# Anyone else have a rodent shed?



## Twitch (Sep 1, 2011)

Hi there

I'm wondering if anyone else on here has a rodent shed to keep their small furries in. I am possibly getting a shed soon but want to know how I insulate it and what with and everything so that neither me nor my furries freeze to death!

It will be doubling as my office, so it will have electricity points and I'll probably get a halogen heater, is it possible to get one on a thermostat for over winter so it will stay a constant temperature? 

Twitch


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

Hi

yes I have a rodent shed, and successfully have housed chinchillas, rabbits, hamsters,gerbils and mice in it. To insulate it I have put polystyrene all over the walls and roof, as it has great insulation qualities. This means that it helps it stay warm in winter and cooler in summer, as it also reflects heat when the sun is shining on it in the summer. I have also double clad the walls so they are much thicker, keep it well coated in shed paint, to stop it rotting, siliconed round all of the inside and outside edges and filled any cracks and gaps in the walls. I also replaced the flimsy plexiglass window that most sheds come with for a proper glass one and had it sealed in so it gets no draughts under it. In the colder months I will add a thicker curtain on the window and a nice heavy duty one over the door. Lastly I put a fan in there for the summer, and a greenhouse heater from about mid october to early march, so it is definatly worth wiring it up. A greenhouse heater is best as it is very low wattage and doesn't cost as much to run as a standard one. I made a wire grill to put over it so my rabbits cant accidently touch it as it does get quite hot. I bought a cheap thermostat timer from wilkinsons and timed it to come on about 5 in the evening and off about 7 the following morning. I would never use a hot air blower/halogen type unless it was only on whilst I was in there as I keep cardboard, hay and bedding in there and would be to afraid of it setting on fire. The greenhouse heater is fine as long as it has a fairly decent space around it, and once heated up stays at that temperature, i.e as soon as you switch it off it will start to cool down, hence why I leave it on at night when it's coldest. My shed was just a standard garden shed from a builders yard, but with some work it is now safe and secure to house pets in. I would highly recommend getting an air- globe if you have rodents in your shed - they are fantastic! I couldn't find anything to keep down the standard 'rodenty ' smell (particularly the mice) but these are awesome. One drop of tap-a drop and the shed smell fresh as a daisy! It also makes the air cleaner and purer for them and you to breathe. The hammies/gerbs and mice are in tank type cages as they ovbiously keep in more heat than an open wire cage, so the cage type is something to think about, and they all get a good deal more bedding as it goes colder. One thing I would advise you to do is varnish the floor, it makes it nice and waterproof if you trek in whilst it's raining, easy to wipe down, and if like me you drop food and stuff on it or have them free range (rabbits) it is sooo much easier to sweep up!! Hope this helps you, good luck with your shed, I have never regretted mine as I would never be allowed as many animals as I have if they had to be kept in the house. I spend hours out in mine


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

Collie has obviously loads of prep gone into hers/his? (can't mind which you are sorry!). all worth doing, so if you can't afford to do this be VERY careful with temps especially if you're not in all day.

we had our rats in the shed for almost a year but found (as we couldnt' power it) it was very difficult to keep cool and warm enough.

we had 3 deaths from cold (1 was leni who was already very old (past 3) and had almost no fur to speak of so didn't stand a chance even with the hoard to keep her warm and lots of bedding and blankets, and 2 from sheer bad luck). we took them back into the house when the 2 others died at the end of the year (leni died early on in the year).

if you can do all the prep then get a thermometer in there that has bars that move to indicate how low and high the temp gets (homebase does one). so you can monitor before you put them in, and then monitor daily when they are in so you get a good indication of temps. Also see if you can hinge a window or rig up a screen to leave the door open (but still secure) but keep cats etc out. we were going to do this until the temp plummeted to -6 one night (in summer got almost to 30, and that's with battery powered fans and cold bottles/trays).

