Homemade Ferret Cage: How I Built It Using Recycled Materials

In the 1990s, I owned a ferret that lived in a homemade enclosure borne of necessity and frugality. Her first enclosure was something functional, but crude. It was a cleaned white 55-gallon chemical barrel lying on its side, with a large opening running lengthwise on the top, forming an oval skylight. To this cage, I added a upright portion of a 55-gallon barrel, with a HDPE water pipe to connect the two forming something that looked vaguely like “SKYLAB”. Mounted onto vertical boards with horizontal ‘feet’, it sufficed. I built a screened ’sun porch’ for both modules to give her visual access to the outside. This looked a bit crude but it was fairly complex, spacious and functional.

When I started dating and my girlfriend was coming over for visits, I was more self-conscious of the fact that my pet was living in an ugly cage. I decided to build something better. Over the course of a two-day weekend, I built a 2’ X 4’ wooden ferret cage, no blueprints or plans were ever used. I just let myself create. I had decided to use recycled grates from refrigerators as the sides so that much was already figured out.

Still Working Under a Budget

I am not a carpenter nor draftsman so this was mostly constructed ‘logically.’ There were no plans or even rough estimates of any measurement. Every piece that was needed was measured on-the-spot and custom cut accordingly. The ol’ ‘measure twice, cut once’ approach that professional contractors use would be imperative. No actual blueprints for this cage existed then or now. I will re-create in PaintPro drawings some of what I did.

I wanted the cage to be of a certain height approximately, and it would consist of recycled materials wherever possible. I would use the under grating of discarded grocery store produce cases for the sides of the cage, but for this article, let’s assume that you will use Refrigerator grating. Shown below are several discarded refrigerators awaiting recycler pick-up. This presents a cheap or even free opportunity to obtain all the under grating that you would need. In the case of this cage, you would require six grates. Most refrigerators have two grates, some have three. Shown here on four discarded refrigerators are possibly enough grates for two cages.

Often, tenement buildings and most assuredly recyclers/salvage yards will have discarded refrigerators that you can salvage these grates from. For this article and to keep the math easy, let’s assume that the ‘width’ of the grates are 24-inches (2-feet.) We will build a cage that is 2-feet wide by 4-feet long.

Start With The Uprights, The Table Legs

Two clean pine wood boards, 4-feet long and 6-inches wide by ¾-inches thick, are used. See below image. T-ed on one end with a 24-inch long board, these will form the ‘uprights’, the table legs. Wood screws are used to attach the pieces. I used ‘drywall screws’ which worked a little better than common wood screws for securing the pieces together.

Next, Supports For The ‘Table Top’

Here I used two 1-inch X 1-inch X 24-inches long cleats, attached centered to the uprights, approximately two-feet from the top. Be sure that these are ‘centered’ and the same distance from whichever end you measure from. Your ‘table top’ will sit on top of this, and it needs to be level based upon these measurements.

The Floor Of the Cage

For the floor of the cage, I used poplar wood instead of white pine. It is a little bit harder, maybe more moisture resistant and it certainly would take the stain & varnish better. Either four boards that are 6-inches wide by 4-feet long, or two boards that are 12-inches wide by 4-feet long will do. I prefer the 12” X 4’ (“two boards”) method, but either approach would work. It might work a bit better to plan for the ‘length’ of these four (or two?) boards to be a little bit MORE than 4-feet long. An extra quarter-inch would be fine. This will later allow room for the refrigerator grates to set in securely without forcing them.

Just remember that the bottom shelf board must be the exact same length as the ‘table top’ for this to work correctly. Any size adjustments to the table top must be duplicated here too.

A under-table ’shelf’ is later added for stability, and a place to store other items associated with the keeping of the ferret. A ‘backsplash’ board can be added to prevent items from getting pushed back too far and falling to the floor. Again, this also adds to stability and this is what I did.

Building Edges Around The Table

This tabletop needs to have a ‘edge frame’ built all the way around it, to support the screen and reduce litter that will accumulate in the cage when the ferret inhabits it. Note that the two LONG pieces are 1 ½-inches longer than the width of the table. You want the ¾ overlap on each end (3/4″ + 3/4″ = 1 1/2-inches,) to pair-off the end pieces. The image below demonstrates this.

Install The Screen Grates

In this next image, the Refrigerator grates are being installed onto the cage, held in place with flat window frame brackets and drywall screws. These can be permanently attached or, as in the cage that I built and using ‘draw hasps’ available from any hardware store, removable. I liked the removable feature as it made the cage able to be disassembled for intense cleaning, or transport.

Starting To Look Like a Ferret Cage

Install the screens as shown here. Secure to the upright boards and edge frames with window frames brackets and wood screws to hold these firmly to the table. Framing around the top of the screens in a similar manner with more wooden boards to which hinged door can be attached will complete the cage. I built my own custom-sized screen doors for the top of the cage.

You are encouraged to use water-based stain (not oil-based, as it is toxic to most animals that might chew and swallow,) and I used a polyurethane spray finish to ’seal’ the wood, making it easier to clean.

My ferret enjoyed and lived in this cage for over 12 years. I would add to and modify the cage frequently. My first renovation was a cutout recess to accommodate a standard plastic cat litter box. The top of which would be at floor-level, making it easy for the ferret to get into and out of.

Next, a round hole was made in the floor on the other end, sanded round and smooth and a shallow removable plastic knick-knack/mini-sweater box was added, as a subterranean nest for her. The shallow requirement was so that she would not have to climb vertically very far. She was becoming aged and climbing was getting harder for her to do.

Later, I built a grated split-level climbing deck too, with wide, gently sloping walkways. I used this cage for over ten years until the ferret finally passed away and I had to dismantle the cage and return it to recycling.

Having posted a picture of the cage on a popular image-sharing site, I noted that it receives nearly a dozen views per day sometimes, so apparently some people are curious about it. I hope that this little ‘how-to’ showed some of what was involved in the creation of this, a low-budget custom ferret cage.

The Finished Ferret Cage

Above is the completed cage, replete with nesting box, litter facility and the ferret is inspecting the cage. She can just barely be seen in the cage to the far right.

Notice that I has also installed common trunk-handles on the uprights at the top end. This makes moving the cage around much easier.

Extreme close-up of the cage grates, with Trouble the Ferret visible inside her new home.

Trouble, in the Bath Tub