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Old 09-25-2018, 12:57 PM   #1
gracieiscrazy
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Lightbulb DIY wooden cage - is chipboard safe?

Inspired by Erin's Animals, I am planning on making a bespoke DIY 110cmx45cm wooden cage from scratch for my syrian Honey from two large pine wood planks I found in my shed and other materials I already have. The pine planks are very heavy duty and would make the bottom and back of the cage. I would paint them and cover in sticky-back plastic to protect it from chewing/scratching/peeing. I am going to use aquarium silicone for the edges too.

My question is, do you think using chipboard for the sides (about 45x45cm square) is okay as long as I treat it with paint and sticky-back plastic as the pine?
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Old 09-25-2018, 01:15 PM   #2
souffle
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Default Re: DIY wooden cage - is chipboard safe?

I have never seen wooden cages being successful. It is impossible to seal wood and particularly chipboard and wee always seeps in and cause it to swell and make it push apart at the edges where the hamster will chew and could even escape. Pine. especially treated pine can also make a hamster ill as it can contain chemicals.
Sticky back plastic is dangerous if chewed as well.
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Old 09-25-2018, 01:38 PM   #3
mangoandmimi
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Default Re: DIY wooden cage - is chipboard safe?

Chipboard isn’t something I’d use for cage sides as I’m not convinced adding sticky plastic on it makes it safe when you consider all the glue that’s in the chipboard. It is by no means strong or chewproof either.
Can you get melamine boards instead? It’s just coated chipboard but is more suitable, and is easy to wipe. It’s safe to use too.
Pine - yes there’s still some debate on using pine boards. However the exposed surface area of a pine board is almost negligible compared to if you were to use non kiln dried pine shavings in the cage, which would be dangerous. So with boards, there is significantly less exposure to the phenols in the wood. I have seen some nice looking pine cages but I do still think melamine is the way to go if you’re looking to build a cage!
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Old 09-26-2018, 01:33 PM   #4
gracieiscrazy
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Default Re: DIY wooden cage - is chipboard safe?

Thanks for your comments everyone. I think I'll scrap the idea of using wood as my family isn't keen either due to the chewing risk.

I'm now considering the zoozone 2 large. Does anyone have any comments about this cage?
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Old 09-26-2018, 01:47 PM   #5
mangoandmimi
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Default Re: DIY wooden cage - is chipboard safe?

Ah well there’s other options!
The zoozone 2 is a lovely cage but is more suited to dwarves because of its low height and fitting in a Syrian wheel, but I did used to keep syrians in there. My old Syrian chewed out of two zoozones so they are not 100% chew proof, there’s little cut out squares that enable teeth to get around them. Not that it’s a huge fault, just something to bear in mind if you do have a chewy ham!
The current zoozone I have is also a pain and I only bought it this year, the lid won’t stay up so has to be taken off each time or it’ll crash down. Not sure if this is normal for them now but first time it’s happened.
If you can find it £50-£55 I think it’s worth it and really is a nice cage, but if I was to purchase again I’d personally go for the maxi Duna multy as a meshed lid isn’t the nicest. That’s around £80.
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pine, cage, chipboard, paint, diy, wooden, sticky-back, planks, plastic, protect, aquarium, cover, chewing/scratching/peeing, question, square, 45x45cm, long, treat, sides, edges, silicone, making, bespoke, 110cmx45cm, syrian

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