Imbrium
Jennifer
actually, a bigger cage is *definitely* possible. if you could eke out an extra 8 inches in just one directioin, you could do a 4-grid wide x 2-3 grid deep NIC/C&C style condo - once you start working with NIC, you can get a drastic increase in size for the same footprint by building UP instead of out
(NIC grids are 14''x14'')I only went with a 3 grid x 2 grid base because my bunnies have 24/7 access to a 120+ square foot run; if run time is limited to a few hours a day, I'd definitely do 4x2 or 4x3. you can build a surprising number of levels and still have the condo remain rock steady! my condo is 5 grids high with three levels + a little "landing" between two of the levels (to allow them to be 2 grids apart for more ceiling space).
with a base of 42''x28'', my condo takes up a good bit less space than your pen yet provides 8.5 more square feet of "floor" space. a 4 grid x 3 grid condo would provide the same 16 square feet as a 4'x4' pen, so if you added two levels, you could just about triple their space without taking up any more room!
here's my condo:
if you decide you're interested, the best place I know of for grids is at Sears - http://www.sears.com/stor-floor-sta...p-00913332000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1 ($21.99 for six cubes, which iirc is 23 grids).
as for the zipties, the 4'' ones work great (using 2 per "seam" between grids)... as I recently discovered, you should never buy them at hardware stores - they're a total rip-off! the best deal at Home Depot is $18-19 plus tax for 1,000 (which is much better than anything at Lowe's).
if you're lucky, you can find them at some dollar stores... I think it's usually either 100 or 120 for $1, which is SO much cheaper than hardware stores. failing that, I sell them on my website - even with having to pay shipping fees, it still comes out *way* cheaper than hardware stores. paypal over-charges on shipping for orders under 13 oz (I can only set so many weight ranges), but I always refund the over-charge. including shipping, 500 zipties would be about $6.30-$6.45 (depending on the color - black costs me more for some reason); 1000 would be $10.50-$11.00 (you can also buy in smaller or in-between amounts).
