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diy dilemma

hey, we're planning on getting a house bunny soon and have some questions about building a home for our new friend.....
I have read about the dangers of treated pine used as sawdust and toys. We were wondering if this also applies to the materials used in the hutch and if anyone had any suggestions as to what we should use. I guess if she/he doesn't chew it isn't a problem, but that seems overly optimistic! We don't want to use entirely wire mesh as it looks kind of prison-like also we're worried about drafts. So......
if anyone has any ideas we would be really greatful, thanks x
 
If you're worried about the appearance, one thing to do would be start with a dog crate as a base as that will provide a nice secure - non chewable house. You can then partially cover it with wood in whatever design you like to make it suit your house. You could get quite creative.... a castle cut out over the front etc :D

Tam
 
There are many threads on this site which show some wonderful things people have done to create an indoor home for their house rabbit.

This gives you instructions on how to put a shelf in a puppy crate, they sell them for a reasonable price ebay. http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6267

Do a search on here for house rabbits and indoor cages you will come up with lots of ideas.

Janice
 
hi

I'm planning on having a hutch indoors for Benny too - I wondered about the pine they're built from - but I guess we don't have much choice about it :?

I thought about getting a dog crate, but as Benny is litter trained, a hutch won't get smelly anyway - and a double or triple decker has over twice as much room as the largest dog crate - plus you can paint it a nice colour, or wallpaper it (on the unchewable bits round the back) - it would get pretty smelly with an untrained baby bunny though...
 
I dont use a cage at all now. Sooty and Lolly have the run of a large penned area with a cat bed and tunnel, giant litter tray etc. I used the pen panels from RR site as they fix however you like. You could even use a carrier with a penned area around as long as you make sure it is escape proof.
 
thanks everyone, it's good to get some feedback.
We didin't want to use dog crates or that sort of thing because we've got a pretty small flat and wanted to fit a home into a hutch sized recess we have under our window. It's pretty drafty so it needs to be solid everywhere but the front. Hopefully in time our bunny will have more and more freedom in the house.
Weve decided to use some other type of wood, from what we've read we can't decide if it's treated pine that's bad or just pine in general???!
so we figure some other wood and a wipable floor for dribbles
 
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