I'm going to have to dig deeper, then. Cage wire here is available in
Seed'n'Feeds and farm supply places. It was nearly double your $1 a foot. I
haven't found it suitable for the bottom of cages, which I still make of 1/2"
hardware cloth, but for a 3' x 3' cage (18" tall) still requires 9 feet of
cage
wire. At the going prices for cage wire here, you get above $20 in a hurry
adding
the bottom and clips and such.
I've often found, though, that sometimes a special order from not the usual
source does get you a better price.