I know wire floors are bad for my bun, but he doesn’t!

[apanda]

So I have had a bunny for about a month now, during which time I have read all the online HRJ articles, the house rabbit handbook, and every care article I could find on websites like this. hehe so I’m a little obsessed Anyhoo so Truffles’ cage, bought when i got him and pre my obsessive reading jaunt, is nice with 2 floors and a ramp he likes to run on and push balls down. BUT it has wire floors. So ok, I don’t want to hurt my poor bun’s feets so I cover up the floor with cardboard or grass mats. Only problem: Truffles doesn’t understand either of these things are for sitting and not for playing/eating/ripping apart as invaders to his territory lol. I have never seen him sit on his grass mat ever, nor does he hang out in his litterbox or refuse to go back in his cage when playtime is over. In fact, a lot of the times his cage door is open, like now, he prefers to hang out in his shelter on the top floor. Also I took him to his vet appointment last week and she says his feet are fine. Could Truffles just have super feet? Or is he being silly and I need to find a way to rig up a floor he can’t destroy? Thanks for the help!

[Beka27]

welcome.  he is an adorable bunny!

that’s good that his feet are fine now, but once bunnies get sore hocks, it is very hard to heal them.  so by the next vet visit he may develop them and then you’re dealing with putting medication and stuff on his feet.  better to avoid that all together.  i would definitely rig up a floor he cannot lift up, and provide more (non-floor) cardboard for him to chew.  the nice thing about cardboard is it is very cheap and even if it does get chewed or wet/dirty, you can just cut a new piece.  what you may want to consider doing is building him a NIC condo later on.  they are very inexpensive to make and you can configure it to fit any space, making it large or tall or both. 

how is he doing with the littertraining?  is he going potty thru the wire bottom, or using the box?

[apanda]

Yea he has a lot of chewables, he especially likes toilet paper rolls and willow balls, but something about a floor just makes him want to destroy it lol. He is potty trained so that he pees only in the litterbox and puts most of his poops there but he poops all around his cage. I think this will probably get a little better sometime after he is neutered, which is happening in 2 weeks!

Do you have any suggestions for securing the floor so that he actually stands on it? The only securing methods I can think of are not bun safe. Is there a bunny safe tie rope material? I know sisal is supposed to be safe, but can one find sisal rope anyhwere?

Oh also I am planning a NIC condo for him, but he won’t be able to move into it until early June when I move back home after graduation. That might be too long for him without me figuring out a floor solution.

[Beka27]

try zipties.  poke some holes around the perimeter of the cardboard and loop the ziptie thru and around the wire floor.  he’s going to chew it and the floor will need to be replaced on occasion… but it is a better solution until you build a condo for him.  if you can, you may want to fabricate something else, some kind of wood with peel and stick tile or something to make it waterproof, but that will cost more money and take some creativity to achieve, and if you’re away at college, i’m guessing there is no circular saw in your dorm room.

[JK]

What about getting linoleum and cutting it to fit tight and tie it if necessary to the side of the cage.  Wire is just so bad I would do everything to cover it up.

[apanda]

oo i like the zip ties idea. do you think it would be okay for Truffles if he chews on them? He likes to chew on everything at least once, especially new things lol.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

apanda…When we make nic condos, we usually use stuff called coroplast…It’s corrugated plastic, just like cardboard but plastic; Anyways you can get at home hardware type places relatively cheap (30 bux for a huge one!!) and just cut it to fit. Mine don’t chew it at all but if your bunny tries to chew it you could poke holes in the edges and do the zip tie thing!

Welcome to Binky bunny!! Your bunny looks really cute!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Forgot to add!! The reason its so awesome is you can just wipe a mess off it-its plastic so it doesn’t absorb it!

[KatnipCrzy]

I second K&K’s suggestion!  I covered the wire in my bunnies cage with Coroplast.  I cover about 80%- and the other 20% is her litterbox.

It is quite solid flooring but easy to cut to fit- and I cut to fit the area exactly so she can only possibly chew one corner- but she doesn’t as it is not easy to grip and she can not pull up an edge.  It is easy to clean- just wipe off, etc.  I even used some 4 inch high strips of coroplast to box in one end of her cage to keep her hay IN the cage.  Works great!

 

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[apanda]

I would totally do the coroplast if this was going to be his house forever but since he is moving to either an x-pen or x-pen NIC condo combination in may I have just done the zip tied carboard thing. I think I am going to have to replace it fairly frequently since he is shredding it like crazy, but I guess its good exercise for him neways lol.

I am also going to look for those peel and stick tiles I read about on another thread here, and try that over the zip tied cardboard sometime this weekend. hopefully that will increase the cardboard life span and cleanability a little bit.

thanks for all the help everyone!

 

 

[kimberleyanddarren]

just get a cheap carpet tile (carpet stores will usually give you them free) and fasten it there

[BinkyBunny]

WELCOME!
A bunny would probably not develop sore hocks in just a months time. It takes time, but it sounds like you’ll be moving your bunny to a better place anyway, like an xpen. That’s great!

How old is your bunny? If he’s young, he will be much more active, and so easy light flooring, like straw mats, will be great chew toys, just like you said. What might be better is try out some of the other suggestions for flooring and attach things for him to chew on on the cage bars. Like weave the mats throughout the bars. Get some paper towel or toilet paper cardboard rolls (cardboard only without the paper) and stick those through the bars at chew level.

Give him something to chew on and keep him busy, so that the floor becomes less interesting.

Also offer something soft for him to lay on, so he sees that as a “resting” place.

[Author]

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