Bin Cages

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Kayla2

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Jul 23, 2009
Messages
133
Location
Somewhere, Nova Scotia
I tried to search for posts about bin cages but couldn't find many.

I am planning on adopting two baby girls after Thanksgiving weekend provided I can get a temporary cage for quarantine and intros with my two older girls who are in a single CN. I have seen bin cages before and I am wondering how well they would work for a couple weeks. I have an unused bin now that is 29"H x 19"L x 19"W.

My plan would be to cut a section out of the top, front and sides, leaving the back solid and securing wire mesh with cable ties or some sort of rivets.

How many people have done this and how well did it turn out?
Would it be easy for them to chew the bin? It is pretty sturdy plastic.

Also, what would be the best way to put a shelf in?
Any pictures would be awesome.

Thanks.
 
I've never done this, so maybe somone else could weigh in, but some rats chew more than others, and a cut peice of plastic next to some wire would look like a really good starting point for an escape hole to some of mine. lol
 
I did it with my babies, but I really struggled to get it well ventilated, and keep the hole small enough. It was ok as long as i cleaned it out completely every few days or so.
Also, beware the top, they will be able to climb out!! and at about 8 weeks they will be able to push the top open and escape that way, so I had to start clasping it closed.

It worked well. I just drilled a bunch of holes in mine, instead of doing anything with the mesh... I probably could have had better ventilation if i'd gone that way.
 
The top of the bin I have has a handle on eash end that fold up and clasp, so I dont think they will be able to push it up.

I think I will start it this weekend and if I mess it up horribly I only paid $10 for the bin and could get another one easy.

I was looking around for small cages and even some bird cages but they are priced way to high for the quality, and after buying the CN everything seems so flimsy and cheap.
 
mine had handles too, but i wasn't latching them. I was worried it would make it to air tight in there, even with the holes. I had to start latching at 8weeks just to keep them in lol.
once they were big enough for intro's tho i moved them into the super pet with ron.
 
I plan on cutting large holes on the front and sides and using wire mesh because I have a bunch available to me so I can avoid drilling holes. But I can definitly see why there wouldnt be much ventilation with just the holes.
 
I'm going to admit, I only skimmed this thread so sorry if you said: but I assume that you are planning on using one of those plastic storage bin type things, right? If so, I would suggest using a soldering iron rather then a drill just because I drill will more then likely crack the plastic, whereas a soldering iron will not.
 
Im going to do mine similar to the one in SQ's thread, but maybe with bigger windows. I think that would be enough airflow if 3 sides and the top had large windows covered with wire mesh.

By the way thanks for the input guys!
 
I don't think wire mesh is strong enough on it's own. It needs some sort of strong, continuous surface for support. I would suggest if you're doing what SQ did, then look on your local kijiji and find a cheap cage or two, cut yourself appropriately sized pieces from it and attach them like in the link. If the bars are to wide apart, then cover the bars with the hardware mesh. Another idea (if you already have the mesh and just want to use it up or something) would be to put like a bazillion holes on each side and if they're too big, cover the whole side of the bin with the mesh. That would give the mesh support, provide adequate ventilation, and ensure nobody escapes (but unless you greatly miscalculate the size of the holes you are putting in you probably wouldn't need the mesh, so that probably wouldn't help if you already have it lol...I'm just throwing ideas out)
 
I dont mean a flimsy mesh, I am using something like a heavy duty chicken wire sorta thing. It is not really flexible and very sturdy. I was also thinking about reinforcing along the edges of the windows/holes with metal strips, and possibly doing three smaller windows instead of one big one so theres more support in the front.

It's hard to explain what I mean.. But I will post pictures when I'm done lol.
 
I'm still not confident that any sort of hardware mesh would be sturdy enough to stand on it's own, but I hope for your sake that it works out. Good luck!
 
I dont understand what you mean by standing on its own?
It would be secured to the remaining plastic by something like rivets and metal braces or cable ties.

It would not be the whole side of the bin if thats what you mean?

Its just unclear to me what you mean, maybe I'm misunderstanding.
 
Bin cages work well for temporary housing, but you do have to watch the heat/ventilation closely. Rats can really suffer in them, and cutting holes in the side will make them flimsy, depending on the wire you are using.

I use a Dremel to cut out the plastic on my bin cages. This works very well for me. I also use a file to sand down the sharp edges of the wire, and put the wire on the inside, rather than the outside. This helps prevent chewing, and I have yet to have a rat chew its way out of one of my bin cages with this design.
 
I mean that it would need a continuous surface, like over the bars of a cage, rather then just secured to the cage of it's own to be useful. Wire mesh is really only used when the bar spacing it too small simply because it's not strong enough to be used on it's own without re-reinforcement.
 
Doing that on a larger cage will result in flimsy-ness. I've tried it before, and am not terribly happy with the result. An alternative that will offer more support is to cut out several smaller windows, instead of just one big window. For example, on the long sides instead of one big hole, cut out 3 smaller holes with about 2 inches of plastic in between. This will still make it less sturdy, but better than if all the plastic was removed.
 
Yes, if you do multiple smaller windows rather then one large one, to reduce the surface area of unsupported mesh that any one window has (and preferably have similar metal supports like in the link) then you may be able to get away with just the mesh (Just so you know, I'm not trying to come across as argumentative...I just don't want you to put all this time and effort into it, then have it fail. Even if it is just for a temp cage, you still want to get as many uses out of it as you can)
 
Thanks, I think there was a lot of ideas and thats why it got confusing and it did seem like it was turning into a bit argumentative. But no worries, if it doesnt work out I'll be okay with that.
 

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