Make Your Own

Storage Bin Cages

    These make wonderful cages for mice. They are clear, lightly frosted, tough plastic, and the mice can be easily seen through the sides. They come with a plastic lid that snaps down firmly, and does not allow the mice to escape. This is ideal if you need a larger cage, but do not have the money to spend on an aquarium that is heavy to carry. These storage bins, as most do, have a lip about 3 inches from the top rim of the bin. In other brands, this lip is close to the bottom, thus allowing the mice to chew a hole in the side of the cage. Sterilite's bin has this lip close to the top, so the mice can neither climb to it, not chew it. The design is perfect for rodent caging.

• How-to: Converting Bin Covers to Cage Lids: Now that you have your newly converted storage bin cage, how do you make the lid breathable and safe? You will need:
  1. Sharp Knife: Swiss Army knife saw blades are ideal for this
  2. Large Kabob Skewer: metal only
  3. Gas Stove: gas burners also work
  4. Tape Measure
  5. Large Scissors: butcher scissors are ideal
  6. 1/4" Galvanized Hardware Cloth: one piece 16" long and 11" wide
• Instructions:
  1. Turn your gas stove burner on high and place your kabob skewer with the tip in the flame for heating.
  2. Using your tape measure, measure a space 15" long and 10" wide on your Steriliteª brand plastic storage bin lid. Make sure the measurements are symmetrically placed in the center of the lid.
  3. Open a window in the room for ventillation. A mask can also be worn to avoid inhalation of fumes. If your stove has an overhead exhaust system that sucks smoke outside, turn this on now.
  4. Remove the skewer from the flame carefully (it's VERY hot!), and melt a hole in each corner of of the rectangle you measured off. (At this point, you should have the lid with a rectangle measure off and marked out in the middle with a hole at each corner of the rectangle.)
  5. Turn off the burner and place the skewer in the sink to cool down.
  6. Take your Swiss Army saw blade or sharp knife and cut along the edges of the rectangle that you cut out. (The holes in the corners of the rectangle are to keep you from overcutting the plastic at the edges of the shape and weakening it.)
  7. You should now have your plastic lid with a clean rectangle cut out of its center. Now, you have two options. You can either, a) solder a piece of 16"X11" galzanized hardware cloth to the lid, or, b) if your mice do not chew, you can duct tape the wire to the lid. If you choose to solder the wire to the lid (which makes it much more durable if a cat sits on top), you can follow these easy guidelines.
• How-to: Making the Storage Bin Mouse Cage LID
  1. From the plastic rectangle that you cut out from your lid, cut strips about 1 to 1-1/2" wide lengthwise with scissors (this is why heavy-duty scissors come in handy).
  2. Place the piece of wire mesh over the rectangle with one inch overlapping the plastic on all sides (do this from the bottom of the lid).
  3. With the same burner, light one strip of plastic on fire and hold it over the 1" overlap where the wire will be soldered to the plastic lid. The plastic will melt off fairly quickly and run down onto the wire, fusing it to the lid. Do this on all 4 sides of the rectangle until the wire is securely soldered to the plastic lid.
  4. Once you're finished, run the newly soldered cage lid under cold water to set the plastic. You should now have a very durable cage lid that snaps down tight to your storage bin.