New French Lop owners, help with cage

Hi,
I've tried to search this but so far no real luck. Our French lop baby has already grown out of her pet store cage and we ordered a cage online from Martin's Cages and are very unhappy with the quality and assembly requirements.

I've looked at all of your discussions and I really like the North States Superyard idea. She will be 15-20 lbs full grown and is already jumping a foot and a half. I like the idea of putting pavers down agains the wall so she can't move it.

But I am confused about what you put UNDER it so pee and poop don't get on your floor and carpet? We are working on litter training, and planning to spay when she gets older but she definitely is sloppy in her cage, poo all over the place and pee too. So, we'd need a really workable solution for underneath the fleece so that our laminate flooring isn't ruined.

Thanks!

You could get a piece of rolled linoleum/vinyl flooring and put that down under whatever you're using. Or you could just use it an the main flooring.

I'll attach a couple photos. First is rolled laminate used on the first floor of a cube cage. Those cube cages are often a better option than a pet store cage. Next is a temp cage (used during bonding) that is just a throw rug on the bottom, but underneath it is a piece of rolled lino that is sitting on top of our carpet.

So first 2 photos show laminate being used as or under bottom flooring of cage.

Then the 3rd photo is just to show how an ex-pen can make use of an existing wall to make a much larger area than the pen would make if it was just attached with its ends together.




(Ignore the too small litter box and too small hay feeder. This was a temporary enclosure during bonding from a dozen years ago.)

Wow yes thanks so much!! I love the ideas in there too. She would love this much better than her current house. Of course, she has almost 6 hours per day out, but that means she also has almost 6 hours in I'd prefer for her to be comfortable.

So for the laminate, do you take it outside and hose it down once per week?

What do you use for a litter box, and for litter? We've heard opposite opinions about using cat litter. A friend said her bunny immediately litter trained himself when she presented him with cat litter because he liked it so much. But we've also heard they will try to eat it and die.

I found an awesome vinyl flooring mat on amazon that was 6x8, so that would work. I obviously could have saved money going to HOme Depot and just having them cut a piece but this will look nice and save me time.

We just have to go pick up some heavy pavers to make sure she doesn't slide it around!

I use horse stall bedding in my litterbox. I get it at a farm store and it is very absorbent. I use blankets in my rabbit's area and shake them out as needed. This has worked for me and my bun.

CalmingTea said:

So for the laminate, do you take it outside and hose it down once per week?

What do you use for a litter box, and for litter? We've heard opposite opinions about using cat litter. A friend said her bunny immediately litter trained himself when she presented him with cat litter because he liked it so much. But we've also heard they will try to eat it and die.

Click to expand...

When I was using the cage in first photo (laminate floor), I would just sweep the floor and use a shop vac on the upper carpeted levels. If there was a urine spill, I would've just wiped it up with a paper towel. For thorough cleaning, I would've used a mix of white vinegar and water and wiped it down with paper towels. Taking it out and hosing it off would've been too much of a hassle. The laminate isn't that pliable.

There are very specific guidelines for litter actually. Not all cat litters are the same so while most are not safe for rabbits, a few are safe. The no-no's are: any litter made with clay or any clumping litter (can cause gut impaction), anything dusty or scented (can cause respiratory issues). The safe ones would be any pelleted paper litter (not scented) like Yesterday's News (unscented) or Petco's version of the pelleted paper litter.

The pet store litters, though, are rather pricey. Many of us here on RO prefer the pelleted wood. These are not the shavings but wood pellets. They can be the wood pellets used for horse stall bedding (that Alyssa mentioned) or the wood pellets used for wood pellet stoves.
Depending on your location, they can run from around $4 to $7 for a 40lb bag! I've used lots of different litter types and find the wood pellets to be best at absorbing urine and odor.

Rabbits - fixed ones - really do litter train themselves. It is quite natural for them to potty in just one area. All that is needed to litter train is to provide an enticing set-up. It needs to be plenty large and roomy. The wood pellets topped with generous hay will get a bunny to hop right in. You can see the litter box in the x-pen set-up (3rd photo). I describe this set up in detail on this page of my website.

Oh. With the vinyl or laminate flooring, be sure bunny can't get to the edges. She will likely chew them if she can get to them.