Rabbit Squeeze Through Cage
Jodee Bouman
I hate to go all Elmer Fudd or Mr. McGregor on you, but I really do not like rabbits, especially in my garden. They can mow down a row of seedlings in a few hours, reproduce like mad, prune shrubs you want to grow, and drop pellets all over your garden. Battling bunnies is a major occupation during parts of the garden year.
Fences. The bottom line is, if you want to keep rabbits and other critters out of your garden, build a fence. This works especially well on dedicated vegetable gardens. University of Minnesota extension recommends a fence that is 18 to 24 inches high and made out of 1-inch mesh chicken wire. Some experts recommend two layers of wire to make the fence extra difficult to squeeze through. To prevent rabbits from burrowing under the fence, you may want to bury it about 6 inches under ground.
Predators. Last year, we were fortunate to have a fox living near our house. The bunny population took a nose-dive. The fox must have moved on, because the bunnies are out in force again. Obviously, wild animals are not a solution you can rely on or even should encourage, but letting the dog out, if you have a fenced-in yard might scatter the bunnies and at least make them a little nervous about taking up residence in your garden.
I have found domestic rabbit poop to work really well. The down side is 1. It is hard to find unless you know a breeder. 2. Every plant and in my case solar light cord needs to be surrounded and 3. Poop needs to be replaced frequently. I too am looking for a better solution .
Last year, the rabbits won. They ate my sugar snap pea seedlings. They ate my corn seedlings. They even nibbled through the green bean stalks, leaving the rest of the previously flourishing plant to wilt and die. I had a pet rabbit as a kid, and I love them. But not in my garden!
At the bottom of the fence, I chose hardware cloth with half-inch square gaps. Not even the tiniest of bunnies would be able to squeeze through. However, mice and other small rodents will still be able to get through, but trying to stop mice would be a very tough task.
I've wanted a bunny for ages, and I'm still living at "mum's house" and she has very strict rules on pets. The conclusion is that if I'm to get a bunny, he/she would have to live in my room. Now, I've got all the bunny proofing covered, and I understand that it would take a lot to proof it all (carpet cover, furniture covers, cable covers, etc.) but it all comes down to this, do I have enough space in my room for a bunny to live happily?
Yes a rabbit can live happily in a bedroom size area. I know several devoted rabbit parents that have bunnies living in bedrooms. If the room is carpeted they can get traction to run REALLY! fast, they will have room to jump and stretch, they will (usually) jump up on the bed. Your bedroom bunny may even try to make your bed.
Except for special reasons (which I will discuss later in this answer) your bedroom bunny can have full access to the entire room all the time. A baby gate can be used to keep the bunny in the room while the bedroom door is open. Notice that this gate has opening that a bunny might squeeze through, so we used zip ties and plastic lattice to keep her from trying to squeeze through. Also this is very tall gate, it is higher than the door handle so in this configuration it is not possible to close the bedroom door all the way.
You will want to train your bunny not to chew on furniture before allowing unsupervised access to the bedroom. Notice that these pictures show a wood bedroom set without chew marks and Ruby has full unsupervised access to the room 24/7. You will want to block off access to anything your rabbit can get under that you can't reach under, this may include some or all of the space under the bed.
In our case the dresser had an opening at the bottom that Ruby could get under. We pulled out the bottom drawer, cut some cardboard and stapled it on from the inside. This does not damage the exterior of the dresser and it has been effective (no picture currently of this solution). Also note that in the first under the bed picture we placed a thin (1/4 inch) sheet of paneling down between the bed support and the box springs. Some rabbits will burrow up into box springs, others won't. Ruby did not before we did this, but we added it while building the box. The box under the bed is so she can not get directly in the center of under the bed. Ruby suddenly got very sick and she hid under the bed. Getting her out was problematic so we added this box as she began to recover.
The question Can house rabbits have free access to the whole house all the time? has many points that transfer to this question so I won't go over them in detail but a safe place for the bunny to rest is important. Some place that is their own and can be closed as needed. We use a common habitat available at most pet stores, it is placed on the floor so she can get in and out easily. The door is converted from the standard ramp to hinge at the side (zip ties for hinges). Some rabbits like to Jump on top of things, to keep her from injuring a foot slipping through the wire top, we added a board (left over from under bed) and a throw rug for comfort.
