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Playpen error? :(

oddity

New Kit
Hi all,

Thanks for your help with my other question, I have met my rabbits now and am setting up for them before picking them up in a few weeks. They are crossbred netherland dwarf/lop, 9 months old, and are small but not tiny. I am doing a dog crate+playpen setup to start with (to hopefully free range in future) and bought a pen from a website that I had seen recommended somewhere on a rabbit site (Doggie solutions)

Unfortunately it's just arrived and the bar spacing is 3.5 and 4cm wide - I've just been reading about getting heads trapped and I'm worried I've got the wrong thing. It's my fault, I should have done (even) more research and asked what the bar spacing was, but as someone had put a link on a rabbit website to this product I hadn't though to check - lesson learned. I'm gutted, the postage will be too high to send it back, so fixing some kind of mesh may be in order, but it will have to be strong enough for then not to bite through it.

Or does anyone else have this kind of setup and it's fine? The pen is otherwise great, sturdy and the panels come on and off separately to make different shapes and so I can add more in future.

It's hard to make a call when I don't have them here to look at their head size, and I can't find any official guidance from any rabbit bodies. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance
 
(Btw I know there is a sticky on this subject which I had previously seen, I just had mistakenly thought that was about a specific brand - not the whole concept of pens in general - as they are so frequently mentioned and used, and I have never seen a picture online of someone using one that *did* have mesh on it so I assumed it was not normally needed)
 
Could you get some perspex panels and drill holes around the edges and attach with tie wraps? Might look nicer than mesh and would keep bits of hay and stray poops contained.
 
That would look nicer indeed - thanks, theres a few options and I've got time to sort something I was just surprised that I'd seen so many images online with indoor playpens and thought it odd I hadn't seen the issue coming up all the time - or been able to find recommendations from a rabbit welfare group, like you have for floor space. Ah well, better safe than sorry, just would have preferred to get something appropriate first time. In more positive news, other deliveries that arrived today included toys and my hay for pets order, so it's starting to smell nice round the place and feel like it's really happening that I'm getting my bunnies :)
 
Exciting stuff! It's good you're doing your research and getting so prepared. I made a few expensive mistakes myself when starting out. Finding this forum was a godsend.
 
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