Gerbils Haven

Materials: Expedit 4×2

Description: My girlfriend really wanted some kind of pet. Guinea pigs would be fine… something like that. As I’m an aesthete – at least think to be – the hutch had to fit in the living room nicely. An Expedit meets my requirements, but is too small for guinea pigs. It wasn’t too hard to convince her of Gerbils (first look: “sweeeeeeeeet” *g*).

The Expedit has to contain the hutch and the things one needs to care for his rodents. I decided to use 3/4 for the hutch.

For three apartments two small cubicles are combined. The Expedit boards spanning two cubicles can be used vertically or horizontally.

Wire netting in the upper part keeps the rodents from too much freedom. Each apartment gets a drawer with a glass front for easy cleaning.

As the rodents shouldn’t jump from one floor to the other, tubes would solve that issue fine.

Therefore I cut 4 holes in the right side and two in the middle board.

Updated: 8 June. My bad. I didn’t notice that the hack was submitted in 2 parts. So click the link below for Part II. ~ Jules 


I used a “Lochkreissäge” – I really couldn’t find the name in english:

Each hole is 75mm in diameter. To keep the rodents what they are used to, I fitted in pieces of drain pipe.

The netting wire holds in place in a slot and on the upper side with magnets.

Don’t forget a back plane, I used 4mm wallboard.

Looks pretty nice, eh?

You can find a documentation in german in 4 little articles on my homepage. See more of the Gerbil haven – and also my 4 new roomies.

~ Stephan, Dresden, Germany