two questions, one on zip ties, the other on food bowl placement

[Celestrina]

I have a 680 and would like to move things around, including one of the shelves.  How secure are the zip ties?  Won't they chew right through them?  Also, right now I have the food bowl on the middle level.  I was thinking about moving it to the bottom shelf, but won't they just pee and poo in their food?  No matter how secure the covers are on the upper shelves, they manage to pull them off.

[nek0nyu]

I've only had my babies chew one of the zipties I put on my cage... I just replaced it and checked for more damaged. They only chewed ONE! Silly monkies.

And I put my food on the bottom level becuase my babies are so messy with their food by digging through it - it would end up on the bottom level anyway! It just saves the food a trip. The do occasionally poop in the bowl, but thats only when its empty. They pretty much stash everything when I put the food out.

Those things don't pose a problem with my rats.
Plus they're boys. 

[Dearpie]

I like the food bowl up on the middle or top levels, just for that reason, so they don't use it as a toilet from above ...     

Zip ties are quite secure, but only if your rats don't chew them.  We can't tell you if that will be the case or not.  You need to do a visual and physical check several times a day in the beginning, and then once a day thereafter, when you know they're not chewing.  Always go with being safe and routinely checking the intergrity of your zip ties, because there's 'always a first'.  So always be prepared.   

[Lise]

Usually though you can tighten up the zip ties really tight so they lie flat against the cage and the rats don't even realize they are there to chew on. =)

[alvermom]

My boys have not chewed one zip tie.  I don't think they realize they're there.  I keep my food bowl on the top shelf.  My alpha guy stashes food one level down in the igloo, but they never poop in the bowl, even when it's empty.