Rabbit cages can be quite expensive, especially when you want to give your friend plenty of space to run around when you're not there to get him out. A more effective and economical way to have a cage is to build it yourself. You will need wood paneling, basic tools, and other materials that you probably already have lying around the house. Soon your rabbit will enjoy living in his handmade mansion as much as you enjoyed building it!
Steps
Step 1. Get the materials you need
You will likely find most of them at a local home improvement store or lumber yard.
Step 2. Saw the large panel into three 5 x 8 cm pieces
Nail them together to form two walls and a floor. With the drill, make some ventilation holes. Be careful to put the walls on top of the floor, not on the sides, otherwise the ceiling will not match.
Step 3. Put on the gas mask
With the drill, make holes along the edges of the long parts of the large plastic sheet and along three sides of the small one. Attach the large sheet as the ceiling and the small sheet as the back wall. You can also attach the small one a little high for ventilation or to clean the cage.
Step 4. Use a drill or chisel (the drill is preferred for this job) to make a 0.5 x 5 x 5 large slot in the opening opposite the small plastic sheet
Drill a hole large enough to run your finger through the small piece of wood (if your rabbit bites, don't go all the way; if it's a quiet animal, drill a hole from side to side) to open easily. the cage. You will put it in the crack, but not now. First we need a latch and decorations.
Step 5. Use a thin nail and nail it partially into the wood on the opposite side of the gap where the rabbit will be and hit it on one side with the hammer to make it bend
When you turn it to the right, it should close the cage.
Step 6. Build the scoop
In each cylinder, make a hole with the drill about 10-15 cm deep. Insert a gasket in both holes. Put a 6cm bolt into the gasket and screw it with a nut, preferably 1cm thick. Attach both buckets somehow, one in each cylinder at the same height with the openings facing each other, so when you close the scoop the edges match perfectly.
Step 7. Take a small knife and a piece of wood that is neither painted nor worked and use the knife to cut shavings
They will be an excellent ground for the animal.
Step 8. Find a piece of foam padding or go to a shoe store and look for cheap soles
Also look for a soft rug or good fabric that is twice the size of the filling. Put the batting on one half of the fabric. Place the other half on top of the foam and sew the edges. To make a hammock, tie a piece of string or fabric to both sides of the bed and glue it to the ceiling with a nail or duct tape. For a normal bed, put it inside the cage under a shelter.
Step 9. Find an old cardboard box (5-6cm thick), scissors and duct tape
Cut a corner of the box to the size you want for the roof. Cut a long strip of the box for the walls.
Step 10. Find an old beach ball and cut the part where you blow the air
Cut off the cap (the rest can come in handy, it's not just for tearing things apart). Now you need some kind of fist-sized plastic package (look in the cupboard). In the middle of one of the two shorter sides, cut a slit about the size of the beach ball nozzle into which you blow and throw away / eat all the food in the package (rinse it at least 5 times). Now use waterproof glue to attach the nozzle edge to the package (claw glue or plastic glue are fine, but if the package is plastic, don't use hot glue or the package will melt and you'll have to start over). When it's dry, tie the drinking trough to one of the ventilation holes you drilled on the side of the cage.
Ideas for Rabbit Games
- Rigid cardboard tubes to go through them
- Cardboard roll of paper towels or toilet paper
- Untreated wicker baskets or boxes filled with: strips of paper, straw or other organic materials for digging (try not to use dyed materials as they could poison the rabbit)
- Yellow Pages to tear
- Cat Toys: Grid balls and other toys that roll or can be hit
- Toys for parrots that can be thrown or that can hang from the ceiling of the cage and be chewed or hit
- Hard plastic baby toys (not the ones for when they put their teeth in) like rattles and keys, things that can be hit
- A carousel for children or birds to hit
- A cat den (a cardboard box with ramps and windows) to climb and chew on. Even scratching posts, pipes, tunnels and trees
- Toys to push and roll like big rubber balls and empty cans
- Games for "Busy Rabbits"
- Magic springs
- Games with ramps and observation points to climb and see the world
- Dried pine cones
- A Toys Center garden play center
- A straw broom or a broom
- A hand towel to curl up and take refuge
- Untreated wood, twigs and logs, at least 3 months old. The branches of the apple tree can be eaten fresh directly from the tree. Stay away from cherry, peach, apricot, plum and redwood trees, all of which are poisonous.
- Seaweed or untreated wicker pillows
- Things to jump on (likes to be in high places)
- Colored hard plastic caps of detergent for washing machine or fabric softener. The edges are perfect for grasping with the teeth, they make a nice sound when they bang and the non-slip ridges printed on the plastic emit a perfect drumming when the rabbit digs into the cap. Caps are great for playing with the rabbit by making a pile that the animal can knock down. Note: be careful not to choose caps from bottles of caustic materials (eg disgorging gels, bottles of bathroom detergents) because a residue of the product will always remain, regardless of how much you wash it.
- If you don't have the common materials I mentioned at home, do an online search to see if home or store-bought items are cheaper.
Warnings
- Don't use a wire mesh floor unless you also set up a board where the rabbit can rest. Rabbits have no pads on their paws and would sore. It is very easy to train rabbits to use a litter box (filled with hay, not cat litter which is dangerous). In fact, most rabbits don't need training if you put the litter box in the corner opposite the trough. Rabbits by nature need to go to one place to be less easily found by predators.
- Be careful to let the rabbits acclimatise slowly, or they may get sick / die, so place them in a test cage halfway between the new and the old one for some time while you build the cage and materials.
