Bin cage plan

[tiger_lily]

Does this sound ok for a syrian? I'm planning on buying these three storage boxes to make a three tier set-up with tunnels connecting each tier and wooden shelves in the top two boxes too.

I'm thinking of meshing the front and sides of each box, the lid of the top box and putting ventilation holes around all three boxes too. Will this be enough?

[mezier]

How big are the boxes? The base area is more important than the number of storeys of boxes. I think the minimum size for a syrian is 80cm by 50cm (not too sure as i don't have a syrian). The bigger the better of course.

Meshing the front and the sides is enough to me. However, i suggest that you do not cut the hole for the mesh too big since you are cutting the front and the sides. Or not it will weaken the structure of the box.

Hope I've been some help to you

[tiger_lily]

Oh sorry, I meant to put a link to the boxes! It is these: 80 Litre Plastic Storage Boxes: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home

They are 60x40cm so I'm guessing that is a bit too small as a base size. Hmmm, do you know what the recommended height is?

I never thought about weakening the box, maybe I will only have either the front of the sides for each!

[Kissa]

Recommended height is high enough for a Syrian sized wheel, so 30/40 cm depending how deep you're wanting the substrate to be, but hamsters are more ground-dwelling and burrowing than climbing, so height is less of an issue than floorspace. If it comes to a tall box with medium floorspace or a flat box that isn't big enough for a wheel, I'd get the flat box and either add a separate chamber with the wheel in or use a flying saucer

[tiger_lily]

Great, thank you Kissa. Where would be best to get boxes from? I've seen the really big ones you can get from Ikea, but they don't deliver and I don't have a car

[Charley101]

I was going to say Ikea but obviously that isn't an option... When i had my bin cages, i used the Really Useful boxes as it was the only decent sized ones near me. Homebase has a really nice, large box in at the moment for £19.99 but it is not high enough It's about a meter long though! It's a shame cos I would have snapped it up!

Hopefully someone else will be able to help

[kyrilliondaemon]

Those boxes should actually work really well

The rule is for total base space - including full levels. We use those for our syrian bin cages and they work fine alone. Ours are mostly holiday cages but I'd have no problem at all with using them full time for a syrian if I didn't have an obsessive issue with oversized cages lol

We mesh the two longer sides and it works really well for us so I'm sure your ham will love a bin from those if you choose to make it

[tiger_lily]

That's great! It would be three full boxes for her, so 3 x 60 x 40cm base, then hopefully a couple of levels inside it too to break it up a bit giving lots of running space!

[kyrilliondaemon]

That sounds great to me, its kind of like a cheaper imac fantasy really

[tiger_lily]

Great! Off to order the things now, hopefully they arrive soon so I can start making it!