Help/Suggestions for Oswald's Cage/Toys

[aeposten]

Hello All,
I got a new rabbit, Oswald, a few days back, and I am trying to make his cage as comfortable and interesting as possible for him (as he will be spending quite a bit of time there until he is litter trained). I've looked at quite a few rabbit books and websites and read through many of the posts here, but I would like a few opinions from the masses. FYI- Oswald is an 11 week old Mini Rex Rabbit.

The cage that I purchased for him is 2 feet long by 4 feet wide by 2.5 feet high.
Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeposten/192900899/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeposten/192900903/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeposten/192900905/

The cage has a very large door on top and two smaller ones on the side.

Any suggestions in the way of cage arrangement and toys are welcome!

Thanks!

Amy and Oswald

 

[maherwoman]

Hello Aeposten and Oswald! Welcome!

Do you notice that your bun slips around a lot during play inside his cage? If so, you could go to Home Depot (or any hardware store) and buy something called pegboard, which is rather inexpensive. It's great, because it has holes about every inch that make for great traction, and putting it rough-side-up makes it an excellent flooring for bunnies! You can even have them cut the board in-store, most likely for free!

That's what I have for my buns' floors, and they really love it. They don't try to eat it, either, but even if they did, it's compressed wood, so it's okay.

Looks to me that you have a good selection for your bunny!

If you find that litter gets expensive, you can get wood pellet horse stall bedding at any tack and feed place near you for much cheaper (30lb bag for $6, as opposed to larger bag of CareFresh for about the same...it's what I used to use, too).

Tack and feed places also sometimes sell good rabbit pellet food for much cheaper, too!

As far as anything else, check out the Rabbit 101 section of this site:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=17

It has a section for Bunny Ideas & Accessories:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12056&forum_id=17

Browse around on the site, too, using the search capability, possibly searching the word "toy" and you should be able to find all sorts of ideas!

Also be sure to give Oswald (love the name, btw) lots of free time outside his cage (though his cage is a good size, he should have plenty of running-around time).

Enjoy! I'm sure others will come along with more advice.

P.S. I love how colorful you've made his cage! That's great!

 

[naturestee]

Looks pretty good so far! I think that's the biggest store-bought rabbit cage I've ever seen.

I have three suggestions that you could do that my buns like. One is hanging toys. You can get Bunny Kabobs (declared officially un-fun by my buns, though), parrot toys with no rope or leather, or make your own. I make my own with sisal, various chew toys from pet stores, craft stores, and untreated dried willow and apple twigs, and bells.

Another good idea is noisy toys. I have that same rattle, and my buns chew on it but if they want to make noise they play with their hanging toys or one of their other throw toys. Best bets are plastic cat toys with bells inside and hard plastic baby keys.

The third suggestion is a small shelf. If there's room in the cage, you can put a small shelf in for him to jump up to. All of my rabbits love being able to perch somewhere high and it gives them another thing to hide under.

For more ideas, check out the Bunny 101 toy thread.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12433&forum_id=17

 

[maherwoman]

Naturestee...hehe! I must have missed that one when I read the list! :blushan

 

[katt]

shower curtain rings. . .my rabbits LOVE them. . .when i bred, i would give them to my dwarf hotots. . .i had one doe that would bring them into the nestbox with her and play with them while nursing her babies. . .when we cleaned out the nestbox there would be more rings then babies in it!

just hook some together and let them dangle from the top of the cage, winnie (my mini lop) tugs them, while herman will 'dance' with them (stand on his hindfeet so that the chain lays right on his side and move around. . .it is hysterical to watch, i wish i could explain it better). my rabbits also love golf balls, and those metal canning rings (they toss them around the cage). . .

a paper bag filled with crumpled up newspaper with a few treats hidden in the paper will give them fun for a long time! (this is more of an out of the cage toy though). . .they will dig into the paper for the treats. . .then rip the bag apart. . .toss the newspaper around. . .they love it!

 

[manda]

welcome!

cute bunny, nice cage

 

[Haley]

Hi, Amy and Oswald, and Welcome!

