Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting ready to build a mouse breeding rack. I need to know what size wire mesh to use. I got a roll of 1/4 inch but it looks to small for the mice to eat the food through. Should I go with 3/8 inch? I know 1/2 is to big for mice. Thanks in advance.
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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@cox.net

I use 1/2" for my rat racks and I thought that was two small for rats but they are resilant creatures and they make due. I think 1/4 will work. Personally I would make a test run first, see what works best and go with that. Good Luck
Jeremy

>>I use 1/2" for my rat racks and I thought that was two small for rats but they are resilant creatures and they make due. I think 1/4 will work. Personally I would make a test run first, see what works best and go with that. Good Luck
>>Jeremy
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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@cox.net

I ran a bunch of tests many years ago with mice and the type of feed I planned to use.

To make a long story short, I simply found the mice really, really struggled to eat through the 1/4" mesh. But I've also seen numerous anecdotes on these forums saying they can eat fine through it. For my piece of mind I'd use 3/8" or 1/3" - both are very close in size.

Even better, it also works very well for rats.

If you have to order it in bulk don't worry about having excess. I have found it's VERY easy to sell the surplus to other breeders. In fact you might even pocket a few bucks once all is said and done.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I used 1/4 inch wire mesh on my combo mice and rat rack. I just cut the wire to make 1/2 holes out of the 1/4 inch wire mesh at the feed area for the rats to get the lab blocks easier. I did the same on the mouse side also, but with fewer 1/2 holes. Cutting the holes took a lot of time but was worth it to me since I would have to order 3/8 or 1/3 wire mesh.