# .5" vs .25" Mesh



## RatAtaT2693 (Apr 23, 2016)

So I know the general rule for mice is .25" mesh, but I have a bin cage I used for a rat maternity cage, and I had outfitted it with .5" wire hardware mesh. It's an opaque 29 gallon bin, longer than it is tall (almost 40" L), and I was wondering if anyone else has had bad experiences with 0.5"x0.5" mesh. I'm sure that it's more than enough room for one buck, but I want to make sure it's not going to be a disaster.

If I absolutely have to, I can rip off the current mesh and replace it with .25", but it was such a pain in the arse in the first place, I'm avoiding doing it again.

The buck (I'm thinking I'll name him Marten since he looks like a red eyed marten) is currently chilling out in a Martin's rat carrier since yesterday, and no escapes, to my knowledge, so I'm thinking I'm okay. But the last time I had a few mice, they were slipping out while I wasn't looking - one ended up as cat food.


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## MayEye (Aug 22, 2016)

.5" is probably a no-go. Even when my mice were a month old, they were able to easily slip through a .5 inch bar spacing. If your mesh is a grid of .5" by .5" squares instead of a more bar-like structure, maybe they wouldn't be able or feel motivated to get through... but I wouldn't bet on it. A young mouse can stick its head through that spacing and if curious enough, the rest of the body will probably follow. Young mice are ridiculously small and flexible.

Sorry for the bad news!


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## RatAtaT2693 (Apr 23, 2016)

At what point is a mouse considered fully grown? I'm not currently worried about babies so much as adult mice. This would just be for the buck. And, yep, they're squares.

I'm getting the supplies for the bin cage later today.

The other thing I was considering, since mice are so light, was making a .25" wire mesh cage, much like a Martin's Cage. I just don't like glass or plastic cages because they lack so much ventilation.

Sorry - I'm up to my eyes in rat knowledge, but my experience with mice is small and extremely lacking.


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

It is really line dependent, more petshop lines usually reach their full size faster than bigger show lines.

I would be worried if he is a smaller petshop mouse that he might be able to get his head stuck in .5" squares though. I had two does from petsmart in a 0.5" wire bar cage and while one of them was too big and/or not interested in getting out, the other one can and did squeeze out where there was a slightly bigger gap under the door.

That said if you have a buck that isn't at all interested in trying to escape then you may be able to get away with it and not have any issues, or if he is a bigger one


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