There are some requirements quite specific to an outdoor rabbit cage

If you plan on housing your rabbit outdoors then you will lead to give some thought to the design of the cage. Outdoor rabbit cages should be designed slightly differently to indoor rabbit cages.

Whilst you do not need to consider weather when designing an indoor hutch your rabbit you certainly need to consider the elements if you plan on housing your rabbit in an outdoors cage.

Rabbits can be very susceptible to heat stress from hot weather. They will weather the cold better, however any outdoors rabbit cage should provide your rabbit with plenty of covered area where he can sleep comfortably out of the rain and wind.

You should provide him with a solid top to his cage, and preferably one side at least should also be solid to provide him with wind protection.

And in summer you should always have his cage in the coolest spot possible, namely in the shade on the hot days.

In winter make sure he has plenty of hay so he can snuggle into it.

Here’s a good video discussing some of the requirements of rabbit cages.
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A small rabbit hutch and run is much better than a small rabbit hutch alone

The ideal housing solution for a rabbit, or for a few rabbits, is a rabbit hutch and run combined. As we’ve noted on this website before most people tend to buy rabbit hutches that are way too small for a rabbit.

This is generally because the smallest hutches are the cheapest, whilst very large rabbit hutches which are ideal for one or 2 rabbits are too expensive.

However if you buy a small rabbit hutch and combine it with a rabbit run around the outside of the hutch you’ve got the best of both worlds. To do so you simply build a post and chicken wire fence around the rabbit hutch so that you can open the door of the hutch each day and allow your rabbit to play in the sun and the grass. Rabbits love to play and he will be delighted if he has the opportunity to do this every day in a dedicated rabbit run.

Of course even better is to buy a large rabbit hutch and to build a rabbit run around this. The downside of buying a small rabbit hutch and run is that you commit yourself to letting your rabbit out to play in the run every single day. If he has a large hutch to live in it’s okay to miss a few days here and there. Read the rest of this entry

Always buy, or build, large rabbit cages rather than small ones

So many of the rabbit cages that you see available for sale now are too small. Large rabbit cages are way more liveable for a rabbit than a small one, and it upsets us to see rabbits cooped up in such tiny rabbit hutches.

Unfortunately most people try to house their rabbit in a small rabbit cage because the smallest hutches are the cheapest. This however does not do your rabbit justice. A rabbit is a naturally playful animal and needs room to do just that, play.

Your rabbit should always have room in his cage to make at least 3 hops in the one direction. He should also be able to stand tall without being cramped by the height of the roof.

And even worse than seeing a rabbit in a tiny rabbit hutch is to see 2 or 3 rabbits in a small cage.

So remember always buy a large rabbit cage for your rabbit and if you can’t afford to buy one then build then build one, but make it as big as possible. Read the rest of this entry

There’s rabbit cages for sale everywhere.

If you’re looking to become the proud owner of a pet rabbit you need to buy a rabbit cage, or at least build one. So where is the best place to buy rabbit cages?

Undoubtedly the best place to buy a cage for your rabbit is online. Virtually all the rabbit hutches you see at your local pet store you will find online, usually at greatly reduced prices. Virtually all pet stores carry the same rabbit hutches which are imported into Australia from China by large importers, and the pet shops will generally buy from the same wholesalers.

However because they have much larger overheads, and because customers like the convenience of buying in a local store the markup on their rabbit cages will be much higher than the markup on the same rabbit cages on the Internet.

Online businesses have much lower overheads than regular stores and are able to make a profit on much lower margins, therefore they are able to sell rabbit cages much cheaper.

In our experience the cheapest place of all to buy rabbit cages is eBay. If you’re new to eBay you can see some examples of the rabbit hutches you can buy there at the top of our website. Read the rest of this entry

There’s no reason why you can’t keep your rabbit (and your rabbit hutch) indoors

So you’ve done your research, purchased or built your rabbit hutch, got your rabbit and now it’s time to think about the fun you can have with a pet rabbit.

Of course rabbits are outdoors creatures, and if you’ve got a good run around the rabbit hutch then you should let him play in the rabbit run each day, both for fun for you both and for exercise for your rabbit.

However as well as playing with your rabbit outdoors it’s perfectly possible to bring a rabbit indoors for some pet fun.

The first thing to know is that rabbits can be housetrained, or what is sometimes called potty trained. Like all pets that can be housetrained it takes a little work but it’s worth it in the long run. But house training your rabbit is not what we wanted to talk about today.

