NIC Cages Only-II

[AngelnSnuffy]

The other thread was huge, so we need to start a newthread for new pics. You may still view the other thread (which includes instructions etc)... click here:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15348&forum_id=21

So please post your NIC condos/cages here!

Thanks!




Edited to add link

 

[Becca]

May I ask what on earth a NIC cage is :?

:biggrin2:

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

This is a side view of the cage they bottom 2 high grids are the rabbits cage with the pen attached to the front, and the top one grid high is the piggies. Great space saver.

I posted this one a lil bigger so you could see inside of the cage. There is a little shelf in the back that they jump up on, there is a litter box in the back where there is a water bottle attached to the side. Outside in the pen area is a piece of coroplast with a sheet wrapped around it to catch any stray pee, and i use the hose dusting attachement to get the hair off of it. Coroplast was folded around the outer edge of the cage so as to keep Belle from chewing it up. She is a Bugger that one. The pen attached can be made bigger or smaller depending on if i have something going on and need more living room space, if not i bring it out all the way so they get the use of all the panels.

 

[Michaela]

BabyBunnies wrote:

May I ask what on earth a NIC cage is :?

:biggrin2:

I cage made from "NIC" grids. NIC is a brand name, I think. So mine is really a B&Q grid cage. They are known elsewhere on the Internet as C&C cages.

Maddie's cage;

It's an awkward shape, but we built it like this so it would look less "bulky" in my room. The bottom level is 7 grids square in area, the second is 3, and the top is 3. The bottom flooring is just the laminate wood that's in my room, and the upper floors are fleece, I change the fleece often to different colours. Fleece will only work if your bun is well litter trained and doesn't chew it, like Maddie. Maddie actually spends very little time in her cage, most of the day she has free run of the house, and I've started to give her free run of my room at night again, I love waking up with her on my pillow.

 

[Becca]

OMG Michaela thats amazing - I really wanna make a NIC cage for the buns when they are living in the summer house in winter,

Ohhh can;'t wait! I liove the colour scheme of your michaela!

 

[Michaela]

Thank you Becca. Haha my room is very pink, and rabbity.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Michaela, you're so lucky you can wake up and have a bunny one your pillow! I wish I could do that!

Emily

 

[Becca]

me too

 

[mouse_chalk]

Right, well I thought I would post pictures of the current cage setup, before it gets taken down later and rebuilt!

Here's Mouse and Chalk's current set up:

And here is Barney and Snowy's cage:

Currently, you can see that the 2 cages share walls, so they can nose each other through the bars if they want to... Tonight, or maybe tomorrow I'm going to 'remodel' both cages into one giant one, and make the whole thing 3 levels high, and part of it may even be 4 levels, and then the 4 of them are going to live together

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to model it though, and whether to have one door or 2 or not yet.... Need to find some ideas...

 

[Becca]

When we get round to B&Q I am going to make one - I will need a lot of help becuase i have no idea where I will start! :shock:

 

[mouse_chalk]

Ok, so it's 4.30am here, but I've finished the new cage!!! All 4 bunnies have now moved in together. They're pretty much bonded and have been getting on great for a while now....

Here's the pics:

You can see the middle door bit is a bit unsecure, so I've cable tied the whole lot up for tonight and I'll sort it out properly in the morning...

The top shelf (the whole front top bit lifts up, but half and half):

This is where the wall used to be, I'll probably leave it like this, to support the shelves above:

And here it is, shut up with all 4 bunners in! :biggrin2:

I'm going to add more shelving to the second level maybe tomorrow, but I've run out of cable ties for now lol... They all seem to be loving it so far!

Oh, and Becca, building NIC cages are SO easy! It takes a while and can be fiddly, but the best thing about them is that you can adjust them to be whatever size, shape or layout you want them to be... and if you go wrong. it's easy to go back and change it! They're so roomy too.... Where would yours go, if your buns live in a hutch though?

 

[petalfuzz]

I posted in the general forum about building Chestnut's new playpen. Here's the pic:

The original design took 3 hours to build, the remodel took 1/2 hour. I don't have any pics of her playpen before, but it was 2 grids high, 3 wide, and 5 long with no top. The newest design takes up less space and she can run around free more often.

 

[gwhoosh]

Hi everyone! Haven't been around for a while, but everything's fine with us. I really, really need help with my NIC cage! I'm having major mess problems and need a good mess-guard around the cage, but my bunny chews on everything. Does anyone have any ideas that doesn't envolve welding or power tools? :?

 

[mouse_chalk]

Hi! In another thread somewhere I saw someone suggested using those cheap flexible chopping boards? The bendy ones, and putting holes in the corners and cable-tying them to the bottom of the grids all around the outside.. I'm not sure how big your cage is and whether that would work out expensive or not, but any sort of flexible plastic will do I should imagine! Some people use plexi-glass I think.... I've not done it yet myself, but I REALLY need to due to all the poop and stuff that gets out the back of the cage lol.... :?

 

[gwhoosh]

Oh I know exactly what you're talking about, my mom uses those all the time! It's certainly worth a try, thanks! She's got a high-riser, so the perimeter isn't too huge, I hope it'll work!

 

[SOOOSKA]

Jen, what a great idea to use those flexible chopping boards. I wish I would have know about those when we built all of our cages. I'm going to get some so I can put them on the cages. Wilbur & Jackie walls need a real good cleaning, I'll put them on their cages.

Thanks again for the Brilliant idea.

Susan
:bunnydance:

 

[mouse_chalk]

SOOOSKA wrote:

Jen, what a great idea to use those flexible chopping boards. I wish I would have know about those when we built all of our cages. I'm going to get some so I can put them on the cages. Wilbur & Jackie walls need a real good cleaning, I'll put them on their cages.

Thanks again for the Brilliant idea.

Susan
:bunnydance:

I wish I could take the credit for thinking of it myself, but I saw someone post it in Naturestee's thread about her foster babies... Not my idea at all unfortunately, but it is pretty good!

Edit: I accidentally put a pic of Chalk in here lol! :?

 

[gwhoosh]

Ok, I'm picking up some tomorrow. According to their site, IKEA sells them 2 for $1.79. They're 14.5 inches long, while one NIC panel is 14 inches. And they're 11 inches wide, so I imagine cutting them in half will work nicely Thanks again for the idea mouse_chalk!!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00066680

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

Cloraplast I think is what some people recommend. It is the stuff that some signs are made of and is sort of plastic material. Not sure where to get it though.

 

[Gabby]

since post 1 is closed i'm gonna put my reply here I think aurora369
had some great ideas in her building and protecting edges and flooring.

Pretty soon I get to expand Donovan's NIC's, he's a flemish giant. it's 4 feet by 4 feet currently, I plan to expand it to 4 feet by 8 feet, and was looking for support ideas and flooring ideas for larger cages. there are some great ideas in both threads.

we have to make sure our buns floors stay off from the actual floor , so I started off with building a frame for the floor out of PVC, then screwing a sheet of plywood on top. and their floor which has been cloroplast, but i'm considering doing a thick vinal as it will go past the edges of his NIC cubes instead of being short. course she( aurora369) gave me the idea of using the flat metal as a seam protector if i need a floor seem in the middle,(I know hers were for edges and I love that idea too)but all i have are the NIC cubs currently and his old floor. I'm just in the planning process of how to expand it.

And wanted to say this is a great thread for sharing building ideas