Rack Idea.

[Lisa]

We are thinking of building some racks for our rodents and the idea that i had was to cut out the bottoms of the bins and put hardware cloth across so that they could have cleaner bins and better ventilation. all the waste material would be caught in a trough below the bins. what do you people think?

[aaron]

Lisa,

Seems to me I read something that said not to put rats and mice on hardware cloth or wire b/c of bumblefoot!

aaron

[Lisa]

well considering multilevel cages do this... i think though you have to keep the cages clean, they get bumblefoot if they are dirty.

[unknownclown]

Actually having bred and taking in "rescue" rabbits for a while, I can vouch that the cage doesnt have to be visibly dirty for bumble foot. See walking on the wire can after awhile damage their feet, then since waste is falling thru them wires bacteria is in contact with the open sores. Even if they are kept clean unless you are bleaching the wires constantly (which would be more work than having a solid floor) and washing their feet there is a chance of getting it. :(

Also the multi level cages have a solid flooring so they can get off the wire when thier feet begin to hurt. ;)

Ive seen some pretty nasty cases in rabbits and for me its easier to avoid the problem than dealing with it. Of course rabbits are alot different than rats and Im sure you would never let your rats get half as bad as the animals Ive seen. ;)

[Emily-Fisher]

I agree with everyone else. Imagine walking around in barefeet across point wire? Ouch! If you just want an easy way to clean mouse bins, line the bottom of the bin with a plastic bag, tape it to the sides or find a way to keep it in place and put the substrate on top of that. When it's dirty, simply lift up the bag with the dirty substrate and waste in it and throw it out.

[Burmies]

If you do that then when the females have babies, the babies could fall through as well. This is just a thought.

Burmies