New tanks for all the gerbils!

[Markpd]

I've been trying to think how I could emulate lily and Daisy's tank+topper to get the great bedding depth they have. The trouble I have is the tank is too high off the floor for me to raise the sides, and they'd have to be partially solid sides to stop the bedding being kicked out the cage (if I had deeper bedding).

What height is that tank LilyandDaisy ? (not including the topper).

[LilyandDaisy]

The tank without the topper or wheels is about 50cm high.

I don't actually get any bedding kicked out of the topper. This is partly because the mesh is so fine (6mm) and partly because the tank isn't filled all the way to the top. 

[Markpd]

Ah ok, you just threw me previously as you said it had about 50cm bedding, so probably about 40cm then? Still way deeper than mine! (roughly 23cm +heaping).
I'm thinking that maybe I could put some finer mesh still than that going across the (only) corner where bedding is kicked out. Then I could at least raise the bedding a little, maybe 5-10cm, not much but it would be a cheap and easy mod to do

[LilyandDaisy]

I think that was a guess based on the whole tank being about 62cm, but then I realised that height includes the wheels. So it's about 50cm without the wheels and the bedding would be about 35-40cm.

[yeti218]

LilyandDaisy what kind of wood did you use? Tank topper is on my to-do list and want to make sure I’m using gerbil safe materials. 

[LilyandDaisy]

The wood is kiln-dried pine. Spruce is also safe.

[betty]

I didn't think Spruce was? It is on quite a few non-safe lists from the past - but then I don't know their sources of course or whether that has now been proved otherwise?

Where was the source for your spruce comment - maybe that is more up-to-date?

Thanks for confirming.

[LilyandDaisy]

I've always assumed spruce to be safe based on the fact that spruce shavings are very popular as bedding in Europe, especially Germany. Some websites do say it's unsafe, but annoyingly, they never say why. This website has a good discussion of spruce as bedding: fivelittlehams.wixsite.com/correcthamstercare/blank-1/2020/05/23/Choosing-The-Right-Substrate-A-Discussion-on-Softwood---Is-It-Really-The-Devil.