When pets come up, the conversation tends to focus on cats and dogs. But design lovers are just as varied in their taste in pets as in decor: rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish, lizards, chinchillas--the possibilities for pet options go on and on. We've talked about the kinds of concessions necessary for cat and dog owners, but what about those we make for our animal friends that aren't of the feline or canine variety?
It's perhaps easy to think about how a pet can fit into your life, but it's somewhat more difficult to think about how you (and your home) can fit into your pet's. Especially when dealing with exotic pets, it's necessary to think about how to make your needs and your pet's coincide. There's a fine balance to be struck between creating a suitable habitat for your creature and keeping your own habitat lovely and livable.
Design
It's no secret that a number of cages are unsightly. Caged or enclosed animals have a number of needs that don't involve interesting materials or curving lines. And a number of pet suppliers have not kept design at the forefront of their mind when creating their wares.
One solution to an ugly cage is, obviously, to place it out of the way. My friend kept her rabbits' hutch in the laundry room (the animals were given free range to roam about elsewhere if supervised), and my sugar gliders lived in a large bird cage in a spacious closet. If you take this tack, though, you must make sure that you are keeping the animal's needs in mind as well. For instance, gliders are nocturnal, so in general, the darkness of the closet suited them better than the bedroom itself would (thanks to a flood of streetlight that would come in at night), and on my end, I was thankful that the noise of their play was muted at 3 a.m.
For those who want to keep their pets on display, an attractive solution can be trickier. Barbara from Hodge: Podge recently raised the issue of trying to find an affordable way to display a snake habitat, and after contemplating several options with different measurements, she settled on an IKEA Hemnes bookcase (Image 2).
Function
Keeping a cage area clean can be a real pain, so when designing around a pet's area, it's best to keep in mind that there will be rogue paper bedding and bits of food. Because of the food splatters of my eager, climbing eaters, I had to paint the walls with a finish that was easy to wipe down. One should also make sure that a cage is not too near any furniture or textiles that one doesn't want damaged.
Ensure that your pet has adequate space, and make sure that you had adequate storage space for all the requisite supplies. A large bag of shredded paper bedding takes up quite a bit of shelf space, I quickly learned.
Affordability
It's certainly possible, as demonstrated by the number of beautiful aquariums out there, to integrate pets into decor in an aesthetically pleasing way, but if you don't want to spend a ton of money on a custom-designed piece, it can be difficult to find an attractive but affordable way to design around an aquarium, terrarium, or cage. Kris Selner devised a clever and attractive chinchilla cage using Elfa shelving and a melamine base (Image 3).And Martina on IKEA Hackers made a habitat for her hamsters using an IKEA Expedit (Image 4).
If you have a furry or scaly friend, what what problems have you encountered with adapting your home to adequately become theirs? And do you have any clever solutions for the rest of us?
(Images: 1. Jamielee, 2. Hodge:Podge , 3. Kris Selner, 4. IKEA Hackers)
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I think for any pet in an aquarium, it's more about the inner landscaping. A nice fish tank of any size can be a beautiful addition to a room. I have my corn snake in a long aquarium in my room, and his furnishings aren't extravagant, but they're what he needs, and not unsightly (some aspen litter, half a log, a few extra sticks, and a big water bowl). When he decides to stretch out along the length of the cage (usually just in the spring when he's more concerned with hormones than food or sleep), he's quite eye-catching and attractive, standing out in bright red/orange/yellow against the plainer tan and brown of the rest of the cage.
My turtle tank fits in almost perfectly with my current decor. I bought an aquarium stand (the most expensive furniture purchase I've made - I wanted to be certain it could hold the 200lbs of water and rock) that matches my bookshelf fairly well, and it works with most of my style (though I'll probably paint it at some point).
We have him in a room with a lot of blues, purples, and reds, so having something that lives in the water actually makes the decor work better! The back is covered in an old curtain that goes well with the room.
We're in the process of moving, so the curtain behind him may change to match the new decor a little better, but overall, he makes everything work a little better!
We are currently converting a small outdoor porch into a walk-in aviary for finches.
There is a 12 foot pane of storefront glass separating the porch from our kitchen, so watching the birds fly around while having morning coffee is going to be a real treat...
You can see a few early images of the project here -
http://rosekraft.blogspot.com/2011/06/summer-aviary-real-progress.html
I'd be interested in other people's tips on rabbit-proofing a room. We have a very charming, litter-trained dwarf bunny who enjoys hanging out with the family, but it's really hard to keep ahead of him on the subject of electrical cords. He chews them whenever he gets the chance. This is (obviously) very hazardous for him and a real nuisance for us. Has anyone come up with a good (and not horrendously ugly) solution to this situation with their rabbit?
