Safe Materials?

[connor]

Ok, I'm working on plans for a 'cool' cage for my son's gerbils. However, before I put a lot of time into it, I had some questions about the safety of certain materials:

Pressboard? - Sawdust formed into 'plywood'.
Hot Glue? - It's non-toxic, but never know how it might otherwise effect them.
Pine boards? - I know pine shavings are bad. Does this apply to boards as well?

Thanks for any help. =)

[RyanF]

Pineboards = Probably not.
Hot Glue = Make sure it is non-toxic and try not to let the gerbs reach/chew it.
Pressboard = I don't see a problem with it.

One of my gerbils is allergic to anything wood, so watch out for red-noses and such.

Hope that helps.

[doomgerbiluk]

Pine wood is like pine shavings , it depends how it's been grown/treated.
Plywood...the glue is usually toxic (so much so that it is recommended not to be worked with without good ventilation and it gives off mildly toxic fumes for some months/years. I wouldn't want to use it.
Hot glue seems ok, as does aquarium sealant which is what is usually recommended. (tubes and card can be glued together using school type glue).

[AndreaS15]

I use aquarium sealant (non-toxic) to glue wooden houses together in my tanks, I got the idea from a friend who had been doing it for some time without any problems.
I used a hot glue gun to build a plexiglass topper, I found the glue didn't hold very well, so i haven't used the topper
For areas the gerbils can chew, use the aquarium sealant, but for other places they won't be able to chew at, i see no problem with the hot glue gun.

What do you plan on building.... it's sounds like it'll be fun whatever it is

[connor]

Semi-planning a gerbil condominium type thing. Several levels, holes, passages, etc. I was just worried about using screws, as I know they'll chew into them.

[doomgerbiluk]

Use aquarium sealant. If you do use screws keep an eye on it and remove them if the gerbils chew through to them.
For thin wood and card school (white) glue is safe.