# Doe anyone use external food hoppers?



## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm looking to convert to external food hoppers, and I was wondering if anyone uses this product:

http://www.opentip.com/product_info.php ... _id=636823

Would it work well with the mouse pellets, do you think? I use plastic lab tubs, could I cut a hole in the sides to fit the bottom bin through without leaving a gap for mice to escape?


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## OrangeTyrant (Jan 17, 2014)

Why not just purchase the wire tops to fit your lab bins? They have the food hopper built in and work quite well without reducing the footprint of your bin. You can find them second hand from several scientific companies, or new/used on eBay.


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

I do have the wire tops, but I have an awful problem with young mice escaping them all the time. Also, they don't stack with the wire tops, and I'm trying to save room. I actually built a rack system to fit the lab tubs, but I don't have a place to put food down for the mice now that I'm not using the wire tops.


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

Well, I decided to order one from the store, it should arrive in a couple weeks and then I'll see about trying to fit it into my tubs. I'll practice on some cheap old bins before using it on my tubs.


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## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

tip when using the hopper after cutting the relevant hole in the tub place a mesh framework within the tub to prevent the mice from even attempting to get a tooth hold on the plastic. Rectangular piece of wire with 12mm allowance on all sides should be sufficient and dolt on rather than cable ties if you have mice that like to chew. Standard sized round tipped soldering iron makes perfect holes to allow an m6 x 12mm roofing bolt to fit,4 required per tub.

Disadvantage of that hopper is it will cause dust below the hopper as the food rolls down more so with ready made food than the lab blocks. Also mice may end up throwing the food out of the hopper in order to eat just their favourite or even using it as a toilet.

These are the problems I have come across in the past but still experimenting with a design for my rack system on a hopper basis.


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