Photo Guide to Making a Bin Cage

[Vectis Hamstery]

Note: photobucket has prevented the photos in this thread showing. I will upload them to another site but in the meantime, the photos can be found here: Vectis Hamstery and Exotics - Making a Bin Cage (http://www.vectishams.co.uk/makingabincage.htm)

A bin cage is a plastic storage box that has been converted into a hamster cage. Doing the conversion requires some time and DIY (and adult supervision for youngsters), but even I can manage it and my DIY skills are limited to flat-pack furniture! They can be adapted to your individual needs/wants in terms of layout and colour and are especially useful if there are few suitable cages available near you. They may not be suitable for hamsters that chew a lot as they can make a bid for freedom through the walls!

Equipment
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160506.jpg
A box to be turned into the cage
Mesh
Something to fix the mesh to the box, e.g. cable ties or nuts, washers and bolts
Strong pair of scissors or pliers for cutting the mesh
Soldering iron for ‘cutting’ holes in the box - if you borrow it, ensure the owner knows what you’re using it for. Apparently molten plastic residue can make it unsuitable for proper soldering in future

(plus substrate, bedding, water bottle, toys and hamster)

Instructions
The first step is to find a plastic storage box. As well as finding one that has the floor space required by your hamster, check the inside of the box for indentations or plastic ridges that could be a starting point for chewing. Two brands of boxes I have used and liked are Really Useful Boxes and Wham boxes, both of which have nice smooth insides. It’s also worth checking the boxes are deep enough to fit the toys or wheels you want to use and will fit in the planned space.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160526.jpg


Next you need to decide where to put the ventilation panels in your cage. Placing them on the roof will give a nice deep area for filling with substrate, will allow you to hang toys and will make it harder for the hamster to access the mesh. It will, however, mean you are unable to stack the bin cages. I choose to put the ventilation panels on the side of the box. I put two panels in so I could hang toys between them and to provide better ventilation than just meshing the small side that would face out of the shelves. Remember to leave a good amount of plastic remaining at the bottom so the substrate doesn’t get kicked all over the floor! If you prefer, you can mark where you wish to cut using a felt tip pen.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160718.jpg

When cutting the holes in the plastic, ensure you are in a well ventilated room away from any animals. This is something that must be done by an adult as the soldering iron becomes very very hot. I would recommend working with the soldering iron facing away from you, and going slowly and carefully as burns from soldering irons are very painful. If you do burn yourself when using a soldering iron, get the affected area under cold water for at least 10 minutes and consult the NHS website for further advice.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160507.jpg
While I am cutting the ventilation holes, I also make smaller holes around the edge the width of the soldering iron tip with which to attach the mesh
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160509.jpg

After cutting the holes, I cut the mesh panels. I use mesh with 6mm squares as it is harder for hamsters to chew and small hamsters to escape through, but 13mm is fine for Syrians.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160517.jpg
I hold the large mesh panel up to the hole I have made in the box and mark out where to cut - making sure it is a centimetre or two larger than the hole so you can later attach it.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160518.jpg
Strong scissors can cut through the 6mm mesh (take care of pointy ends and make sure to sweep up any loose bits of metal promptly), though you can also use pliers. If the mesh panel has any sharp bits, trim those flush so they don’t pose a hazard to the future cage inhabitant.

The next step is attaching the mesh to the cage. This is similar to meshing a Zoozone cage (though much easier than meshing a Zoozone 1!). I place the mesh panel on the inside of the cage to protect the edges of the hole from hamster teeth.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160524.jpg
I then attach cable ties at the four corners - this can be tricky with just one person.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160512.jpg
I tie the cable ties so the ‘knot’ is on the outside of the cage and away from small teeth.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160513.jpg
I then put cable ties in the rest of the holes I made in step 3 until the mesh is firmly attached close to the plastic.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160514.jpg
When all the ties are in place, I trim the excess ‘tails’ of the cable ties using my scissors so it looks neater.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160516.jpg

[Vectis Hamstery]

After cleaning any dust or plastic bits from the inside of the bin, pat yourself on the back for a bin cage (or four) well made.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160671.jpg

And now for the fun bit, setting the cage up for it’s small furry resident. I attach water bottles using strong sticky-back velcro, though depending on your mesh is they could be attached there using wires.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160721.jpg
Mesh panels in the walls also offer different opportunities for cage enrighment, such as an elevated sand bath ideal for Chinese hamsters
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/vectishams/Bin%20cage/L1160724.jpg

[alanjamesblair]

Good guide. I put a dab of hot glue on the nubs of the zip ties after cutting them to make them soft to the touch.

