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Another Bramptonian, awesome! We'll have to have a bunny play date or something once I get my bun. haha.

Thanks for the link by the way and thank you everyone for the advice.

Would I be able to make a pen instead of a cage for a bunny, or would they just jump straight out? I know when I was at work last wednesday (animal hospital) this bunny jumped way over 3 feet. I really just like the look of the pen, and it looks a lot less complicated haha. Of course I'd make it a couple grids tall.

Also I live right near a Canadian tire, Super store, Staples oh and Zellars. So I'm hoping one of them have them. I read that warning that the grids got larger? Is this still a problem? Also is this coroplast kinda like... A cardboard material, that is what it looks like in the picture.

I'm so full of questions, sorry and thanks everyone.
 
Did anyone mention London Drugs for NIC. I haven't notice any of the larger holes in the NIC panels around here.

The coroplast is a sheet of plastic (usually 4x8 feet). I get mine for free when places like Tim Hortons or A&W throw out the advertising signs. :D
 
I find coroplast to be like a plastic version of cardboard. You can even use cardboard, but be prepared to have to replace it every 2 weeks.

I have no experience with using a pen instead of a cage overnight, but sometimes I leave my rabbits in their x-pen for a couple hours and they have never jumped out. However, I'm not sure I trust them enough not to one day. In my case, I first made a NIC cage with a top that was only attached on one side, so I could open it easily and reach in. I doubt I ever really needed the top because the sides were so tall, but I didn't trust the cat in the house. Now my cage has so many levels in that a secured top is necessary to maintain the overall structure.

The grids that I looked over at Home Depot and Walmart were perfectly fine size wise. I don't think the ones they carry have any more space in the gaps.

If you want, I could send you photos of my NIC and how it evolved over time.

 
i built a nic cage for my rabbit on carpet and dont have any bedding or litter .. she has a cat bed in there and hay in her litter box.. she has fleece blankies also !!! make sure to get HEAVY water and food bowls. butsy just LOOOVES to tip them over and make big messes .
 
i bought mine at walmart and zellers (nic panels) also you asked if you need extra support for the second level .. i dont, i put those puzzle pieces that kids have for the floor ontop tho and it is sturdy enough for my 8ish pound minilop !! your lion head wont weigh nearly as much as that so you should be good, cant wait to see pics of the cage and your new bun :)
 
I got all my orignal panals at superstore, but I havent seen them there in a while, I get them from Wal-mart now and Coroplast(Corogated Plastic) from Home Depot for about $15 for a 4X8 sheet. a pen is fine, Jenny has a Pen and Peepers has a Cage, it needs to be higher for a pen though, it if only 2 grids high they will jump out, 2 1/2 to 3 grids is usually good though. I am in Saskatchewan BTW, trust me when it comes to find things, you are waaayyy better off in Ontario then I am here..I buy almost everything online because almost nothing I hear about exists localy lol

this is Peepers cage
peeperscage1.jpg


Jennys pen..it backs a wall so the back is 2 grids high, the front has a 3rd row zip tied part way up..sorry the pic is on odd angle for actually seeing the pen lol you can kinda see the overlap though.
IMGP5925.jpg


shelves do need extra support, wooden dowls are the simplest, they just sit in the holes of the grids supporting the shelf, the supposrt is only needed on the front, the back its just zip tied on..the shelves are strong enough to hold my 30-40lbs dogs.
 
I've got a c&c cage for one of my buns. Its 2X7 with a 2X1 shelf, a 2X2 shelf and a 2X4 shelf. I've got no suport for the shelfs and don't need it. I just have zip ties on it. My rabbit in it is very small (1.33kg) but my cats (which are huge i.e they need to loose weight :p) were in the cage and it suported them. I think just to be prepared you may need suport but if you use lots of zipties and for a lionhead you may not.

I am changing my cage as I'm going to bond all three of my buns after they recover from there neutering.

Another idea instead of NIC cage is a dog crate with a pen outside.
Or just an Xpen.

I know my lionhead can jump two nic grids. So a top or higher should be fine.

Though I will say to bunny proof whatever room the cage will be in now. So if they do get out then there safe.

Im not sure if anyone mentioned to get a good vet pior to getting the bun. A rabbit savy vet is a must. Also if your rabbit won't be neutered/spayed then make sure you have money to do it when the time comes. Also see if theres any vaccines there that they give rabbits (i know here we vaccinate against VHD and myxo)
Oh and a carrier to bring to the get too.

