Christmas.. New apartment.. Little surprise..

[BunnyBabyboo]

So we are moved into our apartment and out 2 neutered males are in 2 cages that are 3 cube by 2 cube cages. I need a new cage/cages set up that works better in an apartment. It has become clear to us that binoo and moo are not going to get along. For the safety and health of our bunnies we are not going to try to bond them anymore. Right now the boys are in a room all to themselves. I dont want them in a room that we are not in alot. I want them in the living room. Not only are we in the living room the most but it is warmer. The room they are in is cold and I do not like it. Im trying to talk my bf into letting me put them in the living room.

on to the surprise.. We have a new addition to the bunny family. A very tiny 6 week old female lop. She is grey(kinda grey blue) her name is harley. so for cages we need 3 set ups. Now I wamted a bird but my bf wanted a bunny. So I told him he has to clean her cage, pay for her spay, feed and water her. He hasnt had any problem with the boys so he should be good.

They get let out of their cages a lot more cause we no longer have dogs to worry about. soooooooo. 3 cages(until she gets spayed and we get her to bond to a boy, Yes both boys will have a friend, I doubt a trio would work but advice would be great). I really need help with this.

 

[ladysown]

a cold room is actually better for the bunnies. You might want to try rotating them. leave two in the colder room and have one out with you. Might make your cage division a bit easier. Just a thought.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

If floor space is an issue, you can stack the NIC cages. Make sure they are zip tied together, dowels are also good to support it. The grids are good for the bottom. It is possible to do 3 cages this ways. How tall the top one is can depend on how tall you are as it can get hard to reach the back of the cage. If 2 do bond, you can reconfigure the cage to better suit their needs. I have a couple cages that are 1.5 grids tall and that works as long as the rabbit is not too big. Shelves can be added as well if you want.

 

[Imbrium]

Either of the condo designs I've used could be adapted to be three separate (stacked) cages by eliminating the passageways between levels. The only real issue is that if each level was 2 grids tall then the top cage would be 56'' off the ground; however, this could be remedied by making the first two levels 1.5 grids high, resulting in a 5-grid high condo with the top level being 42'' off the ground, same as my condos. That's low enough that I find it very easy to get in there to clean (or nab a bunny) and I'm only 5'4''.

 

[lovelops]

I have 4 now, two that are bonded and two that aren't even bonded to each other and I got them from the same shelter.

I have my two original brother and sister in separate cages in the back bedroom on a dresser.

Lady, the holland lop you see in my picture on the right, I have in a cage and had been keeping her in the kitchen where it's a bit warmer (my house can't seem to retain heat even if it was on fire) and Brooke sleeps most of the time on the porch with a space heater on her play pen. The porch is not totally insulated well so we leave our front door open that leads to the porch so the central heat can get out there and heat the room up. When it's 40 outside it's at least 10-15 degrees colder on the porch, so I'm not going to leave her out there with no heat of any kind even if she has tons of fur.

The minute I get the heater going she sits in front of the area near the space heater and spreads out and naps! She loves it. When I have her inside, she will spread out like my chihuahua's do in front of the heating vents and sleep.

I have to keep Brooke and Lady in different areas because I'm working on bonding them but the past weekend when it was 70 degrees here - freak warm spell for 2 days-- we took them out and had them in adjoining X pens and they were still trying to bite each other through the Xpens... so I understand where you are coming from.

It would be much easier if I could put all the rabbits together but that ain't going to happen any time soon. Chica and Chico are terrified of the new bunnies and I'm not going to push them trying to bond with the new ones right now.

So as it stands now because it's been 18F and lower here, I've put Brooke who normally sleeps on the porch in the back bedroom with Chico and Chica with their cages covered, and put Lady on the bed. At least it's room temp back there
for all... but this is just what I'm doing with my 4 bunnies...

 

[BunnyBabyboo]

I just feel bad cause the room is cold and I don't like going in there. How soon can I get the baby spayed?

 

[Imbrium]

Depends on the vet and the rabbit's breed. Most rabbit-savvy vets are comfortable spaying at 4-6 months as long as the bunny is a certain size (my vet likes them to be 2 lbs or at least pretty close to it - he originally told me 4-6 months but when they were in at 3-3.5 months old he said he'd like to wait until more like 5 months because they were still so small).

 

[Nancy McClelland]

What we have done is to bunny proof the living room and figure the furniture is sacrificial and bring ours out one at a time for time with us. It works out well and they still have their own room too.

 

[lovelops]

I just feel bad cause the room is cold and I don't like going in there. How soon can I get the baby spayed?

Around 6 months for sure.. Maybe earlier if you speak to the vet. I just got Brooke and Lady fixed and Lady is 8 months. Brooke a year... but call your vet and see at what age they will fix bunnies... inkbouce:

 

[BunnyBabyboo]

Moo isnt taking the change very well. He is extremely aggressive toward binoo and harley now. I am not surprised by this but I was hoping he would be a lil calmer. There has NOT been a face to face intro yet, wont be for a long time(until she is spayed), all 3 have seen eachother in play times where harley is in a circle xpen and binoo and moo run around the xpen. Harley seems to like both of them but likes to follow binoo the most. Of course I will let the bunnies pick who they want to be with. Where we got harley they didnt allow meet n greets for us to let the boys choose. I under stand that they are worried about diseases and all that but come on.. any ways, she was with other rabbits(i guess an entire litter got dropped off at the shelter) she was grooming every bunny in the pen with her. so we spent some time with her and my bf fell in love. Binoo is almost 3 years Moo is 2ish years and harley is 7 weeks. I dont expect the 3 of them to get along cause moo is a grump butt but binoo and harley may be a match. I hope so at least. No matter what happens this is their forever home. And They will be moved into our living room as I found that along the baseboard is extremely drafty. we have decided to go with a 2by 3 stacked cage for binoo and moo. Moo being on the top cage binoo on bottom and harley is in a small xpen untill we can get more cubes. Ill try to post pics

 

[BunnyBabyboo]

Is there anything I can do to prepare for bonding?

 

[Imbrium]

You can do scent-swapping - either switch around which bunny is in which cage (without cleaning between bunnies so the cage still smells like the previous occupant) or switch around litter boxes, dishes, toys, etc. while leaving the bunns in the same cages.

 

[Chrisdoc]

HOpe you got my PM, sorry I´ve been having computer troubles which are now sorted.

Your little girl is so sweet, sorry to hear the boys are being difficult.

As Jennifer said, doing swaps of their stuff to prepare is always a good idea and then getting them in neutral territory to make a face to face introduction.

Jennifer´s condo is a work of art, I´m always amazed when I see pics of it.

Bunnyproofing your cables is essential but I agree with Larry, some furniture will suffer, it´s something I´ve accepted as well, it´s impossible to keep them off everything. Mine love cardboard so I provide boxes for them to chew instead.

Make sure she has lots of hay she can burrow under and you can always provide a fleece and part cover the cage to protect from the wind or draughts.

 

[BunnyBabyboo]

Moo is very extremely aggressive to binoo and harley. He tries to attack her while she is in her cage. he only tried to attack binoo if they are out together.(which does not happen anymore). Is it possible for him to be bunny aggressive? Binoo has started grooming Harley threw the cage. She is only 7 weeks so there will not be any introductions until after she is spayed. For Moo I am going to have my stacked cages again. As for the drafty bunny room I will be contacting my landlord and asking him to get something to fix the problem, the draft is along the floor.

 

[BunnyBabyboo]

Modified cages.