housing ideas, larger ex pens?

[Bunny Bride]

Right now my rabbit lives in a standard 8 panel ex pen.  I would like to extend his space, but the problem is there doesn’t seem to be an option that works for the space I have.  Does anyone know of any ex pens that allow you to expand, like add a few panels?  I found a 16 panel on Wayfair, but unfortunately that is too large for my space.  I am estimating a 12 panel would be great, but can’t seem to find that anywhere.  The space I have is 60X120 inches.  I have thought about making something with NIC Cubes, but it seems like a lot of work to get it right and my biggest concern with that is I’m almost positive my rabbit would chew the cable ties.  Beyond those options, I found a website that offers custom habitats (link below) which would be perfect, but it is in the UK and doesn’t look like they ship to the US.  I am open to flooring options–right now I use a fleece covered tarp (like for campers), works great and my rabbit seems to like it, but it isn’t the easiest to clean.  I have tried putting a piece of linoleum down, but then the ex pen slides all over the place.  Anyway, I am most concerned with the space issue now as I really want to make his living area bigger.  Any ideas are greatly appreciated, thanks!

https://boylespethousing.co.uk/product-category/rabbits/indoor-rabbit-cages-and-pens/

[ThorBunny]

Could you just get a second 8 panel ex-pen and fold the excess out of the way? I’ve found they are pretty easy to tie together using zip ties

[catsbunnies]

Thor’s idea is a good one, you can also overlap the two pens and connect them with dog leash type connectors or binder ring type connectors that are easy to take apart and made out of metal your bun cant chew. If you do this you can also easily detach the second pen to take outside for playtime, or you can use it to put two pens side by side in the instance that you get another bunny and need seperate housing for bonding. In the long run more pens are always useful… I’ve seen them on amazon in 36 inch height for $35-40. For you, since you already have one pen, that would be a pretty affordable idea.

For floors I used to have an x pen and I just used sheets as the floor, rolled up the outer edges along the outside of the cage. it worked really well for me, but I had a bunny that never peed on the floor so waterproof didn’t matter. I saw an idea on 101rabbits I liked where she used puzzle excersize mats and covered those with fleece throws that could be easily thrown in the wash but I don’t see how this is easier than throwing a sheet in the wash or a fleece over a tarp in the wash. You can get twin sheets at walmart for pretty cheap, I think $10 or maybe even a bit less for the basic ones. If you got a couple you could just switch them out when they got dirty and throw the other one in the wash easilly.

When I get my new bunnies I decided to build a NIC pen, for a couple reasons. The set of 69 squares is 66 dollars, but with that I can make a huge pen, mave extra for making dens, baby gates, bunnyproofing, ect. If my buny situation changes, I can move around these squares to temporarily make 2 smaller pens. And by making a pen I can easily take it outside or move it to another room. I plan on using sheets for flooring again, or 50×60 fleece throws I can get at walmart for $3 since the pen will be 42×56 inches (3×4 NIC squares.) Im going to try the fleece first, if it doesn’t work Ill do the sheets and if he’s really messy Ill put a tarp peice under the sheets or try the puzzle mats… but hoping this bun is like the last and not too wet messy.

I don’t reccomend an NIC condo… I built one once and it was big and nice but ultimately a pain in the rear end to clean. Once I switched to a pen… I knew Id never go back. My bunny didnt chew the zip ties, but Im sure you have a good reason for thinking your bunny will. If you put the pointy or big part on the outside maybe there wont be enough for him to get a hold of. Good luck (Geez I wrote a lot. )

[Bunny Bride]

Thanks for all the ideas, I appreciate it. I may end up doing the NIC Pen then, as opposed to condo and I can easier hide the zip ties that way.  There are so many things to think of!  My rabbit is also good with the not peeing, so the sheet or fleece should be fine.  

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