Flooring for dog crate

[Enh98]

Good evening! I’m working on converting an xl dog crate into a bunny cage. It has a removable plastic tray. I’m assuming that may not provide enough traction? Should I add something on top of the tray – vinyl tiles, etc? If you could suggest ways to make the cage a great bunny home I would appreciate it. I am not new to rabbits but I am new to converting a dog crate into a bunny abode. Thank you!

[Aspen_and_me]

I would suggest fleece, you can easily put them over top the tray in the bottom and keep it since having a tray with be easy to clean, fleece are great because the provide a soft and more cushioned surface which will prevent sore hocks from sitting on a hard surface. Not to mention they come in thousands of colours and designs to add some extra cuteness and pop to there cage?

[Enh98]

Great idea! This may be a dumb question but is it as easy as going to the fabric store and getting a piece cut to the right size? I don’t have to sew anything?

[Boston's Mama]

I would take the tray out and cut a sheet of plywood to same size as the tray – cover it with vinyl / lino ( look around for someone selling offcuts from redoing their kitchen or bathroom as it’s cheap or free that way) then insert that into the place where tray went

Then you can place fleece blanket over it for traction , and you have a easy to wipe down base.

The pros to this over having the tray are:
Won’t rust
Easy to wipe clean
It’s more stable footing as trays can dent and wobble when hopped on

[Boston's Mama]

Where I am they wil cut the wood for you at time of purchase ( not sure if you can do that there ?)

And if you get polar fleece you can just have it cut to size and no sewing
Or buy baby blankets – polar fleece ones

[Enh98]

Thank you! Great idea. I’m guessing plywood is rather thin and can easily be inserted into the base of the cage. I am so not good with DIY stuff! ha!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Depends how heavy your buns are.
Mine on a fleece in the dog crate on the plastic tray just slipped all over the place… so I stuck a piece of carpet tile (very short pile so they cant chew) down directly on the tray (not covering the whole of the tray but enough so she could have traction to move… almost like a stepping stone)
I also made a shelf (2 bits of wood across the smaller width passing through the vertical bars and then a bit of flat plywood on top of the 2 crossbars which rest on the horizontal bars) so that they had two layers to jump up and down (tile carpet stuck on shelf too for traction).
Make sure you don’t put the crossbars in the way of the door.

The litter tray went under the shelf.

If they dirty the carpet tile, you can unstick it and change it.

[Enh98]

Thank you for the idea! He is very light. He’s only 3 months old and a holland lop, so small breed.

[Aspen_and_me]

NO sew needed! I buy mine from stores, most of my fleeces are from the dollarama. They sell them at Walmart but can get pricy. I get mine in the baby isle of the dollar store (these ones are pretty small). Or you can buy the rolled polar fleece for like 2.00 so both for good prices

[Author]

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