Cage time and free time

[Lisa27]

Ok, so I am the first to admit that we brought Spencer home totally unprepared and having no knowledge of bunny care.  He was brought to one of our 4H fairs looking for a home.  We fell in love and took him home.  We have 2 guinea pigs so we thought we would be okay with some basic knowledge.  Little did I know, bunnies are very different from piggies. However, we are good.  I’ve learned alot over the last 6 weeks.  I have done a lot of reading and learning more day by day. Spencer seems very happy, very playful, and would love to have us rub his head 24/7.

So … we didn’t have a cage for Spencer.  At first we borrowed a cage, but I didn’t like it. It was so used and ugly (yea, petty me).  Spencer is an indoor bunny so I wanted his cage to at least look nice in the room.  So I bought a cage from a local feed/grain store with a pull-out bottom tray ($85).  It’s 18″x18″x30″.  It’s sufficient for nighttime sleeping, but come the morning, Spencer wants out.  He looks so pathetic when I tell him not right now.  He likes his free time.  I don’t blame him, but I also don’t trust him to be out and about in my daughter’s room all day by himself.  He gets free range time from 3-9 pm and then all day on the weekends or when we are home.

So without having to endure more cost (my husband calls him the “free” bunny), what do you suggest?  Should I make a playpen around his cage with closet shelving panels so he can at least stretch out more while we’re away?

I really wish I had waited and done more reading before buying this cage.  There isn’t a lot of space so I couldn’t do a big set up like some of you have, but I could have built a cage system that was a little taller with a second floor.  I just think if I spend more big time money on this bunny, my husband will divorce me!    It’s one thing to spend moeny on feed and such, but to go out and spend more money on a cage or materials to build a new cage, it’s really out of the question right now.

Suggestions?

[Sarita]

What about an x-pen? Is there room in that area for that and ditching the cage altogether?

[Monkeybun]

If you have the panels, he’d probably adore it to be let out in a pen. Monkey has a pen for night time around her cage, and is free roam during the day and evenings now, she LOVES it. Does Spencer have something to sit on in the cage so he isn’t sitting on a wire cage bottom? That can hurt his feet if he doesn’t have anywhere to sit thats solid. Even a folded towel would be good, and cozy. But do the pen for sure if possible. Extra stretching room is never a bad thing

[Lisa27]

Not really. He’s in Justine’s bedroom. While there is plenty of floor room, there just isn’t enough room to set up more than what’s there, unless I go up and not out. I just thought if I expanded his “area” during the day by a little, he could at least venture out of his cage and stretch out or play a little more. If I had my way, I’d empty our guest bedroom and make it his room, but that’s a little unrealistic of me!

[Lisa27]

Oh definitely. In his cage is his little box as well as a nice straw mat and a rolled up towel. His feet don’t touch the wire cage bottom at all.

[Lisa27]

Oops, I meant litter box.

[Carrot Lane Bunny]

he he having his own room is so realistic!

[Lisa27]

I think so too, but I can just see my husband’s face when I move all the furniture out and put the bunny in there. Yea … that will go over big! haha!

[jerseygirl]

From what you’ve mentioned about Spencer – he does like attention You could give him more room and he’d still what out so he could be with his people. When no-one is home he probably just dozes away….
Still, it is nice to give them that extra space and building up is very practical. Or adding a pen. Someone on here mentioned buying 100 NIC grids from a thrift shop for $5. Maybe keep you eye open for a bargain. How does his cage currently open? On the top? Side?

[Monkeybun]

Is there a way to bunny proof your daughter’s room so her can run around?

[Lisa27]

The cage has a side opening so when he is out of his cage, he is free to go back in to drink and use his litter box.

How could I build up his cage?

Are NIC grids those grids that snap together? I have some of those leftover that I could use to build a pen outside his cage. I use those grids around Justine’s bed so he can’t go under the bed.

[Monkeybun]

I think I saw the pics of your bun playing with her, if so, then yes, those are the NIC grids. They make for wonderful cage materials

[Lisa27]

Justine’s room is bunny proofed. I suppose I could just let him roam around in there while we’re away. I’m just not 100% convinced I can trust him just yet to be outside his cage for 7 hours while we’re not home.

[Monkeybun]

If you can’t trust him for 7 hours when you aren’t home, try a trial run. Let him loose in there with the door shut when you ARE home, and just check on him to see if he’s being a good bunny.

[Lisa27]

Good point. For the most part, he’s good. I know, I should just let him stay out and see what happens. We actually don’t have to close the door because the hallway is wood and he’s petrified of it! So he never leaves the carpet in the room! We do put up a gate in the hallway just in case he decides today’s the day he’ll overcome his fears!

[Sarita]

Down at the bottom of this link are instructions for building a rabbit condo.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/rabbits.htm

 

[Scooter]

 I have a really small space, so to ensure that Bunners had enough room to get around while I was away, he’s free range when I’m home, I made a screen for the laundry room door and removed the actual solid door.  This way it was a easily cleanable, easily bunny proofed place where I could trust him and leave him for any time I’m out of the house. 

