Upgrading cages

Hi,

My husband and I have upgraded our little girl's cage today, and we are finding that she is having a difficult time adjusting..

She is so scared of her new home, which is much larger and moresuitable for her.. It is 43"w x 28" D x 48"H.. This is the one that we bought forher from petsmarthttp://www.rabbitcentral.com/wa-01550.html..

Will this take a few days for her to get used to?

It has a coated black wire on the bottom, is there anything I shouldwatch out for,she is used to plastic bottoms, is this wire evencomfortable for them to be on?

I bought her a little cozy bed,http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441807843&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026388&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1110873534763Is this safe for her?

This igloo I bought for her she seems so scared of it, so I had takenit out and she seems to move around a bit more than she did before.http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441781601&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026388&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1110873534761

I think maybe if I lay it out, while she is out on playtime, then maybe she will get used to it a bit easier..



Any suggestions on making her more at ease in her new home is much appreciated!

Greetings and Welcome to the forum!!

Bunnies are sensitive to everything around them. I learned this the hard way through experience.

With our first bunnies we ran out and bought everything we couldfind for them. It was like having a new baby in the house. IMO .. ..Ithink it may have been a bit overwhelming for a new young bunnie.

We now have 6 inside bunnies that all have their own cages. Bringingthem home to a new cage directly from the shelter or store is sometimesa difficult transition for buns of all ages.

After a ours became used to their surroundings, any changes or evenmovement of their "stuff" usually results in a lot of thumping,tossing, and a good helping of "the butt".

We recently move our oldest bunnie, S'more, into a new cage and we gotthe initial expected response, however she soon settled down and aftera few days she was fine. After previous episodes with a couple of theothers, I tried a little different approach.

I put the new cage in the same place as the old cage so her surroundingview was the same. The new and old cages both had a wire bottoms anddrop pans below. I saved some of the soiled litter and put it in thenew drop pan. I then put her in the cage with nothing else and let hercheck everything out. I left the door open so she could enter and exitas she please. The I added in all of her old "stuff" making sure Ididn't clean anything so it would still smell familiar. Her old fooddish, hay rack, waterbottle, toys, sleeping box, and mostimportantly... .her "blankie". She spent a good while rearrangingthings and then settled in. She's now very comfortable with her newcage and spends most of her time there.

I'm sure, in time, you little fuzzie will get accustomed to her newcage. You may want to put some kind of "resting board" on part of thewire bottom to give her some place to get off the wire, however ourbunnies very often choose to be on the wire and push everything out ofthe way to do so. At other times they rest on their blankie, in theirsleeping boxes, or even on a piece of cardboard.

:~) Jim

Welcome aboard Dazed andConfused,

Chances are, your little one is probably used to it by now.She'll get used to it, no doubt. It's a beautiful cage, loveher bed too. She must look so cute sitting in it.

The only thing you have to be careful of going from a flat bottom cageto a wire bottom is that some rabbits can get sore hocks (sores ontheir feet) from a wire bottom cage. Depending upon the breedwoulddictate if they can handle it. What breed isyour little one?

I'm also a fan of Pink Floyd.

-Carolyn

I also made a new cage formy bunny and he has been in it for about 2 weeks. It's also much biggerthan his old cage and it has a shelf. At first he was scared to go upand down the shelf but that took a few days. Now he really likes the itHere's a picture:

Carolyn wrote:

Theonly thing you have to be careful of going from a flat bottom cage to awire bottom is that some rabbits can get sore hocks (sores on theirfeet) from a wire bottom cage. Depending upon the breedwoulddictate if they can handle it. What breed isyour little one?

I'm also a fan of Pink Floyd.

-Carolyn

Click to expand...

Quite right!!

Benji and Chippy have both been through sore hocks. I usedNeosporin/Pain Relief. Worked well on my own bites and scratches, too:shock:!!

Benji has formed almost a kind of calous on one foot. Everything iswell healed for a long time and it doesn't seem to be at all sensitive(unless we tickle his feet ).

Chippy has just recently healed nicely and the fur has grown back.

Both buns now seem to spend a lot more time in their blankies and theymove more decidedly around the wire bottoms. I keep a much closer eyeon all of the buns feet as a result.

:~) Jim

Another beautiful set-up, Nepo!

