Adding a Door to my Hamster Bin Cage

As in an earlier post I mentioned that Tim was my VERY shy hamster. Due to his timidness I was struggling to get him out of his cage for taming and exercise etc. Honestly it was taking me up to an hour to try and coax him out of his nest/tube so that I could scoop him up out of the cage. A waste of time for me and a bit stressful for him.

To overcome this I decided that a cage door would be so much more efficient to get him out of the bin cage rather than taking the lid of and trying to scoop him up.

To do this I used:

• An old wire cage (that I was never going to use again)
• Some wire cutters
• A drill
• A pen
• Sandpaper
• Some wire

Part of the old wire cage:

Using wire cutters I cut the door off the old wire cage leaving enough wire either side of the door to attach it to the bin cage:

I then placed the door onto the bin cage where I wanted the door to be and using a pen marked where to cut the opening for the door and where I needed to drill holes to attach the door with wire.

Drilling and cutting ensued. Sandpaper was used to get rid of any sharp plastic edges.

I made many holes to attach lots of wire as Tim has already managed to escape his cage (partly my fault) and I didn't want it to happen again... No more damage to my carpet thank you...

I used bits of wire from the wire cage and some craft wire that I had handy to attach the door. I made sure all the ends of the wire were on the outside of the cage so that Tim wouldn't hurt himself on them.

The finished door:

The wire is all bent in on itself now so that there are no sharp edges.

After a few days of having the cage door Tim started coming to the door to see if I will take him out of the cage. Instead of an hour coaxing him out it now takes about 5 minutes. Success!

Click Here to see how I made Tim's bin cage.

Find other hamster posts Here.

Crochet Minion Mug Cosy

I've always found mug cosies awesome but I've never actually made one myself so I gave it a go with the simplest pattern I could think of.

The cosy was easier to make than expected, I should have started making these ages ago! I only used single crochet stitches in rows for the actually cosy and a loop made of slip stitches that goes over the handle and is secured with a button. I used a bit of crochet embroidery for the mouth and strap (the first time I've done crochet embroidery, it's so easy!...and probably addictive....). The eye was the hardest part to get right but saying that it's pretty easy when you know how.

I will be making more of these and hopefully post a pattern so watch this space. 

Click Here for the pattern!