We did insulate it (which is still there lol) but if you're not in all day and are asleep when it's at it's coldest....

mine were in normal cages but with thick blankets over them in winter to keep the heat in, as well as a thick mat under the cage, lots of bedding and houses, hammocks etc to snuggle in.
in winter stripped clear of anything material and just plastic, non fozzy material or metal left, with chin-chiller granite blocks (swapped out for new ones each day, washed and put in freezer for next day, put under newspaper so they don't stick to it lol), frozen water bottles, ice-cubes and frozen treats etc.

the youngies (under 3 lol) were find they could pile in their house and keep warm so that was never really an issue, the deaths came cos 2 of them couldn't be trusted in the hoard so had to be separated, they couldn't keep enough heat with just two of them, despite my best efforts, but got to -6 so perished in their sleep. absolutely gutting.

having said that my mate keeps lizards, and has 2 giant monitors.. had... one of his heaters went haywire while he was at work and fried his fav bigyin (who's name i forget).
and he knew exactly what he was doing and has kept lizards for years, he keeps dangerous lizards for the local zoos etc so even the best laid plans..

not trying to put you off doing the shed thing as it can be awesome, if we'd had the money to sort out the temp issues they'd still be in tehre. 

But be very sure you have as many bases covered as possible, including having a fire extinguisher handy.

hope that helps and doesn't put the fear of god into you, as that wasn't the intention.


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## Twitch (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice! It would me my space as well, as I am moving into a friends house but they only have one bedroom so otherwise I would be sleeping on the sofa and have no space for me.I will have a sofa bed in there for if I want to sleep out there (which may be the case if I end up at odd hours doing uni coursework!) though I would be out for a lot of the day.

Money for sorting it all out isn't an issue as the shed itself is being bought for me and it will be fairly large and most of the insulation will be paid for too. Main thing I'm worried about is that I want windows so I can get some natural daylight in there and a lot of heat will be lot through those. How easy is it to replace the windows in the shed with glass ones or double glazed ones? I'll get out my supply of bubbles wrap for the winter and a big heavy blanket 

Ok so for insulation.... Polystyrene (on the inside I assume?) and double cladding the walls. I also have lots of heavy blankets and stuff I want to cover the walls in as they're pretty and are my current wall hanging and will help it feel like home. Will have a look at investing in a greenhouse heater - Will that be enough to heat the whole shed?

I do have an air purifier which I alreasy use and works a treat, so i'll just stick with using that 

Again, thanks for all the advice! No doubt I will be back with more questions.

Twitch


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

ive got a rodent shed, well its sort of an insulated room within a larger shed these pics show how my oh did it, the hammies were in their all last winter... all survived and there were no hibernations(i did have to use a small wattage oil filled radiator instead of the tube when it was really cold tho. I did a thread on it but ive had to delete some of the pics because i must have moved my photobucket pics around and they were of the dogs...heres the link to it..... http://www.petforums.co.uk/rodents/130757-insulated-hamster-shed-step-step.html


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## Acid (Aug 8, 2011)

we used to have a chicken and rabbit shed (different large rooms for each) which used a lot of the same things as everyone else said so i wont repeat it all 

but one thing i would say is get a secure door on the front with a lock at the bottom middle and top as we live in an area with a lot of foxes and they would always be tugging at the bottom of the door each night trying to get in at them and it was very stressful for our animals to hear the tugging and noises until we added an extra lock at the bottom making it impossible for the foxes to tug at it and eventually i they gave up and left it alone

this wont be a big problem if youre sleeping in there most of the time though as youll probably scare the foxes off


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

Window Insulation Film

have a look at something like this. you can also put up thick curtains or block the windows off with insulation during the winter and put an extended erm.. shelfy thing on the outside to shield the windows from direct sunlight.. late brain no worky... you know what i mean lintel type thingy.... doy!

shed won't need much to heat it as its enclosed. some sheds have vents between the walls and roof. you could jury rig something to block these in winter and leave them open to vent heat out in summer. Not all ahve this tho.

wouldn't think double glazing would fit and would cost a fortune, and perspex might have better insulation properties? if cheaper and thicker than a pane of glass.

wouldn't worry too much about foxes, but if they are a nuisicence.. arg brain has lost spelling ability.. you can put deadbolts at top and bottom of door also to make it more secure rather than just the deadbolt in the middle of the door.

yep insulation on the inside, you can use the rolls of house insulation, the thicker the better. couple of inches would be good, if there are 'alcoves' made by the way the sheds constructed (i.e. panels with braces half ameter apart) then you should aim to fill the alcoves then stick plywood over the top of that so the inside of the shed has 'walls' like a house. if you get what i mean.. if not i'll try and explain again when my brain is awake.

