Build a Rabbit Condo

We noticed Priscilla’s right eye was red around the edges and decided to take her to a veterinarian who recently opened up a new practice. We first heard about Dr. Joseph Martinez in a TV news story about a pregnant rabbit who had been shot in a park in Richmond, BC, Canada. He saved her life and she delivered a healthy litter of baby bunnies, but her shattered leg had to be amputated. There is a YouTube video about it down below.

We met Dr. Martinez last fall at Vancouver Rabbit Rescue’s annual Rabbit Fest. He generously volunteered to give free health check-ups to the rabbits people brought in.

Dr. Martinez with Priscilla

Very recently, we learned he had opened a new veterinary practice in the Steveston area of Richmond, just across the river from Vancouver, BC. He immediately saw there was something wrong with Priscilla’s right eye and did some tests to determine there was no scratch on her cornea but rather it was an inflammation. So he gave us a tube of ointment and showed us how to put it into her eyes as gently as possible. That was a few days ago, and now we can tell our big girl is feeling better already.

There are not a lot of rabbit savvy vets in the greater Vancouver area, so we were very happy to know about Dr. Martinez. It is obvious he not only knows a whole lot about rabbits and how to keep them healthy, but also he is a man who truly enjoys rabbits and likes to spend time with them.

If anyone in the area is looking for a good veterinarian to take their rabbit  (or dog, cat or other small animal) to, you will be hard pressed to find anyone better than Dr. Joseph Martinez.

His clinic is named “Little Paws” and the address is 130 – 12011 2nd Avenue, Richmond, BC. Phone 604-241-2387 or email: littlepawsvet@yahoo.ca.
www.littlepawsvet.com

By the way, he even makes house calls!

Here is the YouTube video with Dr. Martinez in it…

February, 2010, is “Adopt-a-Rescued-Rabbit Month”, says Mary Cotter, the Marketing and Education Director of the House Rabbit Society (HRS).

“Many people feel guilty leaving their companion rabbit home alone all day, when they are at work.,” she said. “Adopting a partner bunny is the perfect solution. It’s not only good for your bunny; it’s good for you!”

According to Cotter, two bunnies are not twice the work of one, as long as they are bonded. “They share living quarters, food and water bowls, and even a litterbox – so the cleanup is essentially the same. And the bunnies entertain one another, groom one another, and keep each other company when their humans are not at home.”

“Introductions need to be done carefully,” says Margo DeMello, President of HRS, who lives with a group of bonded rabbits herself. “Rabbits typically can be aggressive when first introduced, and injuries can occur if they are not properly supervised.” She cautions that both rabbits must be spayed/neutered, not only to prevent breeding and health problems, but also so that their behavior toward one another is not determined by “raging hormones.”

“Rabbits, like people, need time to work out their relationships,” adds Cotter. “But a patient human caretaker will be well-rewarded: once they are bonded, there is just nothing more heartwarming than watching a bunny couple snuggle up to each other and kiss each other’s faces.”

HRS has chapters and representatives across the United States, as well as overseas, and most chapters offer bonded pairs for adoption, as well as single rabbits who can be bonded to a rabbit-in-residence. Many people new to rabbits prefer to start out with a single rabbit, and adopt a partner bunny at a later time.

“Adopters are welcome to contact any of our chapters at any time, for help in adopting or bonding rabbits,” says DeMello. “And there are several internet groups where bonding advice from HRS volunteers is also available, including a group dedicated to this topic only: groups.yahoo.com/group/bunbond/.”

The mission of HRS is twofold: to educate the public about these often-misunderstood companion animals, and to help rescue and “re-home” domestic rabbits. HRS advocates spaying and neutering rabbits – both for health reasons and also to help put an end to the animal overpopulation problem.

For more information on Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month, log onto House Rabbit Society, or PetFinder. To find out more about adopting a rabbit, contact your local shelter or your your nearest HRS chapter. For more information on House Rabbit Society’s rescue and education work in your area, please call House Rabbit Society at (510) 970-7575.

The “Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Poster” may be downloaded from this page at the House Rabbit Society website.

One of the questions we are most often asked about these rabbit condos is what to cover the surfaces with. We put peel and stick vinyl tiles on the plywood shelves for two reasons. It makes them easy to clean as well as providing a sliver-free surface. But our rabbits don’t sit on the bare tiles.

