Tonight before bed I went to check on all the rodents for food, water, new babies, etc... and also to check on an old breeder male. When I went to open the tub he is in, I heard a squeal from one of the rats and thought maybe the tub pinched someone's tail, which happens occasionally. I closed the tub and heard a squeal, opened it and heard another squeal. With the tub half open, I looked into the tub and saw that the male was stuck by his face somehow near the hardware cloth. I moved the lab block that was hiding his face and was surprised by what I saw. He had somehow gotten his nose and upper teeth stuck through the cloth. He had spun and turned around so much by the time I found him that the wire had cut a full circle into his skin. After spreading the wire apart and manipulating his nose I finally got him freed from the mesh. I've never seen or heard of this before but I thought I'd post it as a caution to everyone using this hardware cloth with rats.
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