Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 642

0 members and 642 guests
No Members online
Most users ever online was 47,180, 07-16-2025 at 05:30 PM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,905
Threads: 249,106
Posts: 2,572,115
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, Pattyhud
Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran musicalKeyes's Avatar
    Join Date
    07-14-2009
    Location
    Chicago-ish
    Posts
    349
    Thanks
    115
    Thanked 63 Times in 43 Posts
    Images: 1

    Rat/Mouse/ASF Tub DIY

    So, I needed a tub for my mice since their tank was a little too small for them and babies. I got a big tub with bigger rodents in mind, but for now it's just holding mice. Thanks for looking

    Need:
    (prices are approx., no price means I already had it, so I don’t know)
    Pliers (I used needle nose to bend parts and some sort of large flat-ish one to press the edges together)
    Wire cutters
    sand paper
    ¼” or ½” hardware cloth ($9.oo for a small role)
    Appropriately sized tub with snap top lid ($13.oo for a 106 quart)
    Zip ties
    Plastic tie gun (not needed, but very useful)
    Something to cut the lid with (We used a large round bit attached to a drill for smooth and even holes, but a square can easily be cut)
    Haven’t gotten the water bottles yet, but will include that step anyways.

    1. First, the whole thing was cleaned.


    2. My dad drew out where the holes in the lid were going before cutting them. Four on one side, two on the other, in case I want to block off a small part of the tub at a later date. Be warned though, for whatever reason the pencil did not want to come off, and had to be sanded off.


    3. Here the holes are drilled out, and the holes still need to be smoothed with sand paper.


    4. Next, all around the edges and down the middle, lines were drawn evenly and two holes were drilled on each side of the line, make sure your bit is big enough for the zip ties to pass through. This is so the zip ties go in easily and look clean.
    If you want to stack tubs, the windows can be in the front, but I'd definitely use stronger zip ties.


    5 & 6. Step Five I didn't get any pictures of. I measured two inches past the wholes and cut out the hardware cloth to the right size. Gloves may be useful for this part, the stuff will scratch you really easily. It was then folded over an inch on each side, to avoid any of the ends sticking out. Before Could start running the zip lines through it however, I had to cut out the ridges on the underside of the lid so the wire would sit flat.
    The zip ties were fed through the first hole, and back through the second, so that the square bit is on the underside of the lid. It's kind've hard to see in this picture. We used small zip ties, since they won't be able to reach the top anyways.


    7. For the next part I went back and used the zip tie gun. You can use scissors, but if you have or can get one of these things it's great. It looks like a gun, and once the end of the tie is threaded through it, it pulls it tight and cuts it smoothly. Not needed, but awesome.

    8&9. These are the two parts I haven't done yet. I'm getting a water bottle to mount on the outside soon, and to do that I will drill a hole just big enough for the nozzle to go into the tub, and two much smaller holes higher up to thread wire through to hold it up. I'm also going to build a hopper following one of the stickies here, and will cut a square into the wire on the lid, and make it long enough to reach the bottom of the tub, so I don't have to open it to put food in.

    10. Put your rodents in! I've got mice at the moment, but may switch to ASFs or rats in the future, hence the larger tub (It also fits perfectly under my bird cage, which is awesome.
    Here's some pictures of the finished product and its inhabitants!



    And here's the first pregnant mommy! She barely fits into the toilet paper tubes anymore. Sorry the pic is blurry, she kept trying to run on their wheels (not that she really fits on them anymore...)


    Thanks so much for looking, I hope this helps! I know there's quite a few more steps and tools needed than some of the other ones, but that's what I get for trying to do this with my electrician/carpenter/perfectionist dad Enjoy!
    1.0 normal ball python, Simon
    1.0 spider ball python, Noah
    0.1 genetic blurry ball python, Eleanor


    "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
    - the fox

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to musicalKeyes For This Useful Post:

    Mrgbb (04-13-2010)

  3. #2
    BPnet Lifer jben's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-26-2009
    Location
    Scranton, PA
    Posts
    4,312
    Thanks
    1,729
    Thanked 1,497 Times in 1,400 Posts

    Re: Rat/Mouse/ASF Tub DIY

    nice little playground you have there for the mice...LOL. nice DIY

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to jben For This Useful Post:

    musicalKeyes (04-13-2010)

  5. #3
    Registered User martinarquero's Avatar
    Join Date
    02-17-2009
    Location
    AZ
    Posts
    119
    Thanks
    32
    Thanked 25 Times in 25 Posts
    Images: 9

    Re: Rat/Mouse/ASF Tub DIY

    Well done!

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to martinarquero For This Useful Post:

    musicalKeyes (04-26-2010)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1