Indoor Housing Question (This or That)

[berrinmichelle]

Hi all, so Noah was finally neutered, and he handled the surgery VERY well! Apparently the nurses said they were all very surprised to see him eating away a few hours after he came to! For anyone who lives on Long Island (ny) I went to a place called Catnips & Carrots in New Hyde Park, it was a bit of a drive for me seeing as I live in Suffolk county and they’re located in Nassau county, but it was DEFINITELY worth it!! I’d recommend them for sure

Anyways, the vet had some concerns about Noah’s housing.  He lives in my room with me in a very nice, large cage. 

It’s a living world pet habitat in X-Large.  However, I’m considering possibly building Noah a new cage because he’s growing now, at about 3.5 pounds which is where he may stop, but the bigger the better right?  This is where I’d like your opinions! How many of you think he’s fine with where he’s at? I’m between keeping this cage, building a NIC cube cage, or going with an x-pen like a puppy pen or something. What do you guys think??

[Tessie]

Is the cage pictured the one he has at the moment?
I don’t know how big it is, but you’re right, bigger is always better!

I’d suggest an ex-pen, they’re cheap, flexible, and offer the bun loads of space. Plus it’s easy to get in and sit with them.
NIC cages are great if you have less floor space because they can be built tall. But they do work out more expensive.

[MoveDiagonally]

The Living World X-Large is about 8 sq ft which is the minimum recommended size for a bunny habitat for a small-medium sized bunny. I think it’s fine as long as she’s getting lots of out of cage time.

Of course, bigger is ALWAYS better!

[tanlover14]

We had that same cage for awhile. Although it’s okay as long as you can ensure he’s getting a lot of out time – I can say that I noticed a HUGE difference in the happiness of my rabbits when I switched from the cage/condo to the x-pens. It’s easier for me to clean and I felt like I spent a lot more time actually interacting with them when I could just step in the pen and hang out rather than having to let them out and them catch them and them put them back. Haha!

I love the x-pens a lot more after switching!

[LoveMyMoMo]

Maybe you can use both, keep the cage you have now and buy either an x-pen or NIC grids to build a ‘yard’ for outside of his cage with extra toys and such, just for more hopping space.

I have an x-pen and I must say that I love it, and so does my bunny.

[tanlover14]

I would use caution when setting up an x-pen around the cage… mine have escaped using this great advantage! You can cover that side of the x-pen with a sheet though! We put a sheet across a small area using binder clips for awhile !

[Eepster]

Posted By Brittany M on 4/26/2014 6:59 PM

Maybe you can use both, keep the cage you have now and buy either an x-pen or NIC grids to build a ‘yard’ for outside of his cage with extra toys and such, just for more hopping space.

I have an x-pen and I must say that I love it, and so does my bunny.

This is what we did, we added a “porch” on to Porky’s condo.  It worked great.  When Porky stays at my dad’s house, we also attach a pen to his travel cage.  I made both from NIC grids.

When I do it to his travel cage, I build the wall at the front of the cage so he can’t hop on top of it.  

It works very well with Porky, since he’s not a jumper.  It wouldn’t work as well if he could jump over the sides of the porch/pen.

[berrinmichelle]

These are all great responses, thank you!! Yes, he gets ALOT of “outside time” (outside of the cage, of course) In fact, he’s currently sprawled out relaxing under my bed, very content! I actually tried building a NIC cube cage ONTOP of my current cage (yes Tessie – the one pictured is exactly what I have for him now) and THAT was a PAIN! I didn’t really think it through. Couldn’t reach the litter box to even add litter to it, let alone clean it! It was ridiculous, so I took it apart. I’m worried the same may happen with a NIC cage/x-pen. I don’t have a whole lot of space to have both, that’s the only problem. The cage takes up ALOT of floor space, and I think a NIC cage would be good because I can build up, however for whatever reason I think Noah wouldn’t really know what to do with extra levels!

[tanlover14]

I used the bottom of one of my cages to construct a NIC cube condo around it  – here’s a picture:

 

 

The bottom level is literally the bottom of their cage (as you can see it’s the same one as yours!).  The sides are zip-tied together and then the 2nd & 3rd floors are just pieces of wood I had cut at a hardware store wrapped in carpet & set up on some dowels.  The middle opening made it really easy to clean.  At first i started out with bedding on the bottom but they liked to hang out down there a TON more when the bottom was bare.  The front middle panel on the bottom also lifted out and up so you could open it and clean the first floor from that angle as well

[Author]

Messages