Before you begin designing your maze, you will need to think about what you are hoping to learn from it. Different styles of mazes will challenge your mouse in different ways and teach you different things about its behavior.You may want to see how fast your mouse can complete the maze and whether or not its performance improves over time. In this case, you would want to build a maze with only one end-point.
You may want to gain insight into your mouse's habits or preferences. In this case, you would want to build a maze with two or more end-points so that your mouse can choose which one it prefers.;
, Once you've decided what you want to learn about your mouse from the maze, you can choose the style of maze that best meets your needs. There are five basic designs to choose from for your maze, and you can customize them from there.If you want to build a maze with one end-point, you have two basic designs to choose from. You can build a classic maze, which is rectangular and has a series of paths, some of which turn into dead-ends. With this design, it is possible for the mouse to have more than two choices at each intersection. Alternatively, you could build a large maze that consists of several interconnected T shapes. With this design, the mouse must choose to turn either right or left at every point where one T connects to another. One choice always leads to the next T and the other always leads to a dead-end, which makes it very simple to calculate how many mistakes the mouse makes along the way.
If you want to build a maze with multiple end-points, you can build a T-shaped maze, a Y-shaped maze, or a maze with several radial arms (which will end up looking like the spokes on a wheel).
 Some mazes are simple and consist of just a few twists and turns, while others are much more complicated. Consider whether you want to start out small and give your mouse an easy maze, or if you want to challenge it with a much more complicated design.If you are building a maze with a single end-point, you can make it more challenging by adding lots of different branches and dead-ends along the way. Your maze can have has many twists and turns as you like, as long as there is a way to get out.
If you are building a maze with multiple end-points, you can make it more challenging by making the corners sharper. T-shaped mazes are generally tougher for mice to navigate than Y-shaped mazes. You could also consider adding more than two arms to your maze.
 Once you've settled on a basic design for your maze, start drawing so you know exactly how you want to lay it out. Your initial drawing does not need to be to scale; it just needs to be an accurate representation of where the different paths will lead.


Once you're done with your drawing, double-check that the maze really does have a solution. You wouldn't want to put your mouse in an impossible-to-solve maze.
 Start with a flat piece of cardboard that is the same size as the maze you want to build. This will be the floor of your maze.If you are starting with a cardboard box, you may be able to leave the sides in place so that you won't have to attach exterior walls later on.
 Now that you know exactly how big your maze will be, it's time to draw out your design on the piece of cardboard that will be the floor of the maze. Drawing your design out will make it much easier to assemble the maze.Consider using a pencil so you can erase your lines if you make a mistake.
Make sure the paths are all wide enough for your mouse to fit through.
 Use a separate piece of cardboard to construct the walls of your maze. You will need to measure the length of each wall, use your scissors or knife to cut a piece of cardboard to the appropriate length, and secure it in place with hot glue. Do this for the interior walls (which you marked with pencil) and the exterior walls, along the entire perimeter of your maze.It may be easier to start from the center and work your way out so that you don't need to lean over the exterior walls in order to attach the interior ones.
Make sure all of your walls, both interior and exterior, are the same height.
You can use other types of glue as well, but hot glue is a good choice because it dries very quickly. Be sure to hold the wall in place until the glue begins to harden.
Run a bead of glue along the corners where two walls meet as well. This will provide extra stability.
 In order to motivate your mouse to find the end of the maze and reward it for solving the puzzle, place some kind of a reward at the end. Rewards are usually food, like unsweetened cereal or peanut butter.If you're using a maze with multiple end-points, you may want to add two different rewards. For example, you could place cereal at one end and peanut butter at the other end to find out which one your mouse prefers.
In some cases, you may not want to add a reward. If, for example, you want to test whether your mouse has an innate preference for turning right or left, you would probably want to let it run the maze a few times with no reward.
 It's a good idea to add some kind of transparent lid to your maze to prevent the mouse from climbing over the walls. You can use a piece of hardware cloth or a thin sheet of plexiglass with some holes for ventilation.Whatever you use, make sure it is transparent enough that you can still see the mouse through it, and that it is ventilated so your mouse has plenty of air.
The top doesn't need to be secured in any way. Just rest it on top of the maze so it's easy to remove it when it's time to put your mouse inside. If you find that your mouse pushes up on the top to try to escape, you can put some pressure on it with your hand or place something else on top of it (like a book, for example).
If you add a top, be sure the walls are high enough so that your mouse can easily navigate the paths without being squished. If you choose not to put a top on your maze, you should build your walls extra high to discourage the mouse from trying to climb out.
 If you want your maze to be extra sturdy, you can use wood for your floor and walls instead of cardboard. You will build your maze the same way, but you will need to use a saw to cut your wood to the appropriate size and construction adhesive to hold the walls in place.A wooden maze will last much longer than a cardboard maze because mice can easily chew through cardboard.
If you are using a material that's heavier than cardboard, it's very important to make sure that the walls are sturdy so that they won't fall down and injure your mouse. You may want to use some screws or nails in addition to your adhesive.
 Another fun and easy way to build a maze is to use interlocking building blocks. Simply stack them on top of each other to create whatever pattern you want.This works especially well if you have a base plate for your building blocks that is the same size as the maze you want to build. This will help ensure that your walls don't fall over.
If you choose this method, you probably won't want to draw your design on the base. That's fine because there's no glue involved, so you can easily change the location of your blocks if you make a mistake.
 If you want to be able to change the layout of your maze frequently without using blocks, consider attaching Velcro strips to the bottoms of your interior walls and to the floor instead of gluing the walls in place. If you choose this modification, you will still use cardboard as your main building material.


You will probably have to add more Velcro to the floor if you want to change the location of the walls.
Consider adding Velcro to the sides of your walls as well so that they stick to each other. This will provide extra stability in case your mouse leans against the wall.
 No matter what you built your maze out of, you can decorate it to make it a little more personal. Use your imagination to make your maze just the way you want it.


If you used cardboard, you could glue colorful construction paper to the outsides of the maze and decorate it with stickers and markers.If you used wood, you could paint the maze or draw directly on the wood with markers.
If you used blocks, you probably won't want to apply glue or paint to them, but you could still use construction paper to decorate the outsides by simply taping it in place.
Think about the purpose of your maze.
Choose the type of maze you want to build.
Decide how challenging you want your maze to be.
Draw out your maze design.
Construct the platform.
Draw your maze design on the floor.
Cut out and attach the walls.
Place a reward at the end of the maze.
Add a lid.
Consider using wood.
Try using blocks.
Use Velcro instead of glue.
Decorate your maze.
{"src": "wikihow-all_test", "title": "How to Build a Mouse Maze"}