How to build a bin cage?

[Holly's Mum]

Hi, I'm thinking maybe about a bin cage for Holly, but how do you cut the holes in the bin cage where the mesh is going?

[Luther]

General consensus seems to be a sharp Stanley knife or a knife heated up. I used an electricjigsaw which was the easiest and quickest method.....

[alexarcano]

I used a dremmel with a very fine toothed (circular) saw blade to do mine. It seems to make a nice job of cutting without cracking or melting the bin. Also I used the dremmel to make vent holes in the sides of the bin with a small drill bit in it (only a couple of mm). Personally I avoided using any heated blade/soldering iron due to toxic fumes building up indoors. Before you suggest opening a window or door, let it be known that its cold enough to freeze the bits off a brass monkey here. Well, it was when I was hacking holes in plastic. Not so much today though.

[Debbie]

On the bottle issue hubby drilled a hole for the spout and 2 smaller ones above for some wire to go through to hold the bottle in place. The other day I saw a photo of the bottle inside the cage held on by velcro pieces that had been stuck to the bottle and the box, I thought that was a very good and easy solution!

This is the base of our chinese hamster Mouse's bin cage and you can just see the spout of the bottle on the right.


And this is with the shelf hubby made, a piece of wood with 4 bits of doweling for legs.

[princess-rhi89]

They still sell the mesh at wilko's, they tend to have it with their gardening stuff, so its harder to buy in the winter, their garden stuff is out now, so they should have it in store, just ask a member of staff to direct you good luck with your bin cage, cant wait to see the finished result xx

[alexarcano]

Incidently I avoided the whole mesh issue by just drilling loads of holes in the lid. Just an option for you