Cage Floors

[BethM]

OK. So we've moved into our new house. (Still lots of unpacking to do.) The bunnies now have their own room!

Tobi will be getting a slight expansion to her pen, and Nick and Amelia had to go down in size, in order to accomodate both pens, and leave space for a bunny play area. (They will eventually also have the run of most of the house, but I like having a dedicated area in their room for their stuff.) I got a large woven cotton rug for the play area on clearance for a pretty low price at Pottery Barn. Currently there is a third pen, for Ben, until I can (cross fingers) get him bonded to Tobi.

Here's the issue: I make the pens (with attached 3-story condo) with NIC panels. I have been using plywood covered with linoleum for floors. One of the pens, however, is too long. This despite that the other pen is made exactly the same way, and fits on the plywood floor just fine. Must be some variation in the size of the NIC panels. So the pen is hanging over the plywood, and it's only a matter of time until Amelia starts chewing on the edges. Amelia also sometimes pees on the floor in the pen, and I'm terrified of it running over the edge and ruining the hardwood floor in the room.

I guess what I really want, ideally, would be one of those molded ABS plastic floors used for dog crates. It would be PERFECT for them. The lip around the edge would help keep the pen in place, and not allow the urine to run out onto the hardwood floor. However, I can't find one big enough. The pen areas are 4ft. wide and 6ft. long.

Can someone suggest a source for crate floors that would be this big? Or suggest an alternative?

 

[Aina]

This is what has worked best for me, and I have tried almost everything. Lowes or home depot generally have cheap plywood for like $5 for a 4x8 sheet. Then I measure the cage and get it cut to size. I also get aspen craft boards and screw those to the sides of the plywood so stray poops and hay won't get out of their cage. I then get some of those stick on tiles and put them on the top of the plywood. Some of those also have to be cut to size, but you can cut them with scissors. I just did this yesterday after trying a different flooring and coming back to this one. I had the plywood, but had to buy everything else and it cost me less than $15.

 

[kherrmann3]

I just have a rug under their pens. Mine don't pee on the carpet (well, THEIR carpet), so I don't have to worry about it. It's easy to clean/vacuum.

 

[mardigraskisses]

So glad you started this topic. I'm having a pen floor dilemma as well. Bayou is going through his "Hey, if I eat this, it could kill me! -munch munch munch-" phase. Right now I just have a shower curtain stretched out until I get to Home Depot. h34r2

I can't believe I never thought about plywood covered with linoleum. I am definitely going to be doing that. I just need to find a way to secure the cage to the floor.

 

[Aina]

Oh yeah, never mind my dirty floor in that pic. I had just finished moving their stuff around and apparently some hay and other stuff spilled.

The plywood that I have is rather heavy. A bit too heavy at times for me because I like to move their cage around. The main thing is letting the linoleum glue stuff set so the rabbits don't pry them up. Ronnie and Skye still eat anything in sight even if their cage is full of toys, chew sticks, and newspaper. It is annoying. But it takes them a lot longer to destroy this stuff than other stuff.

 

[BethM]

mardigraskisses wrote:

So glad you started this topic. I'm having a pen floor dilemma as well. Bayou is going through his "Hey, if I eat this, it could kill me! -munch munch munch-" phase. Right now I just have a shower curtain stretched out until I get to Home Depot. h34r2

I can't believe I never thought about plywood covered with linoleum. I am definitely going to be doing that. I just need to find a way to secure the cage to the floor.

I usually use the pre-cut linoleum sheets. They're 6' x 9', and are about $30 at Lowe's. (The price has gone up since the last time I bought them.) I can get two cage floors out of them.

There's double-sided tape that is supposed to be for laying linoleum. Personally, I don't think it would work well for an actual floor, but it works fine for the rabbits, sticky enough. It's sort of a pain to work with, but it does the job.

I like how Aina used pieces of wood around the edge, that looks like it would keep mess in, and prevent the cage from moving around.

Aina, thanks for the suggestions. I just got new plywood, and the cheapest sheet sold at my Lowe's was $17. The people at the stores in my area won't do more than the most basic of cuts, so I can't get it done to particular sizes. The most they'll do is cut it into 4 equal pieces so I can get it in my car. Past that and they get really grumpy, and some refuse to do it. I don't have a power saw, so I can't do it at home.
Also, I have tried the stick-on tiles, but the only ones I can find around here are too slick for my bunnies. For some reason, my bunnies have a lot of problems with sliding around. Even the rough side of pegboard is too slick for them.

I've got floors now, but the real problem is the urine. Amelia likes to pee in a corner. I don't know if she's too lazy to go to the litter box, or if it's a territory thing. Since it's in the corner, it's pretty likely to go over the edge. (She used to pee from the top floor of her condo, and it would drip down to the bottom level. :rollseyes)
Yesterday, I went to the apartment to get rid of some trash we'd left, including the pieces of floor I'd taken off to make the pen the new size. One of them had the corner she preferred to pee in, and the wood underneath the linoleum was bleached from the ammonia. It either seeped through, or went to the edge and got in between the lino and the wood. Gross.

 

[Aina]

Yeah, Ronnie does stuff like that. I put more litter boxes down. One time half their cage was covered in litter boxes, but they have gotten better.
My rabbits ate the sheets of linoleum, so that was annoying.
I guess we get cheap plywood because one of the industries here is where they process wood and we get all the stuff they can't sell or whatever. Plus Lowes and Home Depot are like within walking distance from each other so they have to be *very* competitive.

 

[bunniekrissy]

You can buy Coroplast (corrugated plastic for outdoor signs and such) to make a tray that the cage could sit inside. Get a proper sized piece, cut the corners so you can fold them up to make a try, secure the corners shut with zip ties.

Also, maybe KW cages or Bass Equipment sells metal trays in custom sizes, but that would be more expensive I'm sure.

 

[mzkitty]

I use $30 kids carpet from Walmart. Works well but now Momo is eating the carpet. I have coroplast from her upstairs guinea pig neighbor, but I'm afraid she'll slip all over the coroplast like she does on my wood floor. I'm not quite sure what else to use. :?

 

[BethM]

mzkitty wrote:

I use $30 kids carpet from Walmart. Works well but now Momo is eating the carpet. I have coroplast from her upstairs guinea pig neighbor, but I'm afraid she'll slip all over the coroplast like she does on my wood floor. I'm not quite sure what else to use. :?

Can't use carpet inside the cages. Tobi doesn't even have rugs for traction, as she eats them instantly. She's learned to cope. Amelia doesn't bother rugs, but likes eating carpet.

Putting carpet under the cage floors wouldn't keep any urine from getting onto the wood floors, it would just soak through.

Might call around to see if I can find a source for Coroplast to make some trays to set the cage floors down into.......

 

[BethM]

bunniekrissy wrote:

You can buy Coroplast (corrugated plastic for outdoor signs and such) to make a tray that the cage could sit inside. Get a proper sized piece, cut the corners so you can fold them up to make a try, secure the corners shut with zip ties.

Also, maybe KW cages or Bass Equipment sells metal trays in custom sizes, but that would be more expensive I'm sure.

I think I will try calling around to find a source for Coroplast to make a try, that sounds like the best idea. Well, a custom-sized metal try would be the best, but expensive!

 

[okiron]

Plastic on the bottom floor, pegboard on the rest.