Interesting site I noticed the other day

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ckcs

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I had posted a picture of my NIC panel racks a while back. The other day I seen an ad on craigslist from a person that sells panel cages. Too pricey for me but I love the use of color coroplast. Although I prefer wire bottom cages the way they made theirs with the tray inside the cage is appealling for a stacked setup and would help with the spraying from bucks. http://www.wonderlandcages.com/Cages.html I was lucky the other day I picked up around 80 panels at a thrift store for $7.92 I can build 2 more 3 tier racks with those panels.

 
I made coroplast urine guards going around the inside of my cages as urine guards and some of my rabbits love chewing it to bits- and some of my rabbits only nibble it a little and mostly leave it alone. So with some rabbits that coroplast wouldn't last long at all-- unless they are using a thicker gauge than what I use.
 
squidpop":1ik2gyan said:
I made coroplast urine guards going around the inside of my cages as urine guards and some of my rabbits love chewing it to bits- and some of my rabbits only nibble it a little and mostly leave it alone. So with some rabbits that coroplast wouldn't last long at all-- unless they are using a thicker gauge than what I use.

I have that same concern. I have plastic litter pans in 4 of our cages that don't have wire bottom. 3 of them leave them alone. 1 though has chewed the whole edge off the pan. Being able to put the pans on the inside of the cage would make a rack dirt cheap for me. I figure I paid around $60-70 for each 3 tier rack. That includes buying the panels at thrift shops and yard sales. By putting the pans inside I could reduce the price to $25-30 per 3 tiers plus I could build them 5 tiers high. There is a company called Sabic that is in many states and one is 40 miles from me. They sell 4 x 8' sheets for $10-12 from what people have mentioned online. That is almost twice the square foot for less money then I'm paying at home depot ($14 for 3 x 6').
 
I tried to use my coroplast guinea pig cage. Every rabbit ate it. There were no sides left by the time I threw it away.
 
Is the picture with the 3 cages YOUR set up?

I'm just curious what you are using as the floor. That looks like an awesome set up! And great DIY! I have a ton of those panels from earlier cages before switching to the new hutch and FN set up, probably over 100, but they can't be used as flooring. Would love to be able to use these as grow out cages to keep the boys and girls and dif litters separate.
 
kukupecpec":2h82zdzk said:
Is the picture with the 3 cages YOUR set up?

I'm just curious what you are using as the floor. That looks like an awesome set up! And great DIY! I have a ton of those panels from earlier cages before switching to the new hutch and FN set up, probably over 100, but they can't be used as flooring. Would love to be able to use these as grow out cages to keep the boys and girls and dif litters separate.


The flooring is 1/2" x 1" wire that I bought locally at Tractor Supply. It is attached to the panels front and back with zip ties but the side I actually cut the edge off the wire and rolled each wire around the panels. This made them very secure. The pans are made from coroplast (corrugated plastic). I bought sheet 3' x 6' at home depot for $13-14. I recent found out a company called Sabic polmershapes sell full 4' x 8' sheet for $12.50 near me, plus they have colors. http://www.sabicpolymershapes.com they list a location in Phoenix. The whole frame is 2"x2". If you build one I can tell you a few things that I wish I had done.

Unless you have a nail gun, use screws. Predrill if necessary. I didn't have a nail gun and it took me forever to build the first one. Second one I used screws.

I made the frame big enough to hold the width of the cages and pans. If I make another I will make it bigger so there is space on the sides of the cages and the frames. I will also make the pans larger than the cage to help with corner pee. This also will allow you to put baby saver wire around the side. Mine are so tight I can't put the wire on and instead built a 1" x 4" frame that sits inside the cage to contain the kits.

The pans I folded and hot glued. I've since learned that you can cut through the coroplast without cutting all the way through and can fold much cleaner lines. Also instead of hot glue you can use plastic rivets.

Lastly the wood that goes front to back on the sides, I just put in without thinking. As a result they block me from putting water bottles on the sides.

If you already have the panels or pick them up cheap used, these racks are very cheap to make.
 
Or you could move to a run down neighborhood where it's windy, I had about five full sheets of that coroplast at stuff blow into my front yard from someone's dump trailer. The other neighbors were ticked it was blowing around, DH and I just shrugged and figured we'd stash it on the back of the shed till we could find uses for it...
 
ladysown":bwyx842j said:
so.. what's hard about putting the coroplast outside the panels?

In my case there isn't room because I built the wooden rack to barely hold the cages. I actually had to force a couple of cage in place. The other drawback would be if the coroplast is close enough that the bunnies can get to it they will eat it.
 
Interesting layout. Its primary election season here in texas. I will be making reclamation efforts of all the losers political signs. Most all of them are made of coroplast.

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Somewhat related. One could use http://gridbeam.com/ to build frames like the above. The modularity would make them a graceful way to grow or shrink the rabbitry.
 
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