Size of condo for a happy bunny

[Alicia Conklin]

I need new condo designs.  I’ve fretted over this for weeks now but the massive condo is not getting clean enough, their eating the carpets and they’re peeing/pooping where they shouldn’t be.  I need new plans

First  there is Tucker…she is 3.5 lbs, she gets out of condo time daily for anywhere between 3 and 12 hours…dependong on the day and how crazy it is around here..but she always gets at the very least three hours of out time.

Then there is Drue..he is 5.6 lbs, and he gets out of condo time the same as Tucker.  Now, Drue’s out of condo time is always free range around either the top floor or bottom floor…so he gets much more space then Tucker.  Tucker either gets a penned area or the half dining room, all of kitchen to play with.

Right now their condo is HUGE.  It’s 4 floors tall and 5 cubes long and 2 cubes deep..divided equally.  But I need individual ones I think…so that I can lift the entire condo up and clean behind it..because there is poop/dried pee back there that currently I can NOT get to. 

How big of a condo do you think they would need to be happy?  I don’t mean how big would make them comfortable or what they could get by with..but what would actually make them happy.  Also, if I make their condos themselves smaller then I could use the extra grids for pens that I could attach and then they’d have them during the day all day.  The only reason they’re not allowed out more then they are is because my husband can’t multi task so if he’s down here and cleaning he can’t watch the bunny to make sure they’re not chewing stuff they shouldn’t be.  But if they had a pen..he would definitely let them out into that and then when I came down after work I’d open it up and they’d have free run time. 

I was thinking 2 x 3 and two cubes high.  And having a shelf along the back wall for them to sit/sleep on.  Then having the litter boxes, a cardboard house, and a tunnel in there..plus their toys.  Then they’d have a pen that they could be let out into that was….probably 4 cubes by 4 cubes that was attached to the 2 cube x 3 cube condo.

The only thing I’d really be taking away was the extra floors.  I know they like to be up high, but when the condo is so huge I can’t move it and so it needs to be smaller and moveable so that it can be fully cleaned. 

I think I might ..what’s that word?  When I put human feelings onto my animals?  I think I’m doing that and worried that they’re going to get depressed if they have smaller condos…so I need some rational advice here lol.

If they really WILL get depressed then I’ll have to come up with another plan. 

 

[Alicia Conklin]

Oh..I forgot.  The other idea I was thinking was to have condos that were higher but not as big of a foot print..like  2 x 2 and 4 cubes high.  That would still let them have the extra cubes for pens..so they would definitely have run around time each day..but I wasn’t sure if that was too small for them..especially for a bunny Drue’s size.  I think that’d be ok for Tucker’s size but I want the condos to be the same..or atleast doable for each because they’ll be switching back and forth.

[Beka27]

when does Tucker get spayed? can you make do with what you have until they’re bonded and then make a new joint condo?

[Alicia Conklin]

We had to reschedule the appt since they only do Tuesdays and Tuesdays are a really bad day of the week for us especially with Holidays coming up…with work and all.  So, now it won’t be til the week after Christmas.  And then there’s the recuperation time. and then the bonding process..so it’s going to be a few months at least I’d say with all that.  .so I was thinking I would make the new condo/pen whatever and then take down one wall from each and combine them when they’re bonded. 

 

The biggest issue with this condo is that there is NO way to get behind it.  It’s attached to the plywood pieces that we have down and those things are massively heavy and so I can’t move it at all to get behind it.  Even if it wasn’t attached it’s so large that I don’t think it’d budge for me to slide it up to clean behiind it.   Also, the way that it is and the way the doors to it are it’s almost impossible to get to some of the corners..I can’t reach it to sweep it out, I can’t get the vacuum hose back far enough and if I add the handle to the hose then it’s too bulky to get through to that space because of angles.  It’s an awesome condo and if it was two bunnies who would use their litter boxes then it’d probably work out better.  I’m trying to think of ways to make it work but none of those ways seem to help the getting access to the back to clean back there. 

[Dave]

How heavy is the condo?  Is it possible to buy a round wooden dowel and put it under the front of the plywood and roll it out to clean behind it?  Kinda like log rolling.  It might be tricky, but it could get the job done.  Aside from that I would recommend buying some caster wheels that lock in place under it. 

 

Steve is a young holland lop (2.5lbs) and a 4x2x2 condo is more then enough room for him and he loves his cage.  He barely leaves it even when I have it open.  He sleeps in it all day with the door open.  I have posted pics somewhere on the forums here.

[KatnipCrzy]

You could always have a solid back on the condo instead of NIC grids.  If it is against a wall anyway- it should not make a difference- just make sure to get something cleanable- like Coroplast (might not be storng enough by itself) or linoleum lined wood.

I think when I make my bunny condo that I will make a movable base with locking casters- and a solid back, and push it right against the wall so they can’t squeeze behind it or flick little “present” back there.

