Cage Questions

[mochi]

Hello everyone!

I have found a bunny I am adopting and hoping to bring home from the rescue next Friday! I need to get the cage in order before he arrives home but I have some questions.

I was going to do what I did prior with my bunny who passed — a C&C grid cage. I wanted to do a fleece liner I’m ordering from a shop that does them for rabbit and guinea pig cages. Do I need to have a plastic liner within the grids? Or can I just have the grids and then the fleece liner? I’m not sure if the plastic (I used coroplast for my old bun’s cage) is truly necessary. If it isn’t then I’d prefer not to have it. Would the grids be sturdy enough on their own? The fleece liner In ordering is thick so it’ll protect his paws but I wasn’t sure if the grids would be enough structure wise. The bun is litter-trained so I won’t have to worry about pee leaking through, and the fleece will be water proof just in case.

Thanks for the help!

[DanaNM]

I’d say it depends on if the bun is a fabric chewer, and what type of flooring you have. If the bun chews fabric, then you’ll have to remove it, so you should have a back-up plan so he’s not walking on the grids.

Also if you want to protect your floor, having something more solid is a good idea. If your floor is tile or vinyl, you could just have the walls and the roof, and skip having a floor at all.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Wick & Fable]

I would recommend a bottom on the grids. The squares are quite large, so if there’s no solid base on top, you risk your rabbit getting caught and harming itself. A fleece liner is not structured enough to establish that flooring.

You could use a solid cardboard and put the liner on top.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[mochi]

Ah good to know @DanaNM ! My room is carpeted but I’m not against having no bottom and just the top and sides of possible! If it’s not possible due to carpet, I’ll have to look into something to line the cage with. I was hoping to avoid the coroplast again but perhaps I can use cardboard?

[mochi]

@Wick that is a good point! I will have to find some cardboard to line the bottom. Do you think it needs to have borders on the edges as well? I did for my bun who passed as he peed on the fleece liner so it was a barrier so he didn’t spray out. This bun is potty trained though so I’m not sure if the borders on the sides are needed or just a firm base.

[mochi]

@Wick sorry to bother i just had a question about cage! I was going to do the plastic grid playpen with those child interlocking play mats on the base and then a fleece small dog bed. Do you think this would suffice? I have heard mixed emotions on the child play mats for buns.

[Wick & Fable]

For the side borders that run at the bottom of the walls, I would recommend them if you feel your rabbit may be tempted to pee outside the litter box. If you don’t have it and your rabbit does, depending on where the cage is and where the rabbit pees, you might have to move the cage in order to clean the grids, the wall, the floor etc.. At the same time, know that having that side border is tempting for chewing.

For children’s play mats, as long as the rabbit isn’t chewing on them, that should be fine. Again, you just want a sturdy base on top of the grid floors so it feels like they’re walking on solid ground, rather than grids.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[mochi]

Ah yes the side borders I was hoping to avoid as my bun in the past would try to chew every type! I will see what options I can find though!

Do you think the cardboard is a better option than the play mats? I’m just not sure where I’d find a big enough piece unless I bought big cardboard storage boxes and cut them up which is a possibility! I just don’t know if it’s be comfortable for them to walk on hence why I thought the play mats may be more suitable, though chewing might be an issue. The rescue said he wasn’t a bit chewer except his toys, but it’ll be a whole new adjustment in a new environment so I am bracing to expect some chewing on the cage. Every bunny is different though!

With the grids, do you think the plastic ones are safe to use? I don’t plan on having the top enclosed so I don’t think air quality would be affected but I want to have all my bases covered. If the regular grids are the safer option, I’ll definitely choose them! Also do you have recommendations for the litter boxes? I’m not sure which one is best suited for bunnies. My bunny in the past knew to go to the bathroom on the fleece so I could clean that, but this bun uses a litter box.

 

[Wick & Fable]

The plastic grids (if you mean like the one I pictured earlier) are fine for walls, but I would not use them as floors. The grids should be used as floors and they, in my opinion, make for more sturdy structures when used as walls as well.

This is one of the cages I have right now. There is a collapsed X-pen on the side that’s linked to it at night for bigger free-roam space (so it’s never a closed cage). As you can see, I do use those solid pieces along the bottom walls, but the rest are all grids.

The flooring is fleece wrapped on memory foam (one of my rabbits is on guard for developing sore hocks, so it needs to be cushiony), on top of chloroplast, on top of the grid.

