge I drilled through both the plastic edging and the plexiglas to make the holes to attach the hooks. Without the plastic edging on at least the front edge, the plexiglas would probably crack from the stress caused by the tension in the hooks when the top is closed. I just thought I'd let you know about this additional option. If you want to try this, make sure to adjust your supplies list accordingly. Like I said, I just did it this way because I had extra materials lying around.

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