How do they DO that????

Hi Everyone,
I now have my rabbits in nice, new stackable cage units. They have the 2 & 1/2 inch thick Plastic Dura Pans under them, plus 4" urine guards all the way around the cages. I am still battling with puddles of urine on the floor each day. I have been watching to see where each rabbit's prefered pee corner is & sliding the pan a bit feurther back in that particular corner, but STILL end up mopping the floor every day due to the pee puddles, some being quite large in the mornings.How on earth are they getting the pee past the pans & do you have any ideas on what I can do to solve the problem? BTW, pans are emptied & spayed clean each morning, so its not like they are overflowing or anything. Has anyone else that uses pee/poop pans having the same problem?

Yup, the first cages I bought had urine guards and poo pans and the bunnies still managed to get the urine onto the floor. This is one reason why I'm now going with the pan-less system with the slanted board into a gutter. No mess on the floor and easy cleanup.

I think the only way to solve this problem would be to have drop pans a little bigger than the cages.

Yes, thats what I have concluded too, but unfortunately, my pans are the biggest I've found, 30x36.

four inches around is what you need for most rabbits.

Ladysown,what do you mean about 4 inches being what you need for most rabbits? Are you talking about the urine guards? The urine guards are 4 inches high.

Rabbithappy":2l3bq2a1 said:

The urine guards are 4 inches high.

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It's unlikely (although possible) that they are shooting OVER the urine guards. I have known a buck to do so, but he was more the "spraying" kind of guy than just peeing.

I do have one stacker left and there is a small, small, like three quarter inch gap between the top of the tray and the bottom of the urine guards. This is because the urine guards stop at the top of the floor wire and the tray sits just BELOW the bottom of the floor wire. You don't want the tray rubbing against the floor wire or you will catch toes when you pull it out. So there is a tiny space all the way around and it is in just the perfect spot for those rabbits who back up to the edge and pee at an angle.

There are urine guards that go on the outside of the stack, so they overlap the cage area and tray area, but they mostly cause the urine to dribble down the outside of the cages. They do keep it off the floor and walls though!

What I did was place two pieces of wood under the trays to raise them up so they are jammed tight against the floor of the cage. BEFORE removing the tray, I pull the wood out so the tray drops down and is not sliding against the floor and catching toes. It's an extra step, but it cuts down on the urine escaping through that gap.

i find that around the base of a cage that you need four inches wider than the cage underneath to catch all the spray.

Hey, Moonkitten, the raising of the pan with the wood pieces might just do the trick. The worst culprits are the youngsters in the grow out pens, although I've had the problem to some extent with all of the cages.
I see what you mean now, Ladysown. I do wish that somehow someone could invent a system where the trays were a few inches wider than the cages. Maybe I can think it thru, invent one & get rich! LOL

I do wish that somehow someone could invent a system where the trays were a few inches wider than the cages. Maybe I can think it thru, invent one & get rich! LOL

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That could be easily done. It would just mean you would have to build the bottom of the cage including the pan holding section separately then build the sides and top a couple of inches smaller and fasten that to the bottom section. It would mean, however, that if you had a 24"x36" poo pan and built that floor section appropriately, building the upper part of the cage 2" smaller in each direction would mean you would end up with a 20"x32" cage.

Yeah. I bet if someone were to take the time to design one & draw it out, then actually make some & test them, they'd sell like hotcakes. I know if they worked & were easy to clean, I'd buy them!

A lot of rabbits, especially bucks, can shoot their urine almost horizontally. In my setup that is not a problem. When I occasionally use my isolation cages, though, I have found that I must use 4 inch urine guards, or they can clear the edge of the pan, not something one wants in their garage.

There are metal urine guards that are 4 inch high and the last inch or so is folded slightly toward the inside of the cage so that the urine can drip into the tray.

We had our cages inside the garage and so we dealt with this problem.

Bucks can not only spray horizontally but can hop, turn, and spray in an upward direction.

Sometimes we just stuck corrugated board between two cages . We cover the wall behind the rabbits with plastic sheeting.

Putting a buck next to a doe seems to minimize buck spraying.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

The topic title and subject just made me picture a rabbit climbing the side of the cage to pee over the top of the urine guards just to spite you. I have a buck that I think might do something like that. Sorry, I think I need more sleep. LOL

pfaubush":3cp88oa4 said:

The topic title and subject just made me picture a rabbit climbing the side of the cage to pee over the top of the urine guards just to spite you. I have a buck that I think might do something like that. Sorry, I think I need more sleep. LOL

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:lol: I have read of bucks jumping, twirling, and spraying at the same time... resulting in pretty much everything surrounding him getting peed on including the unfortunate human who happened along, and defeating completely any urine guards that may have been installed. Blech. I don't think I'd be able to tolerate that... that would be a culling factor for me, I believe! Peeing at an angle and overshooting pans is thankfully somewhat manageable...

As an update to this topic, I found out last night that Lego toys are a great solution to my problem with the pee puddles! I had wanted to try the idea of raising the trays closer to the cage floor with the wood pieces, but hubby never got time to cut the wood pieces for me. Then, I figured that they would need replaced periodically if they got wet with urine & stinky,etc. I then had a bright idea that maybe lego pieces would be the right size. Last winter I had bought a whole bag of them at a yard sale for $2. If they fit, they would be easy to clean when needed, too. So, I took some out to the rabbitry & they are a perfect fit! Hurray! So, this morning, I got to see how well they worked. Almost NO urine on the floor of the building. YES!!!! So, if anyone else has this problem, keep your eyes open at yard sales for some cheap Lego blocks!