Indoor Cage question !!!

Ok so we have a bonded pair in 2x montana indoor cages (combined together for maximum size but easy cleaning etc).

We have a 6ft hutch outside, the holiday home with attached run (unoccuppied, except for a single bunny on rotation since we have the 3 rescued bunnies at the moment. The other two get to share a run so they all get to roam free in close proximity though).

I've already suggested to other half unless there are any bad reasons to not do this we could almost swap the 2 "groups" we end up with (although one of them is just one! and the other group are our existing house bunnies) around as a long term possibility, but I'm quite keen to get more stuff for indoors at least.

We effectivily have enough runs and hutches/cages to always have ample resources to home and provide runs for all of them, the only thing being smells and this causing upset ?

But my other half and myself can't really keep up with the idea of maintaining both the state of the indoors and outdoors given its a good distance to get to our garden anyway which is distanced from the house and we'd like to keep a rescued bun with us in the house but initially segregated from others in the spare room.

It would at least be useful to have a mixture of options, for any worser weather for rabbi and human both!! ie mostly house bunny but with benefits of the outdoors.

We have enough stuff to help segregate althouth the buns and cat might get a bit put out about a new visitor in the house.
Question is, whats the recommended indoor hutch ???? Im suggesting an "always open" home but still 40" long would be minimum.

We are wise to the fact modifications to any equiptment seem always necessary, but would a standard plastic indoor floor standing be recommended or not, or are there better alternatives ?
Or is building/ other non usual options like dog cages suggested.
Ease of getting the poop and clearing up is also useful - one of the benefits of the Montana's pull outs especially when combined with a product like megazorb instead of newspaper.

Any advise gratefully received !!! Any shop links also welcomed. I would go for another Montana but on its own I dont think they are so good as combined to double the length, which is a bit pricey to do.

Wow I am the king of the long unnecessary messages.
What I really meant to post was, what are you recommendations on indoor cages ? :lol:

I just searched the forum and found this option

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/48-Two-Door-C...ryZ20745QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

It doesn't look so good for cleaning as the cages made for bunnies though that could detach and allow you to sweep out the mess. But very good value provided that you could forgive this and assume bun gets good toilet habbits I guess.

I have one of those and the tray at the bottom pulls out for easy cleaning and combined with a litter tray and house proud bunny it's a doddle. I just empty the litter tray and once a week or so pull the tray out and hoover the carpet and give it a spray with pet sanitisery stuff and tada, all clean.

(mine's only 38 inches lng though and I've added a shelf http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/dilkara/mollyd.gif but Molly's a mini lop so it's big enough for him to run around in. Also we don't have the ramp anymore cos he likes to just leap. )
x

A dog crate is a good idea, why don't you litter train your buns?

Its not really that hard, just sometimes take a little bit of patience.

Can you not bond all three bunnies together and then have them all free range?

Dee! :wave: How've you been :?: How's Molly :?:

tonyfoster said:

Wow I am the king of the long unnecessary messages.
What I really meant to post was, what are you recommendations on indoor cages ? :lol:

Click to expand...

:lol: gave me something to read over breakfast!

I would recommend a dog crate any day - I used the 3' ones as the doors were left open all day, but if they are to be shut in much I would get a 4' - they are high enough to put a board on top and use as a sideboard, and of course high enough for an extra level inside - even if that's just a wooden box or plastic stool for them to jump on. Mine have all been easy to litter train - just give them a big underbed box rather than a weeny cat litter tray, and put all their eating hay in there at one end - it keeps them busy for hours if you refresh the hay twice a day, and they do all their mess whilst munching.

Best thing about them is they can walk in and out on their own, which is good if you have a rabbit that doesn't like being picked up.

Gem said:

A dog crate is a good idea, why don't you litter train your buns?

Its not really that hard, just sometimes take a little bit of patience.

Can you not bond all three bunnies together and then have them all free range?

Dee! :wave: How've you been :?: How's Molly :?:

Click to expand...

Hi! :-D Back at my parents for easter hols. Molly's loving it as he has a dog to scare and lots of feet to chase. I've got some photos to post later. I found Molly got a lot better with litter training as he got older and I started putting his dry grass in there. (he has posh hay, lol)

I was wondering about the advantages of the dog cage over a standard "pets at home" (eg 40" +) sort of job, I know they are larger than a singular montana that we have (advantages of that are cleaning) but I can see the examples of dog cages make great sense and value for their size, and a strong option.

And yes, our buns (existing) are very good but its not for them - its for the newcomer unneutered boy. They use the same tray in the cage now, very easy to clean mostly but you do get some overspill sometimes so its useful it has pull outs. Actaully less of a problem since the 2nd bunny, our bond arrived. They have settled into very good toilet habits.

Oh and we use west timothy hay, it cost £40 for a hugest box, for feed hay. They love it. They also eat the cheaper bedding hay dont seem to be that fussy.

As for bonding, they are a bit fickle and we made a cursory introduction today from the outside of pens but female was haven't any of the other 3 bunnies (shes still nervous) and fuzzy was a little on the agressive side. So we decided not to carry it on, took them back to their comfort.

And as for accomodation, well we love our bunny as a house bunn and hes happy with that but does get the sunshine too, not so often at the moment unfortunately because of 3 rescued ones, but would usually. I like them to be as free range as possible, but because of the openness and dogs everywhere we tend to opt on caution - we have spotted dog mess in our garden before now.

I actually have one, thats similair to a dog crate but for rabbits as it as a front door that comes down so she can just hop in and out whenever she wants...
It's called rabbit residence, but I got it from my petshop and they arents online sorry
but other than that dog crates work!

Interesting. I was just on the verge of "Buy Now" when I saw your post.

And this following I found after reading your email, is definitely subject to taste (perhaps only affordable and sensible if your name is "Tarquin" and you have "loadsa money")


http://omlet.co.uk/products_services/products_services.php?view=Rabbits&about=pricing

Dont suppose you have a piccie of that cage do you?

Otherwise I'll just go for the 48" dog cage !!
(http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-VAL...ryZ20745QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting)

I have a crate - my rabbit wasn't litter trained when I put her in it. I just put a litter tray in the corner and voila, she's never peed anywhere outside of it! The 4" are huge, it's a bit daunting at first because even though you know how big it'll be...the height of it really caught me off guard! But if you flatten the box it comes in and put on top, voila, a lot of storage space. It was only £35 for a 48" crate, really cheap, cheaper than the indoor cage I had that was well under half the size. They're easy to clean - because of the positioning of mine I can only use the end door but it's big enough to get a broom in to sweep out, and I've been known to climb in it to clean it. And there's always the option of adding a shelf! As indoor housing for buns I think they're the overall most practical and versatile, especially when it comes to value for money!!!!

I think that says enough ! Thanks