Wood – Cage?

[Furface]

I have a NIC cube cage that I want to rebuild – put wood under & wheels so I can clean behind it. LOL I’d like to put wood trim along the outside edge of 3 sides of the wheeled wood platform, leaving the front with no trim to enable doors to open. The trim should stop the 4 story cage from being pushed off the back or side edges – makes sense I hope. Like quarter rounds or something readily available. Stores only have pine, cedar or oak trim. So the question is which to use as they may/probably will chew the trim edges. Also I’d like to use wood on the underside of their shelves for support – like a dowel or the same trim just across the rather floppy center. I have read that they can safely chew cedar & pine – is this on a regular basis? Or a one time thing? What about oak is it safe to chew? I don’t know for sure that they will chew it but I want to be super safe. I’m not going to paint or stain this trim & I won’t use fingerjoined, primed. pressure treated of that MDF (right letters?) stuff, just the raw wood. I’m hoping to use ready made trim & not have to try to special order willow or something. So cedar, pine, or oak- are they safe for cage use???

[Beka27]

You can use untreated pine. I’m not that familiar with the other types of wood and what is safe or not. However you assemble the platform, I’d make sure that the trim pieces could be easily removed and replaced if necessary, esp. in the case of excessive chewing or if they pee on the trim by accident.

[Monkeybun]

Oak is on my toxic list that I refer to alot, so i would definitely not use oak. I don’t see cedar listed anywhere, so I’d just stick to the pine to be safe.

[BinkyBunny]

untreated pine is just fine to chew on.

Redwood is another toxic wood to stay away from.

[MooBunnay]

I use the pine for supports in my NIC cube cages, and the bunnies stay away from it for the most part. You might consider building your platform a couple inches longer and wider than your condo, that way the trim would be about an inch away from the cage. I think that if you have trim right up against the cage they are going to be very tempted to nibble on it! Also, I would recommend some kind of water-proof barrier between the bottom of your condo and NIC cage, maybe a layer of linoleum? That way if the bunnies pee on the floor they won’t ruin your platform. You can purchase those linoleum squares that have stickers on the back and just stick them to the top of the platform.

[Furface]

OK thanks everyone pine it is.

Moobunny,
I was thinking of plywood for the actual base with coraplast (right name? plastic sheets like cardboard) covering the plywood base.Or there is a kind of hardboard that comes in 5’x5′ sheets with a tile look. It would look great but it’s pricey, over $20 including tax per sheet & I’d need 5 sheets min because I’d only get one floor (2×3 cubes) per sheet.
I’m going to use the tile sheet for a backboard & a side board for sure – it will be easy to wipe down & stop a bit of the dirt from accumulating between the 2 walls & the cage.
The other 2 side will be open but I’d like to put something around the bottom part of those 2 sides to keep the hay in a little bit. Only 2 or 3 inches high, to still let lots of air flow.
Cage is 4 stories high with one cube missing from each floor. They jump through the holes.
Litter boxes with Small hay racks above, pellet food dish & water dish is on the roof top.
3rd floor has a box from the produce section jammed up against the back wall. It holds a sheaf (term? a layer of the bail) of hay & the salad plate.
1st & 2nd floors are still blocked off for the newer guy.
The floors are all hardboard covering the NIC cubes & all floors are also carpeted.
I’m replacing everything but the cubes.
I don’t want to do the hardboard because I don’t want to replace it again so I want something waterproof & not too too heavy.
I’m thinking the coreplast to cover the NIC & I still want carpet to give them traction.
I’d love to get away from the carpet & go to a more wipe friendly surface but I want traction for them….. Any ideas anyone?????

[MooBunnay]

Home Depot sells sheets of rubber type stuff that may provide more traction, I found it in the flooring section, and the rolls are a couple feet wide. I don’t remember it being too expensive but I don’t know what it is called. My bunnies kept eating their carpet and got stasis, so I switched to using seagrass mats, however, these are not wipe-able if they make a mess, so we use a shop-vac to clean them. The bunnies usually eat them within the month anyways so we replace them.

[jerseygirl]

I just bought some ultra cheap thin vinyl and layed it upside down.   The vinyl was really slippery but the back is slightly textured but still washable.  Working ok so far.  Best part is you can by any old vinyl despite colour because you don’t see it anyway.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Rather then carpet, you can use towels or matts and things that are washable -I do that in spots they like to lay down on

[Beka27]

Instead of coroplast, I’d also recommend you look into the “peel and stick” linoleum tiles, preferably ones that have a slight texture. I think you can get a box for not too much, plus they are thin enough so you can cut them to fit however you need. And they look nice.

[Furface]

I just got donated 14 new white 12″ ceramic tiles so I think I’m going to use them & make a properly grouted wood & tile base. I’l buy some small trim style to fill in the edges. It will give them & nice cool basement floor for summer & I’ll have enough to have 1 same tile on each floor for other cool spots. That will be super easy to clean too.

I’m really wanting to stay away from the peel & stick. I don’t find it stands up to moisture very well & once a corner lifts they eat it. I missing huge chunks in the kitchen from puppy Bucca & a small corner in the bathroom from bunny Peeka.

[jerseygirl]

So will this new condo be big enough for 5?

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