After seeing all of the incredible custom bunny houses made with wire panels on this site and elsewhere, I've decided to try my hand at making Edmund a wire house of his very own.

I would like to stick with my room's existing design scheme, so I'll be using purple wire panels from Target.com and purple carpeting and rubber "gym" mats for flooring.

As for the main floor plan, I'd like to stick with this basic design:

3 panels wide (42"), 2 panels high (28") and 2 panels deep (28") - This design requires 31 wire panels (including the platforms), meaning I will have to purchase two boxes of the purple wire storage cubes from Target:

I made a few basic floorplans with this design below in Photoshop (because I'm anal like that ):

(The cardboard house and tunnel idea was taken from a wire cube house on display at RabbitCondo.com.)

My only issue with the design is the litter box and pellet dish placement. Edmund isn't litter box trained yet, and right now, he goes to the bathroom in one corner of his cage AND next to his pellet dish. How do I get him to go to the bathroom in just one place (preferably the litter box)? Does he just HAVE to go next to wherever he eats? Should I set the litter box and pellet dish up differently to encourage him to go ONLY in the litter box?

I plan on just tying the wire panels together with white cable ties and using either long wood panels or dowel rods to support the platforms.

As for the flooring, I'd REALLY love to use four of the "My Gym Soft Lock Plus" mats in "Lavender" on sale at the following URL: http://www.mygymfloor.com/Products/ValueGrade/tabid/78/Default.aspx?itemid=35. They're supposed to be waterproof, easy to clean and should be quite comfortable for Edmund to walk and lay on.

I'm not sure if I should use the foam mats on top of the wire panels acting as the two platforms or not. Do you think some heavy-duty carpet would be better for the platforms instead?

I DEFINITELY want to make some baseboards to go along the inside of the cage (especially around where the litter box will be placed) to keep Edmund's messes contained. I'm not sure what material I should use for the baseboards... Wood? What do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Is it really 3" across? Here's a picture of the one I'd like to order:



It's by Whitmor, and it says the panels are about 14" across. The picture of the black wire cage I included in my original post has panels that are 9 boxes across and the purple one does too. Shouldn't this mean they are the same size (i.e., that each box is about 1.5" wide), or am I missing something?

I will definitely put plywood over the platforms! Thank you for the tip!

I would still cover the plywood with the vinyl (watch to make sure he's not ripping it up and eating it) so that if he does pee on it, the pee won't soak into the wood and ruin it.

As for the grids, youre right they're about 14" by 14"... I'm talking about the individual holes... I haven't bought any grids in awhile, and I always get mind from Bed Bath and Beyond, but I've heard that the ones from Target have much larger holes.  Just make sure that whatever you use isn't too big for him to slip though.

Judging from the picture those square sizes must be about 1.5" (i.e. 14x14"panel with 9 grid squares .) But do open the packs and check they're all the same. Some members bought packs at target with different grid sizes in the same pack.
I would rethink the foam mats in case Edmund turns out to be a chewer. Lots of people have used coroplast (fluted sign board) for flooring also.

These two photos of grid habitats are from the BB great habitats gallery. Your description of what you would like reminded me of them.

Merbella, I looked at the link for the mats. I was thinking they were those childrens puzzle mats when you first mentioned them. These are more dense than those? He might not be able to get his teeth into them....time will tell. If you're keen on them build his palace with them and if it becomes a problem, you can pop something over the top but still have them as the padded floor. He's gonna look gooood in a purple place. Will set off his colour nicely.

Posted By Petzy on 06/04/2010 07:56 AM
Shipping costs for NIC grids are high because of the weight. I would just get what they have in the store.
By the time you spend the money to buy the materials for a big enough NIC condo with wood panelling, flooring and three stories high, you may find that you could go with an Xpen with less expense.

This is true, too.  Xpens are my housing of choice for bunnies.  Plus, I've never had luck with building (sturdy) things out of NIC grids.

Posted By mocha200 on 06/04/2010 09:13 AM
if it ends up being to small for him, you can always build another level.

Very true.

Thanks for the advice, Petzy! I think for my space it'd work better to have a 3-grid-across-sized condo with an easily movable exercise pen situated around the door rather than a 4-grid-across-sized condo without a pen. I, unfortunately, just don't have the room to keep a pen there all the time or to have a condo with 4 panels.

You're right about Hollands being super active little buns. Every single time I let him out of his cage, he does a binky!

