Rabbit pen fencing?

[TwoHeadedLlama]

Hello all. I'm planning on getting a rabbit in a few weeks, and I'd like a bit of housing advice.

We have a room in our basement that's full of junk. In one corner of the room is a large, old carpet. I plan on clearing everything off the carpet and fencing it off into a bunny pen. Problem is, I'm not exactly sure what i can use to fence it off. The carpet is rather large, but I'm sure no dog play pen will be large enough to cover the while thing. Any suggestions?

 

[LakeCondo]

The standard size of an xpen [exercise pen] is 4-ft square. If you used 2 of them, you would have 16 2-ft panels which could be arranged into an 8-ft square, or various sizes of rectangles.

What is the carpet made of? If it has tufts, the rabbit can pull them out easily. Most rabbits like to dig, so carpeting may be a problem. I ended up covering the floor with flattened cardboard boxes after holes showed up in the indoor-outdoor carpet I got for Honey.

And if the rabbit is good at climbing, even with a 4-ft high pen you will need a way to keep the rabbit inside.

 

[TwoHeadedLlama]

I've decided I'm probably not going to use the carpet. I'll probably try the flattened cardboard boxes like you said. Or if worst comes to worse, I'm just have the bunny on the cement floor. Old towels might work, too, but the rabbit might be able to chew on them.

 

[Imbrium]

I used an 8'x10' tarp (about $6 at walmart) as flooring and two playpens + their NIC condo (in one corner) to make the walls of the pen.

 

[LakeCondo]

When you use towels, make sure they don't have loops that can be pulled out or get caught in nails.

With Honey a tarp lasted only a few days before chewing. The indoor-outdoor carpeting lasted a couple months. Both are still there, under the cardboard. But at least she hasn't gotten down to the rug underneath. Not that it's the greatest carpet, but I;m not ready to replace it.

 

[Nelsons_Mom]

What is your basement like?

I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but I live in an old house where there's cement floors and walls and only two tiny windows. I can't IMAGINE keeping a bunny down there.

But, I've been in nice finished basements, too.

For flooring, I'd recommend a roll of linoleum you can get a big one for like 30 bucks at lowes/home depot. I also think that 2 puppy pens (make sure the sides are at least 36" high) would make a nice enclosure c:

 

[Imbrium]

I'm surprised to hear that about the tarp. the all-purpose waterproof one I've got has stood up for weeks against my chewer without a single hole. she gave up after just a couple nibbles. if anything ruins it, it'll be the puddles of pee gaz keeps leaving - I don't always notice them right away 'cause sometimes they're deliberate but other times they're because her butt was hanging over the backside of the litter box which means I may not find it until a day or two later when I'm changing out the litter ><

 

[TwoHeadedLlama]

My basement consists of a room for my dad's computer, the big storage room where the cage will be, and a tv room with a bed in it. The storage room is pretty big and well lit. It has a concrete floor though. I plan to house my rabbit there, and after he/she gets settled more he/she will have run of the tv room as well. My mom, my dad and I all spend a lot of time downstairs, so the rabbit will have plenty of company and room to roam. It's also nice and cool, and stays around the same temperature in both summer and winter. About a month ago, our furnace broke, and so the entire family moved into the basement, lol.

 

[LakeCondo]

The basement & concrete sounds fine to me.

Honey might have dug on the tarp rather than chewed it, but it got holes immediately either way. But then she doesn't have some other bad habits that other people have to deal with. They're all individuals.