I keep his litter box there during the day, so that all I need to do is remove the screen and put it aside.   It’s not a perfect situation, but it helped me secure him without adding an additional item to my already crowded space. 

 

 

[Balefulregards]

I think you have a good solution in leaving the cage door open and having him hop in and out – As long as the other parts of the room are Bunny proofed with the NIC cubes, he should be cool and happy for the space.

I bought a bunch of 8 dollar rungs at Walmart for the open space – easily washable – as we have hard wood floors too.

[Pebble and Dante]

Lisa, I was faced with a simular situatin for Pebbles, then my family decided that we would get ride of the dining room table and create at 6×8 ft xpen/cage-litter box area. Since the dining room is at the center of my home Pebbles can see us in the living room, kitchen, and she can see into the bedrooms. Also, I am able to open the door to the porch and she can go “outside” whenever she wants. Although the porch is only available to her when we are home to just keep an eye on things. The other thing our family is thinking of doing is putting a swing gate at the kitchen entrance so that she would then have more space accessable when we are home, it would be the entire dinning room and living room. I hope to one day let her have free range of the common areas – sans bedrooms. But we are starting small and hopefully the good litter habits will continue and she will earn our trust, and us hers to allow more and more freedoms.

[Beka27]

Is there somewhere you can relocate him where he’ll have more space, maybe the family or living room? It usually works out better to have the bunny in a central “family” area so they get more attention. The smallest recommended size for a cage is about 24×48 inches, anything less is just too cramped. It is unfortunate that you already spent all that money on the cage… Building up is a good option too, but still, you’d want at least 24×48 inches (approximately 2 grids by 3 grids) for your “base”…

[Karla]

Posted By Lisa27 on 10/15/2009 08:19 AM
Good point. For the most part, he’s good. I know, I should just let him stay out and see what happens. We actually don’t have to close the door because the hallway is wood and he’s petrified of it! So he never leaves the carpet in the room! We do put up a gate in the hallway just in case he decides today’s the day he’ll overcome his fears!

If he is well-behaved and the room is rabbit-proofed, I don’t see why he shouldn’t be able to run loose when you are not at home.
 

Mine have a small cage with their litterbox, food, water et.c. and then the rest of the apartment to roam about. They are never caged at any time. We only did that the first week, and it has never caused problems. Of course, we don’t have shoes lying around, mobile cords et.c., but these items would be chewed as well if we were supervising them, so it doesn’t really make any difference if we are there or not.

They basically just sleep during the day. In the weekends, it is obvious that they sleep between 11 and 16 pm, and when I come home from work I always find them sleeping just in front of the front door. So they are not looking for trouble while I’m away…I think!

[Pebble and Dante]

Pebbles was doing really well with the run of the living room and dining room, but last night I found a pee behind the ottoman, and while she was sitting on the sofa she decided that my asian silk pillow would also be a good thing to pee on.
So it was back to the 6×8 xpen restriction, but she does have access to the 8×10 patio also. I’m not too sure how to proceed, should I still allow her to have free run of the living room – while I’m there to supervise? She gets lots of excercise in her xpen and patio so I’m not too worried about that, so keeping her in there is fine. Personally I would love to be able to trust her in using the litter pan (which she does a great job when she’s confined to her xpen and patio area) and having more space to spend with the family. Instead of us picking her up and spending time, then putting her back in her pen. All thoughts are welcomed.

[Karla]

Karl did that as well once or twice. What I did, was close the door to the living room and he wasn’t let into it for 5-6 weeks. Never had any more problems and it is about 4-5 months ago. But it was right after he had been fixed so it might have had something to do with it.

[Pebble and Dante]

Pebbles was spayed about 2 mo’s ago, and I was wondering if that had something to do with it. Seems I’m on the right path, I think we’ll try again after the holidays when the house will be settling down again. Thank you for your help.

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

When we first adopted Chubs, we would cage him at night, which he of course hated. We only did that for about 2 days because we realized what a good and trustworthy boy he is! I still bunny proofed, as far as cords go, JUST IN CASE. Also, I know he loves remote buttons or anything madeof that soft rubber (like the little pads on the bottom of my laptop…) But other then that, he’s such a good boy! He’s out 100% of the time and technically right now doesn’t have a cage. We use the pet store (way too small and silly) cage that we bought, but only the bottom, the tray part. His litter box and water are there. He only goes in there to eat, drink and use the potty. He has his favorite sleeping spots around the house.

Once he and Comet are bonded, we want to build them a condo, not because I think they are naughty and need it, but because it might be fun for them to have a comfy space of their own. For now though, they both have their rooms and their hidey boxes!

[Kiley Rose]

I recently blocked off under my bed and dressers and then I found one of those small animal exercise pens at a garage sale. I’ve been setting that up when I go to work so Marlee has like a little more space to run around while still getting back into her cage, but I am sure she can’t get into anything she shouldn’t be in. It works really well for me, I just fold it up when I get home.

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