I think thats a smile I see in that pic:

How cute.. And I love the name! Looks like you've got him pretty well set up! As was mentioned, one thing I would do would be to get him something so he doesnt slip on that floor. Good start with the grass mat!

Also, I read that you are trying to litter train him. One thing I did to help litter train was to put a little hay in one corner of the litter box. This encourages them to go in to the box and munch. Dont worry, they wont eat soiled hay. You will probably need to get a bigger litter box when he gets bigger. I have a corner one like yours except bigger which works well. Also, cat litter boxes (which you can get cheap at walmart) work great..especially the big ones if you have trouble with them lifting their butt over the edge That carefresh litter can get expensive too...check out Woody Pet (available at stores like TSC) or Yesterdays News (you can buy the cat bag, its the same stuff just cheaper).

Just some ideas that have helped me along the way...Looks like you two are off to a great start!

-Haley

 

[aeposten]

A big "thank you" to everyone for the advice thus far! My boyfriend and I are going to go to Lowe's this evening to pick up some peg board for the bottom of Oswald's cage.

My boyfriend has been looking at the NIC cages and some of the other elaborate set-ups that many rabbits have. He's a senior MechanicalEngineering major at one of the colleges here in Pittsburgh and he wants to make Oswald and giant and extremely elaborate cage and play area in our bedroom. This frightenes me a little because he often has some rather . . . interesting ideas; but at least he is having fun with Oswald.

Yesterday was his day with many of his new toys (initially he only had the fiddlestick rainbow arch and some paper towel rolls) and he really seems to be enjoying all of them. It sounded like he was doing major construction work in his cage at about 4AM. That was fine, though, we were just glad that he seemed to be having a good time. Also, first thing this morning I went down to CVS to pick up some prescriptions and I picked up some cat toys for $1.99. They are the small plastic balls with bells inside. I let Oswald out of his cage and rolled one to him, but he was MUCH more interested in the paper business card that fell off my desk and the empty Dr.Pepper boxes I brought for him to hide in. Ah well, such is life.

Thanks!
Amy and Oswald

 

[Jess_sully]

Looks like he hasa GREAT setup so far... I was expecting to see a plain, drab, tiny little cage with a poor bunny in it. Some toys that my past bunnies really liked were cheap baby toys from Wal-Mart. If you go there, they have one aisle in the baby section of newborn toys... things for no more than $3.00... my bunny loved the rattles, baby keys, and things of that nature that are in that section. Mini tennis balls were also a hit (sold mainly for cats). Also, cheap hanging parrot toys with lots of wood on them make excellent chewing toys, and they can slam them up against the cage bars to make the bells ring

Does Oswald, by chance, have BLACK eyes? If so, what a beauty! If not, my eyes must be playing tricks on me

 

[aeposten]

Yes, he does have black eyes. And thank you for the compliment.

I didn't want him to have a drab, dull cage. Especially after seeing some of the exciting cages that many of the rabbits on this forum have. I never really knew that rabbits were capable of so much before coming here. I'm glad I found this place before I brought Oswald home. I've learned so much!

 

[Jess_sully]

You're lucky to actually find a black eyed white mini rex. Does he have any splotches of color on him anywhere? Just wondering. Did you get him from a pet store or a breeder? Black eyed whites are nearly impossible to find in my area. He's very adorable. I love how his name magnifies his regality, too Oswald. I love it! Where did you come up with it?

 

[aeposten]

I haven't noticed any spots of color on him. We got him from a small, local pet store that has worked with the same local breeder for about 10 years. Oswald was the last mini rex in the store. The manager of the pet shop, a wonderfully knowledgable woman, said that he had been passed over for the more "interesting" ie colorful bunnies in the store.

As for the name, my boyfriend came up with it. We were bringing Oswald home brainstorming and he suggested it, after many of my suggestions had been deemed too strange hehe. I really liked it, so it's stuck.

My boyfriend is also from Michigan. Although, he's a yooper.

