Is my cage big enough for 2 rabbits?

[BunnyLoverMaddie]

Hiya guys! 

So, I have a 9 month old un-spayed female Netherland Dwarf. At the moment she is very hormonal and aggressive but I’m looking in to having her spayed pretty soon. I’ve heard that rabbits should really be kept in twos since they are very sociable animals and it helps to calm them down and keep them happier. I’ve always kept my rabbits as just single bunnies apart from one time when I kept 2 un-fixed males together. They lived together until one day one of them died because they had a vicious fight. This was only because I bought them from a pet store (at the time I didnt know about bonding) thinking they were already ‘best-friends’. I’ve done a bunch of research about bonding now and I know a lot about it that I didnt before. 

Anyway, I’d like to know 2 things. After Koko (my female dwarf) is spayed, should I get her a buddy? If not, why? And if so, what breed,age and gender would be best? I’ve heard that keeping females together is a bad idea and its also a bad idea to get them from a pet shop so I’ve looked in to adopting one from the RSPCA. If I did get her a buddy, should it be a Netherland Dwarf?

My other question is, is my cage big enough? I’m not allowed to buy a bunch of NIC grids and make a huge bunny condo (although I’d love to!) so I just bunny-proofed my room and I leave her cage open so she can go in and out as she pleases. 

The cage is about 113cm x 53cm and about 50cm in height (all approximate). Is this big enough for 2 rabbits? Bear in mind that they will have free range of my whole room for at the least 5 hours each day. The cage is basically only for night or when I have to go somewhere and can’t supervise them for a couple of hours.

Is this okay? Should I get her a buddy? Thankies

[manic_muncher]

Those dimensions you’ve given equal 5,989 square centimeters (about 6.4 sq ft) of area. The minimum size requirements suggested by HRS for one rabbit is 7,432 square centimeters (8 sq feet). So that cage really is not big enough for 2 rabbits. (I am getting a broken link image for your pics, so can’t actually see them) But would you have room to add an exercise pen to the cage? That would give your rabbit (and another one if you ended up with another!) plenty of room. I think this is also a good idea for people with busy lives, work, school, family obligations… where sometimes you just don’t have enough time to give them a good run every day.

As for getting her a buddy… I surely can’t advise on that! I went from deciding to keep my Bumpy as a single bun to accidentally getting 2 more just recently. However size and sex don’t matter as a general rule… it’s all about the personality of the buns. This is why it is a good idea to take your spayed bun on bunny dates. If you are able to actually meet other rabbits that are also already spayed/neutered, you will have a good idea of what that rabbit’s true personality is like. I don’t live near any rescues so couldn’t go that route.

Right now, none of mine are bonded, we’re waiting for the two to be old enough to spay and neuter, but things have been a little stressful for Bumpy. He is bonded with my 2 little dogs, but he has changed the way he’s acting. He doesn’t want pets from us, not even with treats being handed out! I’m hoping once everyone is bonded that he’ll get some of his normal personality back. I miss how friendly he was starting to become with us!

[Tessie]

Okay, lots of questions here! The cage first.
No, it’s not big enough, the minimum size is 2ft by 4ft, and your cage is just under that. And that’s for one bunny, so you really need to look at getting a bigger cage, especially if you want to get another. Also, if you plan to rescue another bunny, I doubt any rescue would approve the cage you already have.
Have you thought about an ex-pen? They’re cheap and give lots of space and they’re flexible.

To get her a friend, she’ll need to be spayed first, like you say, and then I’d suggest you take her to rescues to look into getting her a friend! You can try her with a few bunnies to see which bunnies she likes best, which makes bonding much easier.

People tend to feel male-female bonds work best, but I think most of us here don’t think there’s any difference. Age doesn’t matter unless you’re concerned about one dying way before the other, and breed shouldn’t matter either.

Good luck!

[BunnyLoverMaddie]

Okay, thank you guys! I kind of feel bad now, I spent quite a bit of money on this cage and it doesnt even meet the requirements for my poor bun-bun! I dont even have enough space in my room for an ex-pen as you suggested so I might move rooms and try it out. Thanks!

[manic_muncher]

It really is hard to know what you need when you have breeders and pet stores pushing items that really aren’t good or adequate for our babies! As more time passes, more people are becoming educated about house rabbit care and you find more and more NIC grids/xpen setups. The internet is so wonderful for this situation! I look forward to the day when you go to a pet store for supplies and the employee/owner will point a prospective bunny owner to a dog crate and xpen set up rather than those expensive cages that are too small. Where they tell you that hay should be 80% of their diet, and don’t try to push pellets with seeds and extra bits in them.

I mean honestly, getting a “big” small animal cage (that isn’t really big enough) and the little items to go inside (bowls, corner litter box that is too small, water bottles that drip) would be about the same in cost as selling an xpen, cat- size litterbox, ceramic bowls, some toys, a mat/indoor-outdoor carpet squares, etc. You’d have one happy customer who would likely come back again and again for supplies and toys. I just don’t understand why any pet shop wouldn’t think that way.

[BunnyLoverMaddie]

Sorry for the broken links guys! But I’m thinking of moving rooms so I have more space for her… If I bought her this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/VivaPet-Outdoor-Octagon-Protection-55-inch/dp/B0064NOR5G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405885514&sr=8-1&keywords=x-pen+rabbits and added it on to her cage would that be alright?

[manic_muncher]

I’d say the price is right for sure. You will likely need to use the screen when you want to be sure she stays inside it, to be sure she won’t hop over. One thing that might be slightly annoying is how doorway is, but 2 ft isn’t hard to step over at all, so that really wouldn’t be an issue. I’m sure she’d be happy having the extra room to romp around when she isn’t out for floor time! Good deal!

[BunnyLoverMaddie]

Thanks manic_muncher! Yeah, it looked like a good deal so I think I might go for it. Since shes a Netherland Dwarf she doesnt actually jump to high so I dont think she could make it over the gate but just to be sure I always lock my door and keep my room bunny proof. Thanks for the advice guys, I’m so happy you all helped otherwise I could have kept her living in this cage for too long!

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