Foot Caught / Wire flooring

[PinkPaws]

Last night while cleaning Boo's cage her foot  ( and knee none the less) got caught on her Martin's 695 wire flooring. It was a mad scene. She was screaming and flipping around...I was screaming and flipping around...gah!!  Now she is fine - no swelling or bruising or nothing. We are sooo lucky....but...now I want to safety-proof her cage. I used to use folded newspaper to line the levels that I would just throw away during cage cleaning. It worked before without incident. Now I am paranoid.  What can I use to line those shelves? It needs to clean easily. I am going to change the incline of the ramps while I am at it....going to geriatric-proof the whole cage. That was the worst thing to experience let me tell you...for both of us. 

P.S. She is in a hospital cage for at least 3 days for observation and to let the leg rest.
P.S.S.  Judging from her full blast screaming her breathing was not that compromised, lol...I was expecting her to pass out.

[Dearpie]

Oh goodness, I've been there when rats have gotten their foot caught and it's SO scary!! I'm glad your baby is ok, and it's a good idea to keep her quiet for a couple of days.  I'm surprised it was on the 1/2" x 1/2" spacing though!  This is a first that I've heard of.  Our previous wire spacing was 1" x 1/2".

You can zip tie some of that plastic canvas or some cloth, such as a placemat, to the balcony.

[PinkPaws]

Thank you...it was truely a freak accident- the back of her  foot fell thru with her ankle down, with the toes still caught above the wire, and the knee down below all of that...very confusing on how to extract her. Of course I was yelling, "get the wire cutters!!" It took five minutes to free her... what a spaz...off to buy placemats I think  - now I am afraid of anything with the teenyist holes...

[Dearpie]

Honestly, it truely was a freak accident, but obviously one that can happen!  Since we switched over to the 1/2" x 1/2" flooring (I ended up covering previous cages with hardware cloth, and have since bought 3 Martin's cages), it's never happened again.

[Adventure Rats]

I had it happen once on a drive with 1 X 1/2 floor spacing. Poor JillyAnnn was stuck and screaming bloody murder. I almost lost a finger trying to get her unstuck. I panicked and she road the rest of the way home in my lap. When I got home I screamed for Scoot, I though she had ripped her leg almost off. Boy can I be dramatic at times...you couldn't even tell there was anything wrong with her.

I think it was a fluke also, but better safe then sorry. How about just putting fleece down to pad the levels and change them every couple of days depending on if they pee on them. That's what I use, some cages have to be cleaned every couple of days and other only on cage cleaning day. Just depends on the rats. Since I've started padding the levels they LOVE to sleep out in the open on them.

Kisses to poor sweet Boo

[menagerie]

I cover my wire floors with coroplast and just wipe them down once a day. It works out great.