Sealing Wood Castle?

[Hooray4Ashley]

I purchased a Woodland Get-A-Way Wooden Castle for my guinea pigs yesterday. You can find a photo of it at this website...(broken link removed) number (broken link removed) . Well it's unsealed and I was concerned because sometimes they urinate inside their hidey houses. I was worried it would be hard to keep the wood clean, so my husband purchased some wood seal. I was all set to seal it when it hit me...would this hurt them if they by some chance chewed the house? Does anyone have this house? How does it hold up with urine? Would it be unsafe for me to seal it? They don't chew on their other houses, a pigloo (which I am replacing with this castle) and a hut, so I don't think they would chew on this one.

 

[Percy's Mom]

Absolutely do NOT seal the wood. They might not chew their current hidey houses, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't try to nibble on the wooden one. They are meant to be chewed to some extent, and the sealant could very well be toxic. What I would recommend is periodically swapping the houses out. The pigloo can be sanitized in the dishwasher, and you can bake the wooden house on a sheet of aluminum foil for about 20-30 minutes at 200 to kill any bacteria and germs. Actually, that reminds me that I need to clean my hamster's things tonight.

 

[Hooray4Ashley]

Okay...thanks. I will put the wood seal away! My husband commented that it only cost us 11 dollars for the house anyways, so there is no sense in risking hurtting them to save the money...so we'll just buy another one when this one eventually messes up.