Temporary Housing?

[Lianne]

Hi there,

I'm brand new to this site and have spent the last several hours going through the forum, gallery and searching other sites to leqarn about rabbits and guinea pigs.

Right now I have neither but am considering adopting one or the other (well, two of which ever I choose but either rabbits or pigs, not one of each). My local SPCA has both bunnies and pigs but a friend of a friend has two neutured, litter box trained, male bunnies she needs to rehome. She'd like to rehome them quickly as she's moving soon. She'll rehome them with their cage but the cage is a (too) small, pet store purchased cage. It will take me a couple weeks (2-3) before I can purchase the supplies I need to make a bigger cage for them so I wondered if, temporarily, they can go in a child's playpen.

I have what's called a pack & play. It's about 3.5ft x 2.5ft, sits off the floor on legs and comes up to my ribcage. Anyone with a child under 10yrs old should know what these are. The sides are a closely 'knit' mesh and it has a thin, covered, mattress pad inside. I could place the mattress pad the right way up so it's a bit cushy (less than an inch of covered cusioning) or I could flip it over so the bunnies would be on the harder board (covered) side depending on what would be best for them. The board sits on the botton of the playpen with no gaps and I have a cover that stretches over it that's supposed to block the sun/bugs from the child but would keep my cats out.

I'm concerned that the bunnies will chew through the mesh or the bit of fabric surrounding the mesh sides or chew the pad at the bottom. I'm also worried that the playpen might be unsafe for them for reasons I may not be aware of.

Also, none of the websites I've found mention how smelly rabbits or pigs typically are.

My only experience with caged animals is hamsters, with whom I used torn newsprint in their cages and changing the cage ever week or so eliminated any smell. I already have four cats & a small dog plus I run a home daycare so urine/feces from a critter will not scare me, . My concern with the smell of bunnies or pigs is that not all potential daycare parents understand my love of animals and if there are unpleasant smells in the home, it could hurt my business.

[RainKindle]

The playpen is probably not suitable. As you've probably seen, you can make C&C cages for rabbits as well.
The rabbits will likely chew through the mesh and plastic bottom, and playpen material would not be healthy if ingested. Also, I've seen rabbits hop up and out from a sitting position.
I volunteer with MCRS, which stands for Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society. Most of my volunteering pals have their rabbits litter box trained, and the rabbits have almost free range of their rabbit proofed homes. The process for doing this should be taken slowly to avoid bunny oppsies. The bunny cages are often used as a home base and sleeping quarters. If that is not feasible, rabbits should be exercised a minimum of 1.5 supervised hours per day.
Each day our adoptable rabbits get their litter boxes dumped out. (Which I also do for my guinea.) This daily dumping helps keep down smells. However, rabbits eat Timothy hay just like guineas do, and many people have allergies to the hay, not either species.
If you were to get a guinea, you would want to consider animal and childproofing it's cage. There are many pictures of examples on this site.
Rabbits can often get along with cats...always supervised of course, and sometimes depending on the dog. (Some dog natures would be difficult to repress.)
Both rabbits and guineas may be stressed out by the high activity level of your home. Both species are prey animals, so you would want to consider a quieter, but still healthy and attention bearing part of the home.
At cavycages.com, they show the minimum cage requirements for guinea pigs.
Often, I've looked for cage requirements for rabbits, and the websites I've visited state only the requirements for pet stores and breeders, which is terrible because those requirements are smaller than what I have my guinea pig in.
I love both species, and I couldn't recommend one over the other to you. I can only tell you what I've done. (I am at a crossroads in my life, and I could not yet get a rabbit.) Therefore, I do my volunteer gig with the rabbits, and keep a guinea.

[yorkshirelamb]

I have read about rescues and fosters using doggie play pens as housing--the long chain of grids that connects to make a circle. They can have high sides so the rabbit doesn't get out, and you just have to put something on the floor underneath. The site I read mentioned using the plastic mats that office chairs sit on as the bottom, and then the litterbox, toys etc sit on top.