OMG... They escaped :(

My bunnies live indoors in an NIC cage (and then free range when I am home), a few weeks back they managed to escape by pushing the mesh panels apart (I normally have a padlock on that part of the cage but didnt that night, they took full advantage!) Anyway, they hadnt caused any damage or harmed themselves so it was ok(ish) and I made sure that from now on the padlock was on and everything was really secure...

Today I have come home to find the have actually managed to collapse part of their cage, and it really must have been through sheer brute force cos even I have trouble removing those panels + they are all binded together with metal wire as well (used to be cable ties but Domino chewed one of those so I replaced them all). They have let themselves out by scrambling through and they HAVE caused damage this time!!! Luckily my boyfriend is away because I dont think he would be happy about the fact they have somehow squeezed under the TV stand (its probably only about an inch and half space, pulled out the power cable and HDMI cable on his brand new PS3 and bitten through it - several times luckily it wasnt plugged in as the PS3 always gets unplugged when not in use. Not only that they have (I say they - I know this part will have been Domino as I caught him doing it the other day) bitten/chewed the top edge of every single one of my books on the bottom of the book shelf. Then if that wasnt bad enough they have gotten into the crunchie cookies I was saving for tonight, and yep they have eaten 2 whole cookies and nibbled at the others in the pack Luckily they are ok but I am pretty angry right now... Im going to have to find a new power cable & HDMI cable before my other half returns at the weekend and hope he doesnt notice they have been replaced... Im also going to have to spend the rest of my evening figuring out how on earth they managed to do what they did to their cage and also how I am going to stop it. To be honest I may even have to build some kind of wooden structure for them!! As Im only renting though I cant have anything permanent set up thats whyy the NIC cubes were the best option.

Just had to get all this off my chest as I cannot tell my other half for obvious reasons....:roll:

Use some of those NIC cubes to bunnyproof around the tv!

I have a NIC pen too, 3 panels high, my two can only collapse a side if it is all in a long line with no right angles nearby. How did they manage it?

You could make a wooden or correx base for it, then put the panels inside the base, so they cant push them out of place.

nessar said:

Use some of those NIC cubes to bunnyproof around the tv!

I have a NIC pen too, 3 panels high, my two can only collapse a side if it is all in a long line with no right angles nearby. How did they manage it?

You could make a wooden or correx base for it, then put the panels inside the base, so they cant push them out of place.

Click to expand...

Im really not sure how they managed it because its 5 panels long by two wide - right in the middle of the 5 lengthways there is a structural support for the stairs - which doubles up as support for the cage too. the bit where they collapsed it is right next the right angle bit and is all secured with padlock, metal wire etc, they must have popped the panels out of the plastic connectors somehow. Making a wooden base sounds like an excellent plan. I wanted to do this anyway to be honest the hay comes out of the side of the panels and ends up everywhere... Whats a correx base, how would I go about making a base at all?? x

They are devils and spent their day plotting their destruction. Why do they head straight for the cables I will never know. Lucky none of them were hurt when it collapsed.

I have panels surrounding the bottom of my bookcase as my buns seems to like to chew my books too! Do you have any photos of their accommodation so maybe we could see if we could make any suggestions re securing it?

Sorry you are facing this. Just to say, Lidl had really cheap HDMI cables the last time I was in. Can't help with the PS3 other than suggesting eBay.

Or here

http://www.gamesbasement.co.uk/acce...e&utm_medium=feedmanager&utm_campaign=froogle

I think your problem is the 2 panels wide thing, so its weak around the door, which is even weaker because its so near a right angle. They just have to push the doors to a 45 degree angle instead of 90, it can be pushed. My two do it sometimes when its open, as I fold the doors back so each side is one wide. I hope this is making sense!

Can you have the opening like this:
_______________
|____ \ /______|


in the middle? that would strengthen it I think. Sorry for my poor diagram!!

This girl shows how to make a correx bottom for a cage, just imagine it on a larger scale! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-KJqiH5DfM&feature=related


oh and yes they can beat the connectors, mine do it all the time, I just have heavy duty cable ties now, and I use the connectors and some chain for the door.

Oh goodness, it sounds like the buns have had a real old party to themselves. I hope you manage to sort as much as possible quickly. It's amazing how strong really determined rabbits can be. Spenser lives outside, but had occasional indoor time until an unfortunate incident with a power cable. :shock:

Thanks for your responses everyone. I havent got a pic yet but will get one later and make and post it up for you. (Maybe I should be putting this in Housing section now - sorry if I am posting in the wrong place ) Last night I 'reinforced' it by putting two mesh panels from my outside run around it, and attached with some wire and used my hoover and a bread bin to prop them up - hopefully there will be no getting out of that... :lol: they were still in there when I got up this morning so fingers crossed they will be ok whilst im at work today.. its not a permanent solution though so will have to re think still...

nessar:

Can you have the opening like this:
_______________
|____ \ /______|


Yes see what you mean but unfortunately not because the middle where you indictate the opening is exactly where the structural support for my stairs is. I did have three entrances at one point (one in their 'upstairs' bit of the cage, and one at each corner). I have since reduced this down to one entrance - I have made the part where my entrance is on the diagram red. I will check out that youtube vid when I get home... cant whilst at work:roll:

ahh naughty bunnies hey! I still love them more than anything tho. Bless them the little rascals :evil:x:lol:

Little Terrors!

We are renting too so I sympathise with your situation. What we did was buy 2 XL Dog cages. They sit one on top of the other with one end of each folded down under bases so that they are open ended. Then using the Cubes we have built up a little shelving situation linking the too open ends so they can jump up and down. We have done it this way so it doesn't take up tto much floor space but in our old place we had it set up like this

My first bunny Crumpet used to live in a NIC set up

I'd recommend a wooden base too, I used a big board from B&Q and then covered it in laminate tiles, so it was wipe clean. It's important that the board isn't MDF though, as it's poisonous.

We only has one grid as a door, as Crumps wasn't very big, so we didn't get any structural weakness from it.

However, we did use wooden dowel threaded through each level, to give support and a much tougher solid structure.

Hope you cannget them sorted ASAP :wave: I feel your pain with the TV, Crumpet's main project would be to always try and get behind the TV to have a munch on the cables.

Its frustrating I know, so far my boy has chewed 2 telephone wires, the tv wire, the wii wire, the dvd wire, the internet connection and a lamp wire, chewed my guitar I use for guitar hero and chewed all my dvd boxes. The tv is now blurry, the dvd doesnt work, the wii doesnt work, the internet cable is selotaped and I had to buy another telephone. Still love him though :lol: