Moving Day Part One

Apologies for taking so long to update the most crucial part.
What can I say, but sometimes life is mental.

Anyway so it finally came to moving day.
My good lady and I had written off a whole day for this part of the project.
We left them on the floor in their Double Decker home, partly so it was close by to steal the various bits and pieces out of it - and because it wouldn't be fair to keep them cooped up all day in their travel cage. By the end they were almost in there on their own.
They weren't impressed.

So with the landing pad empty all that remained was to make the now extremely heavy DIY build light enough so I could lift it onto the cupboard.

The first step was to take all the bits I had so lovingly assembled over the last couple of months back out.

When it was down to the bare bones I could attach the bits that I would not be able to access from the back when it was in place.

Like the branches for the digging pit.

And any last minute drilling that was required.

The most important part was attaching the wheel.

I wanted to brace this across the whole back of the build so it did not shake and easily wear holes in the MDF so I attached two long wooden strips that I had pre-drilled in multiple points.

This was attached at the back through the dill holes in the wood.
The idea is that this will also spread vibration across the box and stop it from shaking violently as well as making the joints stronger.

Once the wheel was secure and working it was time to put the box in place.
This was a mammoth task even without the interior pieces as not only was it tall and awkward, but I refused to let my other half help too much due to her back.
Hence the up turned cool box and MDF braces.

Eventually with much pushing, shoving and swearing we managed to get it in place, which meant we could start the process of rebuilding.

The shelves were easy to bolt back in and secure with washers and nuts.

I made the door frame four separate pieces so it too would bolt in and out easily.

Once the front was put together the perspex windows were added.

Then came the fun part of creating a whole new world for the girls:

Digging pit 1.

Digging pit 2.

Digging pit 3.

Shelf 1, including full sandbath.

Ladder to access the second second floor.

Hidey hole, stones and hay ball.

Shot of the top level.

Hammock.

Wheel, ladder and the 'octopus' toy that they love.

Shot of the completed house - you can see the second floor with nesting box, terracotta tunnel and branch ladder.

A comparison to my blueprints.

Custom ladder to allow them to come out (you can see by now it was much later in the day!)
IMPORTANT: Degus are small, but tough creatures - however the ladder we have, whilst carefully designed for our cage is quite high. I shall be updating the blog to include cage modifications and play time pictures  in due course, but we do not allow our Degus to come out on the ladder without having a plump cushion underneath it in case they knock each other off. 
Falling from a height like this onto a hard surface would undoubtedly cause sevre injury.
These pictures were taken as a demonstration shot for the man who very kindly built the ladder for me as he hopes to sell them to other interested parties.

Next time I'll post pictures of the girls introduction to their new home.
I'll also post the modifications we have made since, play time and observations from having lived with the box for two months (and counting).