 

[Jess_sully]

I'm -nearly- a yooper. I'm right on the edge of the northern lower pennisula and the UP. I'm not FROM Michigan though, I've only lived here for two years. I was actually born in California

I can't BELIEVE someone would pass over that doll! I would've snapped him up in an instant if I were in your area, even if there were dozens of "colorful" bunnies!

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I'm just wondering, what is in the litter box?

 

[aeposten]

Right now I'm using CareFresh ULTRA.

 

[maherwoman]

That's a GREAT idea! I've got to try that! Both of my buns love to stand up and see what they can reach (it's how Maisie got into the tummy trouble recently with the handbroom), so it would be a perfect thing to add to both of their cages...not to mention quite inexpensive!!

katt wrote:

shower curtain rings. . .my rabbits LOVE them. . .when i bred, i would give them to my dwarf hotots. . .i had one doe that would bring them into the nestbox with her and play with them while nursing her babies. . .when we cleaned out the nestbox there would be more rings then babies in it!

just hook some together and let them dangle from the top of the cage, winnie (my mini lop) tugs them, while herman will 'dance' with them (stand on his hindfeet so that the chain lays right on his side and move around. . .it is hysterical to watch, i wish i could explain it better).

 

[maherwoman]

OH! Another idea...and something I just recently tried out with GREAT success with Flower, is to get him a stuffed toy (one that is for babies that doesn't have any hard plastic things on it...eyes, nose, etc). My Flower LOVES snuggling up to the stuffy I bought her, and even grooms him! It's so cute to see my little cutie grooming a pig stuffed toy! She's totally bonded with him, too, because when I brought him out of her cage yesterday when I let her out to play, she hopped straight over, put her head down like she wanted him to bathe her (which I've had him do a few times to get them bonded), and then plopped right down. I would swear I saw a little smile on her face, too! It was so cute!!

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

maherwoman wrote:

OH! Another idea...and something I just recently tried out with GREAT success with Flower, is to get him a stuffed toy (one that is for babies that doesn't have any hard plastic things on it...eyes, nose, etc). My Flower LOVES snuggling up to the stuffy I bought her, and even grooms him! It's so cute to see my little cutie grooming a pig stuffed toy! She's totally bonded with him, too, because when I brought him out of her cage yesterday when I let her out to play, she hopped straight over, put her head down like she wanted him to bathe her (which I've had him do a few times to get them bonded), and then plopped right down. I would swear I saw a little smile on her face, too! It was so cute!!

Aww, how cool. I'm gonna go get some stuffed animals for Beans and Pyscho killer Tank. Since Beans doesnt want to bond with a real rabbit and Tank is just....well, ya know.....a savage.

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

maherwoman wrote:

OH! Another idea...and something I just recently tried out with GREAT success with Flower, is to get him a stuffed toy (one that is for babies that doesn't have any hard plastic things on it...eyes, nose, etc). My Flower LOVES snuggling up to the stuffy I bought her, and even grooms him! It's so cute to see my little cutie grooming a pig stuffed toy! She's totally bonded with him, too, because when I brought him out of her cage yesterday when I let her out to play, she hopped straight over, put her head down like she wanted him to bathe her (which I've had him do a few times to get them bonded), and then plopped right down. I would swear I saw a little smile on her face, too! It was so cute!!

Aww, how cool. I'm gonna go get some stuffed animals for Beans and Pyscho killer Tank. Since Beans doesnt want to bond with a real rabbit and Tank is just....well, ya know.....a savage.

 

[maherwoman]

Hehe...I should read the story of Tank!

I would get a stuff for Maisie, too, but she's so freaked out about others entering her cage, I don't think the stuffy would last long! Lol...

I got one for Flower because she's SO lovey-dovey, and always so want for attention and love, I hoped it would help her feel more content in that area. Does that make sense? She certainly has taken to him, too...it's so cute to see her laying next to him...with such a happy, content, proud look on her face! She's been DYING to bond with Maisie all this time, so now she has a friend!