[gutterglitterxx]

Very nice and helpful tutorial! I love your purple bins. :)

[kirsandherbz]

(plus substrate, bedding, water bottle, toys and hamster)


Haha the + hamster part made me laugh. What a lovely tutorial! Ill definately look into making a bin cage if I get another ham :)

[vanilla-yazoo]

Lovely!! Thank you so much for this :) in going to be using the 70-40 really useful boxes to make mine! I'm just waiting for my play pens to arrive so i can use them for the mesh :D
This is really usefull to have :D plus some great ideas like the floating sand bath!!! Brilliant! I bet they love it!
Well done on making them :D x

[Kissa]

I love the floating sand bath idea too ;) Great thread, great cages!

[Vectis Hamstery]

Thanks everyone :)

The information about the soldering iron comes from personal experience - it's too easy for concentration (and the hot soldering iron) to slip when tired or building a stack of bin cages. Believe me when I say oooooow! Thank goodness for some lovely nurses at work who dressed the burn for me. I had got a bit blasé about melting plastic but it reminded me to be more careful in future. I can't emphasise enough the importance of working so that the soldering iron is moving away from yourself so any slips won't hit your clothes or skin.

[syrianali]

This is great, and answered a question for me about if the boxes had the be clear/white :D

[Biscotti]

This is a great guide. I've had to quickly make 2 bin cages this past November as I brought my hams with me to visit my parents for 2 weeks, and would like to highly recommend this Amazon.com: Stanley 6-Inch Jab Saw (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005QVQH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER) or any mini hand-held saws for cutting the thick plastics. After I drilled a starter hole, I was able to cut the bin cover very easily and cleanly with it, with very little resistance. It's probably a bit safer than soldering iron, but I understand people work with what they have. :)

[Vectis Hamstery]

Thanks for the link, Biscotti. I tried a Stanley-type knife before but found it cracked the plastic uncontrollably which is why I went with the soldering iron. Did you use an electric or handheld drill for the starter hole? Did you take any special precautions to prevent cracking? I have an electric drill but it rather scares me!

Syrianali, I have used bins in transparent pink, blue and white for the past three or so years before moving over to my purple bins. I haven't noticed any problems with using coloured bins. If anything, I have found them good for hams that are flighty with me walking past the cages (I used to have the bins in stacks in my living room which I would walk past to get to the kitchen) or generally a bit nervous.

[vanilla-yazoo]

I used an electric drill on mine, one that is very controllable in speed, i put maskin tape down and pre marked with a pen on the tape and done a small hole with a narrow drill bit, then used a larger bit to make the size i want.
No splitting cracking! :D

[Biscotti]

Thanks for the link, Biscotti. I tried a Stanley-type knife before but found it cracked the plastic uncontrollably which is why I went with the soldering iron. Did you use an electric or handheld drill for the starter hole? Did you take any special precautions to prevent cracking?


My first try was using an electric saw, and it did crack the plastic like crazy (and I'm glad the shrapnels didn't take my eye out with it), that's why I went with a small handheld as it gave me more control. This particular saw has strong serrated teeth good enough for metal, so it was a very easy cut just sawing back and forth with a little pressure, and I didn't even have to tape the edges like I did with the electric saw (which didn't work anyhow :rolleyes:).

As for drilling, I use an el cheapo Black&Decker electric drill with 3/8" bit as I didn't have anything larger. You need to apply steady pressure perpendicularly to the plastic as you drill so it will not slip, once the bit get a good dent in the plastic it's easy to just push it through. I find the drill holes to be fairly clean with minimal clean up needed.

[HorseyMandz]

In place of a soldering iron, you can heat a sharp knife over a flame, cut for a bit, then heat, then cut, then repeat until you've completed the hole you want . This is a bit more time consuming but it means that you don't need to invest in a soldering iron and you can 'cut and melt' at the same time xD
When Dad tried to cut/saw the plastic, it cracked. A lot. So we kind of, melted the plastic back together again, it's worth a try but not very effective!

