Habitats/Cages

[orion]

Hi!
I was just curious on what everyone thinks of cages. What’s too small? I have a cage for my new bunny which I hate because I can basically only fit a blanket and a shoe box for her litter box. I’m pretty sure it’s too small for her, even though she’s only 8 weeks old. Can anyone suggest a cage good enough for her? I can’t give her a small section of any room since I have no where to put her other than in a cage. But I want to make sure this cage can fit a bed, litter box, toys, etc.!!

Thanks in advance!

[caillou]

Basically all store bought cages are too small. You can build a cage out of NIC grids and zip ties which a lot of people do. You could also get an exercise pen meant for dogs and clip it onto the front of the cage. With all of these options, it’s important that your bunny get out of cage time as well, minimum 5 hours a day. They need time and space to run around and play. Your bunny is going to grow very quickly over the next few months and that cage sounds much too small!

[sarahthegemini]

Your bun needs to be able to run, hop and binky. Your cage is far too small if you can only fit a shoe box in there!?

[Wick & Fable]

A rabbit is a big commitment, so if you need to re-arrange a room, furniture placement, etc. in order to facilitate a larger space for an appropriate sized enclosure, please do so. It’s one of many ways rabbit ownership shapes your life!

The best set-up if you cannot free-roam your rabbit at the moment is to purchase a larger cage and attach an X pen around it, so there is sheltered space, as well as some open space.

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.

[jojothebun]

I agree with everybody above! I originally had a cage for JoJo, but soon I was letting her roam free around my room. Now she only uses her cage to go to the bathroom and eat her hay. If it helps, this cage ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BNE1YA/ref=twister_B005BPQA44?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 ), in XL is the one I have and the largest I could find. Maybe attaching an X pen to it would be a good solution for you

[Scarlet]

If bigger cages are possible, get them, sometimes with more stay-at-home owners I’ve been told just letting them out enough can make up for a cage being not as large as others. I remember being told they should at the least be able to lay stretched out in any direction without any hindrance. If they can’t do that, then it is way too small and will be uncomfortable for them.

[tobyluv]

Besides using an x-pen or DIY pen made from NIC grids, you can give a rabbit more room by housing it in an XL dog crate. If you do get a dog crate, the ones with 2 doors are so much easier to use, clean and be able to reach the rabbit if necessary. Even in a large pen, a rabbit will need several hours out of the pen each day, for play and exercise, in a rabbit proofed room or rooms.

[orion]

The cage is big enough for her to stretch, stand, and so on. I do let her roam around the room she’s in for almost all the time I see her. I just put her in the cage when I go to sleep. She loves to run around and be free when she could. And I let her go back in whenever she wants. I’m thinking of attaching an x pen since I won’t always be around to watch her due to college and work.

[sarahthegemini]

I know you said she’s only in there during the night but that is a very active time for buns. She must be able to run around and I don’t understand how she can if you can only fit a shoe box in there? Definitely get a pen and attach it during the night so she has more space.

[Scarlet]

Rabbits are most active from sundown to sunup. Although I’ve seen some exhaust themselves enough to sleep through the night with a full day of running around and playing, the above post is correct, unless they’re tuckering themselves out a lot, if your sleeping schedule can be adjusted, I recommend that or just outright setting up a pen.

[orion]

No, the cage is not the size of a shoe box. I would say 3 shoe boxes and the height is good, but I know it’s still far too small. As of right now, I sleep mornings so I let her out all night and put her back in her cage for a few hours then I let her roam around.

But, since it won’t always be like this, I’m definitely getting a huge dog crate and/or attaching a pen to this cage. Thanks everyone!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By orion on 1/08/2018 11:32 AM

No, the cage is not the size of a shoe box. I would say 3 shoe boxes and the height is good, but I know it’s still far too small. As of right now, I sleep mornings so I let her out all night and put her back in her cage for a few hours then I let her roam around.

But, since it won’t always be like this, I’m definitely getting a huge dog crate and/or attaching a pen to this cage. Thanks everyone!

I know it’s not the size of a shoe box. You said it can only really fit a shoe box in it, which means it is still far too small. The pen would be great!

[joea64]

Posted By Wick on 1/04/2018 9:20 AM

A rabbit is a big commitment, so if you need to re-arrange a room, furniture placement, etc. in order to facilitate a larger space for an appropriate sized enclosure, please do so. It’s one of many ways rabbit ownership shapes your life!

The best set-up if you cannot free-roam your rabbit at the moment is to purchase a larger cage and attach an X pen around it, so there is sheltered space, as well as some open space.

What Wick suggests is exactly what I do. I have a 42″-high 24-square-foot X-pen that I attach to the two-story “condo” NIC cage, which has something over 17 square feet of space itself, in the evenings and leave it up all night (a very active time for rabbits, as Sarah says, far more so than the days) so that my two buns have plenty of time and space to run around. It does crowd things a good deal in my small efficiency, but then again I don’t have much need to move around in the evenings anyway.  During the daytime, when I’m away at work, I leave them secured in their cage, but they generally sleep or lounge during most of the daytime hours anyway, and the condo is quite large enough for small rabbits like Panda and Fernando to stretch out comfortably anyway they like on either level. In fact, that habitat is so large that there’s plenty of room to put two full-size cardboard cartons (“full-size”, in this case, meaning ex-beer cartons that originally held 24 bottles) converted to hidey boxes on the upper deck and still leave ample space for the buns to stretch/flop/bunloaf in the open, as they often like to do.

[1and2bunns]

I have two dog exercise pens for my rabbits. It’s a nice big open space and my rabbits love it and enjoy running around it. But I suggest if you want to get your rabbit a xpen get it when she gets around six to seven months old and get a temporary cage for her until then. The only reason why I suggest this is that when my rabbits were around her age they were able to slip through the bars! Which was a real hassle for me cause they would run around my room all night making a ton of noises and scratching on things…. But if you want to get a exercise pen now I suggest if you know how to do a bit of wood work go to Home Depot or some store like that get some wood peices about 8-9 inches high (that’s how high I needed it for my cage cause one of my rabbits is a escape artist) or whatever height is need and get some nails (what I used was a nail gun) and make a frame. You can remove this after several months (like I did) or just wait until you think your rabbit is too big to slip through the bars.

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