can, if desired, be made very neat by the following method: Cut some tin into strips of the proper dimensions, then fold the strips on their centre, lengthwise. Punch a series of holes by placing the folded strips of tin on a block of wood and driving a nail through. Slip the folded tin over the exposed edges of the wire-netting, and sew it in place by threading a fine wire through the holes. Bind the edges of the door in the same manner, then put a loop of wire on the door for a hasp, and a smaller one on the cage near the edge of the doorway for a staple, and the door may be fastened with a peg of wood or a nail; or, better still, wire a hook on the door in place of a hasp, and arrange it so as to hook into the loop on the cage.
It is often handy to have doors in the roof of a cage, as in the roofs of the gnawers’ cages, over the rabbit runway, in the illustration.
The Doors for the Runway
to the rabbit-house are on top, and open like a door to a bin, as shown in the illustration and in Fig. 26. While we are at the rodents’, or gnawers’, quarters, it is well to remember certain peculiarities about the habits of these animals. Rats, mice, squirrels, and their kind, will invariably seek a crack, angle or corner to commence work for a hole; knowing this, it is well to protect all such places by pieces of metal or tin, and none of the little fellows will make his escape, unless the door is left open.
Rabbits will seldom gnaw out, but if they have an opportunity they will tunnel out.
To prevent diggers from escaping, allow your wire-netting to extend a foot and a half underground, below the footboard.
A Reptile House
need not be more than three feet high. It is not shown in the illustration, but may be built as described and shown in Figs. 23, 24, and 25, after which a roof of wire-cloth must be added.
Into this house you put your turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes, and as most, if not all, of these require water in considerable quantity, it is well to have a tank for their use. But as every boy does not know how to build the tank, he may learn by following the directions in the following chapter, describing a back-yard fish-pond.
Be careful to set the tank level and pack it around with good hard earth. It is well to sod the ground on three sides, and cover the earth on the remaining side with clean sand and gravel.