| Basic instructions | What size? | Where can I find cubes? | Adding upper shelves | Making floors and trays | Chinchilla cage! |
Here are pictures of the deluxe rabbit condo/piggy palace I made; click on each thumbnail to see a full-size photo.
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| This is straight from the front, just so you can see the bunny in proportion and the basic plan... | This one is from slightly above, so you can see the rabbit's mezzanine and upper level. | This is the piggies' level, above the rabbit condo. Note the corner litter tray held on by a squeeze clamp from outside. | This gives you an idea of how much space the piggies have - about 8 square feet for 4 piggies. | Also note the spring that keeps the piggy door from flopping all the way down and banging on the rabbit, and the spring clip "latch." |
Photos by R. Kelly Wagner
| Basic instructions | What size? | Where can I find cubes? | Adding upper shelves | Making floors and trays | Chinchilla cage! |
How To:
Here are the basic instructions for a basic bunny cage, with shelves, suitable for small and medium rabbits who also get plenty of floor time:
Note that the drawing above says 17 panels to a box; however, the Target Organize-It cubes have 23 panels to a box, so you can build larger.
What size should I build?
For small bunnies:
2 square by 3 squares floor - that's 28" by
42" - by 2 cubes high - that's 28" - is plenty. Put a single shelf running the
long way, one square wide, 3 long, at about 12 inches high. Second shelf
probably not needed. One or two 4-pound bunnies could live in
this.
For larger bunnies, the
plan Lynne did, with the cage 3 squares high, or 42", allowing for two shelves,
would work. Put a short shelf - 2 squares by one square - along one short side,
at 12" or 14" (top of first side square), then the second shelf, perpendicular
to the first, along the long side - 1 by 3 squares - at the top of the second
square high, 28", or just under it at about 25-26". This would be great for one
9-lb bun, and, if good friends, a 6.5-lb. bun could live there too. If you put
the first shelf at 12" for the smaller bunny, and the second one at 26", then
the smaller bunny could only reach the first shelf, so if the larger bun wanted
a private moment, he could go up to the second shelf.
For 2 9-lb buns to share a cage, I'd go one square
bigger on the floor, either direction - either 42" by 42" (3 squares square, as
it were), or 28" x 56" (2 squares by 4 squares) with the shelves at the same
places described above. The larger floor space allows you to give them 2
separate litter pans, 2 separate big cardboard tubes or pieces of PVC tube to
play with, etc., which may be necessary for 2 buns to live happily together and
have room to occasionally sulk separately.
Since nylon cable ties are cheap, you could try several
configurations to see which they like best, or which seems most suitable to the
space you have. Cable ties are $6 for 500 of them at my local hardware
store.
A few comments about size: many people are tempted to make the biggest cage possible. An admirable idea for your pet, but not practical for several reasons:
Instead of making a gi-normous cage, I would suggest making one of the basic sizes above; 28" along one side (can be 42" or 56" on the other) will still fit through most doors, which are usually 36", or 30" for some smaller interior doors. 28" depth is also within arms' reach for most people.
In order to give your pet more exercise room, use another box of Cubes to build an exercise pen which can be removed and folded up. An exercise pen can be made by just fastening panels together horizontally with tie wraps, into a large circle; as long as the tie wraps aren't too tight, the panels will fold up fairly small. For guinea pigs, a single panel high is plenty; 14" will stop almost all guinea pigs. If you have one of the famous climbing piggies, make it 2 panels high. 2 panels, or 28" high, will usually stop dwarf rabbits from getting out. Three panels, or 42" high, will stop almost all rabbits; it may or may not stop chinchillas. Mine can't quite make it over a 42" high barrier - their limit is about 36" in a single leap. We similarly use panels just fastened together loosely to make folding gates to block the stairs and entrances to shelves/closets; three panels high and 3 wide, fastened with tie wraps to eye bolts on the wall on one side, these just according-fold fairly flat against the wall to open the entrance for humans, unfold and place flat against door jamb (or even add a hook to hook over one of the wires) to block things. BTW, our 42" high gates also stop the cat from jumping in; if that height won't stop your chinchillas from getting out or your cats from getting in, then 4 panels high, or 56", most certainly will!
Building a guinea pig cage on top of a rabbit cage:
First, make sure the ceiling of the rabbit cage is supported by a dowel or
piece of
lumber.
For the guinea pig cages above, I built it one panel high all around, because
14" is plenty for piggies. I added a ceiling to it.
Guinea
pigs need trays in their cages.
Building a chinchilla cage
Let me say that Cubes cages are not ideal for chinchillas.
That said, here's how to try to do that:
Finding Cubes:
Organize-It Cubes are available at Target
stores
. Note that although I've provided a link here to Target's web site, they do
not carry the cubes on the web site, only in the stores. Use the Web site to
find the store nearest you. Target frequently has sales on these - read the flyer
in your Sunday newspaper! Normally, they are about $15 (depends on location -
$14.99 or $15.99 in most parts of the country) for a box of 23. When on sale,
they are sometimes as low as $10.99 a box (at least once a year) and several
times a year they are $12.99 a box. This is probably the absolute cheapest you
will find any cubes of this kind.