[Kiki_3173]

My first go at a bin cage, I used a razor blade knife, heated it with a flame, cut a little, and the repeated. Oh what tedious work...AND a part of my middle finger was numb for a day afterwords from all the pressure I was using!

So I had to do something different on Dawin's new bin cage because it was much bigger and longer than the first. We have a Black & Decker drill that has interchangeable heads (a drill, a grinder, a sander, etc) and I had used the grinder part before to make the edges of the mesh smooth. Well, turns out that the grinder works VERY well for cutting through/melting the plastic bin too :-) So I used that to cut out all the windows in the bin (I'm sure it's probably not good for the grinding plate, but it worked wonders)! And no numb fingers! Lol

[Ilovehamsters]

Does anybody know if asda sell cable ties???
Or which aisle they are on???
Thankyou!!! :D

[Socks]

Could hamsters chew the cable ties off?

[DrKMcK]

I am saving this thread to a folder for sure. This is such a timely tutorial and the pictures are grand. I want to do this for any new hammies I get in a few weeks and I have been checking the bins out. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the great info. And Biscotti, your link is wonderful too. My dad was a building superintendent, so I grew up around tools. I have tools many men would give their eyeteeth to have. So I'm not concerned about using tools, electric or otherwise, at all. The tool on your link is great for this type of project, so, Thanks to you too.

[Spunki]

great cage, i will some of them for my hams too

[CAtrin]

Thank you great tips and advise

[Erin.R]

I am just in the process of making my first of 6 bin cages. I used the soldering iron to cu the whole. My question is, On the inside the soldering iron made the plastic kind of bumpy, so its not flat there's a lip. Should I use some sand paper to smooth it out or will it be ok. My Sammy is trying very very hard to break out of the cage he is in now although I can't blame him, he is a pretty big Syrian and the cage is kind of small but the biggest one they had at petsmart for hamsters. So, are these pretty hard to break out of if I am careful to tie everything down tight?

[Kiki_3173]

I used sandpaper to get rid of the bumpy plastic on Darwin's bin cage. Also, if you put the mesh on the inside of the bin, Sammy won't be able to chew on it because the mesh will cover the bumpy part.

Darwin has never broken out of his bin cage however, he isn't really a Houdini or one to chew very much. He really likes his bin. He started out in a Crittertrail from PetSmart because I didn't know any better at the time. After finding HC, I immediately made his bin cage & he's been happy ever since:-) If you are worried about it, I put binder clips (aka bulldog clips) to hold his lid to the rest of the bin at night, just in case.

[Erin.R]

Thank you! I am hoping this helps him to be happier, he does have a Crittertrail cage, the biggest one they had but its too small for him and he spends half the night in the corner sawing away at the bars with his teeth. I feel bad for other hamsters out there in these tiny cages. I am so glad I found this site, I had never heard of a bin cage. I will sand down the edges and pay close attention to make sure he doesn't find an escape route.

[WendyAnne]

I sanded down the bin cutout edges with a metal file I bought at Home Depot, and then I finished smoothing with a medium sanding block. We attached the wire mesh with zip ties every 1.5 to 2 inches on each side of the cutout. The mesh seems to be secured very tightly. Good luck with your bin cage!

[alanjamesblair]

Most plastics will take kindly to a paint scraper. Cheaper if that's a concern. That and a hobby knife should take off those edges too. Mind the sharps.

[Truffle]

Brilliant! really useful...

[Erin.R]

I got it done yay! He seems to love it. When he was in the small, really I should say tiny cage he spent half the night sawing on the bars with his teeth. I have not noticed him doing any of that. He loves his wheel but I want to get an even bigger one, it's 8 1/2 inch's but he is a pretty long hamster so his head still looks tilted back too much which I read is not good, I am thinking 11 inch would be good, a wodent wheel? Thank you so much for this post I was so sad to see him in such a small cage before and would never think of using a tub without seeing this.

[alanjamesblair]

Hey Erin. Huzzah! I made my own 11" wodent-wheel style wheel that Magellan is still very happy with. Made a vid of it too posted somewhere on here if you're interested. I mean, since you have a soldering iron already.

