The rule of thumb I was given was their age in months +1 (not to exceed 8 hours).  So at 3 months, they should be okay in the crate for 4 hours.

I remember reading you can expect them to hold it for an hour for every month. So a 2 month old should be able to go about 2 hours.

I've heard both of those figures, so for 4 hours, he will need to be at least 3 months old. I think at that age we can move him to crating for 4 hours and see how it goes. Right now he really isn't gaining a lot of bladder control because he has the kitchen to move around. I am going to make the kitchen space that he is in smaller, so to act more of a den like place. he is still pretty young so I know that bladder control will come more and more as he gets older.

That will be the mission this weekend, to keep him in the crate for 4-5 hours and see how he does. He is sleeping through the night wuite well in his crate and goes in freely. i'm sure this will hasten the housetraining and get his bladder control up to snuff.  Thanks for the advise.

Good luck with that!

There's nothing quite so unpleasant as unwittingly walking through a puddle in your socks...