House Rabbit Palace

Step 6 Our new home in America

Recently, Kakungulu and family moved to the United States. We are expecting our first baby. Until then, we stay busy nesting.
We didn't leave our pets behind. Rosie and Stella are happy living in Colorado, where dogs have unlimited walking and running around space and rabbits have huge carpeted houses to explore.
The cage was left in Jerusalem. I think it is going to serve as my sister's ferret's new home. We'll see. Stella had to spend the first 3 months in a wire mesh cage that was ready for her when we landed. It was tiny in comparison to the huge cage she had in "the old country". But she also had a huge carpet to explore every other night.
The new house is big enough to have a proper wood shop (double car garage, it's the american way...). So naturally I made a practice run on my new 110v, Inch based, american power tools building a new cage for Stella. It was made for the living room so had to resemble a piece of furniture, not a makeshift plywood box. I got to practice "frame and panel" cabinet making techniques on my rabbit's expense. I made my mistakes and learned some valuable lessons building this one. Stella doesn't complain. Here's the result.

Comments

[viniciuspedrozo]

Your rabbit dont make pooh?

[PixiBunni]

Hi, how'd you go about bringing your rabbits to America? I have one rabbit, and hope to adopt another within the next few months. But in about four/five years I want to move to South Colorado with my husband and start up a rabbit sanctuary. But I refuse to move there without my bunnies, how'd you do it? Thanks, Raych.

[kakungulu]

Hi PixiBunni, Where are you moving from? I can answer for Israel but I'm guessing procedures are similar for most countries. In Israel the authority in charge of transporting animals overseas is the ministry of agriculture. They have employed vets that see the animals, check for vaccination if needed and issue certificates. Rabbits do not need to have any vaccination to travel. The government vet issued us a chinchilla certificate at first :-) He was amazed to see that we're shipping a bunny. You need to make sure the airline you're taking flies animals. We took Continental. They will charge you the same as a caged dog, since you have to cage your rabbit. You can't see your pet until your final destination. They claim that they have a kenneling service for the layover. We don't think they fed our rabbit because the food we attached to the cage was not opened. But she had enough hay in the cage and so it wasn't a big deal for the 20 hours trip. Checking in and out for pets is done in the cargo area, rather than the people's terminal. So make sure you know where you're going in both airports. Naturally, you need to check your pet in before you check into your flight (carry tickets and permits with you). In Denver, you go to cargo customs to release your pets and they direct you to the warehouse where you can claim them. In my experience, shipping two bunnies can cost as much as 1 person's ticket. We shipped a dog and a bunny (see pictures) and they cost us almost like a 3rd ticket. Good luck!

[meismeems]

Wow, that cabinet is GORGEOUS!!! Will you include the steps to making that one here on Instructables? I'd love to see some closer pictures, and if you do include them, I'll HAVE to get bunnies!! (do they get along with cats?)

[killerjackalope]

they get on prettty well, we introduced a new rabbit to our cat recently and the rabbit was young enough to be just plain curious, the cat got a bit freaked by this thing slowly bouncing towards her and and now they just ignore eachother, every now and again the rabbit goes for a sniff of the cat and the cat is fine till the rabbit touches her then it runs back a bit. Also guineau pigs work well with cat, especially psycho ones, ours called Ali G was nuts and when we got kittens it was the most enertaining thing to see. The adult guineau pig wasn't bothered at all till the kittens came over and pawed at it in a friendly manner (they seemed to think it was a misshapen cat) the guineau pig turned round sauntered to the end of the room and then charged, it was incredible these things fall over if they encouter a height difference and it was now chasing to cats around the room headbutting them and it all ended in a pile of animals when one cat ran toward the door with a window in it (at the bottom) followed by the other cat then the guineau pig all of which hit the window. Make sure your cat is quite tame though our cat was abandoned and became wild before we got her so for the first month she was kept in a spare room which had quite thick soft wall paper, the cat climbed the walls literally but it was odd about the guineau pig, it had a go at it but Ali G was having none of it from the new kid...

[kakungulu]

Thanks! I didn't really document the steps for that one and it is glued together (not modular like the 1st one). I will try to elaborate more on the construction of the frame and panel. I don't know if bunnies and cats get along. We have a small dog (Rosie - see picture) who was initially terrified of Stella. She was saved from the Jerusalem kennel as a puppy and so was much smaller than Stella. Now they love each other. Rosie would approach the bars and extend her tang to kiss Stella. Stella, in return, gets closer and accepts the love. The problem is that dogs, especially Rosie sized dogs, have too much energy for bunnies. So we don't let them play together or be loose with each other. When we let Stella run around the house for exercise, we keep Rosie on a leash or locked up in our bedroom. Bunnies are easy after you fixed them. Before that, you should keep in mind that they need time to be acclimated and know their litter box etc. But after they did that and you fixed them, they are very cat-like, but much less demanding.

[Very Keri]

wow, that is so nice! you stained it and everything, it looks great in your living room. i like that lamp too.

[kakungulu]

Thanks!