Mouse cages (Was: Re: New Crittertrail 2 cage - problems)

Flykiller wrote:

>I always used those large plastic storage boxes you can get at walmart or
>kmart. 18 inch tall sides they couldn't jump, so you can leave the top off
and
>access them freely. cheap. easy to clean. and good for something else when
>your mice finally go to that big cheese warehouse in the sky. only problem
>with them was I had to clean the water bowl just about every day.


I've sometimes used those "tote-boxes", with a cover
of 1/4-inch wire-mesh "hardware cloth" fastened
over the top with about a dozen spring-type clothes-
pins, just in case. Fortunately, as it turned out,
because I've often found gymnastic young mice
crawling around upside-down on the inside of this
cover, which suggests that they might've gotten out
if it weren't there. After cleaning out their water-
dishes every day for a week or so, I devised a free-
standing rack to hold a sipper-bottle in the center,
though hanging one inside, from the edge of the box,
is practical with the mesh cover.

I'm not confident, though, that a solid box with such
deep sides provides really good air-circulation, so I
have switched to much shallower plastic tray-like
boxes (from IKEA) -- about 12 by 20 inches by 5
inches deep. The hardware cloth _is_ rather
expensive, but I think the total cost for such a set-up
is somewhere around $10, and it's adequate for
about five mice (I use a frame and a sheet of
cardboard in part of it, to increase the floor-space).

I get more fun, however, out of watching the mice
from the side, so I'm currently
/c/o/n/s/t/r/u/c/t/i/n/g/ trying to get around to
building some all-hardware-cloth cages (with an
external frame of wood 1 x 2 s for sturdiness), about
1 ft. wide, 2 ft. tall, and 2 ft. long, to be set in a low-
sided plastic storage tray that should catch the
scattered litter. (I know the use of wood is iffy
because it might harbor mites, but a few coats of
urethane spar-varnish should take care of that
problem, and it's designed so the mice wouldn't be
able to gnaw on the wood.) The 2-ft. height will be
plenty for several additional floors, some big &
complex toys, and at least eight does per cage (I plan
to keep 3 or 4 bucks in one of the plastic trays).
Now if only I can talk myself into using pine for the
frames, rather than some ridiculously expensive
hardwood like Black Walnut or Cocobolo....

Don Fitch

--
No mother-of-pearl, jade, or turquoise decorative
inlays in the frames, either. Well... no more than
one or two....