So, like I said, Lola has impeccable litter/cage habits so this might not work for everyone….

Supplies:

NIC cubes (ordered off of Amazon – the one’s from Target/Kmart have the too big hole size)
Zip-ties
Binder Clips
4 pine rods
1 small sheet of pine
1 piece of home carpeting (can be cut in bulk at Lowe’s for cheap)
Base of XXL Pet Store Cage

To make the cage:

The dimensions of the cage are 2×3 – so 3 NIC cubes up and 2 across. And held together with basic cable ties – A LOT of cable ties. There is an opening in the front middle (2 high) and one cube open on the top. When she is caged in we just hold it shut with the black binder clips.

To make the shelves:

Cut 2 shelves to width size (Lowe’s will do this for free if you give them the dimensions). Next, cut carpet to size so that it can wrap around the wood. Wrap the carpet around the wood and hold in place with screws (nails are way hard but a staple gun would also work, just be careful you have no pointy ends sticky out!).

Thread 2 pine bars across through the holes length wise. Hold them in place with cable ties by wrapping them around the corners. Repeat this step for the top ledge.

Place carpet wrapped shelves on top of the poles. They serve as a brace for the shelves on the side. Do NOT nail/screw/staple down the shelves. This is so the shelves can easily be removed for vacuuming and cleaning!

To finish:

Place the completed project over the base of an XXL Pet Store Cage.

Voila! You are done! This literally only took us one Sunday to buy all the supplies, brainstorm, and complete! It was a lot of fun and she loves it so much!

Notes:

You might have to be careful with the carpeting because not all buns will leave it alone. Everyone in awhile Lola will dig at it but it’s really rare and I think it’s when she drops/dribbles some of her greens and smells them still on the carpet.

If you have left over wood you can make smaller sheaves and ledges (like what Lola is laying on in the picture). These are actually her favorite parts of her cage – I think it’s because they are just big enough for her to lay on so she feels like they are “her spot”.

If you feel like the XXL Pet Store Cage base is not big enough you can build a small shelf on the back of it so there is not any space between the NIC cubes and the cage. You can also cut the NIC cubes with a wire cutter to fit the size of your Pet Store Cage – just make sure you have a metal file to file down the sharp edges!

I hope this makes sense and helps! If someone would like pictures to go along with the steps – let me know! I’m at work right now (obviously using my time wisely) or else I would have taken some and included them with the instructions.

It took 36 panels. I think that was 2 boxes?

Side note:  We ended up having to buy them off of Amazon because the ones they sell in the stores are the wrong size – the spaces are too wide and buns can get their little adorable heads caught in them.   So make sure that you buy the ones with the ‘smaller/right’ size grids and not the larger.