Mess gauge

Hello,

I've bred lots of mice and am now starting to breed ASF's. I built my own rack which believe to be strong with 1/4 mesh over three quarters of it and 1/2 over were I will be placing food. I have a wood block that goes over the 1/2 in case one somehow makes his way thru the hole, he will still be trapped in the food tray.

Here's my concern. The 1/4 mesh is only 20 gauge mess. I'm pretty confident that they cant get out but I cant find anywhere online of how heavy duty the mesh is that people use on there rodent racks.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation. Am I being unnessicalily over cautious?

For my mice and asf rack I'm using all 1/4" mesh and I think it's 23 gauge. I haven't had any issues with chewing on it or escaping through it.

Haven't had any issues with ASF chewing through standard 1/4 wire mesh. I do have a problem with freshly weened pups escaping through the 1/4 in mesh. Should have some 1/8 coming in soon to remedy that.

We have given up on using the hopper method for food blocks. We were going thru so much food because the ASF'S just grind it up. We also had an escape issue (FYI, a trap with zucchini as the bait is magical). Since we have switched to tiny mesh and just putting the food in the tub with them, we've saved a lot of money and have much less stress.