We wanted to look at some of the things that you can do to give both you and your rabbit a fun time together in the house.

Rabbits love to explore and they also love to find small holes to explore. Offer him a small dark hiding hole and chances are he will want to get in there. So there’s lots of potential to provide your rabbit with fun playthings.

Be inventive. Plastic pipes used in plumbing are cheap, can be cut easily and can be the source by lot of rabbit fun. And if you experiment a little with things that may make fun rabbit toys you can design a rabbit play area where both you and he can have tons of fun.

But you’ve also got to be careful. Be aware that rabbits are happy to poke their nose, or their entire body, into small holes, and so before you bring your rabbit indoors you must examine the area where he will be to see if there are any holes where, if he disappeared in there, he is not at risk of getting hurt or stuck.

Examine his proposed play area with a very keen eye for any potential hazards.

Remember as well that rabbits like to eat greens, so if he has the chance he will probably start to eat your houseplants, which won’t be good for the plants and which may also not be good for the rabbit. Read the rest of this entry

Rabbit hutches with wire floors are not recommended

You will often see rabbit hutches offered the sale in pet shops. Most rabbits are kept in a commercial rabbit hutch that has been purchased on the net or from a shop.

As we have said before the principal problem with most commercial rabbit cages is that they are too small. The rabbit needs a certain amount of space to hop around, to play and to exercise and most commercial rabbit hutches do not provide sufficient space for your rabbit to do this.

Your rabbit should have a cage sufficiently long to allow him to take 2 or 3 consecutive hops, and the minimum size to do this is at least 2 metres. And he should be able to stand up straight as well.

Unfortunately it is probably true to say that the majority of rabbits are housed in cages that are too small because of course these are the cheapest to buy.

However there is something else that you should consider when purchasing a rabbit cage as well as the size. You will find rabbit cages offered for sale with wire on the floor.

Rabbits do not like walking on wire and will actively avoid doing so, and so if your rabbit hutch has wire on the floor will probably find he spends most of his time in the sleeping area purely to avoid walking on the wire. Read the rest of this entry

There’s no reason why you can’t house a rabbit indoors

It’s entirely possible to keep your rabbit indoors all the time. If you are prepared to spend a little time working out how you will house your rabbit and where you will put his rabbit hutch then there is no reason why you cannot house him indoors.

An outdoors rabbit hutch needs to be fully enclosed to protect your rabbit from predators. However if you are keeping him indoors it is not necessary to have a fully enclosed hutch as there are no predators that are likely to attack him. Therefore you can design an indoors hutch with an open roof. This allows you to access your rabbit much more easily and also allows for ease of cleaning. We suggest a solid floor so that all mess can be easily cleaned up without damaging the floor of your room.

When looking for a good location for the rabbit housing avoid having it placed right near open windows, which can be draughty, in front of windows which get sun as these can get too hot in summer, and avoid anywhere near appliances such as gas heaters which can leak fumes.

It is possible to train a rabbit to use a litter box, or in other words to house train a rabbit. If you do so it is much easier keeping a rabbit indoors than if he makes a mess wherever he wants. If he has already been an outdoors rabbit and used a litter tray outside then use the same tray inside as he will most likely continue to use this as it smells right already. Make sure put the trade as far away as possible from any food or water source, preferably in a corner opposite to where the food and water is provided..

And remember that rabbits like to chew, and normally in an outdoors rabbit hutch you would place something for him to chew on such as a piece of wood. It’s important to do this indoors as well as he would chew on whatever he can find, which will probably be your windowsills if he is able to.

Much more dangerous is if he chews on any power cords and so, if your rabbit is to be out of his hutch from time to time make sure all power cords are protected with hard plastic sleeving.

And of course make sure he also has a private place to go into when he feels the need, or when sleeping. A box is a good way to provide this. Sometimes you need to cut holes at both ends of the box, as rabbits dislike entering an enclosed area with only one exit. Read the rest of this entry

You need to spend some daily time with your rabbit

It’s important to understand as a rabbit owner that there are certain responsibilities that attach to having your own rabbit. One of those responsibilities is cleaning the rabbit hutch. This should be done as frequently as possible and in any case when droppings build up.

How often the rabbit hutch is cleaned depends of course on how big it as as well as other factors, however frequent cleaning is essential.

A rabbit is an active animal and so should be given daily exercise. The ideal way to give your rabbit daily exercise is to have a run that surrounds the rabbit hutch so that you can open the door of the hutch to allow your rabbit out into the rabbit run each day.

Your rabbit will thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to stretch, run, