Ideas for making your own grated litter box?

[MyJuneAngel]

My girls have taken to throwing all of their litter out of the box and my daughter gets frustrated trying to clean their cage because of the mess they make. I want to make chores easier for her so I have been thinking about a grated litter box. I saw one on Amazon but it is $18 and I just don't see spending that much when I can probably do it better for less on my own. Before I sit down to brainstorm though, I thought I'd ask here what ideas you guys have. I did a search but didn't really find much.

I want the poo pellets to be able to fall through, not sit on top so the stitching mesh that I saw somewhere mentioned wouldn't work for me... and my girls would just eat it. I am thinking either wire with a mesh large enough for the poo to go through but small enough that it won't hurt their feet but I still worry about their feet. Is there some sort of plastic mesh with a larger weave available? Hmm...

I thought it would be nice if my daughter could just slide the box out from under the grate (as in the grate is more stationery in the cage), empty it, clean it and return it. We take our NIC cage outside about once a month and hose it down so the grate would get hosed down then and wiped down in between times with wet paper towels.

 

[MyJuneAngel]

Nevermind... just saw the Stormhaven Litter System post and that helps. Wonder why the search didn't bring that up for me....

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I use shredded newspaper for my extra messy ones--I just pick up what I can and let the shop vac do the rest.

 

[ldoerr]

1/2 inch mesh would work. I had a few hutches made with that wire. I think that it is sometimes called hardware cloth, but am not for sure. It comes in a coated version in addition to uncoated. What most rabbitry cage floors are made of is 1/2 inch x 1 inch. It is thick wire since the rabbits spend MOST of their life on it.

 

[MyJuneAngel]

Thanks! I am having trouble finding the light diffuser grates so I may have to go with something like this.

 

[Imbrium]

should be easy to find at a hardware store - just ask for light diffusers (rather than asking for eggcrate). I got mine at home depot... kinda sucks you have to buy a huge sheet, but I've done multiple litterboxes and still have plenty left over in case I need to replace a grid eventually.

I've found wire cutters to be the most effective way to cut the stuff.

I tried hardware cloth first 'cause it was cheaper, but ended up coughing up for eggcrate later (which is slightly easier to work with). with the hardware cloth, you just turn the edges down to make "legs" which raises it above the litter and keeps cut (ie sharp) edges away from bunnies at the same time.

 

[MyJuneAngel]

I picked up some egg crate today. We had to go out of town to get it but the large piece should be big enough for litter boxes for both of the cages. Our boy doesn't dig in his litter but we might try it for him anyway.

 

[Imbrium]

I really do like it - mine don't dig in their boxes but I made grids anyway so they don't have to sit in soiled litter or a pile of poops.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Got "hardware cloth" or fine mesh wire at Ace here. Got the really heavy gauge stuff cause you can shape it and it will hold up even if you have a large bunny.