# Bin cage shopping list?



## meromar (Aug 27, 2016)

I'm hoping to have my mice (and most of my animal collection) set up in bin cages soon for the convenience of lighter weight, and tomorrow I should be heading out to buy supplies!

I'm planning to get --

soldering iron
1/4 in hardware cloth
wire cutters
washers
nuts
bolts
plastic bins

I'm having trouble mainly with the washers, nuts, and bolts I'm planning to use to secure the wire to the bin. What sizes should I get? I'm completely clueless about these things :lol:

I'm also wondering about the wattage of the soldering iron to cut the plastic. Will a cheap $5 30w iron suffice? I'm guessing so but I just want to be absolutely sure!

Some other advice I've picked up is to put the wire inside the bin to prevent chewing, and getting a bin without any plastic sticking out on the inside to keep the mice from having a starting point to chew their way out. Is there anything I'm forgetting?

Thank you in advance for any replies!


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## meromar (Aug 27, 2016)

I thought I'd write an update to this with the supplies I bought and the problems I ran into with my chosen setup, in case any other confused beginner keepers happen to see!

These are the precise supplies I ended up buying from Amazon:


woodburning tool
1/4 inch hardware cloth
aviation snips
artistic wire
I purchased these bins at my local Dollar General store -- but, I do not recommend that specific size, particularly for anyone keeping typier show standard mice, or larger stock in general. I got by with them with my singly housed, tiny, wild house mouse bucks, but now that I've introduced larger mice into my collection and begun pairing mice off I'm finding that the space is unsuitable (the available floorspace, measured at the very bottom of the bins, is only 42.5", much smaller than I originally assumed). I will soon be upgrading all of my mice to these 15 qt bins.
Also, I purchased these 4oz water bottles in bulk at petmountain.com specifically for my bin cages 

Since my supplies are stowed away and a hassle to get to at the moment I won't be sharing pictures or making a step-by-step guide here (maybe in a later edit), but this tutorial on tumblr is largely similar to what I did.

Here is a picture of one of my current (due for a good cleaning later today!) bin cages:








Note that the wiring is inside the bin, not outside, and overlaps the opening by ~2.5 squares to prevent chewing.
I had one buck who would chew on the plastic bits you can see in the four corners, but once he got them "leveled" with the rest of the plastic he no longer had anything to grip his teeth onto and he was unable to chew through the bin entirely or create any holes, so he stopped.

Here's a more detailed picture of how I used floral/artists wire to secure the hardware cloth to the bin:








The tips of the wire when snipped short are fairly sharp so I recommend having those pointing outwards or using another solution entirely (bolts and cable ties are two options I see commonly used in bin cages)

I hope I was helpful to someone out there starting out like I was! And for more experienced keepers that have any concerns or critiques for my current setup, please let me know so I can keep them in mind when I begin upgrading and setting up new bins! Thank you!


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## Amtma Mousery (Jan 29, 2015)

That is a very nice setup. However, that and the 15 quart bin appear a bit small IMO. I house my solitary bucks and nursing does in 70 quart sterilite bins. Either way, good luck!


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## meromar (Aug 27, 2016)

Lake Mousery said:


> That is a very nice setup. However, that and the 15 quart bin appear a bit small IMO. I house my solitary bucks and nursing does in 70 quart sterilite bins. Either way, good luck!


Thank you very much, I'll be keeping that in mind! 70qt might be a tad larger than what I'm looking for but I definitely want an upgrade from my current setup, I'll take a look next time I'm in town!


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