Acrylic pet house continued

The drain under the cage is a bad idea. It's too complicated when you are going on vacation and leave the cage to somebody else. But I can always tape the drilled hole and pretend nothing happened. Hosing the cage hoping that only the inside get wet is not clever. If you need to hose the cage you need to go somewhere empty and that you do not care to collect the dirt water.

The raised platform is a good idea, surviving many storms at the least. In addition, the bottom of the cage can collect many dirt before being scooped out.

The detachable lavatory tray is partially good. The tray with litter/bedding is too comfortable that the bunny likes it too much and pee elsewhere at the corner. It did poop there though - rather neat pallet. The tray is in the middle of the platform furthest away from the door. The kids have trouble going deep inside and take the tray out.

The good idea seems to be using a "fixed" tray at the corner. There's no need for the tray bottom. The kids can just lift the whole platform to one side and scoop away the dirt using a spade with a long handle. That's how I need to clean the platform anyway. The design will be much simpler and stronger.

The sticky poop on acrylic is a big problem. Ordinary household cleaners cannot clean it fast enough without hard scrubbing. Strong acids like CLR biodegradable version can dissolve the poop fast with little scrubbing. But still it can only dissolve off the poop in layers. It take hours to soak away the poop so scrubbing is hardly needed. And you also need to rinse the acid off the platform and let dry.

I found out that the best way is to use steam cleaner, real steam. Since 1 cup or 1/2 a cup of water goes a long way, you can use the small portable ones which was some $40? Close enough to the team nozzle, the poop with disintegrate instantly. The steamer is also a blower of sort so the dirt will be collect at the corners. Drying is pretty fast because there's no much water. You can dry it instantly with a kitchen towel or two.

You don't want to steam clean everyday. The other idea is to use two very thin polycarbonate sheets, cheap, to cover the platform in turns. When one is in use the other can be washed.

I'm now using a packing sheet on top of the acrylic platform and change it everyday. No messy cleaning involved. The sheets don't cling to the platform but the bunny isn't always crazy enough to tear up the sheets.