I say Karri's post inquiring on cage materials and after sending her some
more complete plans, I thought it worthwhile to send to the FML for everyone.
 
After seeing all of those high priced cages on the market, I decided to
build one on my own, but I too wanted to avoid wood for all the obvious
reasons.  Not being an experienced welder, I wasn't sure what to do next,
but knew I needed a metal frame.  Then it hit me when I saw some old
shelving material I had picked up at a garage sale.  You all probably have
seen what I am talking about.  Its metal shelving (usually painted green or
grey).  The shelves are 36" long and 18" wide.  The posts are "angle iron"
in appearance and have holes every 2 inches for the nuts and bolts to hold
the shelf.  Using a shelf at the bottom, I attached posts at each corner
with nuts and bolts.  The posts are 36" high.
 
I won't go into details here on how I wired on the hardware cloth and made
the doors.  But I ended up with a cage 36"H, 18"W, 36"L, with 2 floors and
big enough for at least 2 or 3 ferrets.  It's equivalent to ones I seen
priced at $150 in some stores and has the advantage of being all metal and
easy to clean and take care of.
 
Another material that comes in handy is the aluminum sheets used at
newspapers for printing.  They make good cage liners (my shelf had holes it
it), edging or anything else.  They are sturdy, but can be cut with ordinary
scissors.  My newspaper sells them for 50 cents each.
[Posted in FML issue 1779]