flooring?

Hi everyone,

hope you and your bunnies are all well? my four are doing fine!

im thinking of bringing Tiny Tim and Errol back into our bedroom as this is where they spend most of their time anyway. i have got a big pen that im going to house them in, rather then the crate and was wondering what to put on the floor to protect it?

i have a waterproof sheet i was going to put on the floor and then line that with newspaper. i was then thinking of covering this with either a throw or a rug-would this be ok?

does anyone have any other suggestions as to what i could use? i wouldnt use vetbed as i find it does not wash well at all, and the size id want would be too big to fit in the machine anyway.

all suggestions welcome!!

Just how large is the pen? Is it possible to purchase one of the office chair mats. Do you know what i'm talking about? You put them down so chair scan roll easily. i have heard of those working well. YOu could also try coroplast, or a plywood base covered with lino.

Aspen'n'company said:

Just how large is the pen? Is it possible to purchase one of the office chair mats. Do you know what i'm talking about? You put them down so chair scan roll easily. i have heard of those working well. YOu could also try coroplast, or a plywood base covered with lino.

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not sure what you mean by the office chair mats? but i cant have anything like coroplast or anything slippy as TT and Errol have joint problems :?

Is lino to slipper for them? If so you could try covering the bottom with grass mats or scraps of carpet.

When we had our bun's cage on the carpet, we put down some plastic sheeting (the kind that painters use to protect the carpet while painting walls in a room), and then put a cheap bedsheet on top so she didn't chew the plastic. The plastic is cheap, and because the bedsheet is on top, it'll last quite a long time. Not only that, but no matter what size their cage is, you can layer pieces of plastic so that it's big enough. That's what we did! Maisie's cage is a little over 3'x2'x2' in size (I'm not sure how that converts metrically.)

Hope that helps!

Depending on how big the area to cover is you can go to your nearest carpet shop and ask for cheap/free ends to put down. If you want to go with the waterproof sheet and newspaper idea then how about a baby blanket? I get cheap baby blankets for jacks puppy crate and put then in the places he likes to sit as they are very soft and very easy to wash should any accidents happen!

thanks for all your suggestions. i havnt put the pen together yet but im pretty sure it will be more or less the size of the crate?

would they be ok having sheets/duvet covers down? id be worried about them eating it :? this was my concern with using a throw too :? if sheets are ok to use then i do have a couple of old ones here so that would be perfect!

if not, then maybe the scrap carpet idea could be a good one!

Ryo_the_rat said:

thanks for all your suggestions. i havnt put the pen together yet but im pretty sure it will be more or less the size of the crate?

would they be ok having sheets/duvet covers down? id be worried about them eating it :? this was my concern with using a throw too :? if sheets are ok to use then i do have a couple of old ones here so that would be perfect!

if not, then maybe the scrap carpet idea could be a good one!

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The sheet should be fine. My putting the sheet down was actually alternative for carpet, since Maisie doesn't just pull carpet, she also consumes it. So, I was worried initially if she was going to eat it. She nibbled a couple times (not eat, mind you...just checked it out like she does my socks or jeans), but that was it. I've checked and found no holes.

What are you making the pen out of? We made ours out of those NIC panels. The reason I ask is because if you're making it out of the same thing, and find that the sheet doesn't work, it's not very heavy to lift and change out.

It's really up to you. If your bun doesn't eat carpet, maybe she would prefer it. The sheet was really just an alternative to carpet.

Let us know what you wind up doing...and post pictures of the cage when you're done!

Tia used to like to sit on a duvet cover I had on my carpet, for the guinea pig pen (waterproof sheets underneath), but Tia liked to nibble holes in the duvet cover! If the waterproof sheet is rubber backed then they will chew it as they love rubber for some reason. I would just get an offcut of vinyl slightly bigger than the pen, or an office chairmat (Staples do them, but vinyl is cheaper) and cover that with something absorbent and non-slip (again not rubber backed) - although if you put a big box in there with hay in they will probably do their mess in the box.