How did you choose between….

[Kat]

I have an outrageously well-behaved/mannered/smart mini-lop named Sweet Pea. I adopted her at a year old around Thanksgiving time. Her initial cage was half the size of the one I have now, easily. Her current cage, which I refer to as her “room” since she responds to the word when it’s time to go back, is one of those really large Oxbow ones that has the attachable play-pen. Though we can’t use the pen it came with since the location of her cage is at the top of a landing on our second floor. 

I adopted her from the local SPCA, and as time has gone on… I’m more and more certain she had toooons of free roaming capability in the home she was surrendered from. So I’m wondering how everyone went about deciding between cage, xpen, and bunny room. 

I considered xpen, but I’d only really be able to have that set-up in my room… And there is no really logical place to put the set-up due to the layout of my room. I can’t have my bed near the heater, and I sure as hell can’t put a rabbit near it either– and the heater lines half of my wall space. It’s just not doable. But there’s potential for a room set-up, household permitting (I live with my parents still because NJ is expensive). 

Though I assume, use of an xpen is still advised for doing a bunny room arrangement? 

I’m not very knowledgeable in the xpen and room concepts, though not unfamiliar with them. I’m curious how everyone chose between the various housing options there… And how those who’ve gone the bunny room route went about it?

Sweet Pea is an only bun at this time. My first two passed away… And my female that passed at the end of January left a huge void for all of us, and none of us are ready to take on a second bun… So I want to do whatever I can to keep Sweet Pea (who was separated from her sister when her sis was adopted to a different home– and I’m fairly certain she isn’t used to be an only bun) as happy as can be. 

Any advice for someone who’s trying to weight out their options? I may be able to convince the household to a bunny room… But I want to make sure I approach it properly and do it right.

[blubudgie]

If I had a spare room I could make into a bunny safe room as well as have a corner where I could do work/hang out/nap I would definitely do it. Sadly don’t have another bedroom for that.

What I do now is I have my bunny in an x-pen as her cage. I lock her in there when I’m not home or asleep or when I’m not able to keep an eye on her. Otherwise, a few hours a day I open the x-pen and just let her run around my room. So this way she still gets the hours of exercise, but I’m not dedicating an entire room for her. For you I would be concerned about the heater, before letting her roam your room you’ll probably want to block it off so she can’t touch it and burn herself.

[Daisy]

I initially decided on a large cage for Daisy because I was living in an apartment when I got her and did not have the space for an xpen. Her cage is pretty big and has two stories. Ideally, I would let her be free in the house, but she likes to bite cords so she only runs free when I’m at home so that I can keep an eye on her. Now that I live in a larger place, I would love to switch her to an xpen, but haven’t because she is so comfortable in her cage. She is very routine oriented and I know that she will be unhappy for awhile if I switch her, so I have been putting it off.
I think that if I had had the space when I first got Daisy, I would have gone with the xpen, its just a good way to give them more space without having to dedicate a whole room or bunny proof your whole house. If you have the space for it, I say go with that.
Hope this helps!

[Love4Bunny]

I started out with one expen, but when Crysta bonded with Thor, I eventually connected two expens together. The buns have their own room, but they need supervised roam time, else, I’ll have no carpet or baseboards left, and two very sick bunnies! I’m sorry to hear about your rabbit that passed away in Jan. They do leave a void. I can’t imagine life without my bunnies.

[Theodorusrex]

We initially had Theo in a cage with a small x-pen attached in our living room – we were inexperienced bunny parents at the time. We would shut Theo in the cage when we were asleep and when noone was home. This was only for about 3 weeks. We then moved him to the kitchen where he has a new very large cage attached to a large x-pen. The whole space is about 4x7ft dependent on what shape you make the x-pen part. We are lucky in that we have a large space in the kitchen with a sofa and now theo’s pen so we can hang out even when he is closed in the pen. He has free roam of the downstairs when someone is home and we never close him in his cage so he has constant access to his pen. We’ve found this system has worked really well for us because we put his litter tray and bed in the cage giving him a ‘home base’ and then he has his toys/food/room to run in the pen. Even when the door to the pen is opened he will often choose to play inside.

We do have a spare room that could be a bunny room but as Theo is a single bun I thought it would be cruel to leave him upstairs rather than in the kitchen as he would get less attention that way I feel. If you go for a bunny room you would need to make sure she has plenty of interaction still – which i have no doubt you will! We’ve found the cage/x-pen combo to work really, really well but it depends on the personality of your bunny and what room you have to spare. That’s of course made more difficult as you are still living with your parents so you need to get them on board with any new set ups too!

[Kat]

The bunny room wasn’t something I was riding on too much. I was curious as to any thoughts or experiences anyone may have had with that arrangement. It’s the least likely idea, even though the room that could be used as such requires absolute minimal bunny-proofing. It’d be a fantastic thing to be able to do, as I feel like Sweet Pea may have been a predominantly free-roaming bun given how she behaves outside of her cage. That, or she and her sister had a room to themselves at the very least.

The pen idea seems like the easiest route to go, and a very easy way to incorporate her current cage into the new housing arrangement. She doesn’t mind her cage, really. When it’s time to go back up to her ‘room’ (as I refer to it), she happily hops up the stairs next to me and right in when she’s ready. Today, I discovered with certainty that the toys I’ve been getting her aren’t boring/disliked by her…. She just doesn’t play with them while they’re in the cage. So in that regard, I’m thinking the pen idea would give the illusion that she’s not in her cage, and she’d be playing with the toys she has.

Overall appearance wise, the NIC option is appealing, too… Because there’s a variety of choices to make when putting one together. And somehow they look a whole lot nicer. But, it seems like they’re most ideal to those who have limited space for their bun and their housing placement.

I’m not the most handy when it comes to building stuff, so the NIC option calls for handy assistance.

For the xpen, from what I could find info-wise and such, it’s recommended to not buy one in a pet store, since they’re typically over-priced. Are there any online stores that are either US-based or ship to the US for a reasonable cost that anyone could suggest for me to look at?

Regardless of what I decide on and can do, it’s gonna take some time before I can do it. We’ve got a kitchen/dining project that has to be 100% finished before I can start on the bunny project. I’ve looked into the different ways to go about building the NIC cage… But I feel like I’m leaning more toward the pen idea for the time being.

But thank you for the input everyone. I’m open to hearing/reading more on the weighing of options everyone has done. :]

[Author]

Messages