Question about NIC condos

[Cambridge]

Hello there, everybunny!  I’m new to the forums, so please be easy on me.  I’m adopting my first rabbit in about ten years so maybe it’s just the new-mommy jitters, but I’m beginning to stress out about all the little things.

First things first:  I’m adopting a seinor intact male bunny within the next week or two.  His old mommy is a cousin of mine who is living in Kenya for the next couple of months and her immediate family members will be unable to take care of him.  He has been living the past couple of years in an outdoor hutch with very little human contact.  It was to my understanding that he’d be coming home with me in his new cage, but I just saw his outdoor hutch and… well, let’s just say that the hutch has seen better days. 

Since his old habitat is unacceptable I’m planning on building a NIC cage for him, but there are still a few questions:

1.)  Most NIC condos I’ve seen do not have a floor.  I’m concerned that this may not be structually sound enough.  Any NIC condo constructors out there can tell me if they ever experienced wobbly walls or not?  Have you ever re-enforced the base with anything?

 

2.)  What dimensions would you recommend?  I seem to like this 3x2x2 condo here.  I have no idea if this is an appropriate size… the last bunnies I owned were flemmies and anything smaller than the state of Texas were too small for them.

 

Again, please keep in mind that this will be a condo for an unsocialized intact seinor male rabbit.  I ultimately need an easy to clean cage that will not be too challenging for him to hop op on shelves and allows me to easily access him for socialization.  Any other suggestions would be lovely as well.

[Beka27]

Welcome! Thank you so much for taking that bunny in! I can’t wait to hear more about him and see pics!

I don’t have first-hand experience with NIC condos, I prefer xpens for the ease of set-up and moving for cleaning. Plus, if you get the walk-through model, it is possible to step inside for cleaning and feeding. The total cost will be about the same but the pen would probably be more resilient. The size is 4×4 feet square, which allows for plenty of horizontal space. You could also construct a shelf for vertical height if you wanted, or you could just have a box that can be hopped onto.

[TARM]

My nic condos have floors. I cover the grid floor with wood subflooring covered in linoleum or black rubber runner. They’re very sturdy, I’ve never had an issue with that.

[Deleted User]

I agree the condos are sturdy as long as you built them in a strong shape like a perfect square, or even a rectangle, even without grids for flooring. Generally people reinforce the connectors between the grids with zipties, wire or the large J-clips that can’t be chewed off.
An xpen, however, such as Beka mentions, is better in my opinion because it is easier to access and clean, allowing you to interact with your new rabbit on the floor. Another plus about the xpen is that the bars are thicker; recently a member on here posted about her rabbits chewing through the NIC bars.

[Cambridge]

The only disadvantage I see with the X-pen is that they are uncovered. I do have two cats in the house, so I’d prefer to have a covered cage. (They’re both Ragdolls, so I’m not worried about them harming the bunny at all, but I’d much rather be safe than sorry).

[Deleted User]

You can clip a sheet to the top of an xpen.

[mocha200]

i have five cats, and they never jumped in the pen with them it was two high cuz they are three feet tall, they probably could jump in if they really wanted to kill them but my cats think of them as another cat not like prey.

[Deleted User]

I wonder if the intact bunny would bother the ragdolls, though. LOL.

[Cambridge]

I finally finished the cage set-up.  I’m really proud how well it turned out:

You can’t see very well in the photo, but there is a litterbox under the first shelf.  At first I was worried that the shelves weren’t strong enough to hold the bunny, were too high, and didn’t offer enough toys to keep the bunny interested.  That’s when my kitties showed up to check things out:

 

Lance immediately checks out the Quik-Tube.  I’m a little surprised he fit in.  Big enough for a 21 pound Ragdoll, so maybe it’s big enough for a bunny. 

Both kitties were snuggling at the very top-most shelf together (a combined total of 34 pounds of cat!) so I’m no longer worried about the shelves supporting the bunny’s weight.

 

Gwen being very disapproving of the fact that I’m taking her picture.

 

Lance checking out the munchies I tied to the cage wall.

[Deleted User]

That’s a super condo. The only thing I would add is some rough surface on the first shelf for when the bunny jumps down from off the high shelf. Jumping the 14″ down he will need footing so he won’t wipe out.

[Cambridge]

I’m adding a rug to that shelf.  I just couldn’t find any colors that I like yet.  ^_^;; 

[jerseygirl]

Great work – That looks really good. I love the top shelf with the sheep and little chair!
I bet the cat’s will be p’od though when they are no longer allowed in there!

A rug will work well on the shelf. The ‘wipe outs’ are not good to witness. I always imagine broken bones and the likes. It’s not so much the landing surface (though important) but where they’re launching from that has them landing askew. Good call Petzy.

[Beka27]

That looks wonderful! A couple things… I would extend the top shelf all the way across towards the front, making the shelf the full 2×3 grid size. You do not want a straight drop like that b/c a bunny can be badly injured if he slips and falls all that way down. Also, be careful with the bowls on the first shelf. You probably just stuck them there for now, but many buns will push and shove their food bowls and that could break if it went off the shelf.

[Cambridge]

I ran out of grids for the top shelf, but I do have extra scrap wood. I’ll definitely expand the shelving, but it will have to be after my next paycheck (18 credit hour pre-med college student + a waitress during Lent season = shoestring budget for the next two weeks).

Thanks for pointing out the bowls, Beka. I probably move them to the bottom floor when the bunny eventually comes. Worse case scenario is that I can always replace the bowls — I found them four for a dollar at a local thrift shop so I have plenty of spares. =)

One more question — will I need any ramps for this set-up? Some NIC condos have ramps to their shelves, and some people only put the shelves 11″ above the floor (currently their are about 14″ above the floor). Will this be a problem?

[Monkeybun]

My 2 can hop up to the shelves no problem.. even little Monkey can do it.

[Beka27]

A senior rabbit may need ramps, or at the very least, an in-between step to hop up onto. You probably won’t know this until you get him in there and he has some time to acclimate. So I wouldn’t really worry about that right now.

[Cambridge]

Alright. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. =)

I did make some minor changes over the past couple days (covered the first shelf with fleece, the floor and top shelf with straw mats, moved the bowls, added a hay rack) but I’ll wait until later to see if I need to add any ramps and expand the top shelf. On another note my cats are very upset with me now that I won’t let them in to play in the cage. LOL

Thank you so much! You guys have been a great help.

[Author]

Messages