Help with set up

[Habib]

Hi there,
Am near here and to world of rabbits
I adopted 2 female adult rabbits @ 4.5yrs old from a friend who is a breeder. Actually he folding up. They are ND breed but not sure as they look big. I live in apartment so dont have much space. Set a cage for them in ky study. Bought the cage (80 x 50cm L x B) and playpen (100 x 100cm with height of 70cm). Bedding is wood material and feeding them on Timothy hay and pellets. This will be their permanent set up rgds to play and sleep. S advice I'd the space is reasonable for this breed. Tnks

 

[zuppa]

Hi, I think it is not too bad for beginning if they are Netherland dwarfs and you will let them out of their playpen sometimes.

 

[Blue eyes]

It appears you have a piece of linoleum as flooring for the pen area. That's a good idea.
If this is to be their permanent set-up including play area, it would be easy to enlarge the area considerably with what you already have (though you may need more lino flooring).

By opening up the pen walls and making use of the walls of your apartment, you could double or triple their space.

I've attached a drawing to explain this (hopefully) more clearly. The double lines are your existing apt walls shown in your first photo. Then you can see 3 of the 4 panels drawn with circles marking each end. (The fourth panel can go along either wall so I didn't draw it in.) I also show where the chair is in your photo.

It would just be a matter of sliding the cage and pen toward the side wall and opening up the pen to go all the way to the wall by the chair.

 

[zuppa]

It appears you have a piece of linoleum as flooring for the pen area. That's a good idea.
If this is to be their permanent set-up including play area, it would be easy to enlarge the area considerably with what you already have (though you may need more lino flooring).

By opening up the pen walls and making use of the walls of your apartment, you could double or triple their space.

I've attached a drawing to explain this (hopefully) more clearly. The double lines are your existing apt walls shown in your first photo. Then you can see 3 of the 4 panels drawn with circles marking each end. (The fourth panel can go along either wall so I didn't draw it in.) I also show where the chair is in your photo.

It would just be a matter of sliding the cage and pen toward the side wall and opening up the pen to go all the way to the wall by the chair.

View attachment 40197

I like that, I would even put the cage into that corner, I think rabbits like when their back is covered. I personally cover the backs of my cages with cardboard, and sides too. And put a piece of cardboard on top too, I find they are feeling more confident that way.

 

[zuppa]

Or

 

[Blue eyes]

^^ Yes, and yes! The idea is to make use of the corner walls to expand the bunny's space without much compromising of usable human space.

 

[Habib]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I had to stick with 'blue eys' design as then I be able to access the bottom tray sliding backwards to change the bedding. Also can clean the cage while the rabbits can be locked in pen. I have attached the pen to cage with single door as access to both

 

[Blue eyes]

Yay! They have double the space. Looks good.

I couldn't see much hay in the cage. As a general guide, each rabbit should be eating his body size in hay every day. So be sure to have generous amounts of hay available at all times.

You could also put some cardboard boxes in the play area for entertainment. Just be sure the boxes are not near the pen walls which could allow for a step over the pen.

 

[Habib]

Have changed the flooring to vinyl flooring. Also changed the bottle to hang from outside. For the hay found that they keep spilling all over eventually landing under the bedding. Have changed to the hang on type for hay. But notice the rabbits need to pull the hay out with some difficulty. Any one using this type of hay holder?

 

[zuppa]

Great job, well done!

Not exactly this feeder but I had something like this, DIY, yeah wasn't too easy but your grids are bigger than I had.

I am still experimenting myself trying to find best solution for the hay feeder, still not perfect

 

[Habib]

Actually find the rabbits eating better with the hay served in a simple rectangle box (in my prev pic). Also will monitor the water level in bottle to see if they manage to drink as with bottle hanging outside, I personally find the drinking tube shorter with bottle hanging outside. Now lookingvtobadd additional bottle and litter bin in playpen.

 

[Blue eyes]

I was going to suggest a play tunnel but you beat me to it!

Since they have access to the larger exercise area all the time, you could go with a larger litter box. A rectangular one would allow you to have a roomier litter box and then you could just put the hay right in the box on top of the bedding. This shows how I do a litter box. Since the hay is refreshed every day, they eat plenty of it and it is easily accessed.



You could consider a water bowl instead of the bottle. These kinds can't be tipped over. The water bowl could even be attached to the black pen wall for ease of access.

 

[Habib]

How do u manage to get the hay not spoiled with pee etc? They will still eat? Coz if I do this set up it be in the play pen and the rabbits have to know to drag the hay off...

 

[Blue eyes]

I put fresh hay on top of the litter box twice per day. That means there is always fresh hay for them to eat. They won't eat soiled hay.

A litter box like the one I showed can be done inside a pen as well. Here is an example:

 

[Habib]

The fix to the wall hay holder is messy. Gets pulled around and most lands inside the tray underneath the cage. So went back to the rectangle tray and the ladies are happy gorging on hay . But still having pee issues as they are still peeing all over the cage, even though it goes to the tray bottom. Also they are not tlrealky using the litter pen unless going for a drink (bottle is above the litter pen) how can train them to be litter pen trained inside the cage? Will be setting up another hay tray in pen but not seeing any good trays around in stalls as most of them are very deep

 

[Habib]

Hi Blue eyes,
Thinking of converting my pet carrier into a litter box like ur box. Will post pics once set up. Below is the size. Should be ok I guess to fit 2 rabbits

 

[Habib]

Did the litter box. But rabbits started to sit on the hay rather than eat it...they not prefer to eat from this set up..will wait to see if the hay level goes down

 

[zuppa]

The fix to the wall hay holder is messy. Gets pulled around and most lands inside the tray underneath the cage. So went back to the rectangle tray and the ladies are happy gorging on hay . But still having pee issues as they are still peeing all over the cage, even though it goes to the tray bottom. Also they are not tlrealky using the litter pen unless going for a drink (bottle is above the litter pen) how can train them to be litter pen trained inside the cage? Will be setting up another hay tray in pen but not seeing any good trays around in stalls as most of them are very deep

When they pee somewhere outside their toilet you can wipe it down and put that paper towel with their urine smell under their toilet grid, they will get the idea. Rabbits like corners and usually will use one or two spots in the cage, I think just now you are making changes every day and they are getting lost a bit. I'd put that new toilet into a corner, also rabbits like a bit of privacy when they do their duties so I would make it a little sheltered .

Also, put their poo-berries to their toilet every time they leave them outside of it, they will understand, sooner or later.

Is there tile floor in the playpen? I thought you had a piece of lino there that would be much better for them as it will be easier to walk for them, their paws have no pads and very fluffy it is not easy to walk on hard floor maybe they just scared of it so sitting on hay, but they have to be able to hop and binky so carpet or lino would give them better grip, lino is easier to clean as they are still not fully toilet trained.

 

[A & B]

My bun likes sitting in his litterbox sometimes. He won't be eating the hay or using the bathroom, he just likes sitting in it. Some buns like having that space as their own spot to relax. When I was litterbox training my bun, he would actually flop in the box.

 

[Habib]

When they pee somewhere outside their toilet you can wipe it down and put that paper towel with their urine smell under their toilet grid, they will get the idea. Rabbits like corners and usually will use one or two spots in the cage, I think just now you are making changes every day and they are getting lost a bit. I'd put that new toilet into a corner, also rabbits like a bit of privacy when they do their duties so I would make it a little sheltered .

Also, put their poo-berries to their toilet every time they leave them outside of it, they will understand, sooner or later.

Is there tile floor in the playpen? I thought you had a piece of lino there that would be much better for them as it will be easier to walk for them, their paws have no pads and very fluffy it is not easy to walk on hard floor maybe they just scared of it so sitting on hay, but they have to be able to hop and binky so carpet or lino would give them better grip, lino is easier to clean as they are still not fully toilet trained.

Its vinyl flooring. Easy to clean and click on . Allowed me to expand the place. The have a corner toilet where the bottle is. Have put in poop there but the chest nut always laying around and pees in the place she plays flats. They have their own sleeping corner