Also this is a lil offtopic but wherever you are getting your rabbit, maybe ask for something familiar to the rabbit like his foodbowl/waterbottle/fav toy etc. It may help him settle in a bit not having EVERYTHING new!
 
haha, no worries about getting a vet.
I work at an animal hospital and one of our vet owns bunnies, so we have a lot of bunny clients.

Which means I'll have to make sure I don't bring anything home from sick bunnies, so my scrubs won't be going anywhere near that room LOL.

Now, I am wondering about something else.
Are the NIC cages messy? I keep hearing that bunnies are really messy (Granted, people who don't own bunnies), and I'm wondering if these NIC cages make it easier for the bunnies to make a mess since there isn't like a bottom wall to hold hay in or anything.

My boyfriend really likes those wooden hutches by the way, there is a sale going for those two story ones (reg 3 hundred dollars) but 129 right now. I believe it's by super pet. I personally like the idea to build my own, but what are you opinions on these also? Because he says they look really nice and professional. :p boys...
 
Hay can be messy, but I have found if I give them a couple bins it doesn't get spread out as bad. The key is to get a rubber broom (even on carpet) so it sweeps up easily.
 
Well, no luck finding the photos so far; they're on a memory card hidden somewhere in the house. I guess I should have looked around first before I said anything. D'oh, sorry.

I do find my NIC cage to be pretty messy, but that's mostly because my rabbits chew through the corogated plastic edges and kick hay and litter out. Completely my falt though, as I haven't replaced it since September. Some rabbits won't even go after the coroplast if they have a variety of other things to chew on instead. Mine still do.

I have an "extra large cage"(read: very small for a rabbit) from PetSmart that is housing one of my rabbits while I'm trying to bond them. It definitely could be bigger, but my smallest rabbit doesn't seem to mind it and she is able to run around and spaz out just fine. The other two however would prefer not to have their turn in there. Of course, a bigger area is ALWAYS preferred, but you have to work with the space you have. It is less messy, but you would really have to make sure the rabbit got plenty of exercise outside of it.

Depending on the size, I think a hutch could be a good alternative. I don't have any experience in buying or making one though.
 
It's okay, no worries.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753331
I believe this is the hutch my boyfriend likes, it's on sale at PJ pets for 129, reg 300.

Still deciding which direction I'll end up going.

--

Also that cage you mentioned I was looking at also.

I plan on having him out of my cage quite often, I'm hoping the more I handle him the bigger cuddle buddy I'll have. So as long as something like this would be okay as long as he gets enough exercise, I think any option would work for me so far.
 
Well, that looks like a gorgeous hutch and it's nice that there are two levels. According to the measurements, it's also larger than my extra large cage. When it comes to a rabbit cage, cheaper options are obviously available, but it's up to you to decide what is worth paying extra for. If deep down you think it is, it is, even if other people don't agree.

While it's the bare minimum, the PetSmart cage I have does work. Also, it's not like you can't graduate to a larger cage if you have more space later on or ever get another rabbit.
 
DSC_0007.jpg


hay boxes. we made ours out of scrap wood, its glued together with non toxic wood glue, so quiet simple, pop the hay in the top, and keep the box right at the litter box, and I am good to go..Peepers cage remains completly spotless for weeks, and Jenny's, as long as I spot clean her litter box every day he caghe also remains spotless..she doesnt like a dirty box, and will throw hay and dirty litter all over her cage if I dont spot clean it daily, however so long as I do that, she is happy and her cage remains spotless.



here snapped this pic a few minuts ago...exept for the litter box and a light tracking of hay dust on the fleece, the cage look very clean....I havent changed anything but the litter box in 3 weeks.

peeperscage.jpg

 
I will admit that one of my buns is messy, but he wasn't neutered and I just neutered all of them last friday so that should help. He also had an undesended testicle which can add to the problem.
My other two buns arent messy.

Sometims hay can get all over the place but I never have the problem with that.

Generally rabbits are a very clean animal. If you want to put a tray on the bottom of a NIC cage you can with coroplast.
 
Thanks everyone. :3

I'll let you know what we decided, and of course show pictures. I still love the idea of making my own, but Stephen still wants to buy one, he likes the hutch look.
 
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