Indoor playpen base.

Hi all :wave:

I need your brain!

I'm thinking of a new type of base for my buns' indoor home. I'm now using 2mm correx boards over our living room carpets. The buns must had a lot of thinking how to break out while they are not free ranged (when we are out or sleeping), because the new sheet I've changed a month ago is now breaking into pieces...

I'm thinking of to have a more sturdy base - wood like some of you had for large dog crates. Any suggestions? I wish I could find another solution, rather than spending all of my Christmas holiday in the garage being a joiner...

I am not really 100% sure what you mean but I use lino and so do quite a few others. I am not sure about putting it over carpet though.

tonibun said:

I am not really 100% sure what you mean but I use lino and so do quite a few others. I am not sure about putting it over carpet though.

Click to expand...

I don't know what happended to me while writing the thread... I could't really understand myself when I read it

I meant to ask instead of correx boards, what other materials can I use as the indoor playpen base. I don't think lino is sturdy enough to hold its shape like correx boards...

tainay said:

I don't know what happended to me while writing the thread... I could't really understand myself when I read it

I meant to ask instead of correx boards, what other materials can I use as the indoor playpen base. I don't think lino is sturdy enough to hold its shape like correx boards...

Click to expand...

My brother had carpet he used thick ply to make a " tray" for the panels to sit in. It worked very well and lasted the lifetime of the bun

i was wondering this-i want the base like a dog crate?
because dog crates are small so i wanted a play pen,but i don't want my buns to have my carpet at the bottom,so i wanted to know the answer to this too:lol:

Confused_bun said:

My brother had carpet he used thick ply to make a " tray" for the panels to sit in. It worked very well and lasted the lifetime of the bun

Click to expand...

That's what I'm planning tbh... But I was afraid plywood is too thin / too easy to destroy, considering my buns plan to break the jail every single second :lol:... What is the thickness of the plywood your brother used?

tainay said:

That's what I'm planning tbh... But I was afraid plywood is too thin / too easy to destroy, considering my buns plan to break the jail every single second :lol:... What is the thickness of the plywood your brother used?

Click to expand...

im not sure exactly. I think it was one of the thickest ones - probably around an inch? - i know it was strong enough for him to walk on without movement. He had to join a couple of sheets because it was a 6x8ft area (he had a bunny pen instead of a dining room table). He used the same ply to create a "skirt" around the edge and put the metal panels (like puppy pannels) he used in side the skirt to stop bunny chewing them. It worked really well kept all bunny mess contained. The skirt did mean the door pannel could only open inwards though.

His bunny never managed to damage it. I think being a smooth hard surface stops most being able to chew it.

Confused_bun said:

im not sure exactly. I think it was one of the thickest ones - probably around an inch? - i know it was strong enough for him to walk on without movement. He had to join a couple of sheets because it was a 6x8ft area (he had a bunny pen instead of a dining room table). He used the same ply to create a "skirt" around the edge and put the metal panels (like puppy pannels) he used in side the skirt to stop bunny chewing them. It worked really well kept all bunny mess contained. The skirt did mean the door pannel could only open inwards though.

His bunny never managed to damage it. I think being a smooth hard surface stops most being able to chew it.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for giving me confidence of making one! Mine is smaller though, around 1.8m x 0.6m as it is only for the buns when they are not free ranging. I'm also looking at lino - maybe easier to clean if having a layer on top of the plywood

tainay said:

Hi all :wave:

I need your brain!

I'm thinking of a new type of base for my buns' indoor home. I'm now using 2mm correx boards over our living room carpets. The buns must had a lot of thinking how to break out while they are not free ranged (when we are out or sleeping), because the new sheet I've changed a month ago is now breaking into pieces...

I'm thinking of to have a more sturdy base - wood like some of you had for large dog crates. Any suggestions? I wish I could find another solution, rather than spending all of my Christmas holiday in the garage being a joiner...

Click to expand...

My indoor buns have the dinning room as their area, although they have an indoor hide away house they sleep under a foot stool -their choice, so who am I to argue :lol:

They have an underbed storage box as their litter tray with an attached hay rack which is a few feet away from their sleeping area/foot stool. Although they are pretty well litter trained hay ends up all around and sometimes poo ends up being kicked out over the carpet.

The best buy I ever made was a £5 jumbo picnic blanket. I put it patten side down over the carpet under the litter tray. During the week I sweep up the excess hay and the odd poos and at the weekend when I give their room a though clean lifting the picnic blanket and shaking it out into the compost bin. The carpet underneath is pristine and hoovering their room takes a quarter of the time that it used to before the picnic blanket.

My two love those hide'n'hay tunnels but they are absolutely murder to hoover up after they've rolled them over the carpet but with the upside down picnic blanket I don't have to dread the clean up after. The underside of the picnic blanket is damp proof so I wipe it over with cage safe wipes every now and then. The buns seem absolutely oblivious to it and although my two seem to think everything looks better with a pattern of bunny teeth marks on it they've never tried to chew the picnic blanket.

I don't know if the picnic blanket idea would work for anyone else but it certainly makes life easier for me.