# Chicken Wire



## 750XL (Oct 3, 2011)

Hello all,

Simple and quick question, can rats chew through chicken wire?

My two female rats currently live in fairly narrow, but tall parrot cage. It has a large triangular roof on it which isn't great as you cant hang stuff from it and it takes up quite a lot of room (can't push the cage fully into the corner as the roof overhangs by about 8cm). I was just wondering if I took the roof off and replaced the ceiling with chicken wire if they'd be able to chew through it?

Thanks,


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## shooper (Feb 22, 2011)

I used hardware cloth (a little sturdier than chicken wire) and have never had a problem! Good luck.


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## jonahsmom (Sep 9, 2011)

Isn't chicken wire sharp? I wouldn't put it where rats could touch it. Hardware cloth would definitely be a better option.


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## A.ngelF.eathers (Jul 6, 2011)

They shouldn't be able to chew through it, but hardware cloth would be better as it's smaller. 
But I assume you'd be using the small chicken wire?


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

they shouldn't be able to chew through it, no. chicken wire might work better than hardware cloth because it's bigger - you wouldn't be able to fit any big clips through hardware cloth. you have to remember that it will sag if there's weight on it, though, so you might need to make support beams out of pieces of wood or doweling.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Can't their heads fit through chicken wire? Sounds scary to me because it seems too sharp to use for this purpose. You could solve this by putting a thick piece of plywood over the top of the cage or staple the wire over this board and fasten it to the cage. This will also make them feel safer (IMHO) I don't think they would chew through chicken wire though. But I vote for hardware cloth.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

depends on how big the rats in question are. i can't see a rat clinging upside down to the roof of the cage meanwhile attempting to stick its head through chicken wire... but you never know with them.

chicken wire should not be sharp anywhere but the edges. it's made of long pieces of wire woven together so there are no sharp edges except where it was cut, the same with hardware cloth.


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