Plastikote?? Wooden wheel's & toy's??

[Crazy fish]

Hello all iv just purchased all my hamster toys, wheels and houses all in wood like the trixie range.
Do I need to bother plastikoteing any of it? If so where and how many times? Is the standard plastikote that's on Amazon the right stuff? Is spray or paint on better?
Advice please.

Thanks
Ben

[Pebbles82]

Hi. I prefer the paint on stuff. It hardly smells of anything and is easy to use - I just used a half inch standard paint brush (a new one though). It's the water based enamel paint and yes they sell it on Amazon. This is the one I got but they sell it in different colours too,

It's a small pot but it goes a long way is it's quite thin. You'd just need a couple of coats. A coat dries in a couple of hours, but best to leave it a day to be fully dry and any slight smell to wear off. The smooth wood can be plastikoted. I don't think the bark type things need doing - not sure about the inside of the natural bark type wood - it might not be possible to paint that as the plastikote would probably soak in.

Plasti-kote B26 Bottle 59 ml Clear PKTB26W: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home

If it's the karlie wonderland wheel, that is all smooth, so paints well. I think the natural bark type things are fairly self cleaning as natural wood can be. If anything happened to get wee'd on you might need to soak or scrub it. Ours doesn't tend to wee on shelves or bendy bridges, just in his toilet or occasionally in his nest.

[fluffybumolivia]

With the Karlie Wonderland Wheel, I just done mine an used the whole pot! Three coats on the inside and one coat on the rest. I don't know if it's just me applying to thickly but I would get a few pots just in case!!

[Crazy fish]

Every thing I have is the bark type. Do you think they will be ok left as natural wood?

[Pebbles82]

I haven't heard of anyone plastikoting the bark type natural wood. Yes I should think it would be ok left as it is. If it's a house, it could do with some waterproofing inside maybe - I'm not sure what others do - our house is plain wood (like pine or plywood) - I haven't actually plastikoted inside it and it's fine, but our hamster uses a potty tray. I did have to replace one house that got wee soaked though (he moved his potty corner into the house before I realised and moved the potty tray!). What kind of wheel is it if it is bark? I think I have seen a Trixie wheel that looks like bark.

Is it like this one?

Wooden Exercise Wheel Speedy at zooplus

I'm not sure if these have a good running surface with the grooves in (looks like toenails could get caught). It might be fine but check carefully for splinters and if it has any it would need a bit of sanding inside first. The inside running part looks like it could be plastikoted - this would help seal any rough bits as well as waterproof it.

Syrians need a wheel of between 27cm and 30cm diameter really - so they can run with a straight back. Sometimes if it's a very small Syrian a 20cm wheel is ok, but too big is better than too small.

[cypher]

I've never plastikoted bark but most bark houses & wheels have a smooth wood interior & that does need to be painted with plastikote, better to do it now even if you think you may not need it rather than regret not doing it when things get peed on later!
I prefer the paint to the spray but as long as it's the water based enamel either is fine.

[ShanRICK]

I was actually about to ask a similar question. I know I need to be plastikoting my wooden wheel, butnInwas wondering about the other bits. After reading this I'm assuming I don't need to bother with bendy bridges. In terms of the house, if there is no floor I'm assuming the inside doesn't need to be plastikoted, unless I need to pain over the walls on the inside as well!?

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by ShanRICK

I was actually about to ask a similar question. I know I need to be plastikoting my wooden wheel, butnInwas wondering about the other bits. After reading this I'm assuming I don't need to bother with bendy bridges. In terms of the house, if there is no floor I'm assuming the inside doesn't need to be plastikoted, unless I need to pain over the walls on the inside as well!?

I always paint the inside now, paying particular attention to the corners and edges as a ham being lazy just once and peeing in their nest will ruin a house. I've had to throw a few out because of this!

[ShanRICK]

StarlightSerenity oh Thank you for the warning! Better safe than sorry I guess, might as well Plastikote the whole thing. So I just wanted to check through, if I have a wooden house, and the inside is made of smooth wood, but the outside has that bark wood texture, I only coat the smooth bits?

[ShanRICK]

Also, I know the plastikote has to be water based, but what else does it need to be? Does it have to say enamel on it? Or will all the different types of plastikote work to waterproof the wood.