# Bar spacing



## ArchNL (Jun 8, 2012)

Is an 8mm bar spacing ok for pet mice?


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

I prefer not to use bars, because even if a mouse can't escape it can still get hurt, or a rogue wild mouse can get in.

An eighth an inch is tiny, though, and better than a quarter inch or half inch, for sure.


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## ArchNL (Jun 8, 2012)

My girls like to climb. I doubt a rouge mouse would get in as any rouge mouse would get eatten by my dogs... It's only bars on half the cage it's just I wanted something for them to climb as they keep using the holes in the side of their habitrail and it's an extention. If the 8mm is fine then I will probably go for it as it's quite a large extention and only £20 and everything else I've looked at for them is much more expensive.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Mice can climb and fit into tiny places, dogs cannot. If your mice like to climb, maybe make something out of hardware mesh to fit on the inside? If the bars are only on the bottom area anyways, I don't see how the new addition would really help their climbing desire. Depending on how much your mice like to flip bedding around, you could also end up with a mess this way. Just my thoughts.

8mm=0.31 inches. So a third of an inch.


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## Fraction (Aug 29, 2011)

My mice are all in barred cages with 8mm spacing. I've not had a single problem with escapes, and I've had my mice in there for a while now. My pet shop boy went in at around 3.5 months old and hasn't managed to get out even with the allure of girls next door.


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## ArchNL (Jun 8, 2012)

The bars are on the top part there is a big plastic high rise area so that I could run a layre of sawdust for them to dig there is also a wheel in there, I know my old mice used to love the wheel and they don't currently have one. I want to try and make a more stimulating living space for them with things to do. I can't really put anything too much in their cage as it's relivly small it's the habitrail ovo den. The one I'm looking at is the habitrail ovo twist it has a bar spacing of 8mm and the plus side is that when I have some spare money I can buy another one so it will give them more space and also means I can extend my female colony at some point. I do get worried about bars but I think the bar spacing on it will be ok. My other mice had small bars and never escaped either.

This is the cage:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HABITRAIL-TWI ... 2c5f945ef8


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## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

I would just make climbing toys in the cage. Mice always pee on the bars as they climb and it's a pain to clean. Yuck.


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## ArchNL (Jun 8, 2012)

It isn't just for climbing it's more for extra space, the cage my girls are in at the moment is a bit small and it needs extending. They are in a habitrail so I was going to get habitrail parts to extend it. There isn't really enough room in the cage to make a climbing toy or that would certainly be an option. Short of buying a new cage all together which I am also considering I haven't decided yet, it depends on the space i can find to keep it too as my place isn't exactly huge. I'll have to have a sit and think and get the tape measure to go around and measure safe spaces that I could keep the cage.


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## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

Not sure how many girls you have...but a 10 gallon aquarium with lid is inexpensive, has lots of room, and is easier to clean than those habitrail things.


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## ArchNL (Jun 8, 2012)

I have 4 and I hope to get more in the future. Glass aquariums are too heavey and the bigest ones I can seem to find are 10ltrs around 2 gallons I think? I don't use the pipes on the habitrail except to conect things as they are a pain in the butt to clean. If I could find a plastic aquarium that is in the UK I would use it but unfortunatly I can't seem to source one big enough so I may well use a plastic container and ajust it myself.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

^^^
Do that. Storage bins are cheap and easy to convert, and you get more money per area of space.


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## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

I am working on a page about converting plastic bins into cages as we speak. I have to leave town soon so it won't be done until the beginning of next month, but I hope to make it easy to understand and thorough. I'm taking lots of pictures.


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