House bunny rabbit cage?

[kibba]

I've been searching for months.. I'm trying to find a indoor rabbit cage that is large. The rabbit rescue recommends 36x36..not sure that size will happen since most are not sqaure. But I'm trying to get something close to that. I know a dog crate would work but I really want this to look nice and I'd like a "shelf" for the rabbit that isn't something I rigged up.  Thanks for any help. I have searched petsmart/petco and super pets website, as well as google. Most of what I find is ment for outdoor rabbits.

[ChristyMarie]

Try searching for "small animal crate" or "ferret crate"  Look at this website:

http://www.petcratesdirect.com/ferret-cages.html#

We just had a standard dog type crate - about 36 x 24 - but she also had access to the rest of the house when we were home.

I think the most important thing to look for is an easily removable/cleanable bottom tray with decent sides to contain bunny potty stuff.  We always used scoopable litter in that bottom tray - no smell and super easy to clean.

[tboroson]

When you say "house bunny", do you plan to give the bun free range of the house for much of her time? 

If she's going to be locked up most of the time, I'd say she should have a good deal of space.  36"x36"= 9 square feet, which can be approximated with a 4'x2.25' dog crate.  Watching my bunny (who free ranges several rooms full time), I'd say a bun who's caged 22 hours a day needs at least 9 square feet. 

If she's free ranging most of her time, though, you can get away with a much smaller cage.  My bun's cage is a 3'x2' dog crate.  She pretty much only uses it as a litter box, but if there's ever a safety reason to cage her temporarily (visiting dog, moving furniture, etc.), it's big enough for her to stretch out and move in.

I don't know of any ready made cage as big as 9 square feet, other than dog crates.  You could rig one with a shelf, they're certainly tall enough!  Or you could make your own out of the cube shelving you can buy at K-mart.  Google for "guinea pig coroplast and cube cages" and you'll see what people do for piggies.  I know folks who make multilevel piggie condos with the things, though that's no substitute for ample floor space on the bottom level - they want to walk and hop more than they want to climb.

For my bunny's dog crate cage, I stole the coroplast idea from the guinea pig crowd.  I got a cut bit of coroplast from a sign shop for $10, scored, folded and taped it to make a pan custom fitted to the dog crate.  Then my husband built a simple frame for a screen to put over the pan to keep my bunny out of her litter.

Mesh on the floor is controversial - some people feel it causes foot problems in pets.  If your bunny is free ranging much of the time, that's not an issue as she'll only be on the mesh to do her business.  And you would want it so she doesn't track litter all over the room!  But if she's mostly going to live in the cage, you may want to consider that issue.

[Oubliette8]

I think there are some bunny cages of that size on the market, but you have to look. The Marchioro Tommy 120 is 40" x 20" , but doesn't have a shelf. I've seen some older Super Pet cages at Petsmart that were 3ft x 3ft with shelves, but I don't know if they still make them. You might go to a petshop or Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of Rabbits USA or a similar magazine (Critters, Ferrets). They have a lot of bunny supply advertisements, and I know I've seen very large bunny cages for sale in those. Normally they are made by small specialty companies.

[mattemma04]

I have used my dog crate for the rabbit,and was able to add a wooden shelf for her to hop up on.Litter box in the corner for toileting,and a shower caddy from the dollar store holding dry grasses to eat.

[heartmama]

Pretty much everyone in the house rabbit world uses ex pens for this purpose. They are made for dogs. They are basically 8 wire panels permanently attached together which can be folded flat or opened up up into a 4x4 foot square or many other variations of shapes and sizes depending on how many panels you use and how you arrange them. Ex pens are standard operating procedure in the house rabbit world. You can connect two of them to create a HUGE enclosed area for a rabbit.

There should be no need for anything with a removable bottom tray as your house rabbit should be litter box trained. If she isn't already, this has to be done in a very SMALL enclosed area. I have litter box trained all 5 of my last bunnies and it required nothing more than understanding the way rabbit brains work and then diligently following training protocol. Having said that, almost NO bunny (especially males) can be trained out of leaving little poop marbles here and there to mark territory. Luckily there is no odor. As long as your rabbit is spayed or neutered they should remain litter box trained until old age.

Be sure to visit www.rabbit.org for up to date house rabbit info--that is ground zero for the house rabbit world.