Hardware Cloth & Ferret Nations

[QnMidnight]

Hey there!

I'm considering lining my Ferret Nation with hardware cloth - not because of chin babies (I just have a single male), but because MY babies like to shove things through the cage bars. I nearly had a heart attack a few weeks back when I found a chewed baby spoon in his cage, probably courtesy of my 4-year-old (no ill effects, luckily). Then there's the baby being a little vacuum cleaner and attempting to eat the chinchilla poop the moment it hits the floor... I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone here.

I've done some searching and read up on what posts I could find regarding hardware cloth; I get the basics of attaching it to my cage. My concern is mainly about rough edges though. Aren't the edges of hardware cloth rough / sharp? As I'm hoping to make this permanent (or at least long-term) addition to my cage, I don't want to risk my chin or my kids hitting a rough edge and cutting themselves. I haven't gone out to the store yet to check on it myself, maybe it's not as rough/sharp as I had thought?

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I have hardware cloth on my FN cages because of baby chins. However I can tell you form experience it will NOT contain the shaving, hay and poop in the cage. Somehow they manage to get all 3 out of the cage thru the hardware cloth. It stops some of it but certainly not all. And yes, you will have the rough edges.