How much space for 3?

[LongEaredLions]

How many square feet of cage space are needed for 3 bunnies if they are only locked in at night, have a room duiring the day(but they really only use 3×4 ft of the room cause that’s all that’s carpeted but I plan on getting a 4×7 rug soon) play everyday in my bedroom(med room)? If they are really good with their boxes, they can have the whole downstairs but I just can’t have my new carpet peed on. 

That was a bit confusing. Heres the point:

How much cagespace (sq ft) is needed for 3 bunnies that:

-will be locked in the cage from about 10pm-7am each day

-rest of the day will have a 4×7 rug(and the whole 150 sq ft room if they are not afraid of slippery floors) 

-will get at least two hours of playtime in my bedroom per day

Just wondering all this stuff for no apparent reason, not like I have three bunnies *hint*

[RabbitPam]

What are you currently using for your habitat set up now – is it an xpen? If it is, (I do and mine is 4×4′) that pretty much determines the area that is covered. If you want it twice as large, or one square shaped with a long tunnel-like addition attached, you can get a second xpen and attach them to each other, with one or two door openings. But I’m guessing that will be too big for your room.

Do they climb, or like to jump up? If you make an enclosed pen with cubes, they can each share different levels with a smaller footage at the bottom. I think once they know the routine, they will be within the cage at night and just need the litter, water, and hay accessible while they have areas to sleep. Open for the rest like food and playtime.

If you are worried about the new rug, get several flat seagrass mattes and tie them together with sissel and lay them on top of it where the bunnies stay. I did that, and it’s held except where Sammy decided it was delicious, and prefered sleeping on the rug under her basket. So she chewed on it, but it’s been months with only minimal area of rug exposed. Meanwhile, most of the rug is protected. It’s smooth and cool for her, but my vet had me get it to be a good surface for her feet.

Peruse the bonding section as well as this one for more ideas on habitats for multiple bunnies.

[Deleted User]

Oh LEL your not – are you? he he he….. (wink).

[LongEaredLions]

Ya, AndHenry, I am…. I’m going to the bunny rescue today to… Um… Get some pellets! Ya that’s it.

My current setup is a 2 1/2 feet by 6 feet nic condo (2×5 cubes) with a 2 1/2 feet by 2 1/2 feet (2×2 cubes) loft. The doors are always open in the daytime, and they have full access to the rug. I don’t think that cage is big enough, I think I will add another cube of width at the very least on the loft, making it 2×3 nic cubes. Is that ok just for sleeping and litterboxes? The minimum is 8 square ft per bunny right? The bottom would be 15 sq ft, the top around 9 sq feet, so 24 sq feet, the bare minimum. But if they are out all the time, is that ok? Like I said, they have the rug all day(and the room if they walk on linoleom) they come out into my bedroom everyday.

[Beka27]

Square feet is only counted by the base, not additional levels. So you would need about 4 by 5 grids, or some variation of those dimensions.

[MoveDiagonally]

As Beka said, levels don’t really “count” when calculating square footage. The guidelines are more about running/moving around space (base). Upwards space is more of a “bonus”. For example, a 1 X 2 grid condo with 3 levels of the same size would not be adequate even though it’s technically 8 sq ft.

The base of your current setup is actually 13.58 sq ft (2X5 grids = 4.66′ X 5.83′). The 2X2 grids level is 2.33′ X 2.33′, 5.42 sq ft. 2X3 grids would be 2.33′ X 3.5′, 8.15 sq ft. This means that even if you counted the extended loft area you would be have 21.73 sq ft not 24 sq ft.

I’m not calculating by decimal to nit pick. I’ve just found that rounding up or down with NIC’s can really put your sq footage off by a foot or more. An easy way to get more exact calculations is to multiply the number of grids by 14 and then divide that number by 12. 14″ X 14″ is the standard grid size.

With 3 or more rabbits I think X-Pens are a lot easier than condos so I would recommend going that direction if possible. With my trio I housed them in two X-Pens. A pen and a half is 24 sq ft. A close base would be 3.5 grids(4.08′) X 5 grids (5.83′), 23.78 sq ft.

[Zombie-Sue]

I think a condo is fine for three as long as it’s not their whole life.

If you think about a rabbit who really wants to stretch out and kick up its heels a little, just over three feet of space is not enough. My three currently live in a rabbit condo thats 3 by 2 grids, and until I finish up my living room I move them down stairs every other day so they can kick up their heels. If you think about it, you have to have a litter box and bowls and such in their space…

Sometimes Mulder hops up to the third level and just runs back and forth to get out his energy, it’s really sad to watch, and not an ideal situation. Fortunately, they’ll be free run during the day soon, but if they’re going to spend a lot of time in the condo like my poor buns have to right now, it’s not a good life.

[Deleted User]

Ha ha ha hah – good on you LEL, I’m so happy that your HAPPY again! What a wonderful Chrissy your gonna have!

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