Hey guys,

I'm not as frequent a poster but I thought I'd share how we managed to turn a 4x4 bunny cage into something more compact.  I felt like the rabbits were taking over my room.  And to top it off, I bought a couple of chairs for the room where we house our rabbits, so we had to reconfigure.  We have them in an x pen.  And while it's spacious, it was hard to create a second level.  So I looked through the habitat section of the website and I got inspired by the cage that looked like a cabinet, complete with casters and doors.  My husband felt my frustration, so he said, I can make that.  I can make it out of our existing x pen.  I was skeptical, but I trust him.  So he started it last night, and he has it mostly finished.  He is going to put some profiles on the outside to make it look nicer.  But we took two of the panels of the x pen out.  And he is going to make the top out of the door panel so it can open from the top and it will open from the front.  so now the footprint is 2x4 with an entire second level.  He also put it on wheels so we can easily move it around.  I'll try to attach some pics, it's unfinished and I didn't put a ton of things in there for them yet, but I think I like it so far!  Tell me what you think!

second try on pics:

 What am I doing wrong... i'm trying to attach pics... grrr... i have a love/hate relationship with technology!

That's really cool!! I love it.

 

 

(I posted a few of the pics for you so people can get an idea of what you did.)

 

I have to say... I really like it.  It's small and compact, but if it works for your space, I think it is good. 

Be careful that they don't try to hop out of the top.  You might try to remove one more xpen panel and see if it will lay across the top and you can ziptie it in back, dogclip it in front for added security, and have it like a hinge door. 

It's going to be even more important that they get out of cage time now since they don't have a large area to play in, but this is an awesome idea for people with buns in their room, or in a teeny tiny apartment.  Great job!

 

Thanks Beka for posting my pic.  Here's the latest pic of our creation.  We just need to put on some profiles to the front and make a better locking mechanism.  We put the panel with the door on top so it opens to the top too.  So this is phase two.  Oh and believe me, these two spoiled rabbits get plenty of time out and about to run and binky.  But it is pretty spacious.  The each have already found their favorite places to chill.

 

 

That looks great! And since it's actually made from an xpen, it's probably going to be more sturdy than if you had used NIC grids!

That's really neat & all using what you already had. I bet they like it too, rabbits seem to like going up and down levels. Thanks for posting the pics.

I really like it. It's very nice and your buns are adorable!

That is a really awesome cage! I love it. You guys did a really good job, I like how well it is put together and all the different hidey places that the bunnies have.

I am a fan! VERY pretty habitat. I agree that it is going to be more sturdy than an NIC condo b/c the xpen panels are more solid since they are made of one piece. Cool, too, to use laminate flooring for their upper level. If more people got creative like you did, the cage companies would need to catch on to the needs of real rabbit lovers and stop selling the undersized, overpriced 'rabbit resorts'. I bet the whole thing you made did not cost more than a commercially available tiny rabbit cage. Good job.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. Yes, it's very sturdy. We actually used the floorboards that we previously had. They are 2x4 plywood with sticky tiles on top to protect from accidental (or purposeful) pee accidents. They actually love it and when we open the cage, they hop around, do a few binkies, find some paper to nibble on, and go back to their cage. It's made this space much more user friendly. I have my computer desk in here, the bunnies, my guitar, a lego table and a couple of club chairs. It's a great space (on the small side, but it feels more spacious than before).

That is really nice. I love it

I really love this! I want to do something like that for my buns with their x-pen - I attempted and I failed.
But I shall try again!

How did you get the 2nd level plywood to stay put and sturdy?

To attach the second level, he built a frame out of two inch wood. It goes all the way around (2X4), then he attached a piece of plywood board to the frame. He used screws in the sides of the two inch frame, he positioned the screws to that they would lay on the bar in the middle of the pen (the screws aren't all the way in). Am I making any sense?? It surprisingly held up well and is a good design. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Posted By Ruffles&Daisy on 03/03/2011 03:23 PM
To attach the second level, he built a frame out of two inch wood. It goes all the way around (2X4), then he attached a piece of plywood board to the frame. He used screws in the sides of the two inch frame, he positioned the screws to that they would lay on the bar in the middle of the pen (the screws aren't all the way in). Am I making any sense?? It surprisingly held up well and is a good design. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Yes it makes sense to me. Looks really nice!  For people out there who might want to make something like this: how tall is the xpen?

 

How clever of you! It's great for small rabbits like you have too.

That makes complete sense. Thank you! Hopefully I can get started on something similar this weekend