NIC/x-pen bunny paradise

[Blue eyes]

My buns like to have an old towel to crawl under. I thought Shadow was trapped at first and then I watched him stick his head out, look around, and then go right back under again. It was so cute.
Maybe they just need something loose to play with (and under). This fleece is new to them, so they're just exploring and having fun. Do you have extra to keep loose?

 

[Hyatt101]

nice cage. If you could, would you please look at my post that says " so stressed right now!!" i need help really bad on my condo! Thanks!

 

[Imbrium]

I saw... the bendy aspect is normal until you've got it a little further along

the more you work with the grids and get used to them, the more comfortable you get (as you can see by the evolution of my bunns' condo.

I find it helps a lot to not build any doors in it - connect stuff all the way across as you go, then snip zip-ties to create doors after the condo is complete.

 

[Imbrium]

Blue eyes wrote:

My buns like to have an old towel to crawl under. I thought Shadow was trapped at first and then I watched him stick his head out, look around, and then go right back under again. It was so cute.
Maybe they just need something loose to play with (and under). This fleece is new to them, so they're just exploring and having fun. Do you have extra to keep loose?

yeah, I found fleece blankets at walmart for $2.89 each, so I bought them one. it had thick, almost yarn-like thread sewn around the edges kinda like a trim (I guess to make it more blanket than random piece of cloth, lol), so I ripped all of it out 'cause I didn't want Nala chewing it and ingesting scraps of thick thread. then I cut it into 4ths and gave it to them to play with. she'd much rather rip up the condo >.>

the craziest part is that I went into the condo to re-secure the fleece and add more binder clips to try to keep it in place... and I found that EVERY SINGLE BINDER CLIP on the second floor had the metal part on the inside edge flipped back up instead of lying flush against the coroplast/fabric even though I'd flipped them down after clamping them on. Nala didn't miss a single one! crazy bunny.

 

[Hyatt101]

Thank you Jennifer!!

~Christina

 

[ldoerr]

O my goodness. Silly Nala :biggrin2:

 

[Imbrium]

yeah, she's a little punk! very affectionate, though, and adorable as can be so it's impossible to hate her for the times that she's a total brat.

 

[mzkitty]

That homemade carrier is so clever! Your buns are so lucky to have that nice fleece covered floors. My bun would chew, rip, and destroy it all. We can't have nice things in her home =(

 

[Imbrium]

yeah, mine are pretty close to not being allowed to have nice things either ssd:

they've ripped a few bare spots in the fleece (mostly Nala, but then she taught Gaz how to do the same) and they've peed on it more than once... worst part is, the pee spot is RIGHT beside one of the litter boxes! (I know they're not standing in the box and peeing with their butts over the edge because the box is too deep for that)

I finally took the store-bought cage away; they've managed to leave as much stray poop in their run in two days as they used to leave in an entire week... they also seem to be peeing in the run more than before - Gaz did it twice today!... once while I was napping in the pen and Nala was up on the third floor of the condo and a second time while my back was turned 'cause I was putting hay in the third floor box and petting Nala.

I gave them a $3 fleece blanket with the thread (hem) ripped out (so they couldn't chew at it and ingest some) and cut into fourths, then piled up so they could unpile it and play with it. they also seem to be turning that into a litter box, so I took it away to wash it.

I had to take their shredded-paper dig box away today because they were turning THAT into a potty, too. how they found time to pee in that AND in all three litter boxes on top of peeing in multiple spots in the pen, outside the box in the condo and on their blankets is beyond me. I kinda hate them a little right now - it's a good thing for them that they're so darn cute!

I'm gonna go buy more of the pretty green fleece while the fabric store is still having a sale, but they're not getting it until after they're spayed and fully box trained. for now, I'll let them finish ruining the pieces that are in there, then replace them with cheap $3 fleece blankets from walmart that I don't mind replacing every 2-3 weeks. if they're lucky, they might not have the whole condo taken away from them >.>

 

[ldoerr]

They are just being babies. It is in their DNA to get into things. All babies go through it. They might be intering their teanage stage. That is when they are completely out of hand. Think of the worst behaved 2 year old you can imagine and double it. That is what the teenage stage in rabbits is like. It is also called the terible twos. They will get over it. It will drive you insane while they are in it though. Good luck :biggrin:

 

[Imbrium]

yeah, I was just hoping they wouldn't get that way until around the four month mark, heh. on the plus side, at least they're not fighting yet (*knocks on wood*). I really am contemplating taking the condo away from them until after they're spayed if I can't stop it from turning into a total clusterf*ck every time I turn my back for a few hours, though. I don't mind the poops (even the cecals) being left all over the place, but the pee is a bit much and I'm not a fan of the rampant destruction either. don't get me wrong, I still love 'em to pieces... I'm just ill-inclined to let them have nice things until they get out of this phase

even if I take the condo away, they'll still have their 65ish square foot playpen area to run amok in so it's not like they'll be suffering, lol.

 

[Imbrium]

actually caught gaz peeing tonight... in the box in the pen! she got in there just to go pee. I gave her so many gentle pats on the head and "good bunny!"s

 

[Imbrium]

I made one last little renovation - seemed like a waste of space to have three grid-heights worth of space between the ledge on the right side and the ceiling, I was tired of climbing in and out of the pen while cleaning/grooming to get stuff for them and I needed a place for the first aid kit I'm putting together... so I made a built-in shelf that's well out of reach of chew-happy bunnies where I can store stuff. I've got emergency supplies, grooming stuff, cleaning supplies, etc. up there

 

[Imbrium]

whew! I finally cleaned out the rest of my living room and found a place in another room to stick the darn marble-topped coffee table so I could extend the pen all the way to the couch... also got new 48'' tall playpens so they can have boxes and stuff to climb on without me worrying about them jumping out of the pen (still need to pick out boxes to give 'em, but I have plenty to choose from what with all the junk I've bought them in the last 2 1/2 months).

they now have 100+ square feet of run space attached to their condo and I can stop feeling guilty about not bunny-proofing the house/being too scared of tripping over them to let them free roam. talk about spoiled rotten! proportionally, they have more floor space for their size than I do for mine (especially now that I've given a good chunk of mine up ).

the only pieces of non-bunny furniture in my living room now are a couch and the chest-of-drawers in the corner by the couch that lines up with the fireplace mantle (so moving it wouldn't give them any more space). well, and technically, the entertainment center... but it's a built-in so it doesn't really count.

 

[ldoerr]

My bunnies would kill to have a space like that. When they get to run around, the area is a total of 50sqft. My rabbits are never going to have an area like that.

 

[Imbrium]

took a pic of the new pen today... I slept in there last night and hadn't cleaned up yet, so there's an air mattress in the middle of the pen

 

[lime22]

those are nice cages id get one those if my house was bigger