ASF lids, lets see your setup

[SquamishSerpents]

hey there, i used to house my ASF's in plastic sterilite bins, until i was made paranoid by the friendly people of BP.net that my ASF's WILL get out one day. maybe not today or tomorrow, but that sterilites are increadibly easy for ASF's to chew through.

so, i've decided to make the move to glass tanks. a 20 gallon for the grow-up bin, and 2 10 gallons for the breeder bins, in ratios of 1 male to 4 females. my dilemma now, is how to make the lids. if i build a wood frame out of 2x4's that sit hanging over the frame of the tank, and attach 1/4" hardware cloth, will the rats be able to get out if the frame is not weighted down? i wanted there to be openings leading into hoppers for the food and water bottle, so i can just pour the food in, and just remove and replace the water bottle as needed. do you know what i mean?

here's a diagram i attempted, please don't laugh! forgive my shaky finger, i made it on a laptop touch pad as my wireless mouse has no batteries right now.



to anyone who already has ASF bins (not racks, please) can i see some photos of your lids/how you feed and water them? thanks so much!

[suzuki4life]

[SquamishSerpents]

thanks a lot suzuki4life!

that looks almost exactly what i want to do! does your wooden frame just sit on the outside of the tank? i would imagine they can't get out this way but i'm afraid of them somehow figuring out how to lift it up and squeeze under the wood

[suzuki4life]

Another cheap hopper

2" PVC pipe
1/8 for hog feed or 1/2" rodent block wire mesh
2" hose clamp
wire (electrical fence wire works great) Any kind of binding wire will work..

drill

One end drill 2 holes...pass the wire through it and allow enough to hang over the edge and hang on the tank

cut the wire to fit ove rhte end of the pipe and secure it with the hose clamp.

If done right the hopper is close to the cage floor...smooth sides keep the asf from climbing it...and food doesn't get lodged or stuck...

[pliskin]

I liked your idea about the PVC tube so I thought I'd try it out .

I made one to hold the water bottle as well , I had a plastic holder which came with the bottle but they chewed the hell out of it the first day. They're chewing a bit on the pvc as well but it'll take them a lot longer to do any real damage to it.
I also cut holes in the lid so I can load the food hopper without removing the lid.

[Shadera]

What you have in mind there is pretty much what I've been using for the last year plus.

I used 2x2 furring strips from Lowe's same stuff I make regular rat racks from, on 10 gallon tanks. The hardware cloth is stapled to the top of the frame, and it just sits on top with no extra weight. I use these for mice and ASFs, no escapes. Not even close. No chewed bottles either. The only thing they can reach to chew is the black plastic lip around the top inside edges of the aquarium, but they can only chew so far before there's nothing to chew.

I make a hopper for food from 1/2" wire, and the water bottle hopper and top I use the 1/4" for. Just personal preference. I suspend their wheel from the top, right in the center. Gives them more floor space, and you never have to move it around. Both hoppers are serviced from outside the tank.

[suzuki4life]

You need to vent the cage....swap the hard top for screen mesh.


tons of ways to save bottles.....

here is a cheap and easy bottle.

http://www.egerbil.com/waterbottles.html

[pliskin]

You need to vent the cage....swap the hard top for screen mesh.


tons of ways to save bottles.....

here is a cheap and easy bottle.

http://www.egerbil.com/waterbottles.html

yeah , I was planning to do that , but just hadn't got to it yet.
I wanted to keep it solid to contain the smell , but I realized they were probably running out of air. I've put some spacers under the lid for air flow for now, 'til I get a chance to cut some vents..

for that bottle, doesn't the water just leak out since it doesn't have a ball?
I wish I'd seen that earlier, I would have done that instead of buying my bottles.


also , how do you keep them from just chewing up the food into dust and not actually eating it?

[suzuki4life]

yeah , I was planning to do that , but just hadn't got to it yet.
I wanted to keep it solid to contain the smell , but I realized they were probably running out of air. I've put some spacers under the lid for air flow for now, 'til I get a chance to cut some vents..

for that bottle, doesn't the water just leak out since it doesn't have a ball?
I wish I'd seen that earlier, I would have done that instead of buying my bottles.


also , how do you keep them from just chewing up the food into dust and not actually eating it?

give them wood blocks to chew on and it cuts down on wasted food

the glass water bottle...I use the spout parts from a plastic water bottle they chewed up and some aquarium silicone...

There are vacuum bottles out there...back in the day it was all we had....before the ball types were marketed.


Make sure you don't leave any gaps...they are escape artists.

[pliskin]

I've got some wood blocks in there, but they prefer to chew up the food. I think I'll try suspending blocks from the lid , as they seem to like to chew above them.

you don't need to tell me about the escape artists part, I just switched to the glass tanks because I had two escape last week. I had to set glue traps all over the place so I could catch them.

check out the 2nd tub from the top , on the right. You can see where they chewed through the tub and got out . I had to re-enforce it with some wood and a piece of metal from an old hinge. I'm only going to keep the babies in those from now on. all the bigger ones are going in glass tanks.