# Plastic boxes.



## cristowe (Feb 13, 2011)

Hi , I bought 3 80lt clear plastic boxes from tesco the other day. Today i started to cut out some panels on the sides so i could replace them with mesh. The touble is that as im cutting the plastic, it keeps splitting, so im getting fed up now lol.
Could i ask those of you who also keep your mice in these boxes, how you cut out panels on the boxes without them splitting.?
Thanks 
Alison.x


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## The Village Mousery (Aug 1, 2010)

you melt them out with a soldering iron or very hot knife that you no longer want


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

That`s a shame after buying them. Meshing them on the front and the lids makes them better ventilated though so don`t give up! I agree that you should mark out the squares you want to cut out and either use a soldering iron, or an old metal object that you can heat over a gas ring (just be very careful as the head travels up to the handle) so don`t burn yourself!


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## cristowe (Feb 13, 2011)

thanks guys , i will now have a look see how much soldering irons are.


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## bethmccallister (Mar 5, 2010)

I use a hand held hobby rotary tool that comes with various attachments. I only paid $20 for it and it has 30 different cutting blades, drill bits, sanding stones, etc... I prefer drilling holes (over 500 of them) rather then cutting and applying mesh unless you can get powder coated mesh. I've had a few mice climb on the mesh and cut their toes so now I covered the hardware mesh with plastic craft mesh which they chew sometimes so then I use a hot glue gun...lol.


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## Aussie_Dog (Dec 1, 2010)

Get a good utility knife and go slooooooowwww. Score shallow cuts over and over and over again in the same spot until the knife finally goes all the way through. Then do the same thing a little further away, continuing until one long line is cut. Then do it again for the other three sides. Trying the muscle the plastic will just result in cracks and splits (and, as I discovered, rebellious knives that like to slip and slice through fingers). Sometimes it helps to cut a long, shallow line on the other side of the plastic, as that seemed to help keep the plastic from cracking and it seemed to help speed things along. It acted kind of as a guide line or something.

It also helped to hold the blade in a hot flame for a few moments; it'd slice through the plastic a little easier. Once you've done it a few times, you start to pick up on little tics and clues on how to work with the plastic a little easier.


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## cristowe (Feb 13, 2011)

Well, I bought a soldering iron and have spent 2 hours melting over 3000 holes into an 80lt box. looks good and theres no sharp edges. I took the middle out of the lid and i have got some fine mesh to put on it.x


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Meshing the fronts is a good idea also. It allows for a water bottle to be hung on the outside rather than from a modified way on the inside.  You will also see the mice better and they will get better air flow.


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## Rosewood (Oct 7, 2010)

I'm currently making holes in the lids of a couple of plastic boxes that I've got and they keep splitting, driving me insane and I nearly knifed my own leg, so I think the iron is a better idea xD


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

To stop the splitting in the boxes put some masking tape or similar onto the box drill a hole gently through where you want to cut the tape should stop it splitting, definately rotary cutting tools are better than knives etc.


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## cristowe (Feb 13, 2011)

I melted away 2 big sections in the lids and attatched very fine mesh bought from The Range.


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