I just made a post kinda about this in the Q&A. It answers all the cage questions except the wire bottom. It’s my understanding that wire bottoms can cause problems like foot sores and such. Poor little buns! (If you get the 20% off or $5 off coupons for Bed, Bath and Beyond, they have “stacking wire cubes” or something like that, called NIC grids mostly here in the forums. That should help a lot with the cost issue, and you’ll get what YOU want, not what some pet store sells.)

For a plastic bottom, I would take out the carefresh and just cover with a fleece blanket. I bought two yards of fleece at a fabric store, cut each into 3 pieces which fit very well in Otto’s 4’x2′ cage, and now I have 6 blankets to rotate out. Much cheaper and easier than using disposable bedding.

To make his living area bigger, I would recommend buying an xpen (or using NIC grids to make your own xpen) and attaching it to the front of the cage like my setup:

That way your bun can have a nice big area to stay in while you’re away, and you can still let him out when you’re home. And it uses your current cage, so it won’t go to waste.

Here is what I did with NIC’s that I bought from target. For all this plus some extra for a pen it cost me $80.

You can build them any way you want, it’s great because you can really make it fit your space. Also, you can give it height!

Oh and I agree about the fleece. My bunny LOVES it…and I often have to play hide and seek with him in a blanket. He loves when I throw it over his head and then play peek. It’s like having a baby all over again!

I got mine from Hobby Lobby. I got left over pcs. and it cost me $3.00 for a ton of it.

I haven’t tried the hammock thing. I see that they make a few for bunnies but wasn’t sure my bun would like the movement when he jumps in. He does however like those cuddle cups. (from petco)

Have you tried lining the bottom with fleece or another blanket? I think that will help him get traction on the slippery floor.

It will take him awhile to get used to the idea of upper floors but once he is comfortable in his new cage he should be navigating them like a pro.  I also use fleece for my bunnies.  They sometimes nibble on it and it ends up looking moth eaten- but that is preferable to other things like towels that can create “strings” that could be ingested and cause problems.

I bought fleece by the yard from the fabric store and also some cheap feece blankets at Christmas time ($3 each).