Mind is made up.

[Kerryyyy]

I have made up my mind about Dottie and Theo's cages.
Wire cages are completely out of the question because both of them are chewers. Not only do they lose their beautiful fur, but they also make a lot of noise which turns into a competition between them two and the rabbit on who can make the most noise at 2AM.

So I wanted to ask people's opinion on bin cages?
This may sound stupid but I'm not totally sure what a bin cage is. :/. I was brought up thinking hamsters lived in wire cages and such. But since getting Theo and saving up all my money I have decided I wanna do this properly.

So someone tell me what a bin cage is and recommend a good bin??

Thanks.

[wandofwillow]

Well you're from Scotland and I don't know the plastic bin brands in Europe, but I know a lot of Europeans use Ikea bins. I just built two bin cages last week and they're really not difficult at all. I'm working on a more detailed tutorial, but the one I used is this one. It is the easiest method and difficult to mess up. Bin cages have the advantage of being only two large pieces and very easy to clean. And the bonus for you: no bars! Just make sure your bin has a large enough floor space (others could help you with this) and is tall enough to fit a proper sized wheel comfortably. Obviously, longer is better than taller, but if you can't fit a big enough wheel that's not true. ;p

The hardest part of the project is cutting out the windows on the bin lid. I had to cut through mine with a utility knife, but a heated knife or a saw would work better. But it's fine if you only have the knife. (Just be careful not to nick yourself... I did once on the first bin ; __

(oh and for a frame of reference, I'm fairly crafty but by no means an expert, and I've only a little experience with power tools. I still thought the bins were easy and fun to make!)

Some pics of the bin cages I made:

Note the water bottle on the right.


Deep enough to fit a 12" wheel but also still has the minimum size requirements for a Syrian.


First bin I made. This is the one I use (the other I gave to a friend). I had to special order an 11" wodent wheel to fit (the 12" comfort wheel wouldn't), but otherwise I'm glad I got the one with more floorspace. (The wheel in this pic is only 8.5")


My current set-up.


Don't be worried if the project looks hard - it's really not!

[Roxie]

There is another barred cage option you could try aswell. I have a Savic Mickey 2XL. It's basically exactly the same as the Hamster Heave except without the tubes/penthouse and the bar spacing is smaller.

Now, because of the small bar spacing my Syrian can't get her mouth around the bars so she can't chew. They can't get a good angle on it and once they've tried one or two times, they give up. So it's another option to try if you decide not to go down the bin cage route. I really like the cage.