Is this cage okay for rabbits?

[DutchRabbitsFtw]

Are these measurements okay for a small breed of rabbit? Like a dutch or lionhead.

 

46″L, 24″W, and 24″H. i know its a tad short but is it okay? i plan on letting it out whenever i am home and it will be in there whenever im sleeping or at school. i was going to make a nic cage but my mom doesnt want something “thats too big”. we visited this rabbit at petco (from a rescue) and the rabbit was in one of those prevue green rabbit cages with a stand, and it was kind of small.. im guessing it was like 36″ long because thats what size most rabbit cages are; and the employee said that the cage he was in was totally fine and it does NOT need to be big. she even said that if its too big then that isnt good. my mom “believed” her, and i told her how i planned on making a 4x2x2 nic cage and she just ignored me and said that theres no need for it to be big.. so my mom wants me to buy a cage from the petshop. this was the biggest cage i could find that wasnt located in the uk (i found 2 GREAT cages but were available ONLY in the uk)

 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753350

 

i know that pet store cages are “not big enough” buuut could you look at the dimensions? they are the same dimensions i listed above. i know its not great but is it atleast okay? thanks

[Stickerbunny]

For any adult rabbit… no not really, if it is going to spend any time in it at all. An X-pen isn’t that “big” but it’s big enough and open so the rabbits can stand up, would she be OK with one of those? And does she realize a NIC cage is only $20-$40 and a pet store cage is significantly more expensive? I mean, would think she’d want the cheaper option. And it’s technically a pet store cage.

If your mother won’t listen to you on cage for the rabbits health, what if she doesn’t listen when it needs vet care? Proper food? Greens? Hay? Pet store employees will tell people a lot of bad things – if your mother doesn’t trust YOU to know how to care for your pet, you may want to consider whether it is in the rabbits best interest to get one. You have to listen to your parents, but the bun will depend on you to convince them to care for it properly.

[DutchRabbitsFtw]

no she understands the needs but she doesnt want a huge cage sitting in my room. and yes! i have told her OVER AND OVER again why pay MORE for less?
and the employee at petco really irritated me-.-… my mom was “okay” about the whole nic cage thing then the employee said that what i was aiming for was too big. ._. …

the only “problem” she has is the cage. but i would assume that it’d cost more than 40$. the grids alone would cost around 40$. the wooden dowels around… 5$. the plywood for the second step.. 15$. the zipties 7$. and maybe like a plastic mat on the bottom because a piece of wood that is 57×29″ is pretty expensive (i went to home depot for everything, i even got the outline of the cage set up with zip ties but my mom take it apart a few days ago -.-) and lets add 20$ for other things like stick on tiles, and things for the bottom of the cage (not sure what it’d be yet). total would be around… 87$. hm… maybe i will stick with my idea…

well now that i’ve got everything in mind all i have to do is convince my parents (AGAIN) thanks!

[Stickerbunny]

A x-pen can be arranged to suite space, it doesn’t have to be square and you can add levels to it if you get a tall one. Can get one from petsmart. See if she likes the idea of that, over the NIC.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I second the xpen, they also are like, 40 bucks on amazon, and often on sale at petsmart/ petco.

Do some research, go on rabbit.org and here and print out sheets that state how much room a rabbit needs. Make sure she knows they can be litter trained, (side-note, make sure you find a local exotic vet and find out how much alteration is), and that even though they need a lot of floor space, a small litter box will use less and cost less than a pet store cage will. It’ll also keep bunny less “stinky”. If she puts her foot down, I’d save the money myself and buy the xpen or nic grids. They she has no reason to say no.

[DutchRabbitsFtw]

great ideas thanks! my mom said “she’d think about it” (letting me make a nic cage AGAIN). which basically means yes you can make one, but wait a little bit. i can buy everything for less than 100$. but for the bottom, would it be okay if i bought a plastic mat or something and used that as my base? i could drill holes in it and attach it to the cage (with zip ties) like i would if i bought a piece of plywood. and i could buy some bed spreads and cover the plastic mat with a bed spread so its not slippery for the rabbit. would that be okay TEMPORARILY?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I’ve heard of buying a sheet of linoleum for cheap and using that as the base, bunnies can’t really run in a NIC cage so there’s not much worrying about slipping. I wouldn’t mess with drilling or a bedsheet.

[Stickerbunny]

You can use a cheap piece of linoleum stapled to wood, or a sheet of coroplast (call sign shops in the area and explain what you want it for, they will usually sell to you for cheap), etc.. just make sure the edges of what you use are OUTSIDE the cage so they can’t chew.

[Roberta]

You can pick up the old fashioned Sea grass matting pretty cheaply too and that covers the bottom and also gives the a neat chew toy. It is safe for them and I have seen it on several bunny supply sites. It has to be untreated as treating it causes it to break down and renders it useless for flooring.
I’ve noticed its far more available in the US and UK and the Eastern Ports of Australia. Unfortunately Western Australia sometimes the silliest simplest things are often the hardest to get hold of. If I want willow of grass toys I have to order them online from overseas.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By Roberta on 12/25/2011 09:28 PM
You can pick up the old fashioned Sea grass matting pretty cheaply too and that covers the bottom and also gives the a neat chew toy. It is safe for them and I have seen it on several bunny supply sites. It has to be untreated as treating it causes it to break down and renders it useless for flooring.
I’ve noticed its far more available in the US and UK and the Eastern Ports of Australia. Unfortunately Western Australia sometimes the silliest simplest things are often the hardest to get hold of. If I want willow of grass toys I have to order them online from overseas.

 

If you use seagrass, you’ll need to put something non-porous undernieth, like linolium

[Eepster]

The bottom of Porky’s NIC condo is one of those plastic mats for office chairs (so the wheels don’t sink into carpet.) The condo just sits on top of it, zip tie and no drilled holes. It works fine. The floors of his upper stories are NIC grids covered in plastic carpet protectors. The ramps, which are also NIC grids, are covered first in the plastic carpet protector, then card board, and finally really cheap welcome mats from Ikea. (A link to the thread with pictures of Porky’s condo being made: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/114611/Default.aspx )

Plastic floors are fine, no need to get into wood if you don’t want to.

You could remind your mom, that pet stores make money by selling those cages.

[Author]

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