We have two condos, and the rabbits in each get different surface treatments. Priscilla, who is excellent with her litter box, has inexpensive, washable cotton rugs from IKEA on her three topmost shelves. The bottom shelf, where her litter box is located, has several layers of newspaper on top of the tiles. This is so, when the condo is cleaned out, we can simply wad up the paper, folding in the spilled hay and any “bunny berries” that missed the litter box.

Littlewood and Ryan

The condo that Ryan and Littlewood share has all of the tiles covered with newspaper. This is because those two lop-eared rabbits are less accurate with their litter boxes and if we used rugs they would need to be laundered at least two or three times a week.

Inside all of the litter boxes we put down a layer of wood pellets. Sometimes we use horse stall pellets, and sometimes we use the pine pellets made for burning in fireplaces. On top of that layer goes a layer of timothy hay. We buy a bale from a feed store every month or two, breaking it down into flakes, each of which goes into a plastic garbage bag, to keep the car trunk from turning into a barn.

We also put a water bowl into each condo. Because none of our bunnies has incisor teeth, they are not as good at picking up things as most rabbits, so we don’t give them balls, pine cones, rattles, toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay, or other typical rabbit toys. We also have to cut their salad into smaller size bites when they have their breakfasts and suppers.

Just about from day one of posting details about how to build a rabbit condo using wire squares designed for modular storage cubes, we have been deluged with questions from people in the UK asking where they can buy them. Until now, my only answer was that they could order them online from Amazon.com, but I didn’t know how expensive the shipping costs would be. Well, finally I have heard from someone in the UK who says that the wire squares are available at B&Q stores. Here is the link she sent: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9796465&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=mash+storage&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1232281112259&isSearch=true. Thank you, Dita. B & Q refers to them as “Mesh Cube Storage System” and they come in  packages of 24 and the price is 22.98 in pounds sterling. Considering the exchange rate, that’s about twice what they cost in North America. Which makes me wonder whether it still wouldn’t be a better deal to buy them online through Amazon. As I said, I guess that depends on the cost of shipping. Well, anyway, there you go, UK people. B&Q. There seem to be a lot of them all over England and Scotland, so hopefully this answer will be helpful to a lot of British house rabbit people who have been wondering where to get the materials to build a rabbit condo for their bunnies.

Lara and Harrel are two very lucky (and spoiled) house rabbits. Their humans, Robert and Rosanna, have gone all out in building the biggest and fanciest rabbit condo I have ever seen.

Rob used the basic rabbit condo plans on my video as his starting point and then designed and built an expanded, luxury condo that is four panels wide (56-inches). The picture on the left is Rob’s first condo for Lara. (You can click on the thumbnail to see a larger photo.)

But, after they added Harrel to the family, Rob used his computer designing skills to dream up an even bigger, fancier rabbit residence.  You can see more of Rob’s pictures and plans on a 6-page booklet he created, “Conceptual Living for the Modern House Rabbit.” Rob has very kindly given us permission to make copies of his booklet available at no charge. Click here to download the booklet.

If you find this information valuable, please consider helping VRRA by downloading the new ebook, “Little Mutt.” Your $7 donation will be shared by VRRA and AMREF. Click here for more about the “Little Mutt” book.

When we first started getting interested in rabbits, we were told they only shed four times a year. Little did we realize that meant all Summer, all Fall, all Winter and all Spring. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but our long-ears sure do leave a lot of fur behind wherever they go. And because they pretty much have the run of the house, that means we pretty much have wall-to-wall rabbit fur.

There are actually two reasons why it’s a good idea to brush your rabbit to remove loose fur. Of course there is the aesthetic one, of not wanting your guests to see huge dust-bunnies rolling like tumbleweeds across your living room floor. And the rabbits also look tidier when they don’t have tufts of loose fur sticking out of their coats.

But even more important is the health issue. Hairballs in rabbits can be very serious. They can cause blockages in the digestive system that can be fatal. That is why, if your rabbit ever stops eating and stops using its litter box (of course your rabbit never leaves little droppings anywhere else) it should be given immediate medical attention.

Our rabbits spend a lot of time grooming themselves as well as each other. And that means they probably are swallowing some loose fur. So if we can remove that loose fur first, there will be less of it available to potentially form hair balls in their delicate little tummies.

OK. Now that we’ve decided that we need to groom the rabbits regularly, that leaves the question of what tool to use. We’ve got a drawer full of different combs and brushes that either didn’t work very well, or that the rabbits didn’t like having used on them. But we are very happy to have found one brush, or comb, or fur-removing device that works like a charm. It’s called the Furminator. They come in at least three different sizes, each of which is color coded. We use the smallest size, which comes in blue.

