About NIC condos.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Well I was thinking about rebilding my NIC condo for Fern, becuase the one I have now is a little unstable and does not have enough access doors.

I was wondering, what do most of you use to make the floors of your condos? Plywood? NIC flooring with linoleum on top? Plywood with carpeting?  I was just wondering what works best. Also what do you do to make your NIC condo more stable? Mine is “Stable,” but over time the cubes sag a little which makes opening and closing doors hard. What do you reccomend? I want the second one I make to have more of a plan.

Also do you think it would be too unstable if I had a four story condo with a big access door 1 cube wide going all the way down the condo from top to bottem, just one big access door.?

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Oh and also, if you use plywood, does your bunny chew it? Is it bad if your bunny chews it and when your bunny chews it does it get completely destroyed?

[Alicia Conklin]

I think with proper stability elsewhere you’d be able to make it work with the one big access door.  I stabilize the shelves by putting dowels under them.  I zip tie the dowel to the cube above it so that it keeps the shelf secure.  I think in order to have the big access door it’d be important to have both a top and bottom to the condo so that it retains the shape.  Then the door should be fine, I also put a zip tie in the corner of my doors, it makes them a bit harder to open (they don’t swing freely adn you have to press a little to get them to go back and when you let go it then kinda springs back but it makes it more secure.  I close my doors with binder clips so since my doors spring back I just clip it open when I am in there cleaning, playing with buns, picking up buns, etc and for quick things I just hold it open with my shoulder. 

Another thing you can do to make it more stable is to add more zip ties.  When you add more ties, especially the big thick ones it helps pull it all in tightly and that holds it together nicely.  I also found that not making it a square make it really nice and sturdy!  I have a section that juts out so that Drue can get down to the floor level and that little spot makes the whole thing really sturdy. 

I don’t use plywood on my shelves just because I didn’t want the added weight on the shelf and because I don’t have a way to easily cut the plywood.  I actually have cardboard down and then a towel folded on two of the shelves and then the other one has a carpet remnant.  Drue’s main floor is covered by a cloth rug that is washable and also thick.  That way I don’t have to worry about his feet getting stuck in the grids and I can easily take the whole thing out and throw it in the washing machine. 

[Beka27]

i have never built a condo, but many people have, so i’m sure you’ll get great reinforcement ideas…

[ScooterandAnnette]

We’ve got 2×2″ square dowel-like things zip-tied into the corners of the condo to provide stability that way. The same things – cut down – to provide supports for the shelves… I had to pare down 2 sides of them at the ends to make them fit through the squares, and I also notched out the bottom of the dowels so that the NIC grid wire would fit in there and the dowel wouldn’t move. For flooring we’ve got plywood with linoleum peel’n’stick tiles on top (from the dollar store).
– Annette

[fredalina]

i think the access door along the back is very doable.  You would need to support your shelves (dowels work, but so does PVC pipe which is cheaper), and make sure you have a top and a bottom.  If you do need extra support you can use vertical dowels on the outside ziptied so that everything stays stable, but i don’t think you’ll need it.

For my shelves, i’ve used both NIC covered with linoleum and NIC covered by hardboard.  Hardboard is more sturdy and i like it better.  The bunny doesn’t nibble it.

[TARM]

I never would have thought of PVC!!!!

[ScooterandAnnette]

Ah see that’s why I bought 2×2″ wooden “dowels” – I’m not sure what they’re really called, but they were 2″x2″x8′ and were something like $2.50 each. I had a look at the actual dowels and just about had a heart attack when I saw the price!
– Annette

[jerseygirl]

Under the Bunny Info menu, in Cool Habitats there’s a link to a You tube video. From memory, it show’s how to place the dowel for reinforcement.

[Alicia Conklin]

I used craft dowels for mine.  I didn’t really need an extreme amount of support and it was like .50 each. They’re I think 1/2-3/4 inch thick.   The only thing that stinks with those is they’re only long enough to go through 2 cubes, they’re a bit too short to go through three.  But, for what I needed them for they worked out great!  I’ll have to keep PVC in mind if I ever need longer ones!

[Hedi]

I have three large NIC condos for our 4 buns. But they are not enclosed-meaning they are more like large x-pens without roofs. But they do each have shelves for them to lounge. what we did was build the shelf out of NIC cubes and then cover them with cheap finished rugs. We have an “Old Time Pottery” store here that sells rugs extremely cheap. I buy a bunch of square rugs and use them on their shelves and on the floor in their condos. Since these rugs have a stiff bottom to them they are stable to use on the shelves.

If you want pics just let me know

[FergieJen]

My fiancee and I rebuilt our buns’ condos last night (we have 5 foster buns) and the buns haven’t seemed to figure out the 2nd floor yet! 🙂 Any luck in getting them to go “upstairs”? Also, I’d heard that when you reduce their space (they used to have large x-pens) that they don’t have the poop wars as much. This morning there was still the same amount of poop around not in the litter box. Any ideas??
Thanks!

[fredalina]

Put a box that’s half the height of the shelf or so, and they may jump on the box and then to the shelf.  Put treats on top of the box and then on top of the shelf.  If that doesn’t work, perhaps hang some toys to get the buns to start thinking up?

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Thanks everyone, I have some great Ideas in my head to make my condo better and more stable!
FergieJen do you have a towel or grass mat or something to give your bunnies traction so they can jump onto the upper levels? I had to clip pillow cases to my condo floor so that Fern could jump the levels. The box Idea is also good.

[Beka27]

you’re not going to completely take it apart are you? i would just implement some stabilization without starting all over from scratch, unless you are changing the way it’s configured… even then, try to save some of it if you can and reinforce what you have. and pics when you’re done!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

To tell you the truth *when* I do it I will take it completely apart… I actually really enjoyed making the condo so I am kind of looking forward to when I can make another one. I am changing the design a little, and I might make it a story higher.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

It is fun making those things!!! You’ll have to post some pics when you’re all done!!!

[Scarlet_Rose]

I just wanted to give you a caution not to change the cage around too much, too often. Rabbits really like consistency and any change can throw them off and trigger behavioral problems or even fear of the new environment. Rabbits don’t see too well close up and so they learn their environment and just know where things are from their memory. If it changes, especially for older rabbits, it can be hard and of course others don’t mind at all. Be sure though to try and keep the litterbox in the same place, otherwise you may have to re-train them to use it in a new spot.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Oh I am only changing her cage, and she does not have a litter box in her cage now, she preferred the one out of the cage, in her pen, and the one that was in the cage she turned into a diggy box…very messy. And I am only changing it because the first one I made I saw all the flaws in it and knew what to do to change it.

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