# Sooo Stressed Right Now!!



## Hyatt101 (Sep 2, 2012)

Okay, so, I am building an NIC condo, and i bought some panels and cable zip ties. No matter how hard i tighten them, they just don't hold. I took 2 panels and tried to fasten them together so they would be stiff right? Nope, as soon as I tried to fold them to see if they would hold, they caved right in. I feel like tearing out my hair; if someone is on PLEASE PLEASE help!! :X


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 2, 2012)

Help!


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## FallenRabbit (Sep 2, 2012)

Did you connect it to something like plywood onto the bottom?

Links:


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqyUPxE-wB8&feature=relmfu[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q49JDmB2lAg&feature=related[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbt7G4252i0&feature=related[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLUDLbZYr4[/ame]


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## beccajean220 (Sep 2, 2012)

The panels really don't start to feel secure until you get quite a few tightened together.. Just build your exterior walls then join the walls together. The whole structure will get more sturdy as you connect the walls.


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 2, 2012)

Oh, goodness, thank you so much!!


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## FallenRabbit (Sep 2, 2012)

No problem! Hope they are useful!


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## ldoerr (Sep 2, 2012)

I find it very handy that they have the abbility to bend. (It made getting the cage from Spring to Brenham easier). When you attach the roof and floor it will get really sturdy. Shelfs will help as well. I have made pens out of pannels before. They folded up really nicely which came in handy. Also make sure that you have at least 2 zip ties per side. We have found that all you need is 2 MAYBE 3 zip ties per side to make it really sturdy. Also if you zip tie accross the wire (at an angle not just like this -) it helps. So it would be 2 zip ties 1 twoards the top of the pannel and one at the bottom. 1 would go like this / and the other would go like this \. That will make it so the pannels do not slide up and down.


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## Imbrium (Sep 2, 2012)

yeah, it gets sturdier and sturdier as you go... the shelves will sag slightly because they don't go all the way across, but a dowel zip-tied along the middle of the underside of each shelf fixes that


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 3, 2012)

Thank you very much!! I think I can build the cage confidently now!! :biggrin:


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## Imbrium (Sep 3, 2012)

also, I ended up coughing up the grids to build a floor along the very bottom - made it less wiggly on the lowest level that way


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 3, 2012)

What do you mean? Thanks!


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## Imbrium (Sep 3, 2012)

if you follow this guide, you'll see it has no floor or ceiling:
http://breyfamily.net/bunnycage.html

I built a floor out of grids for mine because it made it feel more stable since I had to leave an opening on one of the walls for the bunnies to get in and out. ofc I ended up taking the first floor out in the end (ie sealed it off/removed the coroplast), but I still have a grid floor against the house floor.

basically, if you have a door or opening on the ground floor, putting a grid floor in will stop the bottoms of the walls from being a little wiggly.

you can see what I'm talking about in this pic:


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## Imbrium (Sep 3, 2012)

which reminds me, the floor of each level would be a good place for those nasty grids with the big hole in the middle of them, since you'll be putting solid flooring like coroplast or plywood on top of them anyway


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 3, 2012)

Oh, okay, now i see! Thank you, yes, i was thinking about using the big grids for shelves. What do you think to use for ramps? I have small bunnies and i know they can't make long jumps, so i need something skinny enough to fit, but big enough and stable enough for my buns!


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## Imbrium (Sep 4, 2012)

personally, I wouldn't bother with ramps, they take up quite a bit of space. my bunns are TINY (small breeds and were only 12-13 weeks when they learned to jump up the condo levels) and they manage just fine - even Gaz, who's the smaller of the two, a bit pudgy and not much of a jumper. if they stand on their tip-toes, they can barely reach to put their paws on the next level when it's one grid higher yet they jump up to it with ease, the little gymnasts! 

if you think your bunn needs some help, just put an extra grid in a corner that's halfway up a wall grid so that it forms a step and bunnies only have to jump up half a grid at a time instead of a whole one 

if you've got your heart set on ramps... I was thinking of making a ramp up to the second level and closing off the third when they get spayed - best way I could think of to do that was to just use two grids (to go up a height of 1 grid). I figured I'd get a 4' dowel cut in half to make two 2' ones and use those to reinforce the ramp so it couldn't bend at the joint (they'd be slightly shorter than the two grid distance, so they wouldn't interfere with it sitting on the floor/connecting to the next level).


