Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This question is concerning the rat feeder bins i see. What size wire you you use? Cause i see the food sitting right on top of it and wonder how they get the food out? Also doesn't that damage their teeth(chewing on metal and all)?

thanks sym
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"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."

Do you mean the feeder bins or the wire that the rats eat through?

Regarding the latter, even the expensive laboratory style cages require the rats to eat through wire so I assume their teeth can take it. Given the heavy scrutiny that science labs are under I assume it's considered fine.

Rats can eat through 1/2" x 1/2" welded wire mesh or hardware cloth. The "hoppers" cannot escape through it whereas hopper mice can.

The only problem with the 1/2" x 1/2" is that the rats don't have to chew on the food very long before it falls through. This creates a situation where much of the food is dirtied.

If the food falling through is a concern then there are better choices, albeit more expensive and difficult to find.
1/3" x 1/3" or 3/8" x 3/8" hardware cloth work for both mice and rats. 1/2" x 1/4" welded wire also works for both.

I always wondered how they did that. If it works for everyone, it will work for me. Now all i have to do is pick up some solder, some wire and off we go. Why is it getting so hard to find flat plastic tubs? I dislike the new designs out there..

thanks again sym
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"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."

The concrete mixing tubs from Home Depot. The ones made by Argee. They work nice. And come in 7, 14, and 45 gallon sizes

I have this metal bookcase i'm working with so I bought these rubbermaid "tough things". They were on sale at target! But if i decide to make a rack one of these days i will probably check that out.

Thanks sym
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"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."

I did not mean to imply that you need to solder/weld your own wire into a screen/mesh. That would be very difficult.

If this is for rats I'd go ahead and use 1/2" x 1/2" welded wire mesh. It's very common and cheap.

If you're having problems with feed falling through or need to later use it for mice there are other options that are easier than soldering your own. Just weaving a thin wire through at a diagonal would be easier than soldering.

heh, I didn't mean solder/make the actual wire. I was making a drop down food bin ans i was thinking of soldering the seems but i instead just ran wire through it.

thanx for the feed back though
sym
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"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."