Above ground rabbit hole

Morning all! I wanted to share something that I did for Coco this weekend, and it took less than one hour.

I could tell he was bored and whenever he went to "get away" he would find a dark place. So ... I made him a little above ground rabbit hole!

I taped up five cardboard boxes (each box is a room), different sizes, then cut five-inch 'doorways' in them, matched up the doorways and taped the boxes together. Fast, easy and I tell you - Coco is busy all day. I don't know what he's doing in there but it sounds like heavy construction going on!

He absolutely LOVES this thing. He was in there for most of the day yesterday.

Wow, that's great!

I'm glad Coco likes it! I think I'll make one for Ash. Maybe we can all share pictures of what we did with cardboard boxes for our buns on this thread.

What a fun idea! The only concern is him chewing the tape and ingesting it.

^ I would be worried about that too. I'll have to figure out some way not to use tape. Or maybe tape the boxes together on the bottom of the box so the bunny can't get at the tape.

Wow so creative!

I did the same for Thumper although his bixes are pretty big. I'll try to post pics later, stupid pooter isn't letting me right now.

The way I attached boxes was to simply cut a hole as a doorway in a box. I made only three cuts the top and the sides of the doorway. The cardboard doorway was still attached to the box at the bottom. I then did the same with another box so that the two doorways matched and lined up with each other. I pushed the boxes together with the flap from box A going through the hole (doorway) of Box B and the flap from Box B going through the hole (doorway) of Box A. Every once in a while I have to slightly push the boxes back together.

Before using any box I first remove any tape from it because Thumper will eat it. I have no doubt that he will. I have one box that is shaped like a house, what would be the roof is the two top box flaps at an angle. To keep these up and together I simply cut a slit in flap A and a slit directly across from the first slit but in box B. I then cut a short, narrow piece of cardboard, pushed one end through the first slit and the other end through the second slit and pulled it through so that the flaps were touching. The cardboard pieces hold it together, no worries of Thumper ingesting tape and can be replaced easily if needed.

coco_puffs said:

Coco is busy all day. I don't know what he's doing in there but it sounds like heavy construction going on!

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$20 says he's frantically ripping/shredding up the floors, lol - that's what my girls do to cardboard boxes, they dig-dig-dig at the bottoms

This will be the third and last time I try to post this. I built Thumper a similar set up. I removed all tape from the boxes first to avoid him eating it which I know he would do. To keep boxes together I simply cut a door way in each box that would be going together. The doorways lined up with each other. I did not cut a full square shape out of the box but instead starting from the bottom cut upwards for a side of the doorway, then horizontally for the top of the doorway, then down for the other side of the doorway. The bottom was left uncut so that there was a flap of cardboard attached to the box. I did this with each doorway. I then slid the boxes together with the flap from one box pushed through the doorway of the other box and vice versa. The flaps help to keep the boxes together although every once in a while I have to push them back together.

He's having a great day in there again today. I can hear him shredding the doorway flaps. I left them intact in case I want to close them up and remodel. Also, all the tape is on the outsides of the boxes, but I will double-check just to make sure he's not chewing his way through to it. I appreciate that warning!

Ellie digs through the bottoms of boxes, but she doesn't mess with the tape. She can dig a hole through the bottom of a box in minutes!
Your cardboard set up looks great! I bet Coco is having a total blast with it! I should try to get some boxes and do that for Ellie, but she makes a HUGE mess with cardboard.

whitelop said:

Ellie digs through the bottoms of boxes, but she doesn't mess with the tape. She can dig a hole through the bottom of a box in minutes!
Your cardboard set up looks great! I bet Coco is having a total blast with it! I should try to get some boxes and do that for Ellie, but she makes a HUGE mess with cardboard.

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That's the great thing about the maze-like structure. The mess stays inside! I don't think he's using it as a toilet. He comes out and goes in his cage.

I made a lot of cardboard structures for pet mice. I used a small dot of hot glue to hold it together.

Love your cardboard maze, the corners probably make it exciting. Been meaning to make one for Bandit, but I'm honestly not sure where I'm going to put it when it's not in use, my wardrobe maybe? lol

PaGal said:

Before using any box I first remove any tape from it because Thumper will eat it. I have no doubt that he will. I have one box that is shaped like a house, what would be the roof is the two top box flaps at an angle. To keep these up and together I simply cut a slit in flap A and a slit directly across from the first slit but in box B. I then cut a short, narrow piece of cardboard, pushed one end through the first slit and the other end through the second slit and pulled it through so that the flaps were touching. The cardboard pieces hold it together, no worries of Thumper ingesting tape and can be replaced easily if needed.

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I don't know if it's possible to elaborate on this part, I'm trying to picture it in my head, but don't seem to be having much luck and I'd really like to figure out how to keep the top of boxes usable without having tape on them.

Azerane said:

I don't know if it's possible to elaborate on this part, I'm trying to picture it in my head, but don't seem to be having much luck and I'd really like to figure out how to keep the top of boxes usable without having tape on them.

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I've tried a few things that seem to work. There's the normal way that people close boxes without tape, overlapping each flap, then tucking the corner of the last flap under the edge of the first flap. I've also used zipties to secure box flaps. I'll poke holes with an awl, near the center seam, at each end and on each of the top flaps, also having the holes go through the flaps on the bottom for added strength, then I'll run a ziptie through the holes in both flaps. It holds the flaps together pretty well. The tricky part is if you try and do it without any bunny entrance holes in the box yet. Easier if you cut those out first, then you can reach inside the box to run the zipties through the holes on the inside.

There are also ways that you can tab different cardboard pieces together. Binkybunny makes some cardboard playhouses that are made from cardboard that uses tabs, to connect the different pieces.

http://store.binkybunny.com/playhouses-c7.aspx

Azerane...I will take a close up picture later and try to post it. Have been having issues with computer so hopefully it will work.


JBun...I like the idea of using zip ties but know Thumper would chew them. I only use them with his hay rack because I can put them on in a way he cannot get to them to chew.