Whatever you use, just test to see if it “gives” when you put some weight on it. Also, note that if you’re putting something soft (like fleece) on something hard/slippy (like cardboard or cloroplast), then it’s going to slip around and not give the rabbit traction to easily move around. Prior to the sore-hocks incident, I had carpet squares zip-tied to the cloroplast, zip-tied to the grids, so nothing could shift around.

For litter boxes, cat litter boxes are fine as they are larger. In the image above, I use a boot-box and it is a good size for my 7lb rabbit.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[mochi]

@Wick Ah okay! I could get the coroplast again from home depot as I did with my bun who passed. It doesn’t need to have the borders though, right? I don’t see any on your cage so I’m assuming just having it on the base will be strong enough. I can just go with the regular grids too if it’s safer! The plastic ones I was looking at are a bit different than the ones in your pic. It’s called songmics plastic playpen — it’s meant for small animals and dogs. I was thinking of using them plus the coroplast base, but I’ll have to see if I can get a small thing of the grids as well for the bottom of those won’t be strong enough/tall enough. I was just trying to be proactive against the chewing as I am a bit noise sensitive and we will be roomies lol. My bun prior was quiet usually at night but I know each bun is different!

As for the memory foam with fleece — Where did you buy that, or did you make it? Yeah I was reading about the sore hocks and slippery flooring so I might just be best doing a bit like you do with the coroplast on the ground and the memory foam on top, or another material if there’s one that’s not as slippery. There’s so much conflicting information out, it can be so intimidating!

[Wick & Fable]

Yes, borders (the strip running up the walls) don’t really add that much structural support — coroplast is sturdy enough as it is.

For the flooring I have, it was a roll of 0.5in, high density memory foam. “Fleece” describes a variety of different fabrics, so the best I can say is I went to a fabric store, went to their “fleece” section, and found one that felt a bit thicker (so not the cheap, thin fleece blankets), but didn’t have longer strands/fibers (like what you find in those velvet-y fleece blankets). The fleece I bought very naturally “clings”, so it doesn’t shift at all on the memory foam. I literally just cut the fleece and folded it over the memory foam and the foam and fleece cling together firmly.

I will mention I omitted a layer in-between the foam and cloroplast, which is a utility-rug carpet, but that ended up being too rough and leading to my rabbit’s hock situation, but I had already zip-tied it to the cloroplast/grid floor, so I just put the memory foam on top of it. In short — you just want to make sure that the foam doesn’t slip on the smooth cloroplast. Again, back to this theme that you want the floor to be all one piece and not shifting around. If the foam is well snug within the grid walls, I suspect it wouldn’t actually move around, but just something to consider. Just brainstorming, but you could also wrap the fleece around the cloroplast and use small binderclips to secure the wrapped fleece to the bottom of the grid floor, and that will likely keep it tight too.

… but also, you don’t need memory foam if your rabbit’s hocks are fine. A low-ply, soft carpet will do the trick on top of cloroplast too. Most carpet squares come with a rubber backing so they won’t slip on cloroplast. I usually do a few zip ties through the carpet square/cloroplast to attach it all to the grid floor for extra security though.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[mochi]

@Wick ah okay good to know! He is a holland lop who is a year old so he’s on the smaller size I believe. So perhaps I will do the regular grids and then go to Home Depot for the coroplast and the carpet. I was looking on their site but I don’t know much about the carpeting. Do you have one you’d recommend?

Thank you again so much for all your help! I am going to order the grids tonight and then perhaps tomorrow after work get the coroplast and the carpet.

[mochi]

@Wick sorry to keep @‘ing you! i ordered the grids for my bun’s cage and I think I’m set on an action plan.

I work at a hardware store (not a big one so no carpet or plastics) but we do get cardboard in with our big items that I can cut to size. So I was thinking I can cut the cardboard to be the base and perhaps get the dry mate whelping liner mat! it’s for dogs but has good reviews for bun. then i think i’ll add a small grass mat and a fleece bed and see what he prefers!!

the cage isn’t meant to be his full enclosure it’s more just for now while he gets settled so he has his space and then maybe we can work up to free range!! thank you again for all your help, i just want to make sure i’m doing everything right!!

[Wick & Fable]

That sounds fine. Again, since  cardboard can be “slippery” to an extent (depending on the cardboard you use), just keep in mind providing your rabbit with floor with good traction to the rabbit can really move around easily. That might mean zip-tying or finding other ways to attach things so they don’t move.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[mochi]

Yes! I can cut some holes into and attach zip ties to make sure it’s sturdy! I got this piece cut at work today but I’m not too sure if it’s too thin. It’s just the thinness of normal cardboard, nothing thick so I’m not sure. I may have to get another piece.

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