New house for the people AND loki!

[Ashelee]

So we finally found a house! Its everything we wanted and more! Which means in february Loki will have a new house also! Much more room!  We will have an unfinished basement which stays very warm, besides that Loki lived outdoors for the first year of her life.  She will have half of the basement to run around in.  My boyfriend plans on making her just a huge pen type of enclosure with wood at the bottom for sturdyness (he suggested putting vinyl to cover the wood so she cant chew it). What type of wire should we use though? Would the floor of the basement be ok for her? Its cement, and she tends to pee on towels and such when they are in her cage right now.  My boyfriend also plans on making a big house type thing for her to go into.  Any suggestions on building her new enclosure?

[MooBunnay]

Congrats on finding a house! The only word of caution I would have about a basement is if you think that you would spend a lot of time with Loki if she is down there? It might be nice to put a couch and TV or something like that so that you can sit and spend time with her. Also, does it have any windows so she could get natural light and fresh air sometimes?

I actually use exercise pens for cages, I like them because you can change the shape and move them around as needed. With an exercise pen, you could even bring it upstairs sometimes and let her play up there. My bunnies really like to tear up cardboard so a cardboard play house would be fun, and if she isn’t so good at the litter training, you probably don’t want to build her play house with wood floors. I did that for my bunnies and they ended up peeing all over one of the floors and ruined it because its tough to get the pee out of wood

As far as the concrete floor, I think you will really want something softer for her to use, the problem with vinyl is that bunnies slip on it easily, mine have slipped and fallen on the bare linoleum in my cage floors, so I bought seagrass mats to put over it. You can also buy cheap rugs at discount stores like Big Lots or Marshalls. Have you looked at litter training tips to try to get her to use her box more? Have you tried this?: I Buy a few inexpensive towels, and then as soon as she pees on them, mop up some of it with a paper towel, and put the paper towel in her litterbox, then replace the towel and put the other one in the wash.

[Ashelee]

She does very well with litter training. She only goes in her box, as long as there isnt anything soft in her cage. Maybe when she has a bigger space she can have the blanket or towel in there to move around and lay on it and such

We are going to look at the house one more time tonight and so I will check for windows and such in the basement. If it seem not do great down there I was thinking the attic, which is finished, she could have the huge walk in closet and some space outside of the closet, and that is where my boyfriend will be putting all the workout equipment so we will be up there a lot. She is a big bunny at about 10 pounds and so she needs quite a bit of room, which she doesnt have right now.

[Deleted User]

I built an NIC condopen for my rabbit quartet that measures 12 foot in length by 45 inches in width and 42 inches in height. It is in my unfinished basement where I could make that size of space available. I first used plywood for flooring but my rabbits littered on the wood and it was impossible to sanitize. I now use large flat cardboard pieces on top of the concrete. They have shelves covered in a variety of materials also, but they love their wood-covered shelf the most and haven’t peed that one up.

I agree with MooBunnay, you’d want to set yourself up with something in the basement  to spend lots of time with Loki there.

[Ashelee]

sounds good! thanks guys! I figured the attic or basement because they are they largest rooms in the house that the dogs wont be going into.

[Deleted User]

Something came into my mind after I had already posted. I don’t know where you live, Ashelee, but rabbits do not thrive in dampness. Some basements can be damp.

[Barbie]

Yay that’s exciting! One thing about the attic… I don’t know where you live, but my attic gets unbearably hot during the summer, so you probably don’t want to put your bunny in that.

[MirBear]

concrete isnt a good idea.. if i put hershey on tiles or concrete she wont move untill i pick her up and put her on carpet. some bunnies will try and run, and possibly might slip and hurt themselves. also concrete is cold on the feet not sure if bunnies are the same as people in this but loki’s toes might get cold  you could try going on sites like freecycle.. the have carpests and stuff for free or very cheap the you wont have to worry much if she pees on it.

[Ashelee]

thanks guys! We went and saw the place again and I got to see and imagine what I wanted to do! So the final say is that Loki is getting the second bedroom, and the BF is going to build and enclosure for her in there that has half vinyl type flooring (not too slippery, its whats in our kitchen now and she walks on it just fine) and the other half is going to be carpeting. And until We actually build it (once we are moved in fully and get settled) she is going to be in the attic in the walk-in closet. I am going to use the x-pen i have to block the doorway for her. And it wont get too hot up there right now for the time being. Plus we will be up there morning and night with working out and such so if it gets a lil too hot or anything I will just take the x-pen and put her in the spare bedroom. But dont want to do that right away because I am not sure how she will be with carpeting and chewing.

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