There’s a bit of a drawback, though. They work great, it’s true, but they’re on the pricey side. I think that our local pet supply shop retails them for $42 (plus tax)! But there is also good news. We were visiting some folks yesterday, delivering some hay for their rabbit, and noticed they had a blue Furminator — just like ours — sitting in their rabbit supply basket. Our friend said she got hers for about half price from an online auction site. Although it took a few extra days for delivery, it saved her nearly 20-bucks.

Well, this morning I thought I’d see if I could find Furminators for sale on eBay, and I did. 662 of them, to be precise. Most of them were too big, and most of the small blue ones either didn’t tell the delivery price, or they posted a delivery price that was sky high. But, after a few minutes of searching, I finally managed to find one person who was selling them for a very good price.

Merchants and offers on eBay are constantly changing. So here is a general link to help you search for a Furminator on eBay.

And good luck to you in keeping your rabbits well groomed and healthy.

Rob built a very attractive condo for his new Mini Rex rabbit named Lara and sent us pictures, along with details about how he made it using many recycled bits and pieces. We think it is a very nice looking rabbit condo, and would like to share some of Rob’s information on how he built it.

He used wood from an old queen sized futon base that was about to be thrown away. Coincidentally, the queen size wood slats were pretty much the perfect size to fit four of the square metal grids along.

Because Lara is a small rabbit, they made her condo two grids wide by four long and two high. They always have the option of adding another layer if necessary. (They are thinking about finding a companion rabbit to bond with Lara.)

The base is built from a box frame re-enforced in the corners with the right angled metal brackets you can pick up at the Home Depot for pretty cheap. There are two ply bases, one about half the thickness of the plywood that I used, providing a solid base to put the trolley wheels on so it’s easy to move, and the other about a quarter the thickness. These are screwed together with some wood screws, drilled and screwed through to stop the wood splitting.

Then they have a layer of thick gym quality rubber tiles over the top for easy clean and water proofing, soft for rabbit feet, always cool but warm if you put your hand on them for a reasonable time. They are made from recycled car tires apparently. Rob figures they’ll be sturdy enough to resist digging. He is also thinking about using slate tiles for a nice cool surface during the summer months.

The platforms are supported in exactly the same way I did but using the thinner plywood. He used a broken Ikea shoe rack. They retail for about $6, and are untreated and therefore perfect for chewing. He drilled then screwed through the plywood, through the carpet (off-cuts from Home Depot about 6 dollars, rubber backed) and into the wood.

The bedroom, a cardboard box courtesy of a delivery to his work, perfect with no printed labeling on it at all, along with a faux sheepskin rug and an old towel for comfort padding.

In total, Rob says they spent about $160 – $180, and it was the best fun he’s had in ages. The time it took was two solid days, plus a couple of extra evenings. The most expensive component was the rubber floor matting.

Thanks for sharing your pictures and rabbit condo building tips, Rob. We hope Lara (and possibly her companion to-be) will enjoy her posh new home.

Click on the thumbnails to see the photos at full size.

Hello. My name is Priscilla. As the larger and more beautiful of the two rabbits in our house, I recently oversaw the construction of a fine condo that I now share with my partner, Red. This web site documents the building of our condo, to help other rabbits have as nice a house to live as we have. By the way, that’s my picture in the top left corner.

Salad Lady and Tall Guy shot video footage while they were making the condo, and Tall Guy edited it into a video, which he also narrated. All his videos are now on the “Video” page.

Besides giving more details that didn’t fit into the video, this website also has other important information, such as how to support Vancouver Rabbit Rescue and Advocacy (VRRA), the kind people who rescued me and cared for me until I was adopted.

Hopefully, Salad Lady will write an article about bunny bonding, because every rabbit should have at least one other rabbit in their life. But bonding rabbits is a tricky business. Fortunately, Salad Lady and her friends have learned a lot about bonding, so I hope they will share those ideas on this website.

As well, I want to include links to other sources for information about how to care for house rabbits besides their shelter. We’re very different from dogs and cats, you know. Some of us may look cuddly and adorable, but we’re not stuffed toys. We have unique care requirements, and too many of my fellow lagomorphs aren’t as lucky as Red and me.

So, although this may be called the “Build a Rabbit Condo” web site, most likely it will grow to include other information about making sure you have happy, healthy bunnies in your house.