Wire shelves

Question

I have boy rats who love to pee all over their plastic cage shelves. I wipe down the shelves twice a day, but still every time I come home I come home to a stinky pee-covered rat cage. I am going into a new apartment soon, and am afraid that the smell will get me in trouble with the landlord -- so I need to do something about those shelves!

My first thought would be to replace them with wire shelves, so the pee will fall through to the bedding and get absorbed. I know wire shelves aren't the best thing, but Martins rat cages use them, so there must be some spacing that's safe... what should I use? 1/2x1/2? 1/4x1/4? 1/8x1/8? I don't wanna go too big and risk bumblefoot, or too small and risk trapped toes...

Answer
To be honest I dont know what to advise because I cover my wire floors up with newspaper first and plastic needle point canvas over it so it they do urinate it drains through.  Also, bumblefoot doesnt come from wire floors. There is only one person left in the rat world that swears by it but its not true. Out of the two rats that had bumblfoot, the ironic thing is they lived in plastic floored cages and so have most of our clients rats. Bumblefoot occurs when the rat, often a chubbier rat, has a cut in his foot. If he is unfortunate enough to stand in soiled areas too much, the bacteria can enter these sores on his feet and cause infection. It takes some time to develop though but long story short, bumbles can develop from either type of flooring. The key is keeping it clean best you can and litter train if possible.  My rats are all litter trained but sometimes they urinate in the corner which isnt a big deal but can be a pain.

Hope this helps