What Do You Guys Think of This Cage Plan?

[Bad Habit]

Pretty straight forward. I'd put wood between Dobby and the babies, and fingers crossed that he doesn't take to spraying them. It also gives me a large area of real estate for another rabbit when I don't have babies.

Trying to decide how easy it will be to work with, getting rabbits in and out and cleaning. Already have a spot in mind that would work well for holding them as well. Allows me to continue using my NIC panels, but comply with the requests of the OSPCA officer.

Also - How do I make a hay rack?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

It looks good, but I am going to throw another option out there for you to consider.

Instead of making the sections "L" shaped, why not divide it into two sections, but give the babies about 2/3rds of the area? Since you are using the NIC panels, Dobby would only get a partial shelf that way, but I think it would make it easier to clean.

 

[Bad Habit]

Well, Dobby is a horrible brat for flipping his litter box, and putting it in the dead center of his cage so he doesn't have room to sprawl out. I was thinking I could stuff the litter box in the corner, so it's out of the way and he can't make a mess with it or move it to take over his cage. However, I do have a shorter litter box that I can attach to the corner of the cage and then put his actual litter box into, so he can't move it or flip it, and I can still take it out for cleaning. Definitely something to think about - I'm going to have to put holes in the floor panels to attach the zip ties either way. It would make attaching the shelves easier, too. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to attach Dobby's to make it secure.

From the information I have now(the officer hasn't dropped off the information she was supposed to), if it's accurate, I only need 1.5 sq ft of space for each rabbit, since they are under 4.4lbs.

 

[Oceanrose]

1.5 Sq Feet is what the minimum on the ARBA page says, but that is pretty small. If you can I'd go a bit bigger.

I made hay racks for my cages using hardware cloth and zip ties. My cages are different than yours, but the racks are working great, I just cut to size, folded over the sharp edges,curved it a bit zip tied it and left the top loose. I stuff a big handful in and it lasts several days. Here is a photo. Mine are big but obviously you can size them down. Keeps the hay out of the wool, and it keeps them busy

 

[Bad Habit]

Would that hay rack idea work with a pet store/plastic bottomed type cage too? It would definitely work with the nic cages, which is a big bonus, as that's where I get most of the waste hay.

I don't intend to cram all the poor buns into 1.5 ft sq... that's insane! I feel guilty when I have to put any of the brats into a carrier, and that's only for like half an hour while I scrub cages! I was just astonished, though, that that small an area would be considered suitable. I don't really like the idea of anything less than 4ft square.

I think I'm going to do MSD's idea, though, and give Dobby a cage that's a rectangle, 28x21(ish). I think I've figured out how to make that work properly.

 

[Oceanrose]

I don't see why not, they should still be able to pull the hay through the wire. I still get a little waste hay underneath, but not bad, and the hay they eat is clean, no scattering it at all.

I know, when I showed dwarfs a lot of people had them in 18X18 cages, which I thought was too small. Even now, I have almost all 30X36 cages. The other side of the rabbitry when I get that done will have 24X36 cages. I took the ARBA Recommendations, and made them all fit the doe with litter size. Bigger is better.

 

[Bad Habit]

I'm still waiting on the "official" info from the OSPCA officer. Going to call tomorrow and ask where the heck it is, and see if I should just go around to get it. It's a lot of work to alter these NIC cages, and I will be furious if I have to redo it after I've just redone it!!

If I tried to keep these rabbits in 18x18 cages, they wouldn't have room to move. I don't even really like the plastic bottomed cages from the pet store, they seem kinda small too. I like giving my buns a little room to stretch their legs, at least! It's like... you can put a person in a 6ft x 6ft cell, but do they really enjoy it?