Affordable Flooring For DIY Rabbit Cage??

[Tara]

So, my buns are getting bigger, older. The store bought cage was just a temporary fix until tax season (which is here whoop!). At the time it had seemed a decent temporary fix. Now with more experience and research under my belt I know better. :/ Tiddles went through GI stasis and I am almost certain it’s because he wasn’t getting enough exercise in his cage even though we let him out each day (also a nasty battle with a URI). I want him to be able to move and get around even inside his cage. 

I’ve seen where people have been building BIG rabbit condos with wire storage containers, and I want to do that for them. I don’t have the means or carpentry skills to make a wooden bottom and I obviously don’t want to leave any wire platforms exposed for their little feet. So I was wondering if anyone had any affordable flooring options they could suggest? I thought of maybe cork board, but I read that it could be toxic to buns? I also considered a rag rug or maybe getting a yoga mat or two. 

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Wicket the Ewok]

For my bun, we have some water-resistant carpet on his top floors and a fleece cloth on the bottom. He seems to like it, and I have not seen him try to tear up the carpet. Hope this helps.

[Tara]

Where did you get the water-resistant carpet? I didn’t even know that was a thing! does it work well?

[BanditCamp]

I just recently finished my diy rabbit cage. Total cost was $125 Usd without rabbit supplies.

Depending on the size you want i can redo my measurements and it’s very simple to do with minimal skills as most lumber yards will provide single cutting for you. (I was at home depot) my pen is comprised of a puppy exercise pen, one 9ftx6ft piece of finished plywood, two pieces of 2×3 wood, some heavy duty zip ties , 6×8 foot roll of laminate and vinyl adhesive.

What you need for a 2ftx4ft (8sqft with two levels):

1x puppy exercise pen
1x 6ftx9ft finished plywood
2x 2inx3in wood beams
3x square shape drowels
1x vinyl adhesive (optional)
1x laminate flooring of your choice (optional)

No tools method:
1. Go to home depot and go to the lumbar yard and search for a finished piece of plywood, they typically come in 4x8ft squares that can be cut really easy. Obtain 2×3’s and square drowel s as well.

2. Take all wood objects and ask your cutter to perform the following cuts

– take finished plywood with 3 cuts of 24 inches. This will give you three 2×4 prices for flooring.

– take 2×3’s and have one cut in 48 inches (4 feet) and the other in 24 inch segments (as many as possible you get three)

– take square drowel and have them cut in 28-30 inch segments. These will be the supports for multilevel areas if you choose this otherwise skip this step.

3. Obtain a dog exercise pen from petco/outsmart. I would reccoment 36 inches high to give you enough build space and periscope space for you bun but 24 is plenty if he does not periscope much.

– note: the spend cone linked together with steel fasteners. To remove them take a flathead, and some needle nose pliers and carefully pry them open.

4. At home assemble the cage like I have (click my signature below and view the habitat folder I used woodscrews and laminate flooring if you wish to go this route but it’s up to you, only tools you would need for this method are a power drill with a 9/11 boring tool for pilot holes)

– If you do not have tools just simply arrange the wood in the same shape to prevent messes or stray grass and cover the floors with fleece or memory foam mats.

You can also cut the extra plywood as steps for tour rabbit to jump up on use the drowels in the bars to use add supports and zip ties to secure the cage together. I recommend using x pattern loops to make it more secure (zip tie diagonally using over under this method can support 35 lbs of weight for every 12 x loops made.

For a bigger cage all you need to do is reduce the number of cuts so:

– plywood 2×6 or 4×4 cuts for taller cage

– 2×3 cuts in 28-30 (2×6 plywood) or 52-55 (4×4 plywood)

——-

Alternate method
I have a NIC cage diagram of you want to build a cage using box wire cages. Depending if you find 14×14 or 18×18 squares they come in packs of 15-18.

This is also in my habitat folder with my only changes being use square dowels versus round ones

[Wicket the Ewok]

There is probably some at your local hardware store(Lowe’s Home Depot, etc) It is not necessarily actual carpet, but sort of looks like it. He’s never peed or spilled water on it, but I can vacuum over it and all the fur and litter he has tracked upstairs will come off. Good luck

[Azerane]

The base for my cage is plywood and I didn’t really have to do anything. I bought the size sheet I needed and they cut it down to size for me at the hardware store. I did attach a pine edging which I cut to length myself, but you don’t need an edging. The most you would have to do is maybe drill holes to put cable ties through to hold it in place.

A base isn’t really needed thouh. You can simply make a condo where the base is just something underneath. Something like foam mats, covered in a sheet of linoleum (cut to size bigger than the base of the cage so that the edges were beyond the grids) can work as a cushioned and waterproof solution. If you don’t want linoleum, you can use fleece blankets, again stretched out under the edges of the grids so that the weight of the condo holds the blankets in place. This video on youtube sort of shows what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzS82KZ7ADo she doesn’t make a base, it’s just blankets etc. But I wouldn’t use the grids with the really large holes, I would use cable ties to hold the grids together because they’re stronger, and if you wanted a sturdier cage, I would also make a grid roof for structural support, but of course that’s personal preference too. If you’re going to use rugs or blankets, I highly suggest fleece inside the cage. It’s easy to wash and isn’t as dangerous if bun chews on it because there’s no long fibres. Foam/yoga mats are good for cushioning, but need to be protected from chewing. They can causes blockages if eaten or pose a choking risk.

Edit: Actually, if you don’t have a grid roof, you will need to use the connectors for the sides to give the sides rigidity. Otherwise with just cable ties they will bend at the joins. You could use the connectors and reinforce the join with cable ties

[Tara]

Awesome! I’ll look into the water proof carpet. Also, I’m going through your folders BanditCamp! Thanks a lot!

[Author]

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