Unless we are moving furniture or she is very sick the door is always open. Her litter box, hay rack, salt lick and water bowl are in her safe place and available to her all the time. She gets two meals of pellets per day and those are placed in her safe place, with very little training (a couple of days) she will go on command to her safe place. This makes it easy to get her if there should be an emergency (like a fire).
Rabbits can be messy with hay, we find putting the hay rack on the outside so they can only get hay by standing in the litter box and pulling through a couple pieces at a time a great solution. It is important that the hay rack have a lid you can close, if you don't want them to access hay from the top of the rack.
ARats should be housed in cages with inch spacing between the bars, though a sturdy wire mesh is better than long bars. The cage you bought sounds like it is a rabbit or guinea pig cage. Often, these types of cages will advertise that they will house rats, but even an adult rat can still get its head stuck in inch spacing, so they are really not safe. You may be able to return it to the retailer. There are a couple of links to good rat cage suppliers on the AFRMA web page www.afrma.org that you can order over the Internet.
Rats are naturally curious and some are very active, especially when out of their cage. Females will be more active than males and will want to explore more than wanting to sit in your lap. They will always want to explore and wiggle some, so you are doing fine. Play with them several times a day, if possible, and give them a treat during and after play time to reinforce the good aspect of being handled.
For the shape of this cage that had thick bar framing and arched top I decided to measure (forgot to to snap photo of measuring tape) it in sections and cut out the mesh. For sharp ends I added a couple inches to the width and height of the sections so I could bend an inch over to have a non-sharp edge all around.
I decided to put everything inside as I wanted it set up so that I could find where I might have issues hooking hammocks to the top once meshed over or the shelf connected to the sides or water bottle. And adjust as I went along. I found that this was best and that I came to no issues except with the shelf I found I needed to cut squares in the grid in the back and the mesh on the right side to be able to remove the shelf if need be.
I was in a rush and to secure the mesh tightly and flush and uniform to the cage it requires much cable ties all over in any place you notice the mesh sticking up away from the bars. I would recommend not to be in such a rush and place your ties less haphazardly. Not that how I randomly did so is any less secure but normally I am fixated on appearance of cages and liking things to look organized and symmetrical. If that matters to you then take more time.
It has a front and top door and the entire arched top opens like a door but I cable tied that closed but meshed the top and front doors separate so I could continue using them. With the front door I came across the issue of the bars under the door where when it opens down it would be stuck by the mesh under the hinges so I used steel thick wire I had in hand with a steel cutter I have TI attach with cable ties to make a bar in the middle of the spacing to give it 1/2 inch spacing which will contain a Syrian hamster. Same with the spacing above the door. For extra security with the steel wire and the grid metal backing I criss crossed the cable ties like an X over sections where the original bars of the cage criss crossed.
Lastly here is a shot of my updated hamster room. I rearrange it when I vacuum the entire room. I have placed Snow in the Tamburino and Strawberry is now in the Kevin. Patch is in the 20 gallon as he has slowed down lately and been not coming out much. When I put him back in a 20 gallon tank he has resumed his activity. Those Roborovskis of mine have always preferred tank like environments. They appear to not like cage bars/ mesh. Too many smells and sounds perhaps. Maybe the scent of other hamster species freak them out. Rest assured all my hams seem very content now and so am I. Finally.
I made this using the larger living world cage for rabbits, used chixken fencing, and this thing turned out awesome. Only issue is this thing is so huge my hamster has no clue how to get down so she jumps and falls a long way down. She LOVES it, she doesnt do any of her weird habits anymore or anxious running.
The most effective methods I have used over the years to protect my gardens have involved using barriers, such as solid, well-designed fences, netting, and cages. You can read or hear about dozens of different types of repellants, scare devices, and makeshift fencing. Many of these ideas work for some people some of the time, but most of them are simply not reliable control methods.
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