Like to solve almost impossible puzzles? I got one for you!

[katiep]

So I haven’t posted in awhile because I have been crazy busy with school and work and…..BUYING OUR FIRST HOME!  I’m so excited we got the keys this past afternoon!  One of my requirements was to find a home that had a 1st floor bedroom, den, or study (with all other bedrooms on the second floor) so the bunnies could have their own room and could come into the living room without going up or down stairs.  So the house we bought has a first floor study!  Its not the only reason we bought that one in particular but it did meet almost all of our criteria.  When we were looking at houses we determined that the office is just about as big as the room they are in now so they will fit…..right?  Wrong!  Shouldn’t have just “eyed” it.  We are offically moving in everything on Saturday but to try and reduce as much stress as possible we are moving the bunnies in tomorrow. 

So here is the almost impossible puzzle.  Right now, all the bunnies are in 2ft x4ft pens except the bonded duo which are in a 4ft x 4ft pen.  They are in a 12 x 11 room, which leaves us with approx 2ft walking path.  The problem is that our new room is approx 9 x 9.  So, how do we fit everyone in????  Also, we are trying to bond Albert and Dug (almost there), and Smokey, Monster, and eventually Rupert so we’d like to have whoever is bonding with whoever next to each other.  The other issues is having a decent aisle to walk through and feed/let them out/visit with them. 

Now, we do have the option of adjusting pen sizes as (thanks to Markbun) we have cube pieces that we can divide things up a little more.  So, if anyone has any ideas….PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! 

Their current layout looks like this:  (sorry for bad paint drawing)

[RabbitPam]

I hate to be a pest (NO COMMENT from the peanut gallery on that, you guys) but would you mind putting up a drawing of the new space in the same scale?

[Sarita]

Wow, that’s definitely a small room for that many rabbits.  I would suggest in this situation building upwards. 

When I had alot of rabbits I had a very large room like your 11 x 12 and a small 8 x 8 – the 8 x 8 fit 5 of the Leith Condos because they were built up and didn’t take much floor space.  A pen is not going to be an ideal situation in your 9 x 9 room. 

http://www.leithpetwerks.com/prodpage.cfm

The above link will give you an idea of the dimensions they are so maybe you can consider building something like this.  They are costly but I love them.  I currently only have 1 and two 4 x 4 pens in my big bedroom since I only have 5 rabbits right now – one of my rabbits is free roam, 2 of the singles are in the pens and my small Dutch pair have the 3 story condo.  

But definitely build up not out.

[ScooterandAnnette]

Yep, I’d go wtih building upwards too.   Now ours is a multi-level bunny condo but it shows that you can build them pretty high.

– Annette

[Sarita]

If you do the condo thing that you build up as well, you will want to make sure you put the condo’s on castors – that is one of the things I love about the design of the Leith condos is that they are on castors so you can move them easily and clean behind them. That was smart of them to do. Now, these set-up aren’t good for the larger rabbits though – they cannot get through the ramp openings but the mid to small rabbits, it’s perfect for them.

[Deleted User]

Scooter, your set up is amazing!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I think you should bond all your bunnies and then just let them all have the run of that room, lol jk.

Maybe you could do some sort of pen thing except make one pen on top of the other, kind of like building up with condo’s but if you liked them having lots of floor space then you could just do something like that and then for the bunnies in the upper stories you would just build a ramp that they could climb down. (Don’t know if what I said makes sense to you)

[Spidey]

 Here is a suggestion. I do not know where your windows, closets or door is, but could be modded a bit…

You would loose 1/2 foot of aisle and 1/2 foot of cage on the back wall but you can see on the back wall you have about a 1/2 a foot so you can each cage a bit…

[jerseygirl]

Ditto Pam. Can you post more details of the new room, the 9×9 one? Like location of doors, windows, closets & any other limitations.

I’m liking the suggestions others have put forth. Other space savers might be installing a sliding door or outward opening door to the room. Or taking off door all together.  Take out any built in closets or set pens partially into closet space.  If you’re still going for pens and not building upwards, then maybe put in shelving for supplies?  I’m thinking you might be able to arrange pens in a U shape layout. All pens opening into the centre of the U.

   Obviously not the original pen dimensions. Image is for explaining the layout I mean. Oh, and this is assuming there are 2 pairs.

Are the pen panels all the same?  Are you able to separate pen panels?  Since this will be your own home (WOOT) you can put in more permanent fixtures. So for the panels that are perpendicular to the wall, you could attach these at the wall and not need the ones along the walls.

