Question about cage

[amandacv86]

Hi, I’m new here. I have one Netherland Dwarf rabbit named Tumble who’s living in a two level Midwest Ferret Nation 142. The Ramps are removed and he seems to have no problem hopping from level to level. Actually, he spends most of his time at the top looking like he plotting to take over the world(he’s moody and plans are being made to neuter him).

Anyway, we adopted a spayed female rabbit today from the SPCA. She’s a super sweet “Blanc de Hotot” named Zyra. I was planning on waiting until I neutered Tumble, but she was perfect, already spayed and came with her cage, two water bottles, and her toys, for an adoption fee of only $7(I really think they should charge more).

Her cage is really small, and with a wire bottom, so I took the wire out and put some soft fleece and hay in it for her, with some newspaper in the corner. She’s been spending a lot of her time in the walk in closet floor because I feel so bad for her being in such a small cage.

OK now to my question. She’s bigger than Tumble. I think he’s about 3 pounds and she’s about 5. Would they both be OK living in the ferret nation? Either that or I’m going to sell the Ferret Nation and build a C&C cage for them. I have some space constraints to consider, but I’m thinking I could make it about as deep as my superpet cage(maybe about 1 1/2 grids) and about 4 grids wide. It would also be about 4 grids high, or 5 with storage underneath.That way I could use the base of the superpet cage as a litter box/hay bin.

Right now they’re limited to my closet floor for play time, but I’m hoping after I get Tumble neutered and I can block them from under the bed I can just let them run around the whole room.

Thanks!

 

[Monkeybun]

They would definitely need more room. As it is, store bought cages are too small for a single bun, let alone 2. They need lots of out of cage exercise time, recommended play time is 4+ hours a day. They need room to run and stretch those legs of theirs, a closet floor really isn’t enough space.

[amandacv86]

Thanks for your quick reply! Plans are being made to let them have the whole floor. I just don’t want them to be able to hide under the bed so I need some way to block it. They’ll still have hideys though.

I figure it’s temporary anyway and being able to run on the closet floor is way better than being confined to the cage she’s in now. In the cage I’m planning to build the store bought cage would only be the litter box.

Thanks again.

-Amanda

[Beka27]

The smallest footprint you would want to do is 2×4 grids, and even that is pushing it for two rabbits. Look around your space and see if something can be reconfigured or organized to allow for a 3×4 or 3×5 grid condo. With newly bonded bunnies, it is usually necessary that they have separate litterboxes, otherwise -their good habits can decrease in shared territory. So you need to make sure your floor space is big enough for two medium-sized rectangular cat boxes with plenty of space left over. What kind of flooring are you planning on making for the base of the condo?

Can you utilize the space under your bed for storage (with those roll-out under-bed storage containers), opening up other space in your room for the condo?

[amandacv86]

Believe me, I’m very good at fitting things into small spaces . My walk in closet serves as a closet/sewing and craft room/animal play area/storage already and I even have some clothesline in there because our dryer broke recently(fixed now) and I needed a private place to hang our underwear. We had to move our whole apartment into our bedroom, and get rid of a lot of stuff along the way. Under the bed is stuffed to the brim, and I don’t have anything that I could move and would fit under there. The only furniture I have right now is my bed, a dresser, my guinea pig cage (2×5 grids) and my rabbit cages(soon to be made into one). I don’t think it’s really MY bedroom anymore, lol… I could probably swap the dresser for the rabbit cage and fit if not a 3×4, maybe a 2 1/2×4 or 4 1/2.

I just needed confirmation that I do really need to replace the Ferret Nation. I just don’t have a pet suitable for it anymore.

Thanks, Amanda

[Beka27]

I’ve seen people combine rabbit and guinea pig cages so the guinea pigs have “the top floor” since they aren’t climbers/jumpers, and then the rabbit has levels underneath. If you are already using a 2×5 space for the GP, that could work…

[Eepster]

If I were in that situation, I would probably let each bunny keep his and her current cage as his and her private space. I would then build a large neutral territory out of storage cube grid in between the two cages that attached to the door side of each of their cages. Once bonding was done, I would permanently remove the doors from each of their cages, so they both had free access to the larger neutral territory, but could use their personal cages for litter boxes and such.

If you post a few pictures of the two cages, and possible sights for a condo, it might help us come up with something.

Alternatively, is it possible to turn the walk-in-closet into a bunny room permanently?

Warning: I’m good with the logistics, but have no experience with bonding bunnies, so you would want to check with someone more familiar with bonding to tell you if my plan work from that point of view.

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