Hello, I'm designing an avoiry

[Milner]

Hello, I'm Andy Milner, I'm 13, I'm from Ulverston and I'm an alcoholic designing an indoor avoiry for 2-3 chipmunks.

So far I have a rough idea of what i'm going to do heres a list a list of the features.

1m by 1m by *whatever the distance from my floor to my ceiling*

At least 4 inches of soil and bits of turf at the base. It will have a nice earthworm lurking around in there (good or bad idea?) and some peanuts to encourage burrowing.

A series of cardboard tube tunnels, some maybe even going underground.

A ladder or two.

Nesting items dotted around the place.

A lot of climbing twigs.

Two nesting boxes.

Two drinking bottle things.

Two feeding dishes.

A Mineral Stone

Some Pebbles

Some Moss

Also I'm going to hallow out a coconut and drill some holes into it.

Some of the toys will be introduced after the 'munks have been introduced to the actual avoiry.

So that's all folks.

Oh and the actual cage itself will be mostly wood and that chicken wire mesh (1/2 inch holes)

Cheers.

Got any recomendations on toy ideas?
Verdicts?
Let me know.

[Gilly]

Hi Andy, Thats some gear your putting in. It sounds like they wont be getting bored in a hurry. I read that chicken wire might not be strong enough. Try and get something like 19 gauge mesh. Good luck with the aviary and put some pics up.

[Nate]

Hi Andy, and welcome to the board.

You don't say if it's to be an indoor or outdoor aviary, but I'm guessing indoor.

Try to get hold of some branches to put in to the aviary from the start. Yes they love tubes, but they also like to perch at various different levels, and the branches will help keep their claws short and give the munks something to chew on. Just make sure the branches are safe wood, like from fruit trees.

I don't think that cardboard tubes in the soil will work for long, as they munks like their soil kept damp, consider using short lengths of plastic downpipe, should last forever then. The soil needs to be changed every so often (it will get stale and full of seeds and nuts if its indoors), so I put it in giant garden pots. With the soil in a pot it's much easier to keep it wet, without damaging the floor. Chipmunks like to digg deep, at least a foot or so down, so a deep wide pot is good

I've never tried mine with earthworms, but they would probably like them and they're safe.