Melamine cage questions

[samurai]

I'm planning on making 2 melamine cages for my chinchillas measuring 6ft long by 2ft high and 20in deep. 2 chins in one 3 in the other. The cage for 3 will have a wider end section that will be slightly triangular and the exposed easily chewable edge can be covered with a metal corner piece.

Those of you that have melamine cages do you find they chew the inside walls at all? If so what can be done to help reduce/prevent this from happening? I am planning to put lots of shelves and branches in the cages to try and get them to chew these instead, any other suggestions. the cages will pretty much be built in pieces of furniture so if they will likely be chewed to bits I might have to come up with another plan.

Also is it ok to just make the whole box from melamine including the base or will it need lining in some way eg tiles or a metal tray?

Do I need to seal the melamine with yaght varnish? I am planning to silacone metal edging strips in the corners.

Thank you

 

[greychins]

I've never had mine chew the inside of the melamine cage walls. Though, I would think that it would be difficult for them to do so -- the walls are flat, so there wouldn't be much to sink teeth into. I have my cage with wooden shelves and hanging chew toys, and the chins are happy to chew those and, at least so far, haven't touched the melamine.

As for making the whole thing out of melamine, I tried my melamine cage without a pan for maybe a month or two. I clean often, often enough there shouldn't have been a problem with wet shavings sitting on the melamine, but actually, the melamine started bubbling under the shaving area. I went out and had a custom pan made. No more problems now.

I didn't seal my melamine with anything. Just screwed it all together, added the doors and the top, and eventually the pan, and it was ready for chins.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Agreed, I have several and no issues with them chewing it from the inside. You just have to screw it together so there are no exposed edges or as you've said cover with metal - just be sure you do that as it's not safe for them to chew it as you probably know.

I ordered custom metal pull out pans for them from the start, so never tried having shavings directly on the melamine but agree that it probably would bubble.

I would not seal it with anything. 1) doesn't seem to be necessary 2) varnish might have dangerous fumes.

Also I think you'd be better off making them 6ft tall rather than long - chins need more vertical space for leaping rather than horizontal space as a rabbit or guinea pig might. Maybe you've typed it wrong but thought I'd mention it.

Will tell you these things if made completely out of melamine are HEAVY. Something to keep in mind when moving lol

 

[greychins]

Will tell you these things if made completely out of melamine are HEAVY. Something to keep in mind when moving lol

That they are. And awkward. Mine's only about 2.5' x 3' x 3.5', but when I moved, we had a harder time getting that thing in and out of the house than we did my large dresser and bedroom set, which were considerably bulkier and larger. At least with mine, there is no good place to get ahold of it, and it's so big and heavy it's awkward. I can't even imagine if it was taller. And mine's on wheels! It barely fits through doorframes (which was pure luck, because we built it without considering that), so that's something to consider -- make sure it's going to fit out of the room you build it in before you build it.

 

[Lirana]

I hope you don't mind me asking this here. Is the melamine you are using the particle board with the white coating like this? Or is it more of a sheet of fiberglass/plastic? I ask cause when I googled melamine, things like dinnerware (plates) come up, and they look like plastic. I just wanted to know what exactly it is.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I hope you don't mind me asking this here. Is the melamine you are using the particle board with the white coating like this? Or is it more of a sheet of fiberglass/plastic? I ask cause when I googled melamine, things like dinnerware (plates) come up, and they look like plastic. I just wanted to know what exactly it is.

Yes that's it - the stuff at home depot.

 

[samurai]

Cheers for the replies, I know they will be very heavy which is unfortunate but they will be custom built to fit the space so unlikely to be taken if we move they would be dismantled.
I'm making them 6ft long to encourage them to exercise as they sit at the top of their cage all the time, only coming down to eat then going back up so 6ft high would be pointless.
The only other way to make them would be 3ft long x 4ft high x 20in deep which I may do but it would be hard to utilise the corner space in the room and that area would just become a void which seems a space as the top cage would be close to 8ft long and they will likely just sit on a top shelf and stay there. There will be tonnes of shelves in them for jumping and they love running when they come out so I think the length will benefit them far more than exessive height.
They will now be lined with metal sheets to avoid bubbling. Are there any lighter weight materials for building the cage structure other than melamine just out of interest. I'm not using mesh accept for the front do to the high amount of mess they create.