Pond liner for colony floor?

[BuffBrahmaBantam]

Hi everyone, we are planning to house a couple of rabbits in an 8*6 shed with 8 ft run. My question is about flooring for the shed and I’ve seen a lot of suggestions on this forum, with stall rubber mats sounding like the best option. I’m wondering if anyone has tried using a pond liner instead of stall mats and I’m only asking because of the price. (and we have a pond liner in our garage that we’ve used in the past for temporary duck ponds). Please let us know what you think of this idea, or has anyone tried it? Has it worked, or not?

I would put shavings on top of the liner for absorption.

Thanks!

 

[Rexit]

Hi everyone, we are planning to house a couple of rabbits in an 8*6 shed with 8 ft run. My question is about flooring for the shed and I’ve seen a lot of suggestions on this forum, with stall rubber mats sounding like the best option. I’m wondering if anyone has tried using a pond liner instead of stall mats and I’m only asking because of the price. (and we have a pond liner in our garage that we’ve used in the past for temporary duck ponds). Please let us know what you think of this idea, or has anyone tried it? Has it worked, or not?

I would put shavings on top of the liner for absorption.

Thanks!

I put linoleum flooring in my chicken coop and it made cleaning so easy. I'm thinking about adding FRP wall pannels like they have in bathrooms some times for the rabbit shed walls as well. PLAS-TEX 1/16 in. x 48 in. x 96 in. White Polywall Plastic Panel 10048615

 

[MnCanary]

Are your rabbits going to be in cages that are hung, or will they be on the floor? If they are on the floor, and there is any loose corner or edge, they will try to eat it. There is something about plastic and rabbits. Maybe it is because they CAN try to eat it, because it isn't hard like wood or concrete.

 

[andymay27]

A friend of mine is a big shot in a local gravel company with a bunch of quarries. He’s GIVING me 300 sq. ft. of used conveyor belt for my floor. He’s delivering it Thursday so I haven’t seen it. But before I retired I did a lot of quarry business so I’m pretty sure it should be perfect. It’s very heavy duty and ‘contaminated’ with only rock and dirt. If needed I plan on overlapping a couple inches, drilling through both layers and spiking it into the gravel below with landscape anchor spikes. I’ll try to remember to post some pics.

 

[BuffBrahmaBantam]

Wow. That sounds really interesting. Yes, please post pics. How thick is it?

In the end, we decided to use stall mats because of suggestions on RabbitTalk on other posts. They are great. We feel they were worth the initial investment. Our floor is super easy to clean, with no odors. The stall mats are very robust too. That was a concern I’d had about using pond liner, which can get holes. (I should note our buck and doe are using litter boxes (except when the buck sprays) so that makes our ‘colony’ easier to clean too.)

 

[BuffBrahmaBantam]

Are your rabbits going to be in cages that are hung, or will they be on the floor? If they are on the floor, and there is any loose corner or edge, they will try to eat it. There is something about plastic and rabbits. Maybe it is because they CAN try to eat it, because it isn't hard like wood or concrete.

I’m sorry I’m slow reponding. They are living on the floor and we decided to use stall mats, which are working out great. We are happy with our decision. Rabbit Talk is awesome! We got the idea to use stall mats from Rabbit Talk and someone else’s post. The mats did cost $100 which is an initial upfront expense, but otherwise our shed was built with repurposed wood from a neighbor so our overall costs were low. We have given our buns willow and aspen branches and trunk sections to chew to reduce their desire to gnaw on other things. So far, it is working great.

 

[andymay27]

Wow. That sounds really interesting. Yes, please post pics. How thick is it?

In the end, we decided to use stall mats because of suggestions on RabbitTalk on other posts. They are great. We feel they were worth the initial investment. Our floor is super easy to clean, with no odors. The stall mats are very robust too. That was a concern I’d had about using pond liner, which can get holes. (I should note our buck and doe are using litter boxes (except when the buck sprays) so that makes our ‘colony’ easier to clean too.)

Stall mats are an excellent choice. I used to sell virgin rubber products called Linatex and actually had some trial floors installed at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington. Then Covid hit and I decided it was a great time to retire. It was and still is! They were converting all their barns and Animat was their other option. Since the conveyor belt is FREE…

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

I’m sorry I’m slow reponding. They are living on the floor and we decided to use stall mats, which are working out great. We are happy with our decision. Rabbit Talk is awesome! We got the idea to use stall mats from Rabbit Talk and someone else’s post. The mats did cost $100 which is an initial upfront expense, but otherwise our shed was built with repurposed wood from a neighbor so our overall costs were low. We have given our buns willow and aspen branches and trunk sections to chew to reduce their desire to gnaw on other things. So far, it is working great.

How did the stall mats work out over time? I'm still looking at options and this is the lead currently. I'm curious if you've had them damage the mat.
And did they find an edge to work at? My store may have 4x6ft and 3x4ft mats. 4x6 is $40 (1.66/sq ft). 3x4 is $18 (1.5/sq ft) but they have it for sale at the moment for $15 (1.25/sq ft). Assuming my store carries that size anyhow. But the small mats would mean more seams where the mats meet. Good for moisture drainage. Possibly bad if the rabbits were to test the seams.