A very similar product is available at Bed, Bath and Beyond, called Stack N Rack Modular Shelving Storage Cubes. They cost more than Target's, but they are available on line.
Neat Ideas Cubes are made by Fellowes (if they're still making
them!). Website: http://www.fellowes.com
Call them at 1-800-945-4545 and request
catalog.
The product code number is
46414 for the black cubes.
On the box, the cubes are item # 46414 BLACK & the UPC code is 0
77511 46414
From Cara on Guinea Pig Daily Digest:
I found my Neat Idea Cubes(these are actually called Creative Cubes by Seville, but I understand they are the same thing): three boxes cost me about 74.00 and that was enough to make a two story rabbit cage with shelves and a one level, uncovered guinea pig cage on top.
I think the place is Reliable Office Supply, and they were great if you check out their web site you will see that shipping is only two bucks or something and they delivered to my door two days from when I ordered. Plus I got a free cd holder with each box of cubes I got and a cute little tin of chocolate cookies (it was a nice guesture). The boxes of cubes come with enough grids for four cubes, which should be 25 grids.
***Their customer service # is 1-800-359-5000 and their order line is 1-800-735-4000. The item number for the cubes is DL46401, but you may want to check it with a representative before you order.
=========================
Jael from PETBUNNY says she found a
knock-off similar brand of the grids at SAM's Club (a/k/a Sam's Wholesale
Club).
=========================
Shawn from Petbunny says:
There is a VERY similar product that is carried at our Sam's called "Great Ideas" cube. The only difference are: These were $5 less than the ones at office max, and the ones that I had bought (before I knew about the ones at Sam's) came 17 to a package, these have 24. I bought them to make barriers instead of cages.
From: Misti
Subject: Re: questions about sam's fake
NIC
They are 12 x 12
inch grids. The name is 'Great Cubes' Interlocking Grid Storage System. There
are 24 panels per box and I think they cost about $15.00.
------And inimitable bunny slave Robert B. says:
Oh yessssssss.
Watching them in their *castles makes all the pain worthwhile :-)) made 2
modifications you might like to add: I used a piece of plywood for the floor,
glued exact size tileboard over it with liquid nails. Then, I drilled the floor
with a few little holes so I could pass thru the cable ties to the bottom part
of the wire grids, so the floor and the cage is tied together securely. I am
using Bungee tie-downs from Walgreen's 2for $1 instead of the dog clips at 1.49
each! this way the top of the cage is tied down with the bungees and I have
access to my bunnies for loving and feeding, etc from the tops ;-)) OhhKelly
seeing them all just laying there brings tears of happiness to my eyes..They
all
just look at me like :"Ohhhhhh,My daaaaaaaaaaaddy"I mean I can really see how
grateful they appear imagine all the cages are together within 6-8 " from each
other they are all in touch with one another, Preston already jumped in with
Rosie and tried to have a conjugal ;-)) visit ;-)) Oh well,back to woik:(( Took
pictures last night gonna take a few more today and off to development and then
the webbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb :-)) See Ya.
Robert,Mittens,Rosie,Lilly,Preston,Emile and Wee Willy Wonka
Here's pictures of the three I built;-))
http://members.tripod.com/~sbonanno/NICages.html
Shelves/Upper levels/Mezzanines
Anyway, about supporting the shelves. I have used dowels - 1/14 inch or 1/12 inch diameter, when I can find them - but there are cheaper ways. "Dimensional lumber" is the name given to wood that you buy giving its name in inches, such as a "2 by 4". Dimensional lumber comes in a wide variety of sizes. The length of the piece is independent of the measurements given for the size of the sides. AND, this is IMPORTANT, the nominal size - the numbers used in its name - do NOT accurately represent the size of the wood. The wood is always somewhat smaller than the numbers.
In my experience, a piece of 1-by-2 is usually about 3/4 inch thick by 1-1/2 inches wide. At my local hardware store, I can buy these pre-cut in 2-foot, 3-foot, 4-foot, and 6-foot long lengths, as well as 8 and 12 foot (which don't fit in our car).
A 1-1/2 inch wide stick, that is, nominal 2 inches, will fit exactly, snugly, into a square on a Neat Ideas panel. A 4-foot long piece (48 in.) of this will slide completely under a shelf that is 3 units long, that's 42 inches with a few extra inches to spare. I usually leave about one inch sticking out of one side, and at the other side, where about 5 inches are sticking out, I cut it off to only 1 inch, cutting off a 4-in. long piece that makes a great bunny toy exactly as is. If you buy longer pieces of lumber to cut them up yourself, cut each piece about 2 inches longer than the dimension you need (2 NIC squares long is 28 inches, 3 is 42 inches, 4 is 56 inches) so that you have a little bit sticking out each end.
Shelves usually need solid covering - most bunny feet aren't big enough to rest comfortably on the mesh. Leftover slices of Coroplast (see below) make great shelf liners. Punch holes in one end of the Coroplast and use tie wraps to fasten it to the shelf, or your rabbit will be constantly knocking, kicking, or pulling the plastic off the shelf.
