# Replacement metal pans for Critter Nation.



## The Mewtilator (May 16, 2019)

Does anyone know where I can get some of these within Canada, if possible, so that I don't have to pay outrageous prices due to currency conversion and shipping costs? The only place I seem to be able to find them is on this website: https://www.bassequipment.com/Store. Getting them from that site costs nearly as much as the cage itself. Paid $482.81 CAD for the cage, the pans from that site come to an estimated $435.76 CAD which seems ridiculous for just pans. More so because it's not even a firm price. Just a freakin' estimation. Entirely possible to end up paying more than what I paid for the cage. http://prntscr.com/nurtgh The plastic pans have been chewed, even though they have a bunch of chewable toys... That they do chew on. Plastic just seems to be a bad material to make the pans out of, IMO. They won't last much longer if they continue to chew on them which they probably will.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Flower Town Chinchillas sells pre-painted pans and Sunny Meadows Cages sells bare galvanized pans that would need to be painted or sealed in some way. Bare galvanized steel will absorb odors over time if not sealed. After spray painting mine, I let the paint cure over the course of several weeks before bringing it into the house and using it in the cage. Spray paint off-gasses VOCs for quite a while and I wanted to let the worst of it occur away from my rats.


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## The Mewtilator (May 16, 2019)

Those prices seem so much more reasonable, thanks for the links. I may go for the pre-painted ones as I have respiratory issues and cannot handle paint fumes of any kind. So painting them myself is not an option.


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## The Mewtilator (May 16, 2019)

Sorry for the double post, did not know you could only edit a post within the next ten minutes after posting... Placed an order and received an email saying I will receive a no-obligation invoice with the total cost (product cost + shipping cost) within one business day. Prices are way more reasonable (prior to seeing shipping costs anyway). Then I started to wonder whether or not the fleece pan covers I ordered would even fit the trays I ordered (3" and 2.5" sides). Not sure if they will or not, but as it is no-obligation, I'm guessing that means I do not have to pay if I change my mind. May need to get the flat sheets instead.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

Fleece pan covers are generally made to wrap around the shallow plastic pans that come with the critter nation. They obviously wouldn't be able to wrap around a 2 - 3" deep tray but they may be able to be used like mats that sit on the floor of the deeper pan. Do you have a link to where you purchased the fleece covers?

Generally, people get deeper pans because they want to use a loose substrate, not fleece. If you prefer fleece for whatever reason, I'm not sure that deeper pans would be necessary. The flat sheets or even the 3/4" deep trays would probably be fine for that purpose.


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## The Mewtilator (May 16, 2019)

I bought the fleece pan covers on Etsy. They have an absorbent layer. https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/594844301/ferret-nation-critter-nation-fleece-cage?ref=yr_purchases Sometimes I fill the lower area with CareFresh and sometimes I don't. I have the scatter guard for the lower tray, for when I do fill it, but it seems like junk. It's a pain to have to take on and off for cleaning and closing the cage doors is more difficult than it needs to be with them on. So the high sided tray seemed like a good idea. Regarding the top tray, I just wasn't thinking about it hard enough... I was thinking more along the lines of, "if it's good for the bottom tray, then why not the top?". I do not load the top with loose substrate, so a high sided tray probably isn't necessary. EDIT: I don't know why all my posts end up looking like one big paragraph. This is usually how I have them formatted before posting; http://prntscr.com/nydm7l. Then after submitting them, they just get smooshed into one big mess.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

If you have a deep pan on the bottom, personally I would just use a loose substrate all the time. You could probably use the fleece liner like a mat and just set it into the pan. Your rats would mess with it and crawl under it but I don't know if that matters. When I used a CN, I actually preferred the mat style liners. I made them using the Ratropolis tutorial and I didn't even need to clip them down. I just set them on top of the pans. The wrap-around liners would always get destroyed by my boys. 

If you know you're not going to use bedding on the upper level, the flat is probably just fine. I much prefer using a loose substrate so I'd probably get the deep pan for the two main levels. 

To fix your formatting issue, you just need to switch to the "Standard Editor" in your general settings. 

Settings > General settings > Miscellaneous options > select "Standard Editor" > save changes


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## The Mewtilator (May 16, 2019)

I had come across that Ratroplis Tutorial in the past, unfortunately I do not know how to sew. So I just bought liners instead. If I did decide to use one of the liners as a mat, I could just cut the wrap around part off and clip the mat to the tray, if needed. Whether or not they mess with it and crawl under doesn't really matter as they already do that now with the wrap arounds. They made their own entrances and exits. Some times they use the undersides of the shelf inserts as a hammock. 

Thanks for all the help/advice.


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