Planning wooden based cage.

[Stereophobia]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.
Ive been using a large pet shop plastic cage for about 8 weeks, but Im planning on building a much larger cube enclosure. Coroplast/corex is near impossibe to buy in my area for anyhing even close to a sane price, and Lino in my mind just seems a bit too flimsy to stand any sort of test of time.
However, my brother in law has just finished boarding out his loft and has a really large ammount of MDF going spare so I was planning to use this.
My idea is to put a hard wearing gloss varnish on the base, but leave the siding plain MDF incase it gets chewed at all. this way the base should be water resistant, and really easy to clean. plus it makes for easier moving if the need ever arises, as it wont buckle or bend easily.
If theres no problems Im going to start re-arranging my living room tomorrow to make space for them. If all goes well the area should be large enough for a 2/3x4 base, which should give enough room for a second deck and hollow ramp (so they can still run laps)
Are there any obvious flws to my plan? or should I rethink the whole idea and use a different materiel?

Any help/advise would be massively apprecited. Even critisism will be taken as constructive

 

[mncavylover]

Wood generally isn't a great material for the bottom of the cage. Even with the varnish, the pee is acidic and will seep through, even a bit can cause rotting and bacteria growth. Also, if they ever chew the bottom things could get ugly. Your idea sounds great, but i'm just thinking of possible situations. If you can get ahold of one of the other members from the UK. perhaps they could help you find some coroplast. Good luck!

 

[Piglet]

Hi. Have you tried looking in the Yellow Pages for 'signs', I know, its rather expensive in the UK. I e-mailed a few companies a while back and told them it was for a piggy cage. The prices were still alarming because the delivery charge was so much. I use lino, but its really thick. Perhap 1cm thick? Take a look at my cage, I have made lino edges as well.

I don't know about MDF. Do you think it would be a problem if they started knawing or chewing on it?

 

[Stereophobia]

Hi again
Thanks for the tips, taking your ideas on board perhaps a lino/sheet liner would be a better idea for protecting the base, it would be prety easy to hide the edges by pinning them into the sides before i mount the side pannels.
The MDF should be safe to chew on, its formed by using ultra high pressures, and its then steam sealed so theres no nasty chemicals for them. I had assumed that wood would be ok since its used for outdoor hutches, but I dont want to breed anything that could be harmful for them.

Localy though getting ahold of Coroplast/corex is a painfuly expencive procedure, especialy as I cant drive.
Thanks for the help so far, and if you think of any other points please let me know, hopefully Ill be able to get them into thier new villa within a week if all goes without a hitch

 

[sofiemuffins]

MDF tends to get ruined when it gets wet. Even if the water bottle leaks a little down the side, it will make the MDF puff up and warp.

 

[ParanoidEv]

Maybe you can tile it, somebody else on this forum came up with the idea. Still, you probably have to put a lot of aspen and fleece over the tiles. Also, I think covering just the bottom won't be enough protection. Piggies are really messy, and there is probably going to get some pee/poo/water/food on the sides of the board also.

 

[Stereophobia]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the Ideas.

I came up with a solution to the problem today. I've found a ground sheet thats approx 3mm thich but hichly flexible, waterproof and will be safe for the girls, the name of the stuff escapes me right now, ill check it tomorrow. The soultion in my plan is going to be to build the base and use a none toxicwood glue to hold it firm and run it up and over the edges, to prevent chewing of the edges im going to oversize the base by 50mm each side and use wodden blocks to hold the cubes away from the edges so that if they were going to chew anything, they will aim for somthing easier to reach.

Payday is tomorrow so with luck the girls will be moved in fully by saturday. I want to be sure the glue is fully dried, and to make sure the joints are completely sure, although I may just go for a straight screw 'n glue depending on how practical the stuff is to work.