The natural cage theme thread- questions and suggestions

[Crystalroborovski]

Ok, thanks for telling me Drago! Another question- is plywood safe or not? I've heard mixed opinions on it. I've seen several pine and poplar sheets of plywood but I wasn't sure if they would be ok to use. Thanks!

[AmityvilleHams]

Plywood is best avoided.You need to actually know what the wood is and whether or not it has been treated,so just generalized lumber and such must not be used.There's no reason to take that risk anyways,as doing so may be easier and less expensive but it would carry too many dangers to even consider doing so.Stick with specified wood only,regardless of what you may hear or see.

[Crystalroborovski]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

Plywood is best avoided.You need to actually know what the wood is and whether or not it has been treated,so just generalized lumber and such must not be used.There's no reason to take that risk anyways,as doing so may be easier and less expensive but it would carry too many dangers to even consider doing so.Stick with specified wood only,regardless of what you may hear or see.

Ok, thanks for responding amity. Just wondering- what would the risks be if I used unsafe wood? Not that I would but I was just curious.

The sheets of plywood that I was looking at were labeled as to what kind of wood they were- oak, poplar, pine, etc. and they didn't say they were treated although I'm not sure I would want to take the risk.

[Crystalroborovski]

Also, I have another question I previously asked when the boys were together- what's the best way to change out the cage theme? Is it still the same as if I still housed them in the same cage?

[AmityvilleHams]

Using unspecified wood or wood that isn't specifically untreated or kiln dried can at the very worst kill your hamster.

As far as changing out cage themes go,I'd keep the same base substrate no matter what and in some cases add safe substrate toppers.You don't want any extreme changes or many changes at once,so try and keep the same main hideouts and such but adding/replacing/removing very small portions of less important items over a period of time.It's the same general guideline as usual cage changes of course,keep it very simple and minimal and do it slowly without ever taking away all of the established territory

[Crystalroborovski]

I'm planning to go to the craft store tomorrow to get some wooden dowels and it just occurred to me that they have slabs of balsa wood. I've seen people make hamster toys with balsa and I assume it's safe but would it be good to use for the platform?

[AmityvilleHams]

Balsa should be fine and would work well for platform making.

[Crystalroborovski]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

Balsa should be fine and would work well for platform making.

Thanks for responding amity

Yet another question- I've seen people use those paperboard magazine holders turned on their side to use as corner platforms. I wanted to use one and put Key Lime's wheel on it- he doesn't really have much of a problem of flying out of his wheel often. I'm getting tired of him kicking a bunch of substrate under the wheel and I thought the problem would get worse if I gave him 8+ inches of substrate to burrow in as he's quite messy when he makes new burrows. I've been reading on the forum about keeping a wheel on a platform and it doesn't seem to be an issue, however I had a question I couldn't find the answer to- is it possible to attach the wheel (not permanently) to the platform so that it doesn't scoot around and bang against the glass? I saw Vectis hamstery mentioned a tiny bit of duct tape but I wouldn't want to use this in his cage due to the safety hazard it poses if swallowed.

[AmityvilleHams]

I wouldn't use paperboard type things with any dyes.That's not safe since they could be artificial(not good to be ingested)or if natural they could be sourced in an unsafe way.

However,Ikea have a very good magazine holder that would be safe to use.You could add wooden dowels to the bottom to keep it above substrate level.You could create a border with safe wood pieces to keep the wheel from moving,just gluing them on with Elmer's glue and creating a sort of mini border(you'd also want one around the entire perimeter to be safe,leaving a gap for a safe gap free ladder such as a bendable bridge or DIY popsicle stick and safe wood ladder).

[kitty629]

Not sure if you have home depot over there but I bought some corbel brackets made of basswood for about 3 dollars. Then some doweling for legs. They were a good size for platforms. I will try to upload some photos of those and the ikea billy tank work in progress.