Flooring ideas for combined rabbit/bird room

[vanessa]

So… my boyfriend is moving in with his 4 cockatiels. My 19 birds are currently in cages built into the bedroom closet, in the rabbit room. The cockatiels are used to having a room to themselves. So… the cat is going to be evicted from that rom, and her cat window will be moved to another bedroom. The birds are going to be let loose int eh room. I would love to hear any ideas/advice on my flooring plan.

I currently have carpet. Morgana and Avalon have dug up the corners, so I blocked their acess to the carpeted corners. They live in half the bedroom. In their half, it is half carpet, half fleece. The fleece is on top of puppy pee pads, which are on top of 10-mil plastic sheet. They shred the fleece, shred the 10mil plastic. They have plenty of varied chew options, and a dig box with sand. They are destructove little bunnies. On the otherside, are Guin and Lancelot. Super sweet, well behaved, not destructive. Also half carpet, half fleece. They all have 2 and 3 level condos with fleece and doggie beds. 

I don’t want birds pooping on fleece. So… I have a large piece of linoleum flooring. I plan on laying it over the carpet. Not gluing or anything. That should provide some “give”. I’ll frame the edges with 2×4’s so Avalon and Morgana can’t dig up the linoleum. 1, 2, and 3 floor on the condo – will still have fleece. I’ll make a canvas roof so the birds can’t poop on the 3rd level fleece. The bird perches will be about 6 inches from the wall, along al walls, with shelves under the entire perch lengths – to help catch poop. 

For the linoleum – I have non-toxic non-skid clearcoat. It’s an annual application. I’ll paint that onthe linoleum – but cover it with sheets. I’ll have ths sheets taught so Avalon and Morgana are less likely to chew them. The sheets are so the bunnies aren’t directly on the non-skid/linoleum. The non-skid is to keep the sheets from sliding on the linoleum. The sheets when taught, can be swept (bunnies are petrified of vacuum), and taken up, shaken off outside, and washed.  

I’ve kept bunnies in outdoor bird aviaries before, so I’m used to keeping their food separate, and keeping the water clean. In the bird/rabbit room – I’ll have a large filter system. 4 fine filters, 1 course filter, a bag of bio balls, a bag of porcelain tubes,  biological filter media, carbon filter, and a uv sterilizer. I’ll circulate the water, use nitrate/nitrite/ammonia tests, and find the best interval for changing out the entire water system. It will include a 30 gallon reservoir tank, 100 gallon tank filter (375 gallons per hour), and waterfall for drinking from. Bird food will be off the ground so bunnies can’t reach it. Plants will be off the ground so bunnies don’t devour them before the birds get a chance… (I grow grass and a variety of herbs/salad greens for the birds/bunnies).

Any suggestions/ideas for the flooring? I don’t want to put the bunnies at rist of sore hocks, and it needs to be easy to clean. I’m happy with my ideas so far – wondering if anyone see’s somethign I’ve missed/could change/improve on.

[drwil]

I put wood grained linoleum sheet under our rabbit cages (they are chicken coops actually and do not have floors). You have to put the edges outside of the cage/coop or they will get nibbled away.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTER-White-Oak-Plank-13-2-ft-Wide-Vinyl-Sheet-C4910-198K550P158/205549814

[vanessa]

I like that linoleum sheet you used. I actually ended up with limoleum on the floor, but I didnt’ remove the carpet, just put linoleum on top, and framed the room with 2×4’s to keep the edges safe from bunny teeth. But since I didn’t remove the the carpet, the linoleum wasn’t perfectly flat since carpet gives. It shoudl really be on a hard wood surface. So between walking on it and having rabbit furniture on it, parts got wavy and one of the rabbits got her teeth into the roll and is working over every roll she can find… chomp chomp chomp… I need to remove the carpet, and then put down linoleum, untill I’m, ready to lay real wood or vinyl woor floors.

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