New Rabbit Condo
So, after admiring the rabbit and g pig condos on the internet (do a search for "Guinea pig condo" "C and C cage" "storage cube rabbit condo", etc, and it will bring up TONS of ideas), I decided to build one myself. I scoured the local stores for the storage cubes and found none. I was able to order them off of Amazon.com - they were $26 per pack of 17 and eligible for super saver shipping. I ordered 3 packs and got them lightening fast (ordered on a Sat, got them Tues).
Other materials needed for the cage part are zip ties and pliers.
About this time, I found a cute Holland Lop rabbit for sale. He is a 10 month old broken blue buck. He weighs just 4 lbs. His name was Spooks when I got him, but one of the residents at the long term care facility I work at renamed him "Happy Hoppy". Not really a name I would pick out, but Hoppy he is !!
Since I get home from work at midnight and the house is pretty quiet, I spent that time over the next few days putting the cubes together with the zip ties. I decided to make my cage 2 panels wide by 4 panels long. Making it 2 panels high would give enough room to add a second level.
I made one wall at a time, using 3 zip ties per side of panel to hold them together. Where four met, I criss-crossed two zip ties. Then, I zip tied the back and two side walls together. I made the front with two doors that swing out (leave those zip ties just a little looser so the door swings easily. I made the top by zip tying 8 panels together, but did not put it on yet so that I would have more access to the inside as I built the shelf.
Next, I headed to Menards and bought a sheet of 3/8" plywood for the floor, castors, some 1x2s for the edge around the bottom and the shelf supports, one 6' 1 X 12 for the shelves, and one box of self adhesive vinyl floor tiles. I also dug through the cheap "utility wood" for pieces for shelving and misc building. In this bin, I scored a 35" long 1 x 12 for less than a buck !!! I made sure to get all untreated wood so the bunny can safely chew on it. I got mostly pine, but did pick up some hickory on another trip to Menards. These scrap bins are great places to get materials for critter building !!!
We headed up to Cory's workplace to cut the wood. First, we cut the plywood base. We cut it an inch and a half longer and an inch and a half wider so that we could screw 1 X 2s around the perimeter to keep the bunny raisins contained (he is pretty reliable with his litter box, but has a few accidents). We left a 30" opening in the front of the base so the doors can swing outward.
Next, we flipped the base over and screwed castors down to it so we can move the cage around easily.
When we got home, I tried out the cage in the base to check the fit. If there had been any problems, we could fix them now before laying the tile.
I took the base and covered my kitchen center island with a blanket and set the base on it to install the tiles. The whole box of tiles was less than $15 at Menards and they were very easy to cut and to install. You can cut them easily with a utility knife and you just remove the paper backing and press down.
I used little nail on plastic fasteners that are made to fasten co-ax cable to walls to fasten the cage to the base.
For the shelves, we cut 1 x 2s for the supports - these go right through the holes in the grids. We then screwed untreated lumber down to them for the shelves. We made a shelf on each side of the cage from a 1 x 12.
We then screwed that scrap 1 x 12 that I got from the utility bin at Menards across the two side shelves to make a back shelf.
Once all the shelving was in, I zip tied the roof on.
There was a lot of wood left for plenty of other projects. We made a little hidey-hole tunnel out of a few pieces.
This was a fun and easy project. I have absolutely NO wood building skills and with very little help, was able to build this awesome cage inexpensively.
Hoppy loves his new bunny condo !! I put the base from his old cage in it and that is what I use for his litter box. Because Hoppy is not a chewer, I am using polar fleece for his cage liner. It is nice and soft and gives him the traction he needs for running and hopping (he likes to popcorn back and forth across the back of his cage).
I will do a separate blog on the fleece liners for his cage and also for my Degu's critter nation cage.
We headed up to Cory's workplace to cut the wood. First, we cut the plywood base. We cut it an inch and a half longer and an inch and a half wider so that we could screw 1 X 2s around the perimeter to keep the bunny raisins contained (he is pretty reliable with his litter box, but has a few accidents). We left a 30" opening in the front of the base so the doors can swing outward.
Next, we flipped the base over and screwed castors down to it so we can move the cage around easily.
When we got home, I tried out the cage in the base to check the fit. If there had been any problems, we could fix them now before laying the tile.
For the shelves, we cut 1 x 2s for the supports - these go right through the holes in the grids. We then screwed untreated lumber down to them for the shelves. We made a shelf on each side of the cage from a 1 x 12.
We then screwed that scrap 1 x 12 that I got from the utility bin at Menards across the two side shelves to make a back shelf.
Once all the shelving was in, I zip tied the roof on.
There was a lot of wood left for plenty of other projects. We made a little hidey-hole tunnel out of a few pieces.
This was a fun and easy project. I have absolutely NO wood building skills and with very little help, was able to build this awesome cage inexpensively.
Hoppy loves his new bunny condo !! I put the base from his old cage in it and that is what I use for his litter box. Because Hoppy is not a chewer, I am using polar fleece for his cage liner. It is nice and soft and gives him the traction he needs for running and hopping (he likes to popcorn back and forth across the back of his cage).
I will do a separate blog on the fleece liners for his cage and also for my Degu's critter nation cage.
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