Escapee!

[bonnie_bunny]

As many of you know, my rabbit Gizmo is an 11 pound Checkered Giant. For the first four months I’ve had him, a 36 inch X-pen attached to a cage with a sheet over the cage opening to even out the heights worked. The other day though I was getting his pellets and he got impatient. Next thing I knew I had a large rabbit next to me! He appeared to clear the pen without even touching it which is over three feet in the air. I’ll try to post a photo in case my description isn’t clear enough, but does anyone have any ideas? I thought the sheet would be enough to discourage jumping but I guess not. He’s not in any danger if he does get out, I just prefer to supervise him as he’s very nosy.

Update: Here’s the best photo I have right now. You can see in the back how the pen is attached to a larger cage and the sheet, when pinned up, creates a little wall to even out the heights and create a slight overhang.

[BeanMode]

My gosh he’s a gorgeous boy.
Do you think he went over the sheet/cage side? If so you could pull the blanket a little further over the cage and make the overhang bigger. If he went out over the xpen wall itself though I’d find something suitable to put over it, like a thin bed sheet binder clipped to the xpen.

I think Gizmo’s answer to this might just be get his pellets faster though lol

[BeanMode]

My gosh he’s a gorgeous boy.
Do you think he went over the sheet/cage side? If so you could pull the blanket a little further over the cage and make the overhang bigger. If he went out over the xpen wall itself though I’d find something suitable to put over it, like a thin bed sheet binder clipped to the xpen.

I think Gizmo’s answer to this might just be get his pellets faster though lol

[bonnie_bunny]

He definitely went over the sheet side and he soared! My concern with simply pulling the sheet farther is he’ll think it’s stable, jump on it, and fall. It was suggested to me by a friend with a guinea pig escapee that I get the NIC panels and close the end of the pen off, making the cage unnecessary. If I buy a pack, I should have enough panels left over to build the side up a bit higher.

[Doodler]

Honestly it’s hard to see how it’s set up from the photo. You might get more suggestions if you are able to add a photo of a full view of the set up, although I totally understand wanting to show off your little cutie. I would definitely have pens all the way around or as you said use NIC panels to build it up. When I got my bunny I was told most people use a cage and then attach a 30″ pen to it. I was concerned that the cage was lower than the pen. My buck tried to jump over a 30″ pen and my doe can easily jump on top of the cage almost to the back of it. Her cage was fully surrounded by walls and she ended up behind her cage. I had to use another pen to prevent it from happening again. I am just glad she did it while I was watching because the little girl could have been stuck for a while.

You might want to use taller pens. After my buck showed he can jump above 30″ I ended up buying a couple of 42″ pens. You could even go for 48″. I have Holland Lops and the biggest one is only 4.5 lbs so I am not surprised your guy was able to clear that. You could definitely get rid of the cage all together but I decided to keep mine because I personally like having the litter boxes and hay contained in it. I would just make sure it’s not in a location where he can jump up on the cage and then jump over because the height of the pen won’t matter if he figures this trick out.

[bonnie_bunny]

Lol I do love showing him off but it was literally the only photo I had with the pen setup even partially visible. I was able to take these tonight right before bed.

[DanaNM]

I would def get either a taller x-pen (or make it taller with cube grids), and/or you can use NIC cube grids to make a roof for the pen by cable-tying the grids together.

. . . 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.  

[Doodler]

I would also definitely make it higher. Since you have the litter and hay outside of the cage I personally would get rid of the cage and get two taller pens unless he loves the cage. That was the type of set up I was concerned about using for mine because I feared my bun would jump on or over the cage even though mine had rounded tops. My doe proved it was a valid concern. If you wanted to keep the cage I would put it against the wall in the middle of the pen, if you can, so it’s not something he can jump on and then over even if you make the pen taller. You can also put on a roof like DanaNM mentioned. I know someone recently posted a pen with a lattice roof. It’ll be easier to clean if you can avoid a roof. You would have to be careful where you put that box if you put the cage in that area because that also can be used to jump out as well.

[bonnie_bunny]

I honestly have not tried putting the litter box in his cage. He needs it changed every 1-2 days so it’s inconvenient and difficult. I’ve been talking about getting rid of the cage for a while because moving back and forth to college with it is proving annoying, so I think that’s what I’ll do. I think I’m going to end up with a combo of your suggestions where I remove the cage and replace it with NIC panels that also build up the top of the pen, and move the sheet to the other side to create some shade and discourage him from jumping. Bonnie was literally half his size and not a huge jumper so 36 inches was plenty. I will probably look into something bigger when I have my own more permanent place.

[Doodler]

Sounds like a great plan! The only reason why I said I’d use a second pen instead of the NIC grids is because I find the pens to be easier to work with and it might end up being more expensive to buy enough grids to build up the whole area. This will depend on how big you are going to make it. I hope he likes it!

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