wood for NIC cage bottom

[equalsign]

Hey all,

 

First time poster. I was just wondering what you guys recomend using for the bottoms of your NIC condos. My girlfriend and I have just been using cardboard since we’re dead poor college students and it’s not actually our rabbit (though we want it to be), but we think it’s time for an upgrade. We have some wood lying around and were thinking about using it. What are your experiences with wood?

Can it hurt our rabbit? Is it easy to clean? What happens when it gets soiled, ect? Are there any other cheap recomendations for flooring?

The first floor is 2×3 squares in size.

Thanks!

 

[cactuspancake]

I have a great suggestion!! I have the same size nic bottom, and I took plywood that was an inch bigger on each side and then put tile on it. The tiles can be bought for as cheap as .49 cents at home depot. Then I took a drill and drilled holes all around and then zip tied the condo to the bottom. It’s super great! I used textured tiles but you have to cover it with something because the wood is so porous it will become really unsanitary. I’m pretty sure everyone will tell you to stay away from wood. I guess you cut put hay all over on top of the tile but I can’t do that because my bunny is too fluffy and he will come out looking like a swamp monster lol.

Also some people use carpet if they’re SURE their bunny won’t chew/ pee on it. I wouldn’t use it unless you were sure though. You can totally use craigslist to find “short weave” carpet; the kind they use in the office. Tons of ppl give away free carpet.

[equalsign]

 

That is a really good suggestion! Did you grout the tile or just place them closely? Does the tile have problems being too cold? I live in Utah land and the temperature gets pretty low here. The house she’s in would probably never get below 60, but I do worry about warmth.

 

I kinda wanted to add borders to keep hay and feces in. Any suggestions?

 

She would probably be mostly fine with carpet, but I would be afraid of her occasionally soiling it. She’s not fixed (yet). There’s carpet on the second story but I really don’t want more. She at least doesn’t eat it.

 

Just out of curiosity, why did you attach the condo to the flooring?

[jerseygirl]

Welcome. : )

Wood is a good sturdy option but you would want to lay something on top of it. Once it gets peed on it would be hard to clean and get the smell out. That might lead to more marking of the spot.

You could try stick on vinyl tile on the wood or even get a vinyl remnant. Sometimes you can pick these up for free. I use to use vinyl for flooring layed it upside down as it was less slippery. Same for tile. A remnant that is larger then the floors footprint could be bent up at the edges to help contain hay and poop.
Some members have done this using coroplast (sign board) as flooring. You could even go with the wood floor and continue with cardboard on top of it. Easy to source, safe and warm to sit on.

[cactuspancake]

I did end up using grout as my particular tiles didn’t have adhesive. The cheap ones are sticky already. The plywood also has tons of particles on top so I’m not sure how it would work without adhesive but at bunnycondo.com (I think that what it was) he didn’t use grout. The bottom is my base; I didn’t put nic grids on the bottom. The reason being is so that I can take off the whole front to clean and the bottom is super sturdy so it holds everything up nice. I originally did it with nic bottom and I hated it… I ended up take it apart. I have a post under the habitat section with pics if you want to take a look.

[bunnnnnnie!]

I’m also a broke college student, and I bought some linoleum remnant from Home Depot, it was fairly inexpensive.

Since you already have the wood, as the others said, you could just stick some linoleum tiles onto the wood.  The tiles are way cheap, I’ve seen some that were like 33 cents a piece, and they’re basically huge stickers that you peel the back off and they have strong adhesive on the bottom.

[equalsign]

Thanks for all the advice! I ended up picking up some linoleum tiles from Home Depot. I’m thinking I’m going to pick up some fresh wood, as about half of what I have was left outside for a while before I got it. I haven’t been able to work on the cage for the past couple days though, as the hot water heater at the owner’s house (she’s sorta half my rabbit [long story]) has been acting up and making horrible screaming sounds at random that were freaking the rabbit out. While it’s being fixed she’s staying at my place.

[allosamosaurus]

I love cloroplast- it’s relatively inexpensive, easy to clean, and completely customizable.  I *just* bought a 4′ X 8′ sheet from a local graphics company for $15.  The hardest part is finding a vehicle large enough to transport it (I borrowed my mom’s van- hurray for moving closer to the ‘rents!).

My boyfriend fashion a box out of half of the sheet for me.  We sealed the edges and sides with white duct tape. Because rabbits chew on anything and everything (and especially anything and everything that contributes to their confinement), the cage fits inside of the box and out of reach of teeth. 

My last cloroplast bottom lasted two years and the only reason I got rid of it was because I was moving and I knew that it would be easier to just make a new one. 

I don’t reccomend ordering the cloroplast inline because the sheer size of it will drive up the delivery fee.  Also, the major graphics/sign companies in my area were no help and/or much more expensive.  I found an independantly owned (hurray for supporting small business!) graphics company and explained to the owner why I needed the sheet.  This is the third sheet I’ve bought from him.  The first time (eight or so years ago, when I made my first C&C cage for two cavies), he gave me the sheet for free.  

[Deleted User]

My rabbits did not enjoy the time I had them housed on coroplast flooring because it was so slippery. Easy to clean, yes, but even small rugs/blankets I put down were sent flying whenever they attempted to race.

[allosamosaurus]

My cage is a three tier cage- only the bottom- the cloroplast part– is plastic, but it’s al so 1/3 litter boxes and the rest covered with hay and bedding. Neither of my buns have trouble with it, even on plain plastic. They are also more mature and total lazy buns, so I guess it depends on the bunny.

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