North Bay, I bought some black electrical cord organizers (the type that covers the cord from end to end) from Ikea, and my rabbit chews on that instead - she never makes it through to the wire itself. That, and I tuck cords behind furniture wherever possible.
That last photo of the hamster habitat rocks!!
The biggest challenge I've encountered was with the hedgehog I had back in college. Since they are desert animals, they need a relatively warm environment (at least 72 degrees Farenheit), which wasn't a problem when I was in a dorm room and not paying for the heat. When I'd take her home to my parents' house for winter break, they typically kept the house at 68 degrees and she'd attempt to hibernate. For those few weeks she wound up in her own bedroom with a space heater. :-P
I'd actually love to get another hedgehog at some point, but this is an issue that still concerns me, because I do try to keep the house cooler during the winter to save on heating costs, but I don't like the idea of a space heater as a long-term solution. Anyone have any suggestions?
@North Bay, our rabbit is just the same... we covered all of our cords with clear, flexible plastic Critter Cord that is supposed to have a bad taste. He still chewed on it despite the supposed bad taste, but at least the cords have an extra layer of protection. It's not an awesome decorating decision, but the cords are mostly behind furniture anyway.
On the topic of chewing - I bought a beautiful wicker hampering before realizing it was the perfect material for gnawing on. I rubbed it with a jalapeno. Problem solved. If the cords don't have the right texture for enough of the jalapeno to rub off maybe painting a thin layer of (diluted?) scotch bonnet pepper sauce, or something else with a light colour, would do the same thing.
North Bay, I have a litter trained dwarf bunny too. My biggest challenge was the tv and all of the game cords. I went thrifting and found a nice cheap sideboard and cut a hole in the back and put all the cords inside. As for the lamps I zip tied all of the extra length of cord and put it tucked behind the lamps out of reach. I'm too afraid he could get through those cord protectors so keeping them out of reach has worked really well.
@NorthBay. About bunnies and cords. Our solution is to prohibit our bun from the rooms (office, library) where there is the most cord vulnerability. (We use "cherry" wooden pet gates.) Elsewhere, we try to run all cables along table legs or whatever (back side, out of sight) where he's not tempted. (Our experience is that rabbits are more tempted/annoyed by the cables that drape like vines.) We also use cord covers. Sometimes they work!
As for spaces for house rabbits... We actually built our current home with our pets in mind. We had two rabbits, now only one, but we decided totally free run of the house wasn't going to happen this time. (We had some issues before that we wanted to avoid.) Our finished basement is where the home theater is (the real reason to build the house!), and also on that floor is a "family room" and a full bath. The stairs down are the type that turn 90 degrees halfway down. Under that section of the stairwell (between the family room and the bathroom) we put a closet, thinking long term if someone wanted to add a door, the walkout basement room could be converted into a legal bedroom. Meanwhile, it's the bunny hutch.
We put a "cupboard" sort of door from the family room into the closet, which we leave open. We adhered self-stick tile to a sheet of plywood to cover the berber carpet outside this space, and we got a segmented portable pet pen (meant to confine small dogs outdoors, mainly) which we set up around the perimeter of this "hard floor". (We only used a few of the segments and stashed the rest in the garage.) We leave the gate to this pen open most of the time, too. Inside on the hard finished floor, we placed one of those ~36inch square shallow "tubs" meant to put under washing machines in case of leaks. (Home Depot, maybe $20). This keeps a lot of the mess from moving out of the pen. His food is served there, his water (which he tosses sometimes!) and his hay"loft" (a metal rack I got somewhere that hangs on the pen so any pee drains through into the white tub for easier cleanup.)
In the closet itself, which the bunny has access to from his pen, we put scrap vinyl flooring for now. (If we ever finish the closet for people use, we'll deal with the concrete then.) We got a big plastic storage tub (maybe 2'x4'??) tossed the cover, and cut an opening in one side for his litter/nesting box. (We use Carefresh litter so it serves as both). For convenience we also keep a covered tub with replacement litter in there -- the bunny climbs on top sometimes, king of the kill!
He has free run of the family room all the time unless a guest is sleeping on the futon in there, or something else unusual is going on. A pet gate keeps him confined, but he's still got a lot of space and when, in the evening, we let him run free while we are at home, he often prefers to stay there anyhow -- except when he comes up for his nightly slice of banana!
Our setup works well for us, but it uses more space than some can spare. However, the idea of using an underused closet and pet doors, for instance, might have worked for me in most places I have lived.
Ditto on the landscaping of tanks thing. My betta fish lives in a 2.5 gallon tank with some very realistic fake plants, black rocks, and a jaguar skull hiding place. The whole thing kind of goes with and blends in on the shelf he lives on, beside books, art, and two typewriters (one from the 20's, one from the 50's). I have kind of a naturalist vibe going on here, so he fits in well.
For bigger tanks that take up prominence and floorspace, consider a rounded acrylic tank instead of the traditional fish tank - you know the one, four sides, black top, black bottom, sealed with silicone in the corners? The rounded acrylics look like one solid piece of material for all four sides, so the over-all impression is much cleaner without any visual interruption for the aquascaping inside. I scored a 50 gallon one off CL for $150 (including filter and all that jazz), but I was lucky. Brand-new, they are significantly more expensive than traditional tanks. Acrylic tanks scratch a lot easier, though, so be careful.
I LOVE the hamster cage Ikea hack! Lucky little guy <3. Wish I saw this for when my little dude was alive.
However, please keep in mind that the cage was created for a DWARF hamster. So, before anyone starts hacking for their teddy-bear hamsters or rats, tanks are typically appropriate only for really small pocket pets, such as dwarf hamsters and mice, who are not only particularly prone to escape but also, to drafts. The tank must be suitably large (a 20 gallon long is minimum for one dwarf hamster, two who get along exceptionally well, max) to 'spread out' waste and make sure the ammonia doesn't harm their little lungs - this is in conjunction with regular cleaning.
The larger hamsters (et cetera) absolutely need the ventilation of bar cages. Which brings me to my conclusion: No matter how hard I tried, I could not make my pet rat's 5', two-story bar cage look nice. It'd be okay for about half a day, and then all hell breaks loose, fluff and shredded toys everywhere, the cage rearranged, and the dang wheels were ugly to begin with. And there were only three of them - one of them was an old, old lady! Maybe rats are just douchebags (adorable, lovable douchebags) but I've only seen one or two rat cages I would call design-worthy. Sigh - so goes the price of pet ownership.
It's on the to do list, so no pics yet but I have the 2 story version of this cage:http://www.dyreudstyr.dk/Gnavere/BureHuse/Bur/Gnaverbur3etager
Spray paint the metal tray and rivet some wheels and a handle on it and I'll have myself a "Rodent Radio Flyer" with the added bonus of it being easy to move when I'm cleaning.
@North Bay My rats love to chew on anything wood (and cords) so I leave 1 square foot pieces of wood around the room as a decoy for them to chew on. I shove them underneath stuff so it's hidden from plin sight - they don't like to sit and chew out in the open. So far it's kept them away from my furniture and skirting.
I am so happy that this post exists !
We put a gecko cage in a 25$ ikea shelf and it adds so much nice greeneryy to the room (living plants) .
id love to hear about more homemade cages people have done !
Yeah, this is something I am still trying to figure out. I have a little parrot, and birds are very intelligent, active little guys, so his cage pretty much needs to be by a window so he can look watch the action outside while I'm away at work, or he will go crazy. So his big, not-particularly-attractive cage goes right in the middle of my room in front of my sliding glass patio door. And while there are cute old bird cages out there, most of them are completely unsuitable for birds to actually live in (most of them are way too tiny, wooden cages would get torn to shreds and cease to be cages in a heartbeat, older metal ones would probably need a coating to make sure the bird couldn't ingest the metal or it's patina, etc.) Birds are also VERY messy eaters, so I have a plastic mat that I have to put over the carpet under his cage so that I can easily sweep up the absurd amount of crumbs that accumulate around his cage on a daily basis (just another reason I Absolutely Hate Carpet, life was so much easier/cleaner/prettier when I lived in a room with hardwood floors). The best I can do is to make sure his cage and the surrounding area stays tidy, but as far as his home goes, I'm not sure there is anything I could really do about it. Maybe if I owned my own home and could actually build some sort of arrangement for him that could work, but as an apartment-dweller I'm not sure there is any way I could make it cuter.
It's fine, though. I have him because he is the sweetest, cuddliest, most playful, cutest, etc. pet on the planet, not to make my house look better, so it's fine.
That chinchilla cage is amazing. I only wish I had the space for something like that. Alas, I had to surrender my chins to a rescue before moving into my apt. =(
Thank you for doing this post! I was expecting a little more ideas, but reading the comments has helped..
I have an aquatic turtle also, who lives in a huge 60 gallon tank. I actually bought a mid-century dresser that was long enough, and reinforced it with plywood supports in the back to hold the tank. The whole set-up worked well when the dresser was in the corner, so my huge filter was hidden, but I've since moved, and am still trying to figure out a way to hide that canister filter and the lamps. I'm thinking about just buying a small potted tree to put in front of the filter, hah.
Just got back from traveling in Florida where the non-native iguanas ---and pythons--- have decimated many local species. Make sure your exotic pets are secure and if you can't afford to keep them, be responsible in finding them their next owners.