Maybe make the whole top a seperate piece so you can have easy access to the whole cage. Sorry about the people you have to deal with. I got banned from a mouse forum once for arguing that you can keep most male American fancy mice together, which is true. I am on the way to being banned on a fish forum for telling somebody their tanks are horribly overstocked, which I'm told was rude. PT is probably the most level-headed forum I've found.