# My Experience putting together the DCN out of the box



## Rhonwen (Dec 29, 2014)

First of all - HOLY COW this cage is HEAVY! I had it delivered to my gf's house as she's not in the middle of town (I was worried about it being stolen). I went over to pick it up and it took her mom and I to get it into my trunk. She followed me over to my house and she helped me carry it in. When they say it weighs 94lbs, better believe it weighs every ounce of that. And it's in a BIG box, so carrying it by yourself is not happening. It's definitely a two-person job. 

Once it was inside, I set about opening it up - they staple the bajeesus out of it, I ended up tearing the side of the box open to get it out. Everything was packaged well, although there was no foam, and only one layer of bubble wrap around the pans. A lot of the cage parts were in plastic bags, to keep from rubbing against each other i guess.

A lot of people have complained that there's no instructions on the little inserts that are in the holes for each part - well, the production company listened. They included instructions, as well as a separate paper that told you to remove those inserts. They also made them bright orange/red so you didn't have any problem figuring out what they were talking about. Good move on their part!

The instructions were relatively easy to understand. I goofed on putting together the very base, with the little storage shelf. I put one of the more closely spaced "floor" panels in, instead of the wider spaced shelf panel. It was relatively easy to fix, but it did take me 20 minutes to unscrew two of the support bars so I could swap out the panels. The wheels went in with little effort, though they won't come out on their own, which was a minor concern.

Putting the rest of it together was pretty easy. Only twice did I have to really muscle the parts together. The doors went in with no problem, though one door handle was sticking something fierce until I got it unstuck. Now it works great. I had an issue with one side panel, and getting the pieces to mesh correctly. The other piece i had an issue with was the very top. It was just barely off kilter on one of the corners, so getting the two long "prongs" to get into their assigned slots required some finagling. It only took me maybe 10 minutes to get that figured out and on securely though. There is absolutely no chance that this cage is coming apart of it's own accord. It is STURDY!

That said, doing it by myself wasn't terribly hard. It did take some coordination and minute planning. some of my pieces were bent, but none of the wall pieces, just the three "bottom" parts (the tray, the bottom of the cage, and the middle divider). Even so, they were workable and didn't give me a whole lot of trouble. The box said no tools, and I really lucked out in that I did not need tools like some others have. Just some elbow grease and thinking ahead! 

I got my unit for $220-something plus tax through my amazon prime membership. This cage is definitely worth it in my opinion! I'll take pictures of it next to the Feisty Ferret tonight for comparison. It really is a fantastically big cage. I can't wait to intro the babies withe my existing colony and get everyone moved into their new digs.


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## Sabatea (Aug 23, 2014)

I'm glad you were able to get it in and set it up! I only had a CN, but it was still a nightmare to try to get together. The instructions made sense for me, but I finally figured out that one of the holes was missing, so I couldn't slide the front door in. My dad just grabbed a drill and made the last hole and then everything worked out fine. XD I hope you enjoy your DCN! I know I love my CN. :3


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## Kuildeous (Dec 26, 2014)

I definitely felt a moment of accomplishment by putting together my own DCN. If I had bought it off of Craigslist and had it delivered whole, I might not have the appreciation for the cage that I do now. Well, I'd still have loved it, but I feel like there's a part of me in that cage—thankfully not literally; no hammer accidents for me.


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## Rhonwen (Dec 29, 2014)

Oh no!! They actually forgot to drill one of the holes?? Geez, talk about poor quality control! 

I lucked out with having no majorly bent pieces, and being able to do it all on my own. My friend had offered to help assemble it this weekend, but I wanted to put it together ASAP... Determination made it possible! It was WAY, WAY easier to put together than my FF was.. But I also got the FF used and I'm not so sure she put it together without stripping some of the screws that went with it. 

All the bending over and lifting the panels tweaked something in my back.. I have back issues already, and I think last night's effort of putting the cage together just irritated it. It's totally worth it in my opinion... A few days of a sore back vs a lifetime of happiness for my ratties? I'll go with the second option.


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## mis.kay (May 29, 2015)

Yay! You got it! I remember when I got my DCN my sister and I opened it downstairs and just kind of sat there scratching our heads as to what we can do. We finally took piece by piece upstairs in my room and put it together. This is also where we figured out it was so tall we could only place it in one spot in my room lol! But I'm really excited for you and I'm sure your ratties will adore all the space.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

I couldn't get the dang sides in their spots, where those plastic pieces are shoved in. I had to bring my dad down for his manpower. Other than that it wasn't all that difficult! 
Those little plastic pieces are the devil though, I found one in my room a week later... with my foot. Sliced right into there.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

The SCN was a nightmare for me and took an hour. But the add on that i got 2 weeks ago was so easy and took about 25 min.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I kid you not the only instructions that came with my cage was a small picture of the finished product, no labels, no diagrams, just a front view picture of the cage. Took 2 and a half hours to put the **** thing together.


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

I feel for you so much! I am horrible with stuff like that. Now days just hand off to my husband to do. Yay!


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## Kuildeous (Dec 26, 2014)

Fu-Inle said:


> I kid you not the only instructions that came with my cage was a small picture of the finished product, no labels, no diagrams, just a front view picture of the cage. Took 2 and a half hours to put the **** thing together.


That would be very frustrating. I'm glad I had instructions with mine. Sadly I threw my instructions out, but I wonder if people who still have instructions for their cages (not just CN) would be willing to scan them and have the mods place them in a stickied thread to help anyone who is in this situation again.


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## Rhonwen (Dec 29, 2014)

I still have mine - I'll bring them into work and see if I can't get them scanned and uploaded tomorrow.


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