Chapter XLVII: How to Make a Cage for White Mice

BY W. G. CAMPBELL.

To make a cage with sleeping-boxes in the upper part, and a ladder for the mice to ascend and descend by, is by no means a difficult operation, nor does it cost an exorbitant price; and it is very pleasant to watch the inhabitants climbing up and down, and running in and out of the holes in their upstairs rooms, and also to see the small animals swinging about in their boat-swings; nor, after one or two days, do they seem at all to wish to get out, or to gnaw their bars, as many mice do if confined in a narrow space.

I will first give a list of the materials and their cost, and after that proceed to describe how the cage is to be made:--

_s._ _d._
Thick wire 0 5
Thin do. 0 1
Zinc 0 8
Perforated ditto 0 1
Hinges 0 2-1/2
Screws for ditto 0 2
Staples 0 1
Brads 0 3
Tacks 0 2
Emery-paper 0 1
Handle 0 3
Screws for ditto 0 0-1/2
Iron bar 0 6
Screws for ditto 0 0-1/2
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3 0-1/2
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Without handle and bar 2 3-1/2

These articles can be readily obtained at any ironmonger’s or smith’s, except the emery-paper, which an oilman would supply. The thick wire should be about as thick as a thin knitting-needle, the other wire, as it is for binding purposes, should be as thin as possible; so also should the zinc; the hinges ought to be about an inch long; the iron bar will be described as hereafter.

The following are the sizes and descriptions of pieces of wood for a cage 18 in. long by 13 in. high and 10 in. deep:--

FRAMEWORK.

A. 11 inches by 18 inches. Bottom.
B. 10 „ „ 12-1/2 „ } Ends.
B´. 10 „ „ 12-1/2 „ }
C. 5 „ „ 18 „ Front half of cover.
D. 3-1/2 „ „ 18 „ Upper half of back.

SLEEPING-BOXES.

E. 6-1/2 inches by 17 inches. Bottom.
F. 3 „ „ 17 „ Front.
G. 4-3/8 „ „ 3 „ } Divisions.
G´. 4-3/8 „ „ 3 „ }

DOORS.

H. 9 inches by 18 inches. Lower part of back.
K. 4-7/8 „ „ 5-3/8 „ }
K´. 4-7/8 „ „ 5-3/8 „ } Cover of sleeping boxes.
K´´. 4-7/8 „ „ 5-3/8 „ }

The wood should be 1/2 in. thick. The cage that I made, and which was a very neat one, was formed from a box and some loose pieces of wood obtained from a grocer for 4d.

First of all the pieces B B should be nailed at the ends of A, leaving 1 in. of A projecting at back, and then from the top of each of them a strip 5 in. by 1/2 in. should be cut, so that the piece C can now be nailed to join the ends and form front half of cover; across upper half of back we will next nail D: the framework is thus finished.

Now let us make the sleeping-boxes. First we must with a centrebit bore three holes an inch in diameter in piece F for entrances to nests; then let us nail G and G´ on one side of F to divide sleeping-box into three equal compartments; to these we should next nail E, projecting 1-5/8 in. beyond F to form run in front of nests. Two holes should then be bored with a bradawl near the front edge of this run, opposite middle hole to F, to receive ends of ladder, which will be described hereafter. Next we must tack a strip of zinc along this run with eight or nine tacks, punching small holes just above those bored with bradawl; then nail the sleeping-boxes thus made to B B´ and D as shown in drawing, leaving a slit of 1/8 in. between F and back edge of C through which a piece of zinc 4 in. by 17 in. is to be slipped, to keep the mice in their boxes while cleaning out the cage. The ends, bottom, and large door should then be lined with zinc inside, leaving a space of 1/2 in. all round front of cage, where the wires are to come; and just under the holes bored in the run outside sleeping-box punch two others the same distance apart in the zinc which lines the bottom--these are to hold the lower spikes of the ladder. The zinc should be tacked down as much as possible as well in the middle as at the edges, having holes punched in it for the tacks to go through.

Now bore holes 1/4 in. apart along C, and same in but not through A, about 1/4 in. from front edge of each, then cut off from your wire enough pieces 12-3/4 in. long to go through these holes, which will be about sixty-eight in number. Let the wood of A be quite 1/2 in. thick or a little more, so that the wires can have as much hold in it as possible. Straighten your wires, emery-paper them, and push them through the top holes, and bring them down to the corresponding ones in the bottom; then fix two longitudinal wires from B to B´ across the front of the others, and bind these upright wires to them with the pliant wire.

Hinge the doors to D, as shown in drawing, and splay front edge of each of small doors, K, K´ and K´´, and top edge of F, so that these doors may shut closely. Each small door should also have a hole made with the centrebit in the middle, and a piece of perforated zinc should be tacked over them inside to ventilate the nests. We now come to the ladder. Get two pieces of wood 8-3/4 in. long by 1/4 in. broad and 1/4 thick, and make holes every 1/2 in. along them, and in each end of them bore a hole, and drive a piece of thick wire 5/8 in. long in all these end holes, leaving 3/8 in. projecting from top ends, and 1/4 in. from bottom; then break off enough pieces 1 in. long to go into remaining holes of one of your sticks, and drive them in, but not so as to come through the other side; then drive the other ends into the remaining stick, and your ladder is finished. The boat-swings can be easily made in the same manner after looking at drawing, and fastened at the top of the wire that they are hung by with two staples to floor of sleeping-box. The fastenings can be made from staples, those marked _a_ for large door, and _b_ for small doors; the hooks of _a_ should be put a little lower than middle of large door and the catches in ends of cage.

Thin strips of zinc should be tacked in any places where the mice could gnaw the wood.

Now, if you are going to have a handle, get as small an iron one as will comfortably lift your cage, and screw it on to C, as near sleeping-boxes as possible; then, as you will find the sleeping-box side will be the heavier, you might get a bar of old iron from an ironmonger or smith 18 in. long, between 1/4 in. and 3/8 in. thick, and broad enough to make your cage weigh equally; have three holes drilled in it, and screw it underneath the cage in front.

A few remarks more about the cage and its inhabitants, and I shall have finished.

The cage must have sawdust strewed on the floor and hay in the nests; the former must be changed once a day, and the latter every other day, or at least twice a week. If you cannot get sawdust anywhere else, an oilman will let you have enough to last you a month for twopence. In such a cage as I have described a ‘boar’ and six ‘sows’ may be kept. When a sow is about to have young it should be put in a small cage by itself, and as soon as the young are old enough to eat and run about they may be turned with their mother into this big cage. Perhaps they will get chased about a little at first, but they will not be hurt, and will be all right by the next morning. As soon as they are a month or six weeks old they should be removed elsewhere. Only one _full-grown_ boar should be kept in a cage.

When mice are first put in such a cage as I have described, the ladder appears steep for them, but they soon get used to it, and reach their nests in two or three bounds from the ground.