What About This Cage....?

[agnesthelion]

I like the one on their homepage. The 3 level with purple bottom. You can read more about it on the cages page.

Anyway, besides the cost, is there any other benefit to building your own? Time is money and I'm thinking of biting the bullet and just getting this one. Is that dumb? Does it look like an okay enclosure for one Lionhead?

http://wonderlandcages.com/WONDERLAND_CAGES_GUINEA_PIG.html

 

[Nela]

Haha, time IS money and you'll have to put in a lot more time to make up for the lost money here If NIC grids are easy to find, you can really just use this as your cage plan and build it up yourself rather easily. It's really not as complicated as it looks! On the other hand, if it's hard to go shopping and find the things you need, I would understandthat this might be the better option.

Personally, I always used the caps that come with the NIC grids. In the pictures, The they aren't using them, and while it works, it doesn't look as clean as it would with the caps used. The lines would be much straighter and it would be sturdier as well.

Making it yourself means you can change it up a lot more easily. I am not sure how many grids are in a pack anymore, but if you end up with extra grids, you can use them again later or make something else out of them (hay rack, ramp, carrier, playpen if you have many), etc.

The idea is there though. The cage is well-conceived from what I see. I think it makes a good home for your lil one

 

[1357rabbitlover]

Another good thing about building your own cage is that you can make it bigger and smaller when you want to, and you can make it to fit into the little gaps in your room that nothing else fits in.

 

[melbaby80]

There are really nice ones on e-bay too. I agree about the caps too, for stability you can add in zip ties. I felt overwhelmed like you and just purchased a normal bunny pen.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

The cost is a big reason to build your own. If you can find the grids on sale or used, it is a ton cheaper to build, I could build a 3-4 grid high one that is 2X3 grids for less than $100 if the grids are on sale and I can get the coroplast cheap.
As far as not having the time, I'd think the only thing you will save time on is the coroplast. They would not ship the cage already build, so you will have to put it together. Even though they seem to be partially assembled, putting the grids together is not too hard to time consuming.

The cage itself is great. I don't know if the ramps are the best, you could rearrange the levels so the rabbit just jumps up. I personally prefer to have a more open space on the bottom for easily cleaning (or course I am rather tall, so getting into back corners can be tricky anyway). I also like to have a door on each level both for cleaning and to get the rabbit when needed (not sure about this cage, hard to tell all the doors). For the bottom door, I would not have it come down, I'd have it so that it opens to the side. It also doesn't look like the levels are supported at all, and I feel that is a must with rabbits since they weight more than guinea pigs and do jump around more.

 

[TinksMama]

They're just C&C cages, so easy to make. You could probably make that one in a few hours.

The ramps they used are downspout splash thingies, here's a link. http://www.homedepot.com/Building-M...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

You can get the cube things from target, http://www.target.com/p/Set-of-4-Storage-Cubes-Black-14/-/A-10474035

The chloroplast is available at almost all sign stores. You could use the picture as a template, if that's the design you really like.

 

[agnesthelion]

Thanks everyone. Building the NIC part of the cage seems easy, it's the doors, floor, ramps that overwhelm me. And if people seem the main thing with this cage is stability i think i could add caps or zip ties to help with that. I need to have my husband look at this more I guess. If a similiar cage costs around $100 to build, this one is $180 plus s&h...i dunno, seems like if im only saving $100 bucks or so is it worth it!??? And then the actual floor part, I keep reading about vinyl and tile and foam puzzle pieces wrapped on shower curtain, my rabbit chewed this or my rabbit chewed that..aaaaah I'm confused

I'll think about it. Thanks for all the input though. Definitely helps with my decision.

 

[Nela]

Like mentioned, you would have to assemble this cage one way or another. I think you are feeling a bit intimidated, but you should be able to do this easily.

Ramps aren't necessary. You can simply put a box under or just let them jump on their own. You can bend a NIC grid (maybe you'd need 2 to make it longer)and make one out of that too. You'd just need a material like carpet or something to put in so cover the holes.

For the floor, you can get a plank of wood, construction glue, and ceramic/vinyl tiles to glue to the wood if you think your bun will chew just about anything. Just make sure the floor is slightly larger than your cage so there are no edges to chew.

The chloroplast is also available at a DIY store generally and all you need for that is a good cutter.

For the doors, a really easy way is to just clip them. You can use cable ties as 'hinges'(don't tighten them so tight that they grids no longer move) and then simply use clips where you would have the opening. I use these: http://playgroundwarehouse.com/images/products/thumb/H10RH11R1.jpg

I do not think the NIC caps are available separately.

So basically, if you go to a big DIY store like Home Depot or something of the sort, you should be able to find everything there. The NIC grids are often found in the section with the shelving and closet organization.

I'm pretty sure you and your husband can build this easily. Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

 

[agnesthelion]

Nela...thank you so much for your post. This was very step by step maybe I just needed it more laid out for my brain

Again, will show this to my husband. I'm sure we can handle this. I'll let everyone know what we decide to do. My husband will be out of town for work for for a week so this project probably won't happen for a little while yet.

Thanks again everyone for all the posts and help!!!