Need help with construction of a very large (temporary) cage

[Birty]

Background: I have a mini-lop who has free roam of our main level during the day, and sleeps in her cage at night. I also have a dwarf that has free roam of our upper level. They don’t get along at all, but they meet at the baby gate sometimes.

I will be leaving for a vacation in October and they will be left at the house with a sitter coming to visit them once in the morning and once in the evening. Additionally my 15 year old sister will come over for a few hours a couple of times a week to socialize with them, but aside from that they won’t be able to get out of their cage. For this reason I’ve decided I want to build a very large cage to provide them with extra room to exercise.

 I have a fairly healthy budget for this project, I’m just not sure where to start. Any advice or links you could give would be great. I’m trying to start my preparations now to make sure I have everything prepared for when I leave.

 Thank you

[Taylor]

I would visit Pinterest. I’m crafting a hutch for my buns solely for them to reside in a better, bigger environment when I’m not home. It started as a $20 sturdy wooden desk from goodwill. You may not be wanting to do a hutch. The house rabbit handbook recommends connectable wire shelving, x-pens, etc. which allow you to make the cage in any shape you want. It may be easiest and cheapest to go with the connectable wire shelves because I’m 160 bucks in on supplies with my hutch, but it’ll also be multiple stories. Definitely visit Pinterest though

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hi and welcome !

Could you not quite simply buy a modulable big xpen which attachs to current cage to give them room to run around just outside their cage?
You can attach the sections in whatever shape you want, just for your hols, detach it when you come home and fold it up when you’re not using it (a large cage is permanent… and not particularly necessary if they are lucky free roaming buns)

That’s what I do when I go on hol (or my free roam bun goes to her sitters) – I have 2 biiiig folding dog crates which I put 3–5 metres from each other with doors open and connect them with the xpen sections. The litter and food go in the crates and the middle section is like a playarea. (I have a carpet in this area so she can binky) – don’t forget to get high enough ones so they can’t jump over !

Photos please

[Birty]

I had considered this, but my lop is a hop monster. She has jumped over multiple baby gates and is constantly attempting to reach the highest points of our furniture! For her safety I think I should have a lid on it.

[Azerane]

You can build a roof out of pieces of x-pen as well. I used to do this sometimes when I would take Bandit out on the lawn, as he had a tendency to hop over the fence, I would build the pen maybe 2 x 4 panels and then attach another 8 panels as a lid. You may need a box in the middle to help support the roof, but at least they can’t hop out.

Otherwise, some people have success with simply attaching a bed sheet to the top of the pen as a roof, but you would need to try it our before hand in case your bunnies figure out how to pull it down.

[Vienna Blue in France]

They’ll only try to jump out if they see where they’re going, so a sheet is a cunning plan if it is laying higher than their nibble-reach distance !!
My bun is 80cm long and I have a 107cm tall xpen. Ass she can’t lean full stretch on the thin bars (or her paws would go through), she only has periscoping height.
If your follow Azerane’s plan a couple of pieces of long wood or rods through the top of the walls (from one wall to the other) should support any ‘roof’ panels

[Author]

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