Questions about cage and flooring over carpet.

[Piper]

Hello! I haven’t been on here in so long… I have a few questions since I may be getting another rabbit soon. A family friend has four babies right now and offered me to have one or two when they are ready. I’m still not sure I want one but I want to be ready just in case! The babies are 3 1/2 – 4 or so weeks old right now, so in another month or so they will be ready which gives me time to think and plan. S/he will be fully my responsibility so I definitely need that time to plan.

 

Sorry this will be super long!

 

Question time!:

1) Do you think a cage 28 inches wide, 72 inches long and 24 inches high (2.3 feet wide x 6 feet long x 2 feet high) be big enough for one or two lionhead x lop mix? I think it will be fine for one and I highly doubt I will get two, but I figured I’d ask. I don’t know if I can add a shelf in but I will try to just so s/he can jump up on something while in the cage. S/he will also be out of the cage a lot everyday and will really only be caged at night as well as when I am gone. During the day, it will be out a minimum of 6-7 hours a day during the week and then during the day on the weekend it will be out basically the entire day unless I need to go somewhere.

2) I’m also wondering about the flooring. I need something easy to wipe clean as the base of the cage. Do you think if I cut a board of Melamine to fit perfectly in to the bottom of the stand, that it will be okay? The stand (for my guinea pig cage) would make a little lip-type edge and that is untreated pine so I think that would be fine if chewed, the melamine wouldn’t be able to be chewed though. Along with that, would it be okay to silicone the edge where the two woods meet to make sure no accidents/water get in between the wood? S/he wouldn’t be able to chew that as I’ll probably cover it up with something. Or should I just try to do coroplast or something? I could try to do coroplast but I think it’d be a little difficult to do with the corners as I would have to figure out how to make the corners since it isn’t technically a rectangle shape, it’s hard to explain.

3) As for what else the cage will be made of… It is only 24 inches high so if I use NIC grids they will over lap.I think this should be okay since I think that would make it a little bit sturdier, right? But has anyone else made their cage? What else would be a thing to use as the “walls”? I need something sturdy since one of my dogs who sleeps in my room is a beagle mix and gets excited to smell the small pets. She has a crate so it’s not much of an issue but I still want something sturdy that way if she comes in my room and gets excited she wont be able to accidentally knock the sides down. I was also thinking of doing NIC grids for the front so when I open it I can sort of fold it to one side so the entire thing opens, but then for the sides doing a strong wire type thing like strong chicken wire or something…Would that work and be a little bit sturdier than if it was all grids? I don’t know what the wire stuff is called sorry lol! Also, would it be okay if I were to make the back melamine as well? The cage would have three sides of ventilation if I had the back and bottom solid. I am thinking of doing that if I decide to get the bun because then I wouldn’t have to worry about the bun chewing on the wires since there is a plug right there and I can’t move the things plugged in.

4) This one isn’t much of a problem but I wanted to see if anyone covers their carpet. Would it be a good idea to cover the carpet with another carpet just to make sure s/he can’t chew/dig on the original carpet? Would a few sheets be good? Obviously neither would cover the entire floor of my room, but I was thinking of ways to possibly prevent most digging. My mom isn’t too serious about it but she would definitely prefer the carper to not get messed up a lot.

 

Thank you in advance for any help and advice! Sorry again that it was super long. I wanted to make sure I could get everything that I was thinking at the moment!

[Sarita]

1. I think for one it is fine. It does meet the minimum floor space requirements for one – I think for 2 it depends on just how large they will be when full grown.

2. I am not familiar with melamine flooring. I suppose it would be fine if you can wipe it down. I think silicone is fine to use – I’ve used this in the past without incident. It’s not exactly an easy place for rabbit’s to chew on based on the placement.

3. I think overlapping is fine.

4. I’ve covered carpet with carpet simply because the top carpet was carpet I could take out and wash I will say however in the end, it didn’t seem like the best idea because no matter what any links seep through to the bottom carpet.

[Piper]

Thank you for the reply! I really appreciate it, this has definitely put my mind at ease and has helped with some of my decisions. I think I will go with the melamine and silicone it, I did that for my guinea pigs and it seems like the best thing. Understandable with the carpet thing. I think I will just learn along the way what the future baby does and tweak when I need to.

[LongEaredLions]

My guinea pigs are on melamine+silicon+pine wood trim too, and I agree it would be great for bunnies too!

[Author]

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