Friday, June 5, 2009

How to build a cage for your rabbit - Intro

If you are new to rabbits,this will help you build a cage for your rabbit. Most rabbit cages are built in the same manner and with the same supplies, so once you get the basics down, you can build away to fill your specific needs.

This cage is one of my favorite configurations. It is 48" X 30" X 18" high with a solid galvanized divider. This gives you 2 holes of 24'X 30" X18" high. In rabbits a "hole" is an individual cage. So if you had 5 of these cages, with 2 "holes" each, then you would have 10 "holes" in your rabbitry.



A hole this size is good for a medium to large rabbit. That is a 5lb to 10lb rabbit. If you are raising a dwarf breed or a giant breed your needs are smaller and larger respectively.

Let's talk a moment about the needs of your rabbit. Your rabbit needs to be able to do these things freely:
  • Sit up.
  • Lay down stretched out to its full length.


As a general rule, provide approximately .75 square foot of floor space per pound of body weight. Average height is 18" for a medium to large breed.

In this series, I'll be giving tips on rabbit cage building basic ideas, tools and materials. These are things I've learned on my own while building cages for my Blanc de Hotot rabbits. The Blanc de Hotot is a Commercial Type rabbit raised for meat, fur and show. The bucks range in weight from 8 to 10 pounds and the does 9 to 11 pounds. They are my main focus, so most of my cages are for a rabbit that size. I will go through building cages for a dwarf breed at a later date, but remember that the way all the cages are built is the same, they only vary in size.