Cage for first ever rabbit! Tips, suggestions?

[JBun]

There are foam tiles under the vinyl flooring right? If your rabbit ends up not being much of a chewer, you may be able to just use the foam tiles without having anything on top of it. That's what I used for my rabbits flooring, as they didn't really mess with it. I had the wire shelf, a piece of cardboard on top of that for support of the flooring above, then foam tiles on top of the cardboard. Some rabbits will leave the foam flooring alone but will try and chew the edges and seams. So for mine I used mat tape to tape the seams, and J trim to protect the edges. It slips right onto the edge of the foam tiles.

J trim is used for covering sheetrock edges. There is metal and vinyl trim available, in 1/2 or 5/8 inch. If you need a thinner J trim just for the vinyl flooring, there's something called FRP cap molding, that has about an 1/8 inch gap, even though the description says 1/4 inch. The metal J trim, fit pretty snuggly over the foam tile edge, but I did secure it further using the clear mat tape. Or silicone caulk could be used to secure the edging and keep it from slipping off. Pine 1x2, 1x3, 1x4 boards can also be used for covering edges along the enclosure walls.

J trim for sheetrock

FRP cap molding

 

[Cati]

Anyone know how well this works on vinyl and if it is safe for rabbits?

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RHA5KE
To be clear, still no rabbit yet, so I have time to spray it and air out the room before the rabbit arrives.

 

[Blue eyes]

Anyone know how well this works on vinyl and if it is safe for rabbits?

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RHA5KE
To be clear, still no rabbit yet, so I have time to spray it and air out the room before the rabbit arrives.

Interesting idea. It appears to be able to be sprayed on vinyl. How well it works (or lasts) may be a matter of testing it out. I would not think it would be a problem for the rabbit if he isn't chewing on it (and it's had time to air out). Wonder if anyone here on RO has ever tried it.

 

[Cati]

I ended up using the Krylon spray, and although I of course can't speak to the long-term wear of it yet, I am very pleased with the results. It is completely clear, but it added a rough (not painful) finish that will definitely provide more traction on the shelves.

I also got bored and decided to go forth and put vinyl on the bottom floor. This vinyl has more of a texture on it, so I didn't spray any Krylon.

I also found a cute hay feeder at the pet store and added that as well -- I left the hay bag, but the feeder looks more convenient to fill.

 

[Blue eyes]

Looking good...

Did you find something to go over the edges of the shelves to keep bun from chewing the vinyl? (can't quite tell in photo.)

 

[Cati]

I did! I’m using the clear plastic corner protectors on the exposed edges. They are the sticky kind, so I might reattach them with glue or caulking if they start to come off.

 

[Cati]

So, latest update, bunny is arriving on Wednesday. He is a eight-week old 3/4 Flemish 1/4 Satin cross. I think the cage is ready, so I want to talk about some of my other plans.

The room the bunny is in was originally "the cat's room" (a misnomer because the cats own the whole house). The loft bed in the room is not for people, it is 100% for the cats. Although I am not going to try this any time soon, my eventual hope is that I can switch off who has access to the room -- let the bunny when the cats are not in there, but other times put the bunny in the cage and let the cats in if they so desire. All this depends on how the cats and the bun adjust to each other, but if this is altogether a terrible idea, let me know.

But since I would like the bunny to have unsupervised access to the room eventually, I could use some tips/advice on how the room is set-up right now. The bedroom is 8 ft by 11 ft to the best I can measure, not including the closet space (which is open)



I have zero concerns about protecting the floor in this room from the bun, unless it is in someway unsafe. I ripped out the carpet a few months ago and the floor underneath is ugly and damaged. When I move out in a few years I plan on covering it up with laminate.

I put cord protectors on the air purifier and lamp for now, but I am considering getting a light to put on the shelf (top right corner), and removing the lamp for more room. Also fine with removing the air purifier. I'd prefer the exercise bike to stay.



There's some baseboards in this room, haven't figured out/decided how to protect them yet.



Storage area for bunny stuff. I also need to do something to prevent the bunny from chewing the frayed carpet edges at the door left from my sad attempt at removing the carpet, so I'm going to look into what transition strips are available.



This is the closet area. I'd prefer to leave the cat tree (it's for the cats, not the bunny) but is it unsafe? I may also remove the shelves in this closet because I hate how they are set up, but it might not be for awhile.

Also wanted to add, I bought a cage in case I have to take the bun over to my parents' for bunny sitting (as I mentioned in an earlier post, they are allergic to my cats, so I don't think they would be able to come over). I'm wondering what to do with it. Here's the cage:



As-is it's about 40 inches by 24 inches, but I have two expansions to it that I have not added yet that will extend the length to around six feet. I'm wondering what to do with it. I feel I should eventually put it in the room so the bunny will be familiar with it, but the only option right now is to put it where the lamp and air purifier are, and I'd hate to take up that space. I guess the other option is to remove the shelves in the closet and put the cage in there. Thoughts?

 

[Blue eyes]

It'd be easier if you were getting a rabbit that's already fixed (like from a rabbit rescue). Babies present a number of difficulties. First, I'd be careful about the dog crate portion of your cage. The openings are larger than the grid panels and a young bunny could potentially get their head trapped in there. Second hormonal rabbits are more likely to do excessive destructive chewing. Only one of my rabbits chewed on baseboards, but a baby that gets in the habit (from hormones) may never stop.

On that note, I agree that it would be wise to cover that carpet peeking out from the door. The carpet on the cat tree may get chewed as well. Ingested carpet can cause a gut blockage pretty quickly so keep a close eye.

I wouldn't worry about the rabbit getting used to the travel cage. You can always take mats or toys from the cage he uses and put them in the temporary cage to make it familiar (when the time comes).

There are tips for what to do the day you bring your bunny home here:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bringing-your-rabbit-home.html
If you find you need to protect the baseboard, one option is to use pin nails to attach some lengths of 1x4 or 1x3 (depending on the height of your baseboards) pine boards to the existing baseboards. This shows what I did.

 

[Cati]

I understand a baby will be a lot harder, but I still want to try, I feel pretty attached and he's coming from a meat farm. I'm trying to find out his current size to get a better idea of the chances of his head fitting through. I have some extra C&C grids I can put up if it looks like a risk.

Good call on the cat tree, I will keep an eye on that. If it has to go, it has to go.

Thanks for the bringing home link, I think I have everything on that list covered.