Those purple grids are fine. I'm not sure if they are sold in stores, though. But, white cubes/grids are sold at target under a different brand. They are NOT safe. The grid has 5 holes across and 5 holes down, and also has grids with 8 holes across and 8 holes down in the same box. If it were to come to that brand being the easiest choice, make sure that you use the 5 hole ones ONLY for floors and other places where the rabbit will have no chance of getting stuck. My little dwarfs can slip through them easily, so I know a larger bun could get stuck easily.


Good luck building! I wish I could have purple grids

ADD:

Is he going to be in the cage most of the day? If so, I think that's quite a bit too small. I'm not going to make a big deal or anything but here are some suggestions for creating more space for him. For my cage, which is a 2x6 with 4 complete levels (for two 2.5 pound buns who are in the cage most of the day) I had to rearrange my whole entire room. I only have a bed, a dresser, and the cage in my room. I took out all my other furniture. I think their happiness is worth my furniture. For that size cage, it would be like you living in a bathroom. It just doesn't sit well with me. It takes up my whole wall and extends a good bit into my room. I'm actually planning on finding a way to expand . A good thing to do for finding a more space efficient set up is to measure the dimensions on your room. Draw it out on a piece of paper. Then, measure every piece of furniture in your room including your cage. Draw them on another piece of paper, cut them out, then you can move them around on your other piece of paper with the outline of your room on it. Is your bed extending into the middle of your room? Moving it against the wall opens up a lot of space. Also, you can get wall shelves to organize your things.

Here's my cage:

It's on cinder blocks, for size reference.

Space can be made, but it takes some creative thinking

Again, good luck!

 Hi, 

Like these (the colored part, but they are usually clear):
\

These say binder "spines", so I don't know. 

Okay, I can't find exactly what I'm talking about, but it's similar to that ^

They are meant to just slide over multiple sheets of paper, and they just slide over the edge of the coroplast.

Binder- They aren't FOR binders, but they ARE binders, as in they BIND things. So when I search for them I keep coming up with actual binders. I just wanted to make that clear

Wow, you guys... Thank you SO MUCH for your help. I really appreciate it (and I'm sure Edmund will too!).

AbigailBW, that was so kind of you to do that write-up for me with pictures of your habitat!

"hardware cloth" that I, ahem, acquired from work

lol

That hay rack is ingenious. I also love how your little black rex's head is buried into it in the picture. lol, you have to come up for air, sweetheart!

Using the rubber entryway mat as a floor was another great idea.

Although you may have paid too much for the carpeting, it does look very sturdy and as resistant to chewing as carpet can be. I've been looking online for one for Edmund that he'll have a hard time chewing up (preferably in purple, lol) but haven't had any luck thus far...

Thanks, leyley904! I know what you mean about the binder spines. The coroplast does sound pretty hard to find, not to mention expensive! Maybe I'd have better luck with the "gym" mat rubber flooring? I still need something for the sides though to keep the hay in...

Carpet tiles and vinyl flooring comes in purple.

Fabulous condo AbigailBW!  Can you post some more pics of your bun pair sometime? I checked your profile album but no bunnies.

 I've actually heard of coroplast going both ways price wise. Some places sell it for upwards of 20 dollars. I got mine for 9 dollars. It really depends on where you get it (SEARCH).  

If I were you, I would go for the rubber flooring, as it sounds like you want to do that  Then, you could maybe buy a small piece of coroplast to go on the walls near where the hay is. Would that help? You would have to sacrifice your purple, but you can buy signs like this.

Okay, for those signs, you wouldn't have to buy them in a pack of 10 in stores so it would be a lot cheaper. Also, if you have any elections or votings going around in your area, there are probably corrugated plastic signs all over. When the voting period is over for a certain thing, you can go ask the property owner if you could have their sign (wherever you see one) or you could go to the place where they distribute the signs during the voting period. Or you could even pull them out of people's trash 

If you do use this for sides, where you want it to bend, score it. Don't cut all the way through and tape it back together, or else it won't look as good. If you do the sides high enough that your rabbits can't chew on it, you could probably use tape like this to make the outside of the sign/walls purple. You can get duck tape at walmart and many other places. Duck tape is a brand of duct tape, don't think I'm crazy . It comes in like a billion colors and is widely used for crafts and such.

Also, I'm more than happy to help! I love designing cages! Do you mind if I make a computer sketch of your cage? If you hate it, it don't mind, I just like doing it!