Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking about building a grow out rack for my rats and I'm hoping to use something other than hardware cloth. I don't remember where I saw it but I saw pictures of some rodent racks where the top was some thick metal which looked like it had diamond shapen holes in it. I'm doing a poor job of describing this, but it just looked a lot better than the 1/2" hardware cloth which is flimsy and difficult to work with. Also the dog food falls through a little too easily with the hardware cloth. Anyone know what I'm talking about and what its called or where it can be found. It looks like something used to make fences maybe.

I think you are looking for stretched metal. I am unsure of where to find it, but I'm sure a home depot type place would have something similar.

you need to call a steel mill or a steel fabrication yard to find this stuff..

if you are making a rat grow out rack, the expanded steel will just end up costing more money than hardware cloth in the long run, and it does nothing that the hardware cloth cant do.

best of luck

dan

As the other post said it is caller expnaded metal but, what you want is 'Flattened Expnaded Metal'(there is a difference). It is quite a bit more expensive to by, what you can consider as well is buying a different size hardware cloth. It is available in 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2". I have used 1/4" for feeding mice and it works not bad but I am going to move up to 3/8" for my next feed hoppers. I think it will give them better access to the food. Also the smaller sizes are a little stiffer because of more wires per inch. Price is still pretty cheap, you can get all sizes by the roll or foot. Check a good hardware store. If they carry one size chances are they can get the other sizes.

Bruce

Or you can get a product called welded wire(?). It comes in a lot of different sizes and is stiffer than hardware cloth. It is NOT galvinized. I use it for feed hoppers, but you could use it anywhere as long as it won't get soaked with urine.

DeMak

i just saw metal plaster lathe at home depot i think its 26"x48" and only a couple dollars. Chris