Is it Safe?: Treating wood

[Novakay2000]

Hi, We are planning on building a well ventialted wooden framed pen for our girls, i would like to know if anyone has any idea what i can treat the wood with.

We are in the UK so finding c & c cages is near impossible, i feel our wooden design would be alot more stable with our extremly active girls.

Any advice is welcome


Thank you

[Toadies]

Pigs chew, as you know, so if you can keep access to the wood away from them, it would be best. Putting your screening, preferably with a small grid, on the inside of the supports would keep theit little teeth farther away from temptation. A dry wood (like beech, birch, oak) has less oils and, consequently, is safer for the little guys. Wood is famous for absorbing moisture (pee, water), so research on animal-safe sealers available in your area would be a good idea.

[martiru]

[pocket83]

Shellac is the only completely safe wood treatment. It is very inexpensive, but may take several coats to prepare the wood for GP abuse. They will chew. Check wikipedia for info on shellac, but I have used it and they honestly don't chew the wood much. Seems that they prefer hay and vegetables, but they are compulsive chewers...

[jabberwock]

We have a wooden outside run - we used wood treatment from Auro - their water based stains and finishes are suitable for childrens cots and toys (which certainly get chewed by babies). But because it's an outdoor run and there is unlimited grass available the piggies have never once tried to nibble the wood. It might be different for an indoor cage but you can always put a Correx liner in a wooden frame - you can get Correx on ebay.