Building a Large [90-quart] Bin Cage

It became necessary this past Spring to build a large enough bin cage to house a mouse family so the babies could not escape.  More on that in my next post…

I decided on a 90 quart bin which I bought at Target for $11.  This bin cage is a larger version of the 30-quart bin cages I made last December.  I took the bin down cellar and laid it on my workbench:

       

I marked both sides with a grease pencil so I’d know where to cut the side panels:

       

My dremel tool makes quick work of plastic:

       

My utility knife helped separate the cuts so I could pop the side panels out:

       

For this bin cage I opted for ¼” hardware cloth.  For the smaller bins I’d used ½”, which is probably fine, but DAMN!!!  MICE CAN FIT THROUGH SMALL HOLES!!!

I started cutting the hardware cloth with my wire cutters:

       

But realized my kitchen scissors did a faster job:

       

¼” hardware cloth is very lightweight.  I drilled holes for zip ties to attach the wire mesh to each side of the bin cage.  After snipping the long tails of the ties I used colorful duct tape to cover the sharp edges:

       

Zebra print on one side, psychedelic tie-die on the other:

       

I got it set up with rodent wheels, hamster tubes, & toys:

       

Then drilled a few more holes to attach a water bottle:

       

Done!:

       

The new inhabitants [more on that in my next post] enjoyed it very much:

       

They have since been released back into the wild.