Getting a new cage soon!

[Rescuemom]

My Sister-in-law has this giant dog crate. Literally, giant. She has an Irish Wolfhound puppy, so she got a size that currently fits him.. He's six months old, and already half the size of a full grown Wolfhound - so he's MASSIVE! Comes up to my hip at his back, and can stand taller than me on his back feet already(I'm only 5'2, but that's still huge for six months old!)... And she didn't have time to custom order the size she needed, so bought a size down for temporary crate for the dog.

His back can touch the top of the cage. But when he lays down flat on his back, his length pretty much fits the length of the cage.

I don't have exact measurements, but to say the least, it's AT LEAST three feet high, three feet wide, and four feet long or so. Give or take a foot or two on each. I could be wrong, but that's what I recall of it. Huge to say the least.

And to begin with, I WAS going to buy NIC grids and build a three level cage for my two when they're bonded.. but this is PERFECT and when she offered to sell it to me for cheap, I couldn't say no! I can add NIC levels with carpet to it without any issues. I think my biggest problem will be that it only has the one front door on it, so making levels will have to be done with some craftiness so I can get my bunnies from each level with the one door.

It's exactly like a wire petmate kennel. So.. Here's my questions..

How wide of a space between bars is safe and how wide is too dangerous? I do not have baby buns, nor do I plan to ever have baby buns. But I do have two adults - a Holland Lop and a Lionhead. Should I be securing these bars to a smaller size just in case?

Also.. what would be THE BEST flooring for inside the cage? My buns are fairly litter trained, but there's the occasion where they have a butt hanging over a litter box and just happen to pee on the side of it instead. Carpet, linoleum.. etc?

Yes, they would still get free-roam time and always will, but this kennel is TOO GOOD to pass up. Worst case scenario, I use it for my dogs, but it would make an EXCELLENT rabbit cage with the size it is and with levels added. It also has a divider too, but I doubt I'll need that.

Other than getting hay all over my house because the cage is all bars, anything I should worry about? I also fully intend to SECURE the latches on the kennel with a carabiner or something similar to prevent dogs from knocking the door open and will likely be housing the buns somewhere where the dogs WILL NOT be unsupervised with them(such as a spare bedroom, or the living room, etc).

Suggestions or ideas welcome!

Also, who else has a dog crate as a bunny cage and how is yours set up? Pictures would be awesome!

OH.. and almost forgot.. With two rabbits, should I just get a bigger litter box, or keep two litter boxes and have them on separate levels to make it easier and quicker for them to get to?

 

[Imbrium]

Rescuemom wrote:

How wide of a space between bars is safe and how wide is too dangerous? I do not have baby buns, nor do I plan to ever have baby buns. But I do have two adults - a Holland Lop and a Lionhead. Should I be securing these bars to a smaller size just in case?

OH.. and almost forgot.. With two rabbits, should I just get a bigger litter box, or keep two litter boxes and have them on separate levels to make it easier and quicker for them to get to?

I don't have answers to most stuff, as I've never used a dog crate as a bunny home ><

not sure what the bar spacing is on the dog crate... but the pens that keep my little trouble-makers contained in my living room have bars that are 1.75 inches apart and my girls don't even come close to being able to escape. like you, I have a holland lop (3 lbs 13 oz) and a lionhead (3 lbs 4 oz).

I've used both big and small boxes and they always end up wanting to sit together in the same box, so I just went with a really big one. I have a little one on the top level of the condo from when we were having potty issues in case they didn't feel like going downstairs to a big one and it pretty much never gets used.

 

[Mrs.Wabbit]

OKay heres what im gonna say, the cage is perfect but if your bunnies are misgevious or have small heds they might get it stuck because i have the exact same kennal for my german shepherd.

So i would buy some C&C grids and make some platforms like you said. Then with the left over grids i would tie the to the sides of the cage, no all the way to the top just like on grid around the bottom.

I also have an idea about you hay spillage, Go out abod buy coraplast!!!! one that is squar with about 4inch high sides . Make sure the cage fits in it a little snug, you don't want the cloraplast to big. then cut a whole in the cloraplast where the door is, that way you can open it nicesly

 

[ldoerr]

For the litter box situation. I started with 2 smaller ones in my cage for my bonded girls but now use 1 big one. It seems to be working. With that cage I would add a 2nd smaller box on the opposite end of the cage incase the rabbits decide they want to be lazy. As for the hay, it is just going to get everywere no matter what. You can minimize it by putting some coroplast around the sides. Now for floring. You could use some fleece. It is easy to wash and cheep. It is comfortable on their feet (much better than carpet).

 

[missyscove]

I have a 42 inch dog crate with 2 doors that I use as my rabbit cage and I really like it. I had installed shelves out of some metal laundry shelves and wooden boards I got at the home depot, but Sherlock was having issues with peeing over the side of the shelf so they've been temporarily removed until they get better at the whole litterbox thing. I find that the bar spacing is not a problem for me. I just use the plastic pan it came with as the floor.

 

[Rescuemom]

Thanks so much you guys!

Thanks for all the tips! My guys don't tend to try to stick their heads through bars at all(both in pet store cages til they're bonded which are the cages I got them in originally), unless there's an actual HOLE in the bars for some reason or another(example being the hole in Crush's cage bars for his water bottle which they've BOTH tried to stick their heads through when it had no bottle while I was changing the water... brats), so that's the ONLY issue I've had with it, but straight bars, they don't bother.

I find Crush likes to hang out in his litter box, while Callie prefers to hide in her hut(Crush doesn't have one because he NEVER used it and it was just taking up useful space).

Should I provide them both with a hide when I do move them over to the new cage?

I might do wood with that stick-on linoleum in case of accidents outside of the litterbox for levels and just use fleece or old towels like I currently am, with a pet bed here and there.

I'm so incredibly excited to get this cage! I'll definitely have to secure the latches on it with a carabiner or something, just for precaution, but my dogs leave them alone if the rabbits are in the cage anyway, because they're not of any interest to the dogs unless it's a running 'toy'. If I can manage to get a new house with a spare bedroom(I'm pregnant, so we're HOPING to get a fourth bedroom just as a spare), then the buns will likely get that as their room and just have the cage at night or when we're not home.

You're all amazing. I'm so glad to have found this site.

 

[coxbrea151]

When we had Lucky, we also has a wire crate. For the bottom, half of it was 1cm by 1cm gauge mesh, and the other half was itailian/marble tiles. It worked well for us. Defiently find a way to secure the latches better, as Lucky used to find a way to open them and get her bunny butt in trouble. For levels, you can to it (basicaly) the same way with C&C cages. Here is a link for how ;
http://www.therabbithouse.com/indoor/dogcrates.asp and http://www.therabbithouse.com/indoor/dogcrate_shelf.asp. The rabbit house is a very informative web site that one of RO's members' own. But I forget who exactly...

 

[JessicaK]

I used a dog crate for a while. It worked really well. The only thing I didn't like is that it only had a door on one side not two, so Whidbey could hide out of reach in the back.

Also, put a zip tie on the front so that the plastic tray doesn't slide out. My bunnies pushed the tray forward, and got stuck in the (wider) wires on the bottom.