[arizmary]

We have two bunny condos that we ordered from http://www.leithpetwerks.com.  I believe their footprint is 2 ft. by 4 ft., they are on wheels, one is 2-story with front opening doors, the other is 1-story with front door and opening top.  They were not cheap, except one I got a good deal on during their moving sale.  They came in very handy while our bunnies were not yet bonded, but we have not caged them since they bonded.  All three roam around the house, which brings me to my point.  We use x-pens that we purchased from a local store named The Bunny Basics http://www.thebunnybasics.com/products/1835.html to block off any area we don’t want the rabbits to access.  They work great, we love them, the cats can jump over them, the bunnies have freedom so everyone is happy.   They cost about $60, which is SO much cheaper than the condos, it seemed affordable to me.  One note of caution:  our aggressive bunny can pick them up with her mouth and move to get around, so when they are spread out (not clasped in a circle), I put the ends up against the wall and then weight it down with something heavy.  If your bunny(ies) are not aggressive, it shoudn’t be a problem.

Mary W.

Maximus, Mischa and Muffin

[Beka27]

Posted By KatnipCrzy on 12/01/2008 2:26 PM

You could always have a solid back on the condo instead of NIC grids.  If it is against a wall anyway- it should not make a difference- just make sure to get something cleanable- like Coroplast (might not be storng enough by itself) or linoleum lined wood.

I think when I make my bunny condo that I will make a movable base with locking casters- and a solid back, and push it right against the wall so they can’t squeeze behind it or flick little “present” back there.

that’s an awesome idea!  you could still make it all NIC grids for structure, but then ziptie a sheet to the back by cutting several holes around the perimeter… for more protection, have it extend forward about 6 inches…

also… if someone had the bad 3-inch grids from target, that’s a way they could still use them for structure, but without the risk of escape/injury…

[Alicia Conklin]

Ok now that the Drue emergency is over I can answer some of the questions from this thread!

The condo ITSELF is not heavy, but we had no way of getting plywood home in our car so what we did was take closet shelves from home depot, line them up and brace them all together and then tiled them.  It is SUPER heavy and it itself is NOT moveable.  That part is ok though…because it’s flush up against the wall and we just think  of it as the flooring in that area because it’s so massive and sturdy and it protects our carpet underneath 1000%.  I need a way though to move the condo part OFF of that so that I can get back there and clean it. 

The backing on the condo is an idea…although I still can’t reach to the back corner anyway..but that might be easier to fix then ripping apart the whole condo would be.  My wonder is though…how expensive would all that coroplast be??  It’s 5 cubes long and 4 cubes high..then if you figure the lip to go under it..and then the back wall…which is 2 cubes wide by 4 cubes high…that’s a LOT of coroplast!

I really think that I want to separate the two cages into two or something…I dunno..I need something that is easier to clean.  These past few weeks I’ve been so busy but it’s not really like…special things..it’s just life!  My kids are getting older, they need more time for me to do things with them, we have family, etc…I need something that doesn’t take an hour each day to really clean.  I timed it the other day….45 minutes and I didn’t even GET all of it really cleaned. 

So ideally I want something that either fully opens up from the front, or something that I can stand in to clean like Tucker’s pen was.  Given their preferences..something that fully opens up from the front would be best as they seem to prefer condos to pens.

I think I’ll go with three levels tall since that gives them some jumping space.  2 cubes deep because that’s reachable to the back.  So now it’s a question of how many cubes wide.  I can do 2 but that seems small..especially for Drue.  Maybe I’ll do Tucker’s 2 and Drue’s 3.  Then when they are bonded I’ll open the two up and they’ll have 2 x 5 and three levels tall.  That seems doable right?   Figure pens attached to these too…

[KatnipCrzy]

We called sign places for our Coroplast- one place quoted $30 for a 4ft by 8ft sheet (at least I am pretty sure that was the size- I think it is considered a half sheet) and they had navy blue in stock.  The next place we called quoted $18 for the same size of navy blue and they would have to order it and we could get it in 2 days.  We went with the cheaper place.  We also have 2 cars only (no SUV, pickup, etc) and while the sign place would not cut the board for us without charging- they did score it (cut halfway thru) so it would bend- so we could load it in the car.

Just figure out how will be best to score it to fit in car and still make sure you have a large piece needed for back- although it would not hurt to have lg piece scored- that is how all the cage kits on eBay are sold for shipping- lg pieces are scored and folded.

Did you use linoluem type tile to tile the base or did you grout the tile in?  I am thinking that I would love the pick out cool looking tile and grout it in- as the base would not be so big that the project would be unreasonable- only 5 cubes x 2-3 cubes width.   So I am guessing that I would make a “lip” all the way around to attach NIC panels to at the bottom of the base.  Something I can undo if needed.  But I do plan on having low casters on the base- or something that will slide on carpet.  The room is carpeted at this point, but once we build the saltwater fish tank into the wall we want to go with a tiled floor instead.  I dislike having a huge reef tank on a carpeted floor.

[Alicia Conklin]

I made the condo today!  Well it’s mostly done lol..Tucker’s has no doors so I’ll have to fix that before she can get in lol….

They are both 2 X 2 and 4  cubes high.  They can both be slid forward so that I can clean the floor behind it..this way I can do weekly mopping with vinegar and water and can do daily sweeping back there. 

I’m so freaking excited!  I made them so that they’re going to be so simple to clean!   I also have removed all carpeting from there so that the flooring is folded up blankets/towels/rugs that can all be thrown into the washer if they need to.  I’m [planning on crocheting them some mats though for them..but again those will be washable.  I’m going to use the cotton yarn that you would make dish towels out of..

And they are actually really spacious..especially since they get a lot of out and about time.  Once they are bonded we’re going to just take down a wall from each one and attach them together so that they’ll have a 2 X 4 X 4 condo mansion!

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