Nepo must love it. Tucker was also very skittish when I hadgotten his new cage. It didn't take him more than a day ortwo to get used to it though.

* * * *

Jim,

Glad to hear that your little ones healed up just fine.Neosporin's definitely the thing to use for sore hocks.

-Carolyn

That IS a great cage but can I ask you how do you clean the wood if the bunnies pee on it? Wouldn't the wood absorb the urine?

Thanks-Donnette

Hi Jim, Could you tell me how often to you cleanyour rabbits blankie, my rabbit pees on it should I clean it everydayevery other day?? I need some help here. Thanks - Donnette

bunbunbaby wrote:

Hi Jim, Could you tell me how often to you clean yourrabbits blankie, my rabbit pees on it should I clean it everyday everyother day?? I need some help here. Thanks - Donnette

Click to expand...

Hi Donnette,

If your bunnies soil their blankets you should probably wash them asoften as possible. You don't want to have to deal with any bacteriathat might be harbored in a dirty blankie.

Our buns are pretty good with keeping they blankies clean. We use babyblankets that we buy at the dollar store. We cut them up and each bungets a piece. Every so often we just give them a new one and throw theold one out.

We're lucky in the respect that none of our buns chew or eat theirblankies. If you're bun has a tendency to do this, make sure thematerial you use is 100% cotton. No poly, nylon, rayon, etc.

:~) Jim

I saw that igloo at Sailfin, mom wouldn't buy it, i like to shop for my buns, but, i splurge, i buy TOO much!

Ellie

Hi Jim, Excellent idea with the baby blankets. I have a bag full of those.

Thanks, Donnette

Bramble Briar86 wrote:

I saw that igloo at Sailfin, mom wouldn't buy it, i like toshop for my buns, but, i splurge, i buy TOO much!

Ellie

Click to expand...

I bought this cage second hand at the animal shelter. It was like brand new and one third the cost at the pet shop.

Instead of an igloo, I bought a step stool from the dollarstore. Pebbles sleeps under there and feelssecure. I glued heavy stone tiles on top of thestool,which keeps her from moving it.Thetiles is cool to the touch, so it might be good in the summer.

A small tile carpet is what she is sitting on. I think she iscomfortable on it. The fibers is short so she doesn't chew onit.

Rainbows!

How are Nepo's feet since he's moved?

Look at that babe hiding! I wish I could reach right in and scoop her up!

-Carolyn

Carolyn wrote:Look at that babe hiding! I wish I could reachright in and scoop her up!


If you do that she'll jump out and lick you! Ha...Ha..

Rainbows!

Pet_Bunny,

Tucker and Cali swear that if they can't see me, I can't see them. Theyforget that their ears are sticking up, or in the case of Cali, herbody's so huge that it's hard to miss her.

It always cracks me up.

Your little girl is absolutely adorable. I love her color.



* * * * * *

Hey Dazed and Confused,

How did the first full day go with the new cage? Has your little one adjusted or is getting adjusted yet?

-Carolyn

bunbunbaby wrote:

That IS a great cage but can I ask you how do you clean thewood if the bunnies pee on it? Wouldn't the wood absorb the urine?

Thanks-Donnette

Click to expand...

I know that's a problem, but he doesn't doit often. I just use an oxygen activated cleaner and soap and water.Although I've heard white vinegar is really good for pee stains onwood.

Carolyn wrote:

Another beautiful set-up, Nepo!

Nepo must love it. Tucker was also very skittish when I hadgotten his new cage. It didn't take him more than a day ortwo to get used to it though.



-Carolyn

Click to expand...

He does love it, but he doesn't like goinginside the little box, he prefers going on top of it ( we tried to makethe boxtall o he wouldn't go on top of it, but hedid)orunder the little step that I made.

Bo B Bunny wrote:

How are Nepo's feet since he's moved?

Click to expand...

They're doing really good. They're aboutthe size of the diameter of a normal drinking straw lol, that's all Icould compare it with. Although they sometimes bleed a little. But Ican tell that his new cage is more comfortable

What a little Love Nepo is.

Things are really looking up for him. I had read in a previous post, orperhaps it was in Private Message to me, that Nepo's foot is very muchimproved. He's got it all going on now. That is one gorgeous cage he'sgot there, and he's got one of the best Bunny Mother's around.

Good job getting him well and in his new palace.



-Carolyn