[MissDay]

Awesome guide!

I recently made a bin cage for my two dwarf hamsters.

I originally bought them a HabiTrail plastic cage, that came with an attached wheel, stairs to their food/water and a tube, going to the bedding underneath, but noticed that they weren't running enough and were getting a lot of bedding stuck under the wheel, making it impossible to spin!

I used a large, rectangular, clear plastic tote for mine, though.
It has smooth sides, and is very deep, so I knew chewing wouldn't be an issue at all.
You can easily find something like this at WalMart. If you're not sure what you're looking for, look up tote cages for Hedgehogs!

I used a knife (be careful!) to "drill" holes in the lid, and on the upper sides (so they couldn't reach them and chew) all the way around the cage.
I preferred this method to attaching wire, because I have kitties. The holes I made are only about a half a centimeter in diameter, so no one can get any paws or claws in there!
I made them about two inches apart on the lid, and three inches apart on the sides.

After I made sure it was well ventilated, I started adding in their water bottles and wheels.
I used a wire coat hanger, wire cutters (again, be careful!) and a pair of pliers to cut and bend a fixture for the water bottle. Then I attached it to the side of the bin by drilling two more holes for it to thread through, and twisting the ends together with the pliers.

For the wheel, we had a little more difficulty, and a lot of wishing and hoping, while trying to attach it.
I started by drilling a hole large enough for the pin (that attached it to the HabiTrail home) to fit through. I had to cut little tabs in it to fit the security end through, so it would hold.
LUCKILY, I got it! It's snug, and they can't get behind the wheel at all to chew on it.
I suggest getting a free standing wheel, though, so you don't sweat over whether or not you're going to ruin your bin home!

After I got the basics attached, I was able to get creative.
Using more wire coat hangers, I attached the platform for the HabiTrail to the side of the bin. It has a nice little niche for one of their food bowls, and stands about a inch and a half off of the floor.

My bin is deep and big enough for their HabiTrail to fit into, as well! So they still have their stairs and platform going to another food bowl, and a built in plastic tube to run through. I just left the top and bottom openings free of obstruction, so they can get in and out of their original home as they pleased.

I laid down bedding, constructed a little tee-pee house out of cardboard, gave them a couple cardboard tubes, and a ton of toys, including bottle caps, wood chewers, and wooden blocks to climb on.
I even made a hanging toy out of twine, ribbon and corn husks!

And everything is secure, and safe for them! I don't have to worry about them falling from anything, or chewing out, or anything else!

I love bin cages, and my hamsters seem much, much happier and healthier with more room to run around!

[hammysforever]

I really like this kind of cage but is it enough space for a syrian?

[Vectis Hamstery]

You can get boxes of all sizes so there are some which are ideal for dwarfies and others which are great for Syrians. That's the beauty of a bin cage - you can adapt them to your own species and hamster's temperament.

[hammysforever]

:DThank you for the answer vectis hamstery

[Kimberly]

I love your tutorial! The bin cages you made look very nice. Maybe I'll make one for my hammy soon. :D

[alanjamesblair]

Please do, Kimberly, unless you are near Lincoln, NE, in which case, please take mine that I am giving away.

[Hamster Sweetness]

Awesome! This was very helpful,Thanks!

[Snowe Hamster]

Hi, I'm looking into making a couple Bin cages, and I've got my eye on some 62L boxes (80cmx40cmx25cm) would this be high enough to keep a Dwarf hammie in?

Thanks :)

[LilDumpling]

Is it okay if I just left the bin cage without top? Is it really possible that the hamster would climb out?

[AmityvilleHams]

Is it okay if I just left the bin cage without top? Is it really possible that the hamster would climb out?

Members have had problems keeping hamsters in without a top,so I'd say always have a lid.It provides just as much ventilation to just mesh the top,but it is way safer to have a top than not to have one.

[souffle]

I'd agree that it is always safer to have a lid. Hamsters can find ways of climbing on things and hopping out quite often! Ours can scale the water bottle or knock over a wheel and climb on that and shimmy out!

[Jellybaby24]

Great guide! I find that Really Useful Boxes can be quite expensive so if you're looking for a cheaper option, the Samla box from Ikea is only £10 and is an amazing size. :)