Cage design partial wire bottom, bad idea?

[ckcs]

All my rabbits are indoors so letting the waste fall to the ground is not an option. Recently I purchase 3 French Angoras. I am likely going to be building a three tier stack to house them. My existing homemade 3 tier racks work well for my Lionheads but my cages will need to be much larger for my french angoras. My biggest obstacle is going to be pan size. Currently I have 28" x 28" pans made from coroplast (corrugated plastic). These are fairly easy to work with and fit through my door to our deck for cleaning. A larger pan will become an issue taking out. My though is to make the floors so that most of the cage is solid (wood covered in plastic or linoleum) and then a wire area with a smaller pan underneath. Another option is to skip the wire floor all together and litter box them. If you have experience with similar idea or have another solution please share.

 

[Zass]

Not all rabbits will soil their solid floored portions, but some will.

I'm using straw filled litter boxes with 3 inside rabbits currently. It's easier on me than trying to move huge trays.

 

[Ramjet]

I'd choose a material for the pans that is flexible and you are able to bend them to make it thru doorways.

I've noticed that it just depend upon the individual rabbit as to whether they will use the space you want them to .... or the space you have to constantly clean.

 

[Zass]

Consider pee running out of the sides of a bent flexible bin though.

If you are considering litter boxes, it seems to work best to start with two, and you might have to find a way to attach them to the corners, otherwise some rabbits will toss them and then pee where the box was.

 

[Ramjet]

Consider pee running out of the sides of a bent flexible bin though.

That's easily solved .... dump the waste into a receptacle prior to bending.

 

[Schipperkesue]

I have found rabbits tend to use one area of the cage as a bathroom. My solution is to use a wire bottomed cage, no solid areas, but put a smaller tray with kitty litter under the wire in that bathroom area and change the small tray within the large tray. You have the convenience of moving a small pan, you can do it fairly often, and you don't have to worry about the rabbit getting into it, kicking up a mess or fouling her coat.

 

[3mina]

My personal preference for cage bottoms is all wire. I've had to move my rabbits indoors and I despise cleaning trays. My solution is slant boards runnning into eavestroughing under the cages. Urine guards in some form are a necessity indoors I'm finding as well. Disposal can be done a few different ways, I'm partial to a lined tote with wood pellets to soak up urine since I don't have, and can't make, a compost pile. I can put it out with the trash every couple of days so it's not too heavy to get up the stairs.

 

[skysthelimit]

Angoras on solid bottoms, could be quite a mess. Those feet are really furry, and any amount of liquid is going to turn into serious matts. They will shed, little by little, and it's easier to get off of wire. And what ever you put down on that floor, will wind up in that wool, and make a fine birds nest out of it.

I had a problem with getting the 30 inch stacker pan out of the old barn. You can try using two litter trays, each 15x15. Then you only have to empty one at a time.

 

[Zass]

Oh, how did I miss that this was about ANGORAS???

Yeah, I'd be thinking of wire.

I successfully had a FA's on a solid bottom pen using a litterboxes, but it was during a period when they were clipped back pretty good. I don't think I'd try it if I was growing wool.

 

[ramblingrabbit]

My does' hutches have floors that are part wire and part plain old plywood. They never soil the plywood. I gave my buck a hutch of similar design and he insisted in soiling his plywood section, to the point where we finally got sick of cleaning it up made his floor all wire. They say rabbits can be toilet trained, and I definitely believe it--but nothing we tried worked with our buck. (Fortunately, these hutches were outside at least.)

The little bunnies though... forget about it... They just get all wire bottoms. They just go all over, even in their food dishes (generally after they've emptied them, at least). If you are planning on breeding/raising young ones, I'd imagine you'll have to go through a period of toilet training and repeated cleanups with each new batch of lil' buggers, which could become tiresome...

Maybe all wire is a safer/easier bet, especially if smell is a concern...? Good luck with whatever you choose to go with!

 

[ckcs]

I'll probably just go with wire bottom and tried putting a litter box in the cage or in the drop box. I've tried it in the dropbox before and it work ok with one rabbit but not so well with another. Little buggers are growing fast. They are gaining about an ounce a day and the gains are getting bigger each day. I'm going to have to more them into individual cages real soon.