cage/enclosure question

[Beka27]

Meadow has a MarchioroTommy 120 cage (it is 47 ¼ x 23 x 22).  she also has the run of my living room for most of the day.  i’ve been kicking around the idea of making her an enclosure myself about 2-3 times larger… but the problem i’m facing is i don’t have enough room for it in my living room.  right now she is with us and in the living room at all times… even when she’s having quiet time in her cage.  i could make her an area in my dining room… but she’d then be removed from us for part of the day.  what is better… a smaller night-time cage and more family time… or a larger cage and being away from us more.  i wouldn’t worry so much if she had another bun… but right now it’s just her and us.  we’ll be living here for probably another 2-3 years… so it’s not like we’re moving anytime soon.

[Sarita]

I think your current set-up is good since she has so much run time and is around the family and the Marchioro cage is so nice too.

[Beka27]

i do like the cage.  it’s the same one i had for my Stephen Bunny (after i realized that he could not be in an aquarium).  another thought i had… if i can arrange furniture a bit, i may try to remove the two front doors and zip-tie some NIC panels to the front half to extend it 3 panels wide and 2 or 3 panels deep… i could add about 9 square feet of space for when we’re asleep or not home  and she has to be confined.  i’m just trying to figure out what i want to do.  i probably won’t change anything until after her surgery to make sure she can get thru that without being too stressed.

[Sarita]

I think that’s a great idea too!

[Gravehearted]

the Marchioro are nice cages, for sure. Part of the reason I love the NIC condos is since they’re multi-level they take up height and not floor space in my small living room, but give the bunnies lots of play space.

[Beka27]

the only unfortunate thing is it has to be able to be moved easily.  the cage actually blocks our front door (which we never use) but may have to in the case of an emergency.  going up is an interesting idea… we’d have to figure out how exactly to make sure it’s secure.

[PocketFaeries]

Hi, Beka!

I’m not sure whether this would work for your needs or not, but I am wondering if a collapsible pen type of setup would be a help here?   I’m thinking of the types that can be folded into various shapes to fit unique spots, and be folded up and put away if needed (or is that what the NIC is?). 

I always feel like I need to preface my input by acknowledging that I am rather new here, so you are welcome to dismiss my thoughts.   That said, my personal feeling is that your bunny has good access to family, and that does a lot for any animal’s self esteem and sense of belonging.  I don’t know about the specifc layout of your home, but in ours, Finn’s area is the parlor, which is attached/directly adjacent to our living room. Finn *has* an open pen in the parlor and whenever we aren’t able to supervise, we close the doors to the parlor and Finn can roam in there freely. Anytime we are home and just ‘hanging out,’ we open the parlor doors and Finn has his choice of coming into the living room with us, exploring on his/her own, or just chilling in the parlor.  *Most* of the time, Finn likes to hang out somewhere near us, but will often revisit the pen/parlor to snack, bathroom, lounge around.  The way our place is set up, when the parlor doors are open, Finn can see us even if s/he doesn’t choose to sit with us.  I think that is an important part of why s/he seems very content here.

I wonder of you could even simplify things further for you and your sweet bun by maybe simply putting a strong, secure baby gate so that there is free run of the bunny room, but no danger of escape?  Good luck rearranging…and have fun!

[Scarlet_Rose]

My two cents, NIC cages are great because you can adjust them to fit and go vertically (multiple floors) to provide more space with a small footprint.  I have my NIC cage on a frame with castors so I just wheel it out of the way to sweep or re-arrange things.

[Beka27]

bump

[Gravehearted]

ooo, good idea about the caster wheels. we slide ours on the carpet everytime we vacuum behind it and it’s not terribly heavy.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Beka, FYI I am going to work on compiling our discussions of NIC cubes for the FAQ’s section so you don’t have to bump them.  How does that sound?

[BinkyBunny]

So how much time does she actually spend in the cage on average per day. I was just going to mention the whole rolling thing too. I think that could solve the problem.

Scarlet_Rose – Thanks so much for compiling the discussions together to put in the FAQ section. You rock!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Awe thanks Binky Bunny!  I took a short dinner break after compiling it and was just coming here to say it was done! Oo, oo I have a rolling NIC cage.  My brother built a frame on castors for me to roll it around as they can get quite heavy, not to mention it is more stable to move that way too!

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