you can also use the heated pads you get for cats and dogs, and stick them under the cage rather than in so they can't eat them. the ones you heat in the micro. or just use hot water bottles (the old stone ones are quite good).

i'm not sure how much use a purifier would be, does it cool at the same time? if you know anyone that's good at electrics you could see if they could rig up a solar power fan or two with the panel sat outside? we tried that but are **** at electrics, we were waiting for my dad to come down and sort for us but we moved them back in before that happend. he worked it all out for us and should have worked fine, you can get cheap wee panels from maplins.

that's all i can think of at the moment, my brain has died...


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

You should be able to easily replace the plexiglass panel that comes with your shed, as most are simply slotted into place until you actually fix them down. I would not be happy with a plastic window at all though, far to easy to break - mine cracked just putting a panel pin in to hold it steady whilst the shed was being assembled, and slight knock in the wrong place by a nearby pice of branch smashed a huge hole through the rest of it. Unless you use they type of plexiglass that police use (the one they use when you have to identify someone but they can't see you) plastic isn't the thing to use as a secure shed window, unless you only keep a few spades/ flowerpots in it. You can get a piece of glass from most garden centres/builders yards, who will cut it size for you. I used putty to seal mine, I was skeptical at first if it would actually hold the glass in, but it has now been in for 5 1/2 years, and never even wobbled.

My shed is 6 x 4 and the standard sized greenhouse heater heats it just fine. They are normally around £30 (may get cheaper on ebay), and they also do a smaller one, half the length for a bit less, but it won't be as effective or powerful. If I had a larger area than this, personally I would put 2 or three of them in, in various spots around the shed. 

You can buy rolls of polystyrene of various thicknessess from DIY/ /craft/builders/ homeware stores. It comes usually on a big roll (like a kitchen roll) and is a set width as it is generally used for insulating attics, which have a standard sized gap between the beams. You can also buy it in blocks, again set sizes for housing beams, which is obviously going to be much thicker and will take a good few inches off the inside of your shed. This is why I went for the rolls, as it would have taken too much off a 6x4 shed. If you have a really big shed though and can still fit everything in whilst comfortably loosing this edge space, it would probably be more beneficial than the rolls. To fix it on, I just put silicone on the pieces stuck them to the walls and ceiling, added an extra panel of wood with panel pins all over it, and coated it all over in wood varnish. The whole job took a week to do.

If this is what you intend to do I would try and get it done ASAP, before the weather starts turning. The shed must be 100% dry inside all over or the silicone won't stick and the polystyrene will just peel off,and once you fix the extra wood on you wont be able to do anything about it. Same goes for siliconing the edges in and out, and varnishing the whole floor.

Most standard sheds don't have a really secure heavy door tbh, so if your worried about foxes I would definately add extra locks, and try to reinforce it by adding more wood to the back of it. Also the hasp and staple lock that come with most shed are not very good. I had a clear 2" gap in my door when i pulled the handle, even when it was supposed to be locked. I would change it for a proper 'doorknob and keyhole either side' - much more secure, and will again help reinforce the safety of the door.


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## Twitch (Sep 1, 2011)

A bit too inebriated to reply fully, however again thanks for all the advice. I wouldn;t be doing this until early summer next year, so plenty of time! And I would be getting either a better security lock or possibly a much better door if I can find one, as I will also have my computer and stuff in there so will need to be secure from potential garden visitors of any shape or form.

Twitch


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

if that's the case, try and make sure the window and door is facing away from the side of the garden that looks onto public space (if your garden does at all), you might also want to fit some sort of alarm in case someone attempts to break into it during the night.

def make sure the window is glass as it'll make a noise when broken, generally.

tbh i wouldn't leave your lap top in there anyway, it will probably not be covered by house insurance in a shed, if it was a proper outhouse then it might be but not a shed.

make sure you get curtains/blinds for the windows that totally block any view (not nets). and try and hide any power cables going to the shed if any. 

if you have a gate in the back garden put a proper lock on it that isn't reachable from over the top, a yale lock might do it or a good quality weather proof padlock.


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