I have pet sugar gliders. They live in the room next to my bedroom in a large cage (36"x30"x18"). Since they are nocturnal, I can hear them playing and running around at night, but it’s not loud enough to bother me. However, recently they’ve taken up barking (it sounds like a little dog barking) at 3am for no particular reason. Sugar gliders do this sometimes if they’re happy, which is great for them but bad for me since it’s so loud it wakes me up.
I’m trying to figure out if I can soundproof their cage with some kind of blanket that I’d put over them while I’m sleeping. I don’t think this would be cruel (as long as they get air), as they can’t get out of the cage anyway. I found some acoustic blanket products that I’m interested in (specifically this one). Does anyone have any experience with a product similar to this? My plan is to construct a frame that allows the blanket to hang several inches from the sides of the cage, so that the gliders cannot grab it and chew on it. I’m guessing I’ll need to put a piece on the top of the cage as well. Do you think leaving the bottom open (there’s a plastic tray to catch “waste”) will be sufficient?
The most popular/effective method I’ve come across in soundproofing (though this is for doing an entire room) is to use the bottom half of cardboard egg cartons affixed to the walls, door(s) and ceiling, with carpeting on the floor. This is usually used to create a studio “dead room” (a room wherein there is little or no audio reflection). The egg cartons do not themselves reflect sound very well at all, and the shape of the cartons is more or less ideal for diffusing those reflections that do occur. (You can’t do much about furnishings/equipment inside the room, but it is a good way to ensure that whatever sound reflects off of objects inside the room, it won’t get much of a chance to bounce around any further once it hits the perimeters of the room)
This will do absolutely nothing for soundproofing. And in fact, doesn’t do much for in-room acoustics, either.
The acoustic blanket is probably your best bet. If the sound they make is a high-pitched sound, you should be able to attenuate it reasonably well. Be aware that any gaps that let in air also let out sound, although not as much. So keep the air ventilation to a minimum.
The first thing you might check for, however, is any obvious sources of sound leakage from that room to yours. Do you have a cold-air return that joins both rooms together? Electrical outlets back to back from one room to the other? Big gaps under your baseboards between rooms? How about the doors? Are they right across from each other? If so, you might consider a weatherstripping seal around the door.
So basically, I’d look for any obvious sound leakage spots between the rooms first, and then if I couldn’t reduce the sound enough that way, I’d go with the heavy acoustic blanket. Note that you really need mass to kill sound. Lightweight materials are pretty much acoustically transparent. Higher frequencies don’t need as much mass, however. Those sound blankets you see in the ads work well for things like high-speed drill noises, but don’t do much for eliminating low pitched sounds. So if your Sugar Gliders squeak, you can deaden the sound maybe with some home-made acoustic barrier like a heavy quilt. If they make a lower sound, or bug you with banging noises in their cage, that might be harder.
Hmmn… Thinking of that… One easy thing to try is to isolate the cage itself, in case their running around is being amplified through the cage into the table it’s sitting on, and into the floor. So try putting some felt pads or something soft between the cage and the table (or if it’s a free standing cage, between the cage and the floor).
Also check to see if the cage is rattling, and tighten it up if you can. The little things can add up.
