NIC Cage Help!

Hello!
So I have started, and almost finished, my little Chive's NIC Cage. So I thought I would share her almost finished cage! Just need flooring, ramp to her shelf and flooring for the shelf

The help I need is with the next cage I will be building for my Holland Lop. The NIC I bought from Walmart has large squares in it, is it still safe for him? And a sizing question, would a cage as large as Chive's (about 3ft x 2ft) be large enough for a Flemish Giant? I would upgrade when we move into a larger house. Plus the bunny would only be in there over night, and while I am at work. I give my buns plenty of free range time!

Pardon the mess of the room! It's CLEARLY cleaning day haha!

I would imagine the larger holed grids would be fine as long as it's not large enough for the bun to get it's head through and stuck, I can't picture grids with spaces that big.

It is recommended that a Flemish giant cage be at least 24" high X 36" deep X 48" long. Thumpers is smaller than that but he was the runt and has remained small and he is only locked up at night and every once in a while for a few hours such as for grocery shopping.

I don't know why they now include grids with those wider openings. The only thing they can be used for is as a base for the upper levels (if covered), or as a roof. (the larger openings run the risk of bunny getting his head stuck)

Ramps are fine (though space consuming). You could also use a box as step. Turned on it's side, the box doubles as a hidey spot.

My opinion is that a 3 x 2 would be too small for a Flemish. I would think bare minimum would be 4 x 2 and 3 grids high. But I'd feel better with a 5 x 2.

I would return the walmart grids and get the Sears ones (which I'm pretty sure are cheaper anyway - $21.99 for a six-cube box (23 grids, I think)). I've had a bunny get their head stuck in a NIC grid (regular size holes, but she was only 9 weeks old) and it was SO **** terrifying - I'm beyond thankful that she didn't manage to hurt herself while struggling before I was able to rush to her side and calm her down. definitely not a risk I'd take again!

wait, ****, canada... well, still, there's gotta be a source of grids that don't have such large spacing!

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honestly, ramps are more work, more grids, more stuff to cover the grids, extra effort to make sure they're not too slippery and they take up an awful lot of space. at around 3 months old and maybe a pound and a half or something, both my athletic Nala and my chubby, lazy Gazzles could jump up one NIC grid high to get to the levels. if you're worried, there are many better alternatives to a ramp:
~ instead of putting the level a full grid height up, put it a couple squares lower than the top of the grid
~ put a box or toy or something that can be used as a step
~ use a grid to make a halfway step to help the bunny reach the level

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J.Bosley said:

Plus the bunny would only be in there over night, and while I am at work. I give my buns plenty of free range time!

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^ the problem with this is that no amount of free-run time will change the fact that bunnies are half nocturnal. if you're at work during the day, locking him up is no biggie because like most rabbits, he's almost certainly going to spend the bulk of the day sound asleep. night time, though, is a different thing entirely. my bunnies are often bouncing off the walls/tearing ass around their pen between like 2-5 am.

for a flemish, I wouldn't go smaller than 4-5 grids long x 2-3 wide by 2-3 tall unless they were a baby/juvenile, and I'd definitely recommend increasing the size by the time the bunny gets to be 5 lbs.

A young/baby rabbit can definately stick its head through the larger holes, I had the same problem when I bought my grids, she stuck her head right through it.. so unless its an adult with a larger head than I wouldnt risk it until then. Put the larger holed ones as the roof, I can only imagine how flimsy that one must be without a roof to it, although thats totally up to you, just would annoy me lol Mine looks the same, I dont have a ramp up to the second floor, she is just gonna have to learn to jump up there if she wants to use it.

Thanks guys! Maybe I will hold off on a Flemish Giant until I can have a larger space for it. I've heard mixed reviews on the cage sizes for them, so I thought asking would be best.

I will probably use the larger holed stuff for the shelves and maybe the back wall of my Holland Lop's half of the cage, I don't see him getting stuck. He's pretty docile and has been in a pen with similar sized openings. I will for sure keep an eye on him though!

Morquinn said:

A young/baby rabbit can definately stick its head through the larger holes

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^ they can get stuck in the *small* holes too, if they're young enough - I had the small size holes in the grids when Nala got stuck at 9 weeks.

J.Bosley said:

I will probably use the larger holed stuff for the shelves and maybe the back wall of my Holland Lop's half of the cage, I don't see him getting stuck. He's pretty docile and has been in a pen with similar sized openings. I will for sure keep an eye on him though!

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a couple things that are worth noting, re: Hollands...
~ they tend to have wider heads, which does help make it more difficult for them to stick their head through a grid opening
~ I'm definitely not saying that I'm 100% sure a lop couldn't get stuck... BUT... what caused Nala to get stuck was that she shoved her head through and then her ears popped straight up and prevented her from backing out

so a Holland would at least be at a lower risk of getting stuck... and if the grids with the wider holes are up against a wall, you should be pretty safe.

I will just make sure to keep an eye on him for the first little while, until he gets settled