wire floors?

[bettybob]

this may be a stupid question...but with cages that have a second story...do the wire bars or mesh or whatever the second story is made out of hurt gerbils feet? is there a better way to make a second story? would wood work or would that get nasty from being peed on? what about plaxiglass? i want to add a second story to my tank, and i see lots of pictures where people have added a cage to the top of their tanks...just seems like those bars would hurt to walk on...

[Ritzie/Admin]

It doens't hurt if they don't have to be all the time on wire floors. Usually the bottom is a plastic tank.

You can indeed place some wood on the wire floor. But from experience I can tell you that they pee on it, so you have to replace it a lot. And they can chew on it.

I have also two tanks made of wood and plexiglass windows. They gnaw at the wood, but I have a hard kind of wood. They already survive for about 5 years. Just make sure that they cannot start easily somewhere. And make sure that the wood is treated with .... how is this called in English??? ..... polish or something. This because without the pee gets into the wood, which start to smell very bad after a while. It has to be water proof.

But the best gerbil cage is not a cage, but a glaze tank! They cannot chew it, and it is easy to clean! I would recommend this always.

[queenofthenile]

My 27 gallon tank has both the wire cage on top and a plexiglass insert that functions as a second story. I haven't noticed any problems with my gerbils.


Two of my tanks are actually bread bins, so the cages on top are attached to a wood platform. They definately do pee on the wood ;D.

[lydia]

I think the english word Peter was trying to think of would be varnish,there are lots of different varnishes,but they are all waterproof,as far as I know.
They can take a long time to dry,but would prevent gerbil pee,penetrating the wood.
If you could not find one though,that would be toxin free,you would probably be better,either leaving it as plain wire(with no sharp edges) or buying a hard wood,as Peter has done.

Plexiglass,is probably good,and should fix easily,with aquarium sealant.

Lyd

[Ritzie/Admin]

Varnish was indeed the word I was looking for! ;D

Here are my two tank made of wood and plexiglass!:


By the way, when you use plexiglass as windows, the gerbils will make scratches on it! So after a while you won't have nice windows anymore. Glass is more gerbil proof! ;D

[bettybob]

ok..i've decided to make my second story out of plexiglass. (because this way i can make it to exactly fit the top of my tank) but im thinking for the floor of it i would use sheet metal. because 1. its easier to cut a hole in, and 2. they cant chew on the edges of the hole.
sheet metal wont hurt gerbils will it? i wouldnt think it would unless there is something toxic about it that i dont know about.

now how is the best way to glue the sides of plexiglass together? will fish tank sealer work? (then i have to find some somewhere..heh) or is there some other strong, yet non-toxic glue out there.


thanks everyone for your help..

[Ritzie/Admin]

Remember that a plexiglass tank will get ugly, because of scratching.

I think you can use sillicon glue, or something like that. Don't use a toxic one. Fishtank sealer might work! I've never tried it...

The metal won't hurt them.

[sweetie]

Peter,

Awesome carpentry. Did you do that? Is it more cost effective? It looks really good. I love the wood look!

[sweetie]

Peter,

Awesome tanks! I love the wood frames. I love wood accents. Could you do that with glass or woulf the glass break?