# Pet resistant screen instead of hardware cloth?



## kuroda72 (Aug 15, 2013)

Hello,

I have owned many rats in the past in all sorts of cages. Recently I purchased a couple boys (very exciting for me, since I have only owned females in the past) and I currently have them in a 40g breeder aquarium with a screen top. I understand the risks of this and I am doing a full tear down and cleaning with nature's miracle cage cleaner every 2-3 days. I chose this route because I have cats and I needed to see how things went down at first.

Well, the cats sure are curious and if I leave the door open to that room I will come in to find a cat standing on top of the cage looking down with the rats standing on two feet looking up. It's pretty funny, actually. I have let the cats sniff the rats while I am holding them and they do not seem aggressive at all with them, just extremely curious. The door to the room the rats are in (my office) is closed much the time and cat free unless I am in it. The only times cats are unattended with the rat cage are for maybe five minute stretches if I happen to go get something to eat or run to the bathroom.

Anyways, I wanted to see if people had had any experience using that pet resistant window screen to cover rat cages instead of hardware cloth. It looks like this: 

http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Wire-70587-Screening/dp/B000CSGFAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376541431&sr=8-1&keywords=pet+resistant+screen

The reason I'm looking at this is because I am worried that a cat paw could fit through most/any hardware cloth. I have seen aluminum screen that looks the same as the screen, but I would really prefer something black that matched better with the cage I was looking at, which is:

http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Hendryx-485-Products-Hammertone/dp/B000QFMYWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376541887&sr=8-1&keywords=prevue+hendryx

These boys don't chew a whole lot from what I've seen so far and I wouldn't mind patching a piece of the screen every so often, but I really would like to see if anyone had had any experience with it and also to see if there is maybe anything harmful inside that pet resistant screen for it/when the rats decide to chew it. Being intended for pets, I don't think the manufacturers would put anything harmful into the screen. But you never know.

The other option I saw since I don't want a silver/white screen covering the black cage is pvc coating the screen. From what I read, I would need special equipment to pvc coat a screen, but I did find a product that you simply spray on and it gives the material a plastic coating. If this was safe, I could coat the aluminum window screen and use that. Here's the link for the spray

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

Any advice, thoughts, or even alternative solutions would be greatly appreciated!


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## JLSaufl (Jan 20, 2013)

Hardware cloth comes in .5 and .25 inch. I have the .5 inch and a cats paw could never fit through it. Even a kitten paw wouldn't fit through. 

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## kuroda72 (Aug 15, 2013)

Maybe not, but a nail from a flexed paw could definitely fit all the way through a .25" square and a curious rat may find a way to harm himself from it. I keep my cats nails clipped usually, but still I am trying to think of the safest option. With a window screen only the very tip of the nail could poke through to the rat, maybe not even at all with a clipped nail.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Someone used plexiglass on their cage, so it is an option. I would really try 1/4in hardware cloth though because it allows the rat to still climb and get plenty o ventilation. I doubt that your cat would stick just a claw in once it realized it could not get to the rat. Keep in mind rats can defend themselves too, before I put hardware cloth on the cage my curious terrier nosed the bars and my rat bit her. She no longer cares whats in the cage.


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