In Israel, and probably most of the world, most house rabbits are given to children, who keep them in tiny cages (cheap) and forget about them after a month. The tragedy of the house rabbit is its low price. The costs of having a healthy and happy rabbit are enormous compared to the price you pay for the animal at the pet shop. For comparison, ferrets are treated much better simply because they cost 150-300$ and not 10-20$.
The other extreme of caring for a house rabbit is letting it run loose in the house, eat fresh vegetables with scientifically balanced dry mix and giving it unlimited attention. Not so easy!
I remember the day I came home from work. Stella came running to get her head rubbing fix. I picked her up and sat in front of the TV. Something was wrong. The sound system was shredded. I decided to surf the web. The modem supply cord was cut in two places.
Since that day, we kept Stella in a back room. Her projects included digging holes in the wall (new instructable: how to dig a hole in the wall) and shredding anything we absent mindedly decide to put in that room, including two very expensive mattresses.
Finally, I saw on the web a caging system that looked cool. It was a labyrinth of wire mesh cages assembled together to make a relatively large playing area for rabbits. Problem: it is not available in Israel. So, after finishing a basic wood working class, I decided to build a cage. The goal was to give Stella a big enough playing ground without compromising our apartment's free area and without letting her cause any more damage.
The other extreme of caring for a house rabbit is letting it run loose in the house, eat fresh vegetables with scientifically balanced dry mix and giving it unlimited attention. Not so easy!
I remember the day I came home from work. Stella came running to get her head rubbing fix. I picked her up and sat in front of the TV. Something was wrong. The sound system was shredded. I decided to surf the web. The modem supply cord was cut in two places.
Since that day, we kept Stella in a back room. Her projects included digging holes in the wall (new instructable: how to dig a hole in the wall) and shredding anything we absent mindedly decide to put in that room, including two very expensive mattresses.
Finally, I saw on the web a caging system that looked cool. It was a labyrinth of wire mesh cages assembled together to make a relatively large playing area for rabbits. Problem: it is not available in Israel. So, after finishing a basic wood working class, I decided to build a cage. The goal was to give Stella a big enough playing ground without compromising our apartment's free area and without letting her cause any more damage.
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Lately, hardware stores in Jerusalem show a range of wire mesh based storage solutions. I based my cage on two 1.2m-by-0.5m shelves (App. 4ft by 1.5ft). A shelf makes an excellent door because it has an optimal grid and usually L shaped, which makes it easier to mount on the wood construction. I found my shelves in "Ace Hardware". But I guess one can get them almost everywhere. I think that wire mesh shelves are more popular in America than in Israel. Here we have less built in closets. The simple grey bars make better cages than the PVC coated ones. Remember, rabbits chew.
Since the cage doors' measurements are the anchor of this project, go shopping before sitting down to the drawing board.
Since the cage doors' measurements are the anchor of this project, go shopping before sitting down to the drawing board.
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Blum connectors are easy to use and very stable. You can take the cage apart in minutes and move it to a different room or in your car. You don't need any special tools (e.g. biscuit joiner or even electric drill). Once you cut your plywood these connectors can hold together the cage in minutes, using only a philips type screwdriver.
I've made one, but it was too short. Thanks a lot :D
I'm sure most of my late Stella's recent ancestry ended up as food and even her short 5.5 years were an incredible anomaly for her kind that was achieved by veterinary intervention and two devout pet owners. Only one thing I would ask from aspiring farmers, to make the short lives of their meat rabbits as pleasant as possible. Personally, I have a more strict kosher standard that excludes the industrial type farms. I only eat free range beef. So I am actually glad TaoJones considered multilevel condos instead of tight cage array for his meat farm.
Using the solid shelving gives them the feeling of security and approximates an underground rabbit warren-very comforting to a rabbit. No conventional cage is going to give them anywhere near the space that this one does and that's the important thing. If a nestbox is included then they can retreat there in the event that they feel unsafe.
This is an excellent design that I will be basing mine off of when I get rabbits again...I'll just need to figure out bedding and keeping it spotless since you can't (or at least shouldn't) use shavings with angoras and that's the breed I'd be getting. I'm trying to limit additional pets to ones that will be "useful" somehow such as fiber producing rabbit or chickens. My reptiles aren't very useful for anything other than amusement, I can't even use the old turtle water for aquaponics because of the salmonella concern.
This instructable was posted ~3 years ago.
Recently our beloved Stella has passed away at the age of 5.5 years. She had a severe case of lymphoma that went undetected until it attacked her heart. We miss her so much.
We tried to donate the palace to HRS volunteer in our neighbourhood. But now it seems like we are going to keep it and become foster family to bunnies waiting to be adopted from the Colorado HRS.
If you're considering buying a bunny, check first the local HRS branch and adopt a pair.
Stella was an impulse purchase from a Jerusalem shopping mall.
But we hope the life we gave her was good, healthy and full of love. How many rabbits immigrate with their humans?
Thanks for commenting and rating this instructable,
Kakungulu
I adopted my baby 11-23-02 at six months old, and he'll be turning 9 this May. Oh, and even at 9, he's still my baby.
I will not do the mistake of raising a single bunny again.
In Israel they told us that a single bunny can be imprinted by its human adopters and not care for other bunny's companion. We were proven wrong in the last couple of months of Stella's life. We took her to the HRS facility in Colorado and introduced her to other bunnies. At first, she was shy and reserved. She rejected a male bunny. But then she met a small floppy eared bunny and they were stuck together, until she died. So I guess we gave her good love and care but bunnies need their own too.
Enjoy your new rabbit.