What's that?! "Finished" (for now) set up? :D

[Peach]

We got them! Just in time to get everything done and tarpped to get hit by a wonderful storm and hail.Woo hoo! Here are some pictures

The "Nursery":
My wonderful boyfriend helped put everything in it's place,hang up the cages, and finished putting the tray and such to the stackers. Honestly, none of this would of gotten finished without him. I don't regret our almost year and a half relationship at all. He drives me nuts sometimes ,but he's got one big heart and doesn't complain one bit even when he's gotta help out in my set up that only accommodates my 4'11" size and not his 6'3".

The First Buns in the new Nursery cages:
These are a couple of mutts we produced for Alex's pet store (they were looking to by healthy rabbits for $10 a piece,but I wasn't going to give them my purebred Mini Lops) but since he no longer works there so I'll just be selling them. Happy I have a good number of people on my waiting list looking for some pets so they should go fairly quickly. (rather get a pet quality from a breeder than a pet store. Good word has gotten around for my rabbits so that's helped a bunch with sales) If some just don't sell, we are going to put them towards become reptile food so nothing goes to waste. We also have a broken blue but he didn't get caught in the photo. nooo! lol

The hanging Cage Setup:

These are a couple quick snap shots. My grandpa created the tarp ramping system but the down side was those were important tarps to cover everyone up rain/winter tarps. :x I guess you can never have enough of those. Good thing there were enough for today! We have to purchase some more crocks (Can't have enough of those either! I thought I bought plenty at the last show!) We will be installing a watering system. Also going to purchase some fans to keep everyone cool. Thinking I could gather some recycled water bottles,fill them up with water, freeze them, and put them in the cages so everyone can cool down. Only worried they will eat it lol

 

[lostcreekrabbits]

nice, good clean streamlined setup, I like it

 

[RabbitPhotoGirl]

They shouldn't eat the water bottles, I use soda bottles filled with water and freeze it before sticking it in the cages on the hot days. They will probably push it around and play with it though, mine do.

Wonderful set up and amazing boyfriend for helping set up.

 

[curlysue]

Thats soo very nice!

 

[LindseysWoolies]

Nice set up! My rabbits all love their frozen water bottle, I use two liters so that they last longer. They get excited when they see them and enjoy licking the condensation off of them.

 

[Peach]

Thank you guys! I had to go out yesterday night into the rain because my tarps decided to get blown this way and that. Nobody got too wet, but I'm happy it is summer. Secured everything and the buns were all dry this morning.Going to have to find a better way to cover up the buns. I worry about them so much when the weather decides to get a little crazy xD


Not a bad idea with the soda cans. Those might be easier to collect that soda bottles. Going to get started to see what I can find

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Looks great, Peach! Is it under the deck and subfloor of the house? Should be nice and cool under there.

Going to have to find a better way to cover up the buns.

One (compound) word: BunnyBuckets!

In all seriousness, they work great. I adapted the idea from my use of hollow oak logs to provide shelter to a pet mini rex we had that had no other protection. She used them to stay cool in summer, and dry in rain or snow- and they were open at both ends, and still worked.

You could also plant some tall plants (sunflowers?) to block most of the water from blowing in through the lattice.

 

[Peach]

haha You're right! Our little rabbitry is mainly under our back deck lol Keeps everyone at a comfortable temperature even on the warmer days.The nursery is a shed that's part of a wooden play set/fort but it was just right to put some bunnies in since it's just super well made and just tall enough of ceiling for me to work no problem haha. Pretty much constant shade,but in the early hours and late evenings nice amount of light shines through. Along the side with the rabbits we have honey suckle growing along the cross wood. It's not thick yet,but the bunny berries sure have sped up the process with the growth. It was nothing not long agol

For the nursery, I put hooks all around to put up or take down tarps according to the weather.

The bunnybuckets sound like a really awesome idea actually How do attach it to the cage?

The thing I love about the set up is that the ventilation is wonderful. The only problem I ran into was putting compost bucket in the garden was bringing flies :slap: Moved the compost bucket wayyyyyy back and then problem was pretty much solved. Got a few flies,but not anything crazy since we clean out the dropping pans and buckets daily and clean them out thoroughly.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Here's the link to making BunnyBuckets:

rabbittalk.com/how-to-pot-up-a-rabbit-t6566.html

 

[trinityoaks]

You could also plant some tall plants (sunflowers?) to block most of the water from blowing in through the lattice.

Plant some fast-growing, bunny-safe vines such as grape, star (confederate) jasmine, or scarlet runner beans along the lattice and train them to climb it.

 

[AngelsGirl]

NEAT!!!!

 

[Miss M]

I use frozen 2-liter bottles as well. My rabbits do gnaw on them, but it isn't easy. It takes them a long time to make a hole in one of the bottles. You fill them only up to where the bottle begins to curve in toward the top, so that they don't explode in the freezer.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I tried using milk jugs-- now THOSE rabbits will put a hole in real quick-- the soda bottle, being round, makes it very hard for teeth to find an edge to latch on to....

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Plant some fast-growing, bunny-safe vines such as grape, star (confederate) jasmine, or scarlet runner beans along the lattice and train them to climb it.

It occurred to me that although vines are a great idea to provide shade, some of them (such as grape or wisteria) have such a strong branch structure as they mature that they may ruin the lattice since it is just stapled together and the slats are so thin. If you decide to use those types of vines, I would put up an additional support for them, such as a wire offset from the lattice and be diligent in training the vine primarily onto that.

 

[trinityoaks]

some of them (such as grape or wisteria) have such a strong branch structure as they mature that they may ruin the lattice since it is just stapled together and the slats are so thin.

Hmmmm. . . I didn't know that about grapevines. (I wouldn't use wisteria for this anyway since as I understand it, it's poisonous for bunnies.)

If you decide to use those types of vines, I would put up an additional support for them, such as a wire offset from the lattice and be diligent in training the vine primarily onto that.

My grapevines are located against the 2x4 vertical boards that the lattice is nailed to (boards on the inside, grapevines on the outside). Do you think that would be enough support?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

(I wouldn't use wisteria for this anyway since as I understand it, it's poisonous for bunnies.)

I only mentioned wisteria because it has the same strong structure- I didn't know anything of it's safety for bun-rabs though. :? Good to know!

My grapevines are located against the 2x4 vertical boards that the lattice is nailed to (boards on the inside, grapevines on the outside). Do you think that would be enough support?

The 2" x 4"s are on the outside of the lattice? Run a couple of wires between the supports for the vine to climb on. I don't think you need to worry about the new growth going through the lattice, but as the vine ages the trunk and cordons (primary horizontal arms) become very thick and gnarled.

Make sure your wire is loose- you want it to "give" with the wind and weight of the vines.