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 4, 2012)

Okay, thank you! What breed are your rabbits? Mine weigh almost 2 lbs, a pound and a half i think, so should i START with ramps just until they develop a little more?


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## Imbrium (Sep 4, 2012)

mine were around 32 oz and 27 oz the last time I weighed them, which was back when they first learned to jump up the condo levels.

Gaz (my holland lop who doesn't jump much) learned the levels 'cause I had pellets on the third floor for Nala (my lionhead who loves to jump) . I showed her the way up and down a time or two and she had it from there.

I would try it without ramps/half-way steps and see if they're happy to jump up, then add them if they seem to have some trouble


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 4, 2012)

THanks!! I'll post pics of my condo when it's nearly finished!


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## ldoerr (Sep 4, 2012)

I was worried that my rabbits could not or would not jump up on their shelfs if I put it at 1 grid high. I ended up making mine 2 mini cubes short of 1 cube. My rabbits can and do hop up with ease. My cages do not have room for a ramp so that is what I had to do. It also helps to have a litter box next to the shelf. Mine learned to hop in the box and then up. To get off of the shelf they jump into their litter boxes. Now that they have gotten used to them I can hardely keep Beauty off the shelf.


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 4, 2012)

What kinds of rabbits do you have Lauren? in your pic, it looks like a lionhead?


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## ldoerr (Sep 5, 2012)

Beauty is a Jersey Woolie and Shiny Things is a Mini Rex. In Beauty's old cage she had a shelf but would not go up there even though it had a ramp. She is a shy rabbit, but has figured out the shelf in her NIC cage really fast.


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 6, 2012)

Hmm, I've never heard of a Jersey wooley. They are very cute though! (i googled them!) I'm just concerend because my buns aren't that much over 1 pound! and they are soo tiny!


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## Imbrium (Sep 10, 2012)

you had me thinking about steps... I noticed Gaz got up the levels fine but seemed wary of the jumps down and wasn't spending nearly as much time as Nala on the third floor. she didn't have that problem when they first learned the condo and still doesn't when exiting the bottom level, so I think it may be an issue with the green fleece.

I put an actual step up to the ledge using two grids and a dowel that's been cut in half and then I have a second hammock set up as a step between the ledge and the third floor and she's now spending a lot more time up there.

on the grid-step, I cut a coroplast scrap so that it would cover most of the grid (the scrap wasn't big enough to cover the whole thing ), used a nail-hole puncher to put four holes in it and zip-tied it to the grid so it couldn't move around (nail-hole puncher also worked great to punch holes in the litter box so I could zip-tie it in place!)... then I have the vertical grid attached to the side wall and the under-side of the ledge but not the floor (didn't want to cut into the coroplast floor). it's not as sturdy as it could be if I secured it on three sides, but the bunnies aren't bothered.

and yes, their condo is a total mess right now, lol... darn bunnies.


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 10, 2012)

Ooh I like your cage! I also like the step idea; maybe I'll use that!


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## Imbrium (Sep 11, 2012)

I like it too - as you can see, it takes up a lot less space than ramps and is easy to do. I could easily have used another grid with a bit of coroplast where I used the hammock, but I needed a place for the hammock anyway.

ofc you could save even more space by doing what some others have done and putting the next level 6-7 squares up instead of a full grid height. I just don't really care about the bottom level of the cage being cluttered because my bunns spend most of their time in the cage chilling on the third floor where they have the best view and because they have a huge attached run so they don't really *need* space in the cage.


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 11, 2012)

Love your buns! and great cage ideas !


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## Hyatt101 (Sep 11, 2012)

Love your buns! and great cage ideas !


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