Edit to add: If you plan to build condos, build them in the room.  Beats having to dismantle them when they don’t fit thru doorways. 
 

[jerseygirl]

Katie, I had thought Rupert & Dug (he’s the harli right?)  were buddies.

[katiep]

Hi everyone!  Move complete!  Thank goodness!  Thanks for all the ideas, we will definately keep trying to improve our setup, going up may be an option!  We have moved them in but ultimately not very happy with the setup.  Here is a (bad) pic of their new layout:

Now keep in mind that the scale is not perfect, we actually don’t have that much room between the door and Ruperts cage, realisticly we have about 2ft maybe 2 1/2 ft at best.  The red scribble is a very narrow aisleway, less than 12inches, which makes it hard to get to the yellow scribble, the shelving where we keep their food and stuff.  It is a built in which originally going to tear out but decided it would make moving them in much more difficult and we were nervous about creating a bigger job then we needed at that point.  The shelving would be very helpful keeping their stuff organiized so we left if the way it was but their pens block all of the lower shelving which is an issue for wanting to use them. The blue scribble by the window is there because it is a very low windown maybe 12 inches off the ground.  Perfect for bunny chewing.  The curtains that are up on the window Rupert seems to want to decorate his pen with and is pulling them in his pen.  Not chewing on them, just pulling them through the bars…he is a weird bunny though.  So, any other ideas would be appreciated!  Thanks for the wonderful feedback, I am truly grateful!  I will follow up with pictures of the room tomorrow, its too late to try and get good pictures tonight. 

Also, Rupert and Dug were on their way being bonded but started fighting and kept fighting.  We took them back to the smaller inclosed area and they would fight, well, Rupert would start a fight and we decided to call it quits.  Albert and Dug are VERY promising and groom each other through the cages and their time out is monitored but not an ounce of aggression or fighting.  A little chasing though….  Anyways, I will post more tomorrow.  Thanks again everyone!

[jerseygirl]

You’ve done well! Things might be easier to reconfigure too once you have 2 pairs.

Can you take the sliding door off or is it glass? Thinking you could use the space immediately left as you walk in.

How high does the shelving go? Is it painted wood? I’m wondering if you can use half of it to incorporate into condos, building upward. Then leaving other half accessible for storage. Depends whether you want to preserve it or not. You might be able to build 2 multi-layered condos stacked for the pairs – Albert/Dug, Flo/Benny. That way their pens won’t take up too much floor space, leaving room for the singles, play area and storage.

The window that is close to the floor….is that a street facing window?

Here’s more condo pics for inspiration. TARM posted these: I think she has 3 pairs and one single. https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…fault.aspx

[katiep]

Ok, here are some pictures of the room pre-move in:

 

Here are the pictures of them in the room:

So, hopefully this gives everyone a better idea of what we are working with.  I really like the idea of building up, if anyone else has any other ideas they are appreciated!

[jerseygirl]

I’ve got the giggles now after seeing your before and after pics!   “This looks like a functional room…what could we do with this space?  I know! Fill it with BUNNIES!”

I’m imagining the kind of conversations that may have went on when viewing houses.   The realators probably did a double take.

[katiep]

It was pretty interesting. When we walked into any house, one of the first considerations was “ok, were are we gonna put our bunnies?” Towards the end, the realtor was trying to brainstorm with us. But when we walked into this house, it was the first house we looked at, the realtor was like, “this would be a wonderful library or office because of these great bookshelves and built in desk!” And we kind of looked at each other and I said, “Well, we would make this the rabbit room and unfortunately to make this work for the rabbits, we are going to have to tear all this out…..” Her face looked like we had started growing rabbit ears right in front of her! She was like “well, built in shelving and desks are pretty rare and very expensive to put in, maybe the rabbits would be happier in basement or a bedroom upstairs??” We then explained our reasoning behind making this room the bunny room and told her how many we had….after the inital shock wore off she came around and started giving us suggestions in any other house we saw. Plus, I don’t like the paneling…I’m “living” with it right now….. :/ My Mom had said to me when I was little….”You cannot have a rabbit, but when you grow up and have your own house you can have a hundred rabbits!” I blame her! LOL!

[Sarita]

The paneling is dated. How much more room would you get if you tore down the built in? My small room is 8 x 8 but it only has 3 full ones – one is open. And I was able to fit 5 of the Leith condos in it. No way could I put any pens in it. The condo’s left some floor space but even then it wasn’t ideal but it worked. That why I think you need to build up. If all your rabbits are small/medium building up is going to make alot more sense and give you more floor space.

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