Hope everyone's doing well!

Ithildin and Giliath are doing great together and everything's been pretty amazing- Only thing Not-so-amazing is when I was cleaning the cage, I found the bottom and some of the sides had some rust spots.
I know rust can cut their little feet and potentially lead to some serious health issues.

Regrettably, I'm tight on cash and can't afford to buy a new cage.

Researching in the archived threads, I wanted to double check-
If I were to scrub off the cage's rust and spray it with Rustoleum; would that be OK to place the glider's with once it's dry?
Is there any brand of paint I can use to repaint the cage with that isn't going to break my bank?

Usually I'd just throw some fleece on the bottom, but my little pocket-monsters are the burrowing type and I get the feeling they'd just hide underneath the fleece and wreck it.

Thanks in advance everyone!

-- Ithil, Gilly, & Nic

I found this article in a google search:

www.beautyofbirds.com/refinishingcages.html


It's very helpful, but focuses on birds. Do you guys think this might work if I used Rustoleum?

I wish I could help you with an answer, but I really don't know what is safe for sugar gliders. Hopefully someone with experience will see this and have an answer for you.

You will need temporary caging for them either way, so you might want to check into a suitable temporary enclosure asap so you can get them out of the rusty cage while you find solution and repair safely.

If you do not have a temporary enclosure already probably the best would be to go get a pop-up dog kennel in the meantime. You can get one big enough for them to use and then it can be stored more easily afterward.

I sprayed over my gliders cage tray with rustoleum, i made sure it had several hours to cure, but it worked great!

Powder coating is the only safe paint I know of but you can't just use the store bought. You'd have to bring the part in to a sheet/metal shop that sand blasts and powder coats. The issue with rustolium is that it has rust inhibitors that are toxic. As do all rust paints.