Shelves for guinea pigs should be only 8" to 10" up from the floor of the cage, and MUST have plastic or other solid covering. The shelves still need support under them, even though piggles weigh much less than buns, or they will sag. The solid covering should be easily removable for washing - hold it on with spring clamps or C clamps rather than tie wraps. Your piggles WILL pee on their shelf, so you need to remove and wash it. Coroplast bends enough to get it in and out of the cage easily for washing.
The easiest flat floors are cardboard. If you order hay from Oxbow, or other mail vendors, it arrives in large cardboard boxes, and you have a fairly steady supply of new flooring for when your rabbits chew up the old floor or pee on it past saving. If you don't order online, make friends with someone who does buy a lot of stuff online and gets it mailed to her or him, so that you can ask for that person's emptied cardboard boxes.
Next easiest is making a permanent (or at least semi-permanent) floor out of plastic, and the plastic most of us use is Coroplast. This is generally only available from commercial/wholesale plastic vendors, people who usually sell to sign-makers and construction firms. Some vendors may not sell retail at all, others may require a minimum purchase. Your basic sheet of Coroplast is 4 feet by 8 feet, same size as a sheet of plywood. If you are in a car, rather than a truck, the stuff does bend a little, or you can ask the shop to cut each sheet in half - 4'x4 foot pieces will fit into the back seat or trunk of many sedans, although not into tiny cars. Forget carrying Coroplast home in your Mini Cooper.
Coroplast can be cut with your average box cutter/cardboard knife/carpet knife. It can also be cut with heavy shears, although doing long cuts with shears is quite tiresome. Buy yourself a 4-foot aluminum ruler; if you're going to be making a lot of any sort of cages, furniture, etc., you need one anyway, and they make terrific straight edges for cutting Coroplast with a knife.
For a flat floor, first decide if you want to put it in the cage, or have the cage resting on it. If you want to put it in the cage, cut the Coroplast to about half an inch smaller than the length and width of the cage. Coroplast bends, so with some effort you can get this in the cage door and then unbend it. If it's too big for that, cut it in half and slide the two pieces in separately, then just wedge them in place next to each other. If you want the Coroplast UNDER the cage, cut it about an inch larger than the length and width of the cage. Some rabbits and guinea pigs will chew on the plastic if it's in their cage, some won't. You get to decide inside or outside.
For trays (floors with sides), you need to do a little more math, and some careful cutting.. Trays are usually needed for guinea pigs, which are only rarely litter-trained and usually need bedding across their whole floor. Trays are also frequently needed for untrained rabbits and very young or very small rabbits. And they're needed for under chinchilla cages. To make a tray with 3" sides, cut a piece of Coroplast that is about 5" longer than the outside length and width of the cage. For example, if the floor size is 28" by 42", you need a piece of Coroplast 33" by 47". (Cut it 33" deep from the 48" long edge, then trim about an inch off the long side.) Make sure, when you cut this piece from your sheet or half sheet, that the corrugations run the LONG way, that is, the little ripple wrinkles inside should form hollow bits that run like long tubes 47" long, and you should be able to see the end zig-zag of the wrinkles along the 33" ends. [Happily, this piece is just under the size of half a sheet of Coroplast, and leaves you with a piece approximately 14" by 48"; cut 6" off the end of that leftover scrap, and you have a floor for a 1x3 panel (14" x 42") upper shelf (see above)!] You need to cut it this side because it needs to fit INSIDE the cage.
Then you do some careful cutting and scoring. Scoring is cutting only PARTWAY through the plastic - you are cutting a line only along the top, not through the entire corrugated piece.
Note: You can try holding the end flaps together, which is what holds the long sides up, by using strong strapping tape or duct tape, but tape doesn't stick to the Coroplast that well. Making tie-wrap rivets like the above is much sturdier. Those folded-over flaps also add some thickness to the walls, which is why you made the tray slightly smaller than the actual dimensions of the cage.
Alternatively, if you know of someone who makes metal trays cheaply, you could have them make one that will fit into a 14"x28" wire enclosure, or a 28"x28" one. (For example, the House Rabbit Resource Network makes cages for sale, and has a local artisan make trays; he charges about $10-12 per tray, depending on size. You could check with your local chapter of the House Rabbit Society to see if they know of someone similar.) Since a 28"x28" piggy cage with 14" high walls would use only 1 package of Cubes, adding a tray at $12 would still bring the total cost to only about $32 (plus tie wraps) which is less than a much smaller commercial cage would cost - at my local PetSmart, a 14" x 24" wire cage is $35.
The idea for using the Neat Ideas Cubes was Lynne Skerlec's (©1997, Lynne Skerlec). Lynne has now set up her own page with the details, featuring her princess bunny Blackie and her own work. This page contains photos of my versions of Lynne's ideas, which feature guinea pig levels on top of the bunny cage.
Visit Lynne's page on building these cages: http://members.xoom.com/myblackie/NeatIdeaCubescondos.htm
Contact Lynne about her Neat Ideas Cubes design: mailto:lsker@hotmail.com(Lynne Skerlec)