Best housing / play pen setup for Baby Bunnies

[Trishkk29]

Hello I am a brand new bunny owner and need lots of help!!! I just bought 2 standard rex bunnies about 3 days ago. They are 4-5 weeks old. They are both from the same litter and have already bonded with each other and if they turn out to be of opposite sex, they have one more from the litter that we can trade one in for. My roommate is helping me care for them so if I say "we" in this post that's who I am referring to. So we are using a 29 gallon wide fish tank without the lid (which we were told would be fine) to house my bunnies. Here is my setup:
We lined the bottom of the tank with about 2 inches of aspen betting. We converted a pantry bin (lined with cloth) into their hiding area - it's big enough so both of them can fit in there. They like to snuggle a lot! We have a 32-oz drinking bottle hanging from the top. We also have a small ceramic bowl / plate with their pellets next to their hay (which we just place directly on the bedding). I would like to litter train them eventually (just not sure how to go about it right now). The thing I need the most help with right now is how to use the aspen bedding. I read somewhere online (I do that a lot!) that you could place a towel down at the bottom of their cage. I guess at first we were not using enough bedding and we didn't once think that the glass may be too hard for little feet. So my questions right now are: Should I take out the one bigger hiding area and have two smaller hiding spots - one for each of them? Should I line the bottom on the tank with some towels and then place the 2+ inches of aspen bedding all over it or only on a small part of it so they understand that’s where they need to “do their business”? I really just want to make them as comfortable as possible. Is there another set up that I should consider? They seem to nibble on the aspen bedding a lot, I am not sure if that’s normal.
We also decided to build them a little play pen. It’s in fact 4 ft by 4ft and 1 ft tall. It's big enough so one of us can be in there with them when we want to play with them. In addition to that, we placed indoor/outdoor carpetingunderneath so they can get better footing while they are playing. They are so much happier now (in fact we hate having to put them back in the tank afterward). They pretty much binky all the time while they’re in there. However, they poop everywhere in there as well. For their play pen though, we decided to just use a small amount of the bedding in a plastic container. We constantly pick up the poop and place in the container and at least one of them is taking the hint (but not all the time). But they won’t pee in there (as far as we can tell), instead the one picked a spot right next to the container and the other one on the other side of the container and has been seen peeing there. I am concerned that we are creating bunny confusion between the play pen and their tank. Also, they keep nibbling on the indoor / outdoor carpeting. I was thinking about getting the woven grassy mats but am not sure whether I should line the play pen with it or where to put the bedding after I get it.

Any advice on any of this that you can give me would be much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this and also for all the wonderful advice that I know you will come up with.

 

[Luluznewz]

First of all, I would strongly encourage you to think about keeping them in something else besides a fish tank.

It doesn't have very good ventilation and wasnt meant to keep rabbits in (despite what the pet store might tell you). It can get way too not and make is smell much worse. Plus, 29 gallons doesn't really seem large enough for two rabbits (it certainly wont be when they get older).

Also, I was a bit confused about what you meant about the shavings. If you are trying to littertrain your rabbits you shouldn't have any shavings on the bottom of the cage and just have a literbox for them to use.

Rabbits like to urinate on a soft surface so they will want to use the litterbox over the hard glass. once they get used to the litterbox you can put a towel or a blanket across the bottom of the tank.

I would encourage you too look into other caging options. For babies, this might be a good place to start:

http://www.superpetusa.com/product-list/deluxe-my-first-home-giant.htm

with no litter on the ground. And something like this as a litterbox: http://www.superpetusa.com/product-list/hicorner-litter-pan.htm.

I use "yesterdays news" as the litter in the litterbox and it works well.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

4-5 weeks is very young. Rabbits should not be weaned until 6 weeks and should not be sold until at least 8 weeks. Even if the mother got pregnant right after giving birth, the kits should still not be sold until 8 weeks. If you can, I would take them back for a couple weeks. If they are weaned, there is not a ton you can do, so you just need to make the best of the situation.
By the time you might find out the sex, it would probably be too late to just be able to put a new rabbit in. It might work for the next week, but after that you might have to actually bond them together. There is also no guarantee that a same sex pair will get along once they mature. Your best bet for a long term pair is a male and female and getting both fixed when they are old enough. This may mean you have to separate them before you can get them fixed to prevent breeding.

