Building a new NIC cage, Advice?

[Blackscarlett]

Hi all, I’m new to the forum and I’m looking for advice from others…

My hubby and I currently have a three level NIC cage for two of our bunnies that we built about a year ago, it’s 3 tall X 3 wide X 2 deep. Recently we’ve decided we want to re do it. Currently there is the three levels, the floor level has their main litter box and hay feeder attached to one of two doors that swing open for easy access to fill. The second level doesn’t usually have much on it as they tend to knock everything down to the bottom level. And the top level is where they have their attached water bowl and where we give them their veggies and pellets.

Rather then using wood for the floor like we have now, we want to get the coroplast bases I’ve come across from a few other users on here. But I am wondering if we do the coroplast base can we get away with not having the bottom 6 grids? Will the 4 walls be sturdy enough to not have a floor attached? 

The reason I ask this, is we were hoping to have the coroplast base on the bottom with the 4 walls around it, and to make for easy cleaning we can just lift the attached grids up and over the base much like most store bought cages only triple the size and half the cost! 

Also, I’ve seen many people build their cages without the circular connecting pieces that come with the packs when you buy them at places like Wal-Mart, do you not need those for added support? Currently we are using those connecting pieces as well and a billion zip ties, but could we get away without using those round pieces and still have enough support without having the bottom 6 grids attached? 

Any advice or tips anyone has would be greatly appreciated! 

[bunnygirl]

Hmm…you do not need the round connectors, zip ties should be just fine. Apollo has an NIC condo too, same size, same levels. However, we took some ‘outdoor use’ wood (meaning it has a waterproof coating on it) and covered it with peel and stick Lino tiles. We then connected the panel frame to the wood, with these weird clippy things dad had in his toolbox. I will post a picture below…they’re a bit strange. I think they are supposed to be used to run suspended wire across a wall, and stop it from sagging. But anyway, we then took some thin strips of coroplast and zip tied it around the base, to keep all the mess in. Because the floor is Lino, it’s easy wipe, and it’s easily accessible because of the door. (1 by 3, though you could do 2 by 3 if it’s easier!) cleanup is also easy because he has fleece down on the floor, so I gather all the fleece up, take it outside and shake it, and then sweep the rest of the cage out. Takes all of 10 minutes!

[bunnygirl]

BB is so hard to use on an iPad. Sorry BB, that needs to come in the next site update, it’s so difficult  Anyway, it’s like taking a peice of tape, putting at around the wire about halfway, and then drilling the leftover ends down to the base if that makes sense? But it’s metal…

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