hey everyone,

i rescued 2 egyptian spiny mice several years ago while at uni and at first had both in a huge vivarium that was donated to me. they started to fight and so i put one into a plastic storage box which he was fine and dandy in with all his toys etc (my dad helped drill holes in for air!!). eventually i bought a proper plastic house once i had a job and have just swapped them round every now and then so they each get some time living in the spacious viv.

long story short i need to move my gecko from his current home into the viv (i cannot afford a new viv of that size!!) and so need to find a new home for one of the mice - Nile (the mice are river and nile haha) however they live to about 5 years so they only have about a year left with me if that so i'm not sure its worth forking out for a proper house if i can just put him into a large plastic storage box again. obviously it would be clear plastic and full of toys just would cost me a lot less at a time i dont really have money to burn... but it occured to me today that the plastic might not be safe? the other box was fine and i still use it to put the boys in when cleaning out their homes, and they've never chewed it or anything... but i wanted other peoples opinions.

i cant buy a wire cage as my kitten will get her claws into it so im looking at plastic cages starting at £25... am i terrible for considering a box instead of an official animal house?! HELP!

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DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE HOMELESS ANIMALS DIE!
Mom of 2 egyptian spiny mice River & Nile, a leopard gecko named Kid and silver tabby kitten Lola (Rainbow 'Trouble' Bean). RIP Silver the hamster and Snickers the Guinea Pig. Vegan, Animal Rights activist, only rescue animals.

Lots of people use storage boxes as modified homes. But the issue here is whether thats a good option for these pets. I'm afraid I have no idea about spiny mice so can't help with that. Its a shame you can't find something cheap on ebay for them.

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Mum to the meece:- Milly, and Bramble. And the rats:- Blossom, Vimes, Mort, Teppic, Leo, Hex, Oats, Binky, Kevin, Honey, Blu, Pixie, Patch, Vyrt, Havelock, Squibbles and Newt. And Charlie the dog x

http://scritches.webs.com

i know the cheapest cages on ebay/gumtree are wire ones :-s spiny mice are just carnivorous mice larger than normal mice faster and smarter so like really small rats! i think im just gonna buy one for £25 as im just concerned about the plastic used for storage boxes... will just have to stick it on a credit card and hope he lives long enough to make good use of it! thanks for responding.

__________________
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE HOMELESS ANIMALS DIE!
Mom of 2 egyptian spiny mice River & Nile, a leopard gecko named Kid and silver tabby kitten Lola (Rainbow 'Trouble' Bean). RIP Silver the hamster and Snickers the Guinea Pig. Vegan, Animal Rights activist, only rescue animals.

There are always vivariums and tanks on ebay and gumtree. Perhaps you could keep an eye out on your local gumtree or place an ad on your freecycle.

Or you could always look for a zoo zone (search 'indoor guinea pig cage') on ebay, they come up all the time.
They are a plastic cage so would be like a bin cage but less hassle than having to make one!
The only thing is you have to mesh the lid but that is very easy to do using a bit of mesh and cable ties.

thanks. i've been wanting to do it for a while and now just want to get it done. my kitten keeps releasing the crickets from my geckos house by pulling card from the small gaps so i dont really want to wait any longer! i will do a free ad as you suggested. i have a wire cage which i used for my hamster who has now died but its just not safe with a kitten around but maybe i can find someone to swap! anyway thanks for your response. really i just want to know if a plastic storage box could be toxic then i can decide from there what to do.

__________________
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE HOMELESS ANIMALS DIE!
Mom of 2 egyptian spiny mice River & Nile, a leopard gecko named Kid and silver tabby kitten Lola (Rainbow 'Trouble' Bean). RIP Silver the hamster and Snickers the Guinea Pig. Vegan, Animal Rights activist, only rescue animals.

I dont think a plastic storage box would be toxic at all.
So many people use them for their small animals and I dont know anyone that's ever had a problem with using one.

thanks a lot. i searched for zoo zones and found 2 but pick up only and very very far from where i live!! i'll keep searching or else get a box and make a metal/mesh lid for air.

__________________
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE HOMELESS ANIMALS DIE!
Mom of 2 egyptian spiny mice River & Nile, a leopard gecko named Kid and silver tabby kitten Lola (Rainbow 'Trouble' Bean). RIP Silver the hamster and Snickers the Guinea Pig. Vegan, Animal Rights activist, only rescue animals.

I use large plastic storage boxes for a lot of my mice and meshed them with 5mm mesh to stop my cat Theo being tempted. It's never caused any problems for mine, and my vet uses them as well. Given the way she researches mice and their health issues I don't think she would use them if it was thought that it caused any problems.

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

where do you get mesh from? as looking on ebay people just sells rolls of the stuff and i would be better off just buying a cage than a box and a roll of mesh at that price...

thanks :-)

__________________
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE HOMELESS ANIMALS DIE!
Mom of 2 egyptian spiny mice River & Nile, a leopard gecko named Kid and silver tabby kitten Lola (Rainbow 'Trouble' Bean). RIP Silver the hamster and Snickers the Guinea Pig. Vegan, Animal Rights activist, only rescue animals.

I get the mesh from homebase but you can get it online from here: Galvanised Mesh Panels 0.6m x 0.9m
It cost me £25 for a storage box that was 80x50x45 cm in size and then £12 for the mesh ( i needed 2 sheets.) You can get second hand cages cheap (try searching for the rat cages on ebay as they are usually bigger) but making it yourself means that you have total control of the size. Also try checking freecycle - you might get a tank or cage that some one wants rid of

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.