Remember how excited I was about the idea of using those Target-bought "rack systems"? Well, the honeymoon is over and I thought I should fess up. One tenacious hopper has burst my bubble forever. The way I had things set up was that there were 2 of these 3-drawer units sitting side by side. As mice would have littelrs, I would spare a male and 3 females, and freeze or feed off the rest. Once these 4 were weaned, I'd set them up in thier own tub, as future breeders. It was working great. I had food for snakes and just filled all 6 bins. I first noticed the problem one morning as I went to feed them all. One of the young females had magically managed to leave the bin containing her brother (future mate) and sisters, and had returned to the bin of her mother and father, in the next rack over. Thinking that I had just forgotten doing something stupid, I put her back, fed them all and left for the day. Two days later, while checking on the food/water situation, I found her back with Mom again, this time accompanied by one of her sisters.
I thought I'd lost my mind, so I counted...yep...6 in one bin, 2 in the other. My mistake apparently was in drilling 3 rows of ventilation holes along the top edges of the bins. the holes, while too small to get a chew-hold on, were large enough, and low enough for this little girl to use as foot holds and climb to the top edge of the container. I still don't know: 1. how she squeezed over the top edge. 2. How she found the bin that contained her mom, 3. How she taught others how to do it.
Within a week the young mice in her bin were traveling with impunity between the 2 bins, often two or three times a day. Small mice in the bin above hers learned the same trick and were visiting their relatives as well. No one was escaping and running away, but that seemed to be by choice, not by inability.
I decided to take some action, but was not willing to scrap the whole idea (I'm stubborn. And no 2 inch mouse is going to outsmart me, by golly.) I bought some 1/4 inch hardware clothand made a "lid" of sorts for the "smart-a#@'s" bin, usine the air holes in the bin as anchoring points. "This'll do great!", I told my wife. "And...I've added this little food hopper toward the front. That should cut down on waste!" I even left the sharp points that weren't being used as anchors pointing down into the cage as a sort of rodent concertina wire.
The little mouse was NOT happy with the new arrangement. For 45 minutes I watched her searching for a kink in my newly installed armor. Satisfied that I had won, I went to bed. (I only seem to strat stuff like this at around 10pm...strange) By the next moring the little #$^%@#%$ was back with her mom! Leaving no visible clue as to how she had done it.
So...here's the bottom line. The mouse hotel is officially closed. Count it as an experiment and a lesson learned. I urge anyone who has considered using this idea to re-consider it, and anyone who is using this idea now to watch carefully for escapes.
