Shed into a bunny house?

[JammieHammies]

My bunny is currently in a store bought cage and I want to give him a better environment so I was looking at a shed from Lowes that is 9.85 x 7.5 ft and is made of galvanized steel, could I make it into a rabbit hutch? (We’ve tried letting him be a free range house bun but he refuses to litter train)

[Stickerbunny]

Does he live inside? Are you talking about outside? A steel shed, unless air conditioned, will be way too hot in most climates. Those things heat up badly once the sun comes up. My family uses them to store tools and lawn mowers and stuff and some days it feels like walking into an oven to get something out of it. If you must house him outdoors, something wooden with windows or a/c would be better. Or just an outdoor area with predator protection and hidey holes, rather than an enclosed bunny house. But, again, many climates are way too hot for outdoor housing. Rabbits are very sensitive to heat.

Free range is something bunnies can only do after age and training is complete, no rabbit can just put into free range and do well with it. You have to gradually increase their space, or their litter training will be impossible. My suggestions would be a NIC condo (cheap solution that has many customization features and can be multi level for lots of space to run around) indoors with an x-pen you can attach to it for run time and work on litter training that way. He’ll have ample room to run that way while you work with him. 

Also, a few common mistakes people make when litter training bunnies:

Intact rabbits hormones often make litter training impossible. Neutering/spaying helps in training, also it reduces smell a lot.

While litter training, rabbits need to be confined. The more space, the more they will mark and not use the box. Space should be gradually worked up to, not given all at once.

While litter training, multiple litter boxes can be used. You want to place them in the areas THEY choose and not try to force them to use the area YOU chose. So, if you notice the bun poops in one area more than another, move the litter box. Some members have even said they’ve lined the entire cage with litter boxes for particularly stubborn rabbits. Be creative and try to manipulate the rabbits natural instincts if you can.

While litter training, no soft surfaces should be provided EXCEPT the litter in the litter box. No blankets, no bedding in the bottom of the cage. It just confuses them.

While litter training, it is important to clean every accident up with vinegar to remove the smell. If it smells like a litter box, it’s going to be used as a litter box.

[JammieHammies]

He’s about 7 or 8 years old (he was a gift when i was a child and I’m just now learning the proper care he needs) can he still be neutered?

[JammieHammies]

And we tried an NIC condo but he completely destroyed the floor of it with urine (it was plywood with linoleum on it) and the smell was unbearable

[Stickerbunny]

You can use coroplast (plastic used for signs, you can buy it at home depot / lowes some places or ask a sign shop to sell you a piece if you explain you want it for a cage) or another waterproof material for the floor. Wood absorbs the smell very well, so you would need to cover it up with something completely water proof and probably put a tarp underneath the condo in case of spillage (to protect your flooring). Linoleum isn’t all waterproof, but a lot of it is, something meant for the bathroom that is all a single piece (no edges to slip through) should protect the wood from any urine since it’s designed to protect the wood in the bathroom from shower/sink/toilet spillage (rotted out wood is really bad in a bathroom floor). You want to make sure the edges are farther out than the cage so he can’t pee over the edge and hit the wood as well.

Another option rather than using wood as a base for your linoleum would be the plastic floor grates they sell for garages and/or kennels. That would not absorb the smell if some spills over the way that wood does. Just be sure it’s covered up well so that he can’t chew it.

A lot of cage designs are meant for litter trained buns already (such as all the ones with carpet in them) so you need to make slight adjustments when you have one that isn’t. Or, you can ditch the idea of a cage altogether and just use an x-pen if you have room and put a waterproof material underneath it that is easy to mop up (vinyl, coroplast, etc just make sure the edges are far enough out that he can’t get a hold of them to chew). If he is a jumper or climber, you can give your x-pen setup a top.

Probably the easiest to clean would be plastic flooring grates (something like these http://media.qcsupply.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/6/7/670700_2_.jpg) underneath an x-pen setup (you can build it out of NIC cubes if you still have the panels) with waterproof linoleum over that (grated floors are bad on their feet) and leave about 2″ on every side so he can’t get to any edges. Have the people at lowes/home depot cut a single piece of the waterproof flooring to size (they will be able to point you to something that will resist water spills), so there are no edges for the urine to slip down through. Put a tarp underneath that just in case there is any spilling. Everything water resistant, easily wiped off and can be mopped. I know with a non-trained bun, ease of cleaning is important. I’ve struggled with my two and had to try so many different set ups. It’s like solving a puzzle figuring out what works for some of them! And as he improves, you can expand his area and begin adding levels.

And at 7, yes he can be neutered, but the vet will probably want to run blood work and such on him before hand to make sure there are no health complications that might make it riskier. I would probably try setting up a new area and training him again before neutering. A larger, but controlled, area might make it easier. And if you leave his current cage inside the new area, he may decide to use it as a litterbox. I use the bottom of one of those pet store cages as a litter box for my two, it’s the one Stickers came in and she took to it very well.

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