Making cells for nutria
Keeping nutria in captivity should provide comfortable living for animals and convenient care for them. When arranging a place of detention - cages for nutria, it is necessary to take into account the lifestyle of the animals. How warm the cell needs to be depends on the climatic conditions in the region. A complex is used for keeping animals - walking, dining room, swimming pool.
Types and features of cells for nutria
In winter, nutria are not bathed in the outdoor pool if the water is covered with ice. The animals themselves are not afraid of severe frosts, the skin saves. Feet and tail freeze, even with a slight drop in temperature.
Nutria cells are built according to needs:
- keeping adults for breeding;
- growing young stock to slaughter;
- growing replacement young animals.
The adult herd consists of families of several females and a male. There are also cages for mothers with babies. The house should be warm with a walk and a pool.
Marketable livestock of young animals are placed in cages with minimal amenities, shelter, walking and a place for feeding should be provided.
To replace old nutria from the broodstock, the most developed, with the desired skin color, are left. They are kept in comfortable conditions, as they are prepared for reproduction.
Requirements for arranging a nutria cage:
- it is obligatory to divide the cage into aft and nesting compartments;
- access to the inside for maintenance - opening cage roof;
- protection of structures from gnawing with a metal mesh;
- warming cells at subzero temperatures;
- compliance with the density of cell population;
- metal drinkers and feeders, fixed permanently.
The place of the nesting compartment should have a soft bedding, and on the walking area and in the dining room, the floor is covered with tin or built with a concrete screed. The doors between the compartments and the access to the pool are fenced off by doors suspended from the upper hinges so that they can freely open in the direction of the animal's movement.
Putting together a house for nutria
Everyone can make a cage for nutria with their own hands. We will build a portable house in order to keep the animals on the street in the summer, and in the winter to move to a warm room. To prevent your pets from escaping, the interior wall cladding is made of metal mesh. Powerful nutria cutters crumble wood with ease, but metal wire is too tough for them. We will build a nutria cage, as in the photo, according to the description.
Materials and tools:
- larch boards, plywood sheets;
- thermal insulation material;
- mesh with a cell of 2.5 cm and a wire thickness of 5-6 mm;
- floor mesh, mesh up to 1.5 * 4.5 cm;
- slate sheets, tin;
- tools, awnings and fasteners.
Practical owners often buy scrap iron at a scrap collection point. There you can find solid and suitable nets, sheds, metal rods, paying much less as for recyclable materials.
Using the drawings of the nutria cage, we cut the blanks. Make a berth without windows, but with a hole of about 20 * 20 cm.
The procedure for building a house:
- We are preparing a sandwich panel from the outer layers of the boards and the laying of insulation.Stiffening ribs are a frame, internal slats on which the insulation is fixed. Three-layer panels are fastened together, forming a bedroom frame from three sides, the fourth is a mesh.
- For a summer house, we assemble a structure from a mesh, fixing it to a frame made of wooden bars.
- All wooden parts are covered from the side of the room with slate, metal or mesh.
- The roof must open to care for the animals, the mount is hinged.
- We arrange doors or manholes for the free movement of animals. In the dining room we arrange metal gutters - feeders and drinkers. To save space, we strengthen them along the walls.
- The entire structure is equipped with a pull-out tray under the faeces net.
The cage is ready, you can use it in winter and summer, but in summer you will definitely need a pool for swimming and excrement of animals. Yes, they perform their physiological procedures where they swim. Therefore, the water must be renewed frequently. Watch a video of how nutria cages are arranged on a farm:
Summer maintenance of nutria should be arranged approximately as in the drawing.
The descent into the pool is necessarily smooth; the platform itself is located with a slight slope. The pool can be a reinforced concrete or metal trough equipped in the ground. The water must be renewed regularly to avoid becoming a stinking puddle.
In winter, farmers do not give the nutria water for drinking, replacing it with juicy feed. This prevents excess dampness in the room.
If one cell is not enough, the structure can be made double, with a common long wall. This will save space in a warm room. For a female with cubs, a structure without walking, two-section, measuring 100 * 80 cm will be required. The height of the front wall should be at least 70 cm. There are many options for how to make a cage for nutria living at home. You can assemble a cage from aluminum corners and mesh, guided by the attached drawings.
Two-section cage and a cage with a walking area
In this case, it is necessary to take into account that the cage is placed on a stand, a pallet is installed below for collecting waste. The content of nutria in multi-tiered cells is allowed. Such placement does not allow organizing general walking and swimming.
The article provides options for cells for nutria contained in various conditions. Each animal owner finds his own way of arrangement, in relation to the number of herds and climatic conditions. The basic principles content of nutria always the same - cleanliness in the nest, fresh food and the availability of bathing water in the summer.