Small pet house review

The rabbit house described here is now almost completely different.  But actually the first design is almost very good, needing just some customization to be perfectly practical.

I couldn't do customization that at the time.  Because I didn't know that sawing acrylic with metal blade is a piece of cake.  It should be easy and economical to use thin glue to weld the acrylic together.  Yes, do don't have perfect edge for that but you can reinforce any 90 deg joint with small triangular wedges touching the two surfaces.

Almost I will custom make using acrylic starting from the exterior, that is, everything.  An unsuitable cage for a dog for travel in summer is totally unsuitable no matter how you custom it.

You hardly need and structural acrylic sheets.  1/4" will be tough enough to support anything, while still soft for jumping on and on impact.  The other parts such as walls can be 1/8 to 1/16.  There are cheap polycarbonate sheets that are thin but strong.  You always need a saw, with metal blades.  Cutter just don't work unless your sheet is very thin.

There should be proper doors and windows to make it easy to insulate in winter, and to open widely in summer.

The housing should be easy to add insulation material such as cheap foam sheets, or double walled as in double glazing windows.  And in summer, shades.  There should be confined cavities and ramps to simulate burrows, while they should be easy to remove and clean.  Draft proof in winter and plenty of circulation in summer.

The housing should be modular with dry sleeping area, wet drinking area, food area and bathroom area.  Though it looks like that they pee when they drink, and poo when they eat.  So you have to combine the right areas.

The other sense of modular is that you can take parts out to clean individually.  It's hard work if you need to take out everything to take the floor to wash clean.

The housing should be designed for accessibility.  If you have one door for everything in a large cage, you can do anything at the back.  I ended up taking off the top everyday to refill food, water and to clean.

An elevated platform for sleeping is a good idea.  They will be dry even when there is a rain storm, even the roof is leaking from all sides.  There are spaces for the dirt to go and you can scoop them up less frequently.

Wet cleaning is a bad idea.  It takes a long time to dry.  Unless you collect and flush everything into the toilet, the poops are very good food for many bugs.

Cleaning should be designed to be dry, especially if you intend to use the vacuum cleaner.  I have a bagless so the suction isn't a problem for all the litter and poop.  And you can empty the collection chamber easily.  But mostly I use the scoop and spade.  It's convenient and efficient.  If it's an outdoor cage, it doesn't need to be squeaky clean, but should be in equilibrium without dirt accumulating.

For food I use a soda bottle with a hole near the bottom to allow the pellets to flow out onto an attached small plate.  The bottle can be taken apart from the middle to refill.

The upside down bottle for water is a good idea.  But if you can custom where the pet sucking bottles are hanged easily and refill easily, you may prefer that.  Water in the bottle will never be contaminated.  If you separate the drinking area, you have to build something to hold the bottle without toppling.  Due to non custom plumbing parts, my upside down bottle ended up dripping slowing or the water level too low for the narrow opening.  At the end I use a large juice bottle with a hole near the bottom.  And then put the bottle on a shallow container.  It's exactly the same as upside down bottle but stable.  The drinking hole should be placed as high as possible to prevent dirt and poop from getting in and contaminate the whole bottle of water.

It's good to reuse clear plastic bottles because you can sanitize using the sun effectively.

The all important bathroom area.  All you need is a 1x1' box, 2" deep.  And they will toilet train themselves as long as there is litter.  There's no use for a much larger box.  The trick is to use layers of material.  Absorbent layer at the bottom for odor control, and the pee have to go somewhere.  Soft absorbent material for first defense.  Some bulk filling material in the middle, such as cheap pine chippings.   So the poop have somewhere to go instead of being stumbled on all the time.  If you have an isolated layer, you can put in industrial absorbing materials that is not safe for pets to chew.

I gave up the heating as I have to run a wire to the cage, now far away from the house.  Instead I just cover the whole cage with a nylon sheet, another layer of insulation and shelter.  Recently I thought of filling a large milk bottle with hot tap water, and put it in the cage before I go to sleep.  The warmth will last for hours.