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[FluffyToast J]

Okay, so I've got a fort right? And its in the middle of the map, and I've set up a tame lizard in a cage a bit away from my gate. Will it reveal ambushes and thieves if they come close enough?

[Criptfeind]

No it will not. You need to put large (that is non-vermin) animals on a chain or rope of them to spot a intruder.

[FluffyToast J]

Righto. Only problem with the large animals, is that theyre all claimed or dead. Oh well, I could always use good ol' dwarven guards. With STEEL ARMOR. and MAGMA.

Whatever, thanks for answering.

[Rowanas]

Do animals have to be on ropes or chains (or scampering about freely)? That would explain why a kobold thief managed to evade my puppycage detection measures. bugger. now I need to go and smith some chains..

[Thexor]

Animals in cages, for all intents and purposes, do not exist. Hence why cats that are caged can't adopt new owners, and why putting your catsplosion into a cage removes the pathfinding lag.

Sadly, removing them from existence also means that they can't unsneak intruders. 

[Rowanas]

Make the chains! I'm glad I unassigned my smithdwarf from all other labours. I want no delay in making the chains.

[Hyndis]

Dogs on chains make for a great early warning system. Puppies are also quite plentiful. If you have none for some reason, you can always buy some from the next caravan. Almost every caravan brings at least a few animals in cages.

Anything in a cage is basically put in a stasis field. It cannot interact with anything.

[lordcooper]

SO caged animals can't breed?

That would explain a LOT

[kurisukun]

SO caged animals can't breed?

That would explain a LOT

They will not impregnate one another, but they CAN give birth,

[Hyndis]

Best way to get animals to breed is to chain them up in a room that is walled off. Have, say, two males and as many females as possible. Chain all the adults to the wall.

Put a meeting zone in that room over a hole in the floor. Build a bridge over this hole. Attach a lever to control this bridge that can be pulled from elsewhere.

All of the young will wander to the meeting zone in the center of the room, on the bridge. When you want more meat, just pull the lever. Then pull it again and more young will wander back onto the bridge.

[pushy]

They will not impregnate one another, but they CAN give birth,

Yeah, they'll give birth if they were already pregnant before going into the cage...aside from that, animals in cages will pretty much just grow older and die of old age.

I've heard of people being able to use caged animals to detect kobolds but I've never personally experienced it and in all honesty I'm fairly sceptical about that.

[Porpoisepower]

related question:

How about caged enemies?

[buzz killington]

Do animals have to be on ropes or chains (or scampering about freely)? That would explain why a kobold thief managed to evade my puppycage detection measures. bugger. now I need to go and smith some chains..

Free-range pets will discover enemies.

[Rowanas]

Luckily I have loads of war dogs and a vast sum of magnatite. I could have a dog chained up on every other square around the entire perimeter of my fortress. Time to get on it.

[BahamutZERO]

It doesn't even need to be an iron chain, you can use pig tail or silk ropes and they work just as well. Maybe not as cool as iron chains though.