Yet another flooring post

[Chazz]

So, ya’ll may remember that while ago I purchased heavy duty foam flooring for Larry’s pen. It’s working pretty great, but he occasionally pulls at the edges, since it doesn’t come out from the edges of the pen much. Since I’m going away for the month of December I’m concerned about leaving him with the sitter and him having an issue with it. He gets cranky (Larry) if he’s not let out at a certain time of the morning and commences to destory things. Anyway, so I’m having trouble picturing solutions and maybe someone can help me. I was thinking I could just cover the whole thing with linoleum, or just the edges, or just buy another set of the foam flooring. Or buy a carpet, but I can’t find one the size I would need for a price I’m willing to pay.

Thanks! Ya’ll are always so helpful!

 

[jerseygirl]

I wonder if you could cap the edges with something? So he hasn’t ever pulled at any of the middle of the mats?
Whatever solution you go with, it’d be an idea to have it in place well before you leave so you can observe him & be sure it will suffice.
I sort of think giving them an alternative so have a go out might divert from the problem area. So if he likes to tear at the edges, then put something in his pen that’s heavy enough (like a branch) he can tear at.

Actually, could you put lengths of safe wood like pine around the interior perimeter of the pen? He might chew on that (good for interest and his teeth) and not be able to access the mat edges as easily.

[Chazz]

Yes, a good idea to try it before I leave. I thought about the pieces of wood trimming they sell at hardware stores (for whatever they’re used for). But I have no idea how to secure it, and secured it would need to be. He’s not been really chewing at the mat, at all really. Just now and then, when I don’t let him out when he thinks it’s time. And I haven’t seen any damage to the other parts of the mat, although I’m worried that while I’m gone he’ll will decide to. I could just lay down blankets for while I’m gone. But he can’t really be trusted with those, he thinks they’re really fun to dig at. I thought about just getting linoleum squares with adhesive backing that could be attached, but it would still need to be take-a-part-able. So I don’t know if that would be possible.

[Otti]

You could use some type of shelf liner (like canvas or plastic) that comes in rolls and line one side of the foam mat with it. I have either the same or similar flooring, and I think that’s what I would try and do if Sammy showed interest in chewing it.

You could find a plastic shelf liner that was textured enough to provide traction but would still be water proof and easy to clean.

Then you could also leave one side of the foam mat lined for when you’re not around on a daily basis to supervise the condition of the mat, and the other side unlined just for normal everyday use.

[Otti]

I just noticed from your previous posts that we actually do have the same flooring. I find that covering as many of the lines of connection between the tiles with other items/fabric is useful to prevent chewing (though Sammy shows no interest so far).

I have straw mats down, Sammy’s bed over one part, and he also has an area rug in his cage that covers most of the junctures.

It is an issue if the pen you have only barely goes over the edges of the mat, in that the edges really are the most tempting chew spots. I have a smaller pen that isn’t a standard xpen so it doesn’t go that close to the edges. However, I’ve thought about switching to a standard xpen down the line, in which case I think I’d purchase another set of foam mats or maybe 2 as needed, and I’d attach them to my current mat and then cut this larger created mat to size, in order to provide a larger mat space on which to place the xpen and not have issues with the edges of the mat being accessible… Does that make sense?

You would need 5 additional squares to make a 6 by 6 mat, and then you could cut it down to 4.5 by 4.5 feet or something. Kind of wasteful but the mats are already cheap.

[jerseygirl]

Funny, I was just looking at things in hardware store just now Mats and such to cover my foam mats. I have just 2 as landing pads for my rabbits. There was clear carpet protector on a roll that looked a good option.

Also I saw aluminium mouldings and cappings etc in the roofing/fencing & gates area. It’s quite light and not really expensive. I wonder if you could cap the mat perimeter using something like that? It’s soft enough it could be bent slightly on one side (to make it less than 90 degrees) so it stays on clip-like.

[Chazz]

Those are both really good ideas! Thanks! Larry’s x-pen is in my fairly small bedroom. It might be hard to fit more foam without having the bed be on top of it, but I guess that could be remedied by just cutting the foam, it’s easy to cut. Jersygirl, I was thinking about a cap like that, even if I got extra foam I’d need to still cover the ends I think, because when he’s out of the pen, they’d still be tempting edges to destroy. I’m worried about putting something to cover the seams too much, at least with something stationary, cause that always seems to create the need to want to move whatever is there, and thus makes him dig and bite at it, including the foam. If that makes sense. Although straw mats are a good idea.

Otti, is the plastic shelf liner your talking about clear? Because I wonder if that might be something that would work on certain parts of my carpet where he likes to dig. Like under the bed.

[Otti]

Yeah it would be clear, but if you’re looking to put plastic over carpet I don’t think the roll shelf-liner kind would work, because it needs to be glued or somehow fixed pretty well to whatever it’s covering to stay flat. I was suggesting it to cover the foam mats because you could have easily used double-sided tape or glue with it.

What might work over carpet are rigid plastic shelf liners. They have those at The Container Store for sure, probably other places as well. You could maybe even staple gun them to the floor… that’s what i would do at least with my limited capacities LOL It would not permanently damage the carpet, since staples come out pretty easily, and this way your bunny wouldn’t be able to lift the plastic sheets.

[Deleted User]

I would not use anything remotely chewable at all. Foam and other synthetic polymers, tappe and glue can all be chewed and ingested. My rabbits have chewed up coroplast flooring, eaten a hole in it. I would go with edible flooring such as cardboard or chew-proof such as tiles, or a combination of both. Maybe I have a bad bunch of rabbits, though…

[Otti]

I think the foam flooring works for some rabbits and not for others. I’ve used it since I’ve had Sammy and he’s shown zero interest in chewing it or even noticing its existence since day 1. The first day I got it, he tentatively closed his teeth on one edge, and immediately seemed to decide the taste was not for him. He does like to chew cardboard, wood, rubber, and carpet though.

[Chazz]

 I got some more of those floor tiles in and wanted to share what I’ve done and what seems to be working for us right now. I’m sorry all I have is a cell phone camera, but I think you can tell what I did in the pic. The floor now goes out beyond the edges of the pen so that Larry can’t get at the edges of the foam. He’s never showed an interest in digging at the stuff, so I think we’re good with it. Plus we got a grass mat to cover most of the seams in the middle. We sorta need just one more square for the weird corner, but that’s ok. 

Oh and since I’ve given him the under the bed, and cleaned it out, his rubbermaid container with hay/extra food/other is in his pen, with a blanket on top, and it has become his favorite spot ever. He loves to lay on top of it. So funny! And hay is within easy reach.

 

 

 

[cactuspancake]

Posted By Chazz on 10/27/2010 08:15 AM

So, ya’ll may remember that while ago I purchased heavy duty foam flooring for Larry’s pen. It’s working pretty great, but he occasionally pulls at the edges, since it doesn’t come out from the edges of the pen much. Since I’m going away for the month of December I’m concerned about leaving him with the sitter and him having an issue with it. He gets cranky (Larry) if he’s not let out at a certain time of the morning and commences to destory things. Anyway, so I’m having trouble picturing solutions and maybe someone can help me. I was thinking I could just cover the whole thing with linoleum, or just the edges, or just buy another set of the foam flooring. Or buy a carpet, but I can’t find one the size I would need for a price I’m willing to pay.

Thanks! Ya’ll are always so helpful!

 

Hi, I want to floor a room in my house with foam mats, and was wondering how it worked out for you! I’m mostly worried about the poops and hay going into the cracks. What did you buy?

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