Containing the mess

[simplykb]

Hello! I am new to the forum and looking for advice about caging options for my two female rabbits. One is a 15 lb Flemish Giant named Blue, the other is a 6 lb Mini Lop named Fluff. They are both spayed and each in their own cage. We made homemade C&C style cages, with coroplast on the bottom. Blue's is a one level 28" wide, 42" long and 42" high cage. Fluff's is a 28" by 28" two level cage. They have litter boxes (large cat pans with a DIY bent wire insert to prevent scattering and digging), but aren't very good at going in them. They pee in them mostly, but poop everywhere! Is this normal? We are having to sweep out their cages a few times a day. The Flemish Giant especially loves to just lay in her poop. They both love to chew on the edges of the coroplast. Their litter boxes are attached to the side of their cages with zip ties, but Blue loves to chew her zip tie off and move her litter box around randomly. We think she wants more room in her cage to lay.
It is now becoming a sanitary issue where they seem to just be laying in their own waste. We are thinking of making a more "hutch" style cage with a drop pan underneath so they won't be directly in their own waste. We have a few ideas but are trying to make sure they still have the maximum amount of space.
We will probably keep the cages the same size and are trying to figure out how to make Fluff's as a two level, because she loves her current cage style where she can have an outlook. With the drop pan eliminating the litter box, they will have more floor space in there as well. I am concerned with them being on the wire constantly. We will provide them with some resting areas, but I'm just worried that won't be enough. When we adopted Blue, she hadn't been taken care of very well and had very matted and sore feet.
Edit: we are also looking for tips on how to "seal" the untreated lumber for durability.
I am just looking for any advice you guys have!

 

[Watermelons]

How long have you had these bunnies? Do you put anything on the coroplast as bedding or is it just in the litter pan?

My guys had more issues pooping around the cage for the first few months I had them after switching the flooring for awhile, but are 100% now. What I found makes life easies for me is Textured ceramic tile as the floor, and around the sides inside the cage, I have laminate flooring that creates a 6" border to keep any mess in. If they pooped in the cage it was very easy to sweep or vacuum up.

 

[simplykb]

No bedding on the coroplast but it does have raised edges to keep the mess in. We have had Fluff for about 3 years and Blue for 1 year. Blue is the seriously messy one. I'm not sure if it is because of how she was housed as a baby (she was estimated as a year when we got her) or just because she's so much bigger and poops more! We were hoping after she was spayed that the litter training would be easier for her, but it hasn't changed.
My friend with guinea pigs suggested the fleece liner method but I'm not sure if that would just give them something new to chew and kick around.

 

[Watermelons]

Do you keep on up cleaning up after her?
Sometimes if you leave the poops for the day they don't care, but if you're on them all the time, sweeping the poops up and putting them in the litter pan for them, they get the hint.
Some people use fleece or towels. I don't, my 2 chew any fabric put into their cage so towels got taken out and now they have just the tile floor. Often rabbits are more likely to mess the cage if theres towels or bedding vs nothing.

 

[Blue eyes]

Rabbit poo is pretty clean & dry. I wouldn't be hung up on having it strewn around the cage. It's really not a big deal if they lay on it since it shouldn't stick to them. The cage for your 15lb flemish is, IMHO, pretty small- especially with just one level. If it needs to be just 2 grids deep (for ease of cleaning), then it seems it should be at least 6 grids long. Either that or maybe 5 grids long but have it 4 grids high with a mid-way level that spans half that. Chloroplast can be a bit slippery. There is roll linoleum that would be less slippy but still easy to clean. You wouldn't be able to roll the edges up inside though or they'll get chewed. It would have to go just past the outer edge of the cage. Then 1 x 4s or something can serve as a border to contain mess. The weight of a flemish makes them not a good candidate for wire flooring. Experimenting with fleece or seagrass mats or textured tile are all good ideas. Each rabbit I've had has been different on what it seemed to do ok with. An exercise pen (or 2 together) could also be an option for your flemish. That could give her more room. Fluff's cage would be better as a 2 grid x 4 grid base. (I go by the thought that a rabbit should be able to take 4 full hops across the cage, or stretch out fully x 4.) edit: sorry, but when I post, it's not saving my paragraph spacings so it all runs together... don't know why