My two cents on the cage issue:
 
For Christmas my two girls got a new home.  No they didn't leave my
household but we got them a new cage to live in.  We found it at PetsMart
and I really can't remember the name of it but I am in love!  It has 5
stories and is honestly big enough that I could fit in it if I took out
the 5 levels.  It had plastic shelving, clear plastic tubes in between
levels, ramps and the whole bottom is a big litterpan.  The wire is coated
with a hard something so rust is not an issue.  It is also on rollers which
I like.  Both of my girls in the 4 + years I have had them have never been
litterbox trained.  Their idea of litterbox training is it always belongs
next to the litterpan.  So I switched to plastic shelves and the big
litterpan in the bottom - we have fewer presents in the upper levels and
they are so much easier to clean with a paper towel each day off plastic
then they were on the wire.  I also feel that the plastic is so much easier
on their feet than the wire.  I will never go back.
 
Beth, Minerva & Frumpstiggle the marsh wiggle
[Posted in FML issue 3288]