Aquariums don't provide enough space or ventilation for rabbits. I don't know the dimentions of a 29 gallon tank, but it will be too small very soon. It would be best to get or build a cage for them. The pen you have could even work, but you might need to make it taller, my rabbits can easily jump 14" when they want to. You can check out the NIC cage pictures on here for some ideas on building a cage or pen.

Right now, litter training is going to be hard. Unless they already choose a corner to pee and poop, you will need to wait until they are about 3 months before they will really get the hang on litter training, you can try before that though. Since they really aren't litter training, I would not use a blanket/towel as it will just get really messy really fast. Stick with the aspen shavings or another safe litter until you are ready to start litter training.
You could put newspaper on the bottom and the aspen on top of that. You can then throw it all out (or compost if you do that) and not have to worry about the towel. Some rabbits will chew towels, so newspaper is safe if they chew or rip it apart.
If you did want to try litter training, get a litter box. Put a different litter, like wood pellets, in the box. Don't use the aspen in the rest of the cage, but you can still have some newspaper or a blanket if you want. You would then put any poops in the litter box and clean up any pee with a paper towel and put it in the box. They should eventually use the litter box. Since they are so young, it might take a while for them to get the hang of it.

For the pen, you could try getting some interlocking foam mats. A 4 pack costs $10-14 and will cover 16[sup]2[/sup]ft. They are easy to clean and don't absorb liquid. You could put a blanket over top or some grassy mats.

Personally, I would move them to the pen and make the pen taller. Make a good, easy to clean floor for the pen. You can then work on litter training.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Welcome, new bunny parent!:wave:

Congrats on the new additions

I'm going to just focus on the housing part of your question, as the posters above me gave you some great info already.

This may sound nuts, but think of your new rabbits as being more like cats than a hamster. Cats need plenty of room to roam, and so do buns.
(Aquariums tend to stink very badly, due to the interaction between urine and aspen shavings not being ventilated. It would be very hard for rabbits to breathe properly in there, and would likely increase risk of illness (especially in delicate young rabbits like these two))

With two standard Rex, they are going to need plenty of room, very soon! I think that you are definitely on the right track with the 4 foot by 4 foot playpen. They will need a cage of at least the same dimension when fully grown.

The most cost-minimizing suggestion would be to move them into your existing pen as their permanent home, and put down a shower curtain liner or tarp to protect the floor. Layer your seagrass mats over top, then follow Kate's directions (just above my post)

OR
lulznews suggested this cage to you: http://www.superpetusa.com/product-list/deluxe-my-first-home-giant.htm

That will probably hold two standard rex for a little while, but not long! These are big bunners! A more flexible option would be to purchase the above cage as a travelling cage (ultimately), and build an NIC condo for daily usage.

Here are some of my favourite NICs from around the forum:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_post.php?post_id=780162
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_post.php?post_id=774869
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_post.php?post_id=747700

These cages are much cheaper than any aquarium or store-bought cage, and a LOT bigger! For $60 bucks, you can build an absolute paradise for your little ones. All it takes are wire storage cube grids, some zipties, and a little creativity
You could sell off the tank, or send it back to the store and built a fantastic cage for just a fraction of the price!

 

[AquaticRex]

i have a standard rex as well. litter training will be easy. they will kind of just pick a corner and that is where they will try to stay. they are rather clean rabbits and are very smart, though you will need a bigger cage. they get very large, a little smaller then a jack rabbit i believe. my boy is still growing i'm heading to walmart or home depot to get the NIC cube cage pieces in a few for him. obviously you can't do that yet since they would be able to either get through it or would injure themselves trying to. i'd have to say at least get the buns out of the tank and if anything section off a corner of the room with something solid that they can't jump out of for now. get a wood frame made and put some chicken wire on (hide the sharp areas). being rex rabbits, i've seen mine jump 3 feet in the air, so you will need something bigger or your going to come home to see no buns in the area and a few things chewed.

chewing is what they love to do. don't let them near wires. i've already had to buy new internet cables cause the boyfriend left them and the rabbit alone in one place...