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Hyatt101

Hyatt101

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, Maine, USA
Okay, so, I am building an NIC condo, and i bought some panels and cable zip ties. No matter how hard i tighten them, they just don't hold. I took 2 panels and tried to fasten them together so they would be stiff right? Nope, as soon as I tried to fold them to see if they would hold, they caved right in. I feel like tearing out my hair; if someone is on PLEASE PLEASE help!! :X
 
Did you connect it to something like plywood onto the bottom?

Links:


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqyUPxE-wB8&feature=relmfu[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q49JDmB2lAg&feature=related[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbt7G4252i0&feature=related[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLUDLbZYr4[/ame]
 
The panels really don't start to feel secure until you get quite a few tightened together.. Just build your exterior walls then join the walls together. The whole structure will get more sturdy as you connect the walls.
 
I find it very handy that they have the abbility to bend. (It made getting the cage from Spring to Brenham easier). When you attach the roof and floor it will get really sturdy. Shelfs will help as well. I have made pens out of pannels before. They folded up really nicely which came in handy. Also make sure that you have at least 2 zip ties per side. We have found that all you need is 2 MAYBE 3 zip ties per side to make it really sturdy. Also if you zip tie accross the wire (at an angle not just like this -) it helps. So it would be 2 zip ties 1 twoards the top of the pannel and one at the bottom. 1 would go like this / and the other would go like this \. That will make it so the pannels do not slide up and down.
 
yeah, it gets sturdier and sturdier as you go... the shelves will sag slightly because they don't go all the way across, but a dowel zip-tied along the middle of the underside of each shelf fixes that :D
 
Thank you very much!! I think I can build the cage confidently now!! :biggrin:
 
if you follow this guide, you'll see it has no floor or ceiling:
http://breyfamily.net/bunnycage.html

I built a floor out of grids for mine because it made it feel more stable since I had to leave an opening on one of the walls for the bunnies to get in and out. ofc I ended up taking the first floor out in the end (ie sealed it off/removed the coroplast), but I still have a grid floor against the house floor.

basically, if you have a door or opening on the ground floor, putting a grid floor in will stop the bottoms of the walls from being a little wiggly.

you can see what I'm talking about in this pic:

finishedcondo2.jpg

 
which reminds me, the floor of each level would be a good place for those nasty grids with the big hole in the middle of them, since you'll be putting solid flooring like coroplast or plywood on top of them anyway :)
 
Oh, okay, now i see! Thank you, yes, i was thinking about using the big grids for shelves. What do you think to use for ramps? I have small bunnies and i know they can't make long jumps, so i need something skinny enough to fit, but big enough and stable enough for my buns!
 
personally, I wouldn't bother with ramps, they take up quite a bit of space. my bunns are TINY (small breeds and were only 12-13 weeks when they learned to jump up the condo levels) and they manage just fine - even Gaz, who's the smaller of the two, a bit pudgy and not much of a jumper. if they stand on their tip-toes, they can barely reach to put their paws on the next level when it's one grid higher yet they jump up to it with ease, the little gymnasts! o_O

if you think your bunn needs some help, just put an extra grid in a corner that's halfway up a wall grid so that it forms a step and bunnies only have to jump up half a grid at a time instead of a whole one :)

if you've got your heart set on ramps... I was thinking of making a ramp up to the second level and closing off the third when they get spayed - best way I could think of to do that was to just use two grids (to go up a height of 1 grid). I figured I'd get a 4' dowel cut in half to make two 2' ones and use those to reinforce the ramp so it couldn't bend at the joint (they'd be slightly shorter than the two grid distance, so they wouldn't interfere with it sitting on the floor/connecting to the next level).
 
Okay, thank you! What breed are your rabbits? Mine weigh almost 2 lbs, a pound and a half i think, so should i START with ramps just until they develop a little more?
 
mine were around 32 oz and 27 oz the last time I weighed them, which was back when they first learned to jump up the condo levels.

Gaz (my holland lop who doesn't jump much) learned the levels 'cause I had pellets on the third floor for Nala (my lionhead who loves to jump) :p. I showed her the way up and down a time or two and she had it from there.

I would try it without ramps/half-way steps and see if they're happy to jump up, then add them if they seem to have some trouble :)
 
I was worried that my rabbits could not or would not jump up on their shelfs if I put it at 1 grid high. I ended up making mine 2 mini cubes short of 1 cube. My rabbits can and do hop up with ease. My cages do not have room for a ramp so that is what I had to do. It also helps to have a litter box next to the shelf. Mine learned to hop in the box and then up. To get off of the shelf they jump into their litter boxes. Now that they have gotten used to them I can hardely keep Beauty off the shelf.
 
;) What kinds of rabbits do you have Lauren? in your pic, it looks like a lionhead?
 
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