Minimum Rabbit Cage Size.

[MaggieJ]

Sky, if you are retrofitting those dog crates with floor wire, consider turning them on their side so that you get more floor space and less height. They will still be plenty high enough for the rabbits.

Alternatively, leave the crates as they are but add a shelf so the rabbit has a good place to perch. We have used dog crates as cheap, sturdy housing for bucks, but the bars on ours are too far apart for does with kits. Also to be considered is the ease with which predators like rats and weasels can get into these cages. Just things to consider before you start.

 

[skysthelimit]

Sky, if you are retrofitting those dog crates with floor wire, consider turning them on their side so that you get more floor space and less height. They will still be plenty high enough for the rabbits.

Alternatively, leave the crates as they are but add a shelf so the rabbit has a good place to perch. We have used dog crates as cheap, sturdy housing for bucks, but the bars on ours are too far apart for does with kits. Also to be considered is the ease with which predators like rats and weasels can get into these cages. Just things to consider before you start.

The crates are german shepherd size, good suggestion. I'm not sure how to create a wire floor, thinking no matter the gauge wire, at 48 inches it's going to sag?

The good thing is I don't have any natural predators in the area or in the barn. There is an occasional possum that wanders onto the property that the dogs quickly dispatch.

 

[MaggieJ]

We let the bottom wire of the crate support the floor wire. We used 1/2 inch by 1 inch 14 gauge floor wire. The only problem is that some poop will stick where the floor wire meets the crate. If I were doing it again, I would elevate the floor wire and inch or two. It might need a bit of support for a 48 inch crate, but I think a piece of rebar or something similar fastened across the centre would take care of sagging, as long as the gauge of the floor wire is 12 or 14.

Forgot that your dogs would quickly dispatch predators. That's a good thing!

 

[rabbitgeek]

Just my two cents. I prefer 24 deep x 36 wide x 16 high as minimum for 10-12 lb nursing cages.

I do not like sticking my head and shoulders into a cage to grab uncooperative rabbits.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

 

[akane]

Today a latch broke on a top cage and I was standing on a bale of pine shavings reaching in to my 30" deep cages up to my shoulders. I found I was still a rabbit's width short of the back. I had to ask my husband to grab the young buck in there who was sitting along the back just out of reach and his crabapple that he'd dragged to the back corner so I could move him to a middle cage. Definitely going with 24" cages in the future.

 

[skysthelimit]

I've had some pretty mean rabbits who have taken a swipe at me, and even bit down into my hand reaching into the cage. I shutter at how it would have turned out if I had to reach head and shoulder inside, giving them my face as a prime target.

 

[tailwagging]

why not just use something to move the rabbit from the back?? kind like using a board for a pig? most rabbits will run to the front if something just touches their rump. just to be clear, not hitting just sliding up to touch. resting boards work very well.

 

[skysthelimit]

My resting boards are hooked to the floor, don't want to pull that up everytime I want a rabbit out of the cage.

They don't always run forward, especially if my face is there. They don't want to get near me. In a large cage, they run side to side, or most times, they hunker in the corner and don't budge, because they know I can't reach.

 

[akane]

Mine must be more stubborn than yours. They'll settle in the back or wedge in the corner and not move even if you whacked them with something as long as your taking up 3/4ths of their cage. I also have to worry about them shooting out around me and possibly escaping if I scare them out of their hiding spot. Plus I have no resting boards. I have solid bottom cages.

 

[tailwagging]

I guess mine are easy going. I keep extra resting boards on hand.

 

[Millinex]

Depends on the individual rabbit I've found so far at least... Judge by your animal, if it looks cramped it probably is, if not, then don't sweat it...

Guidelines are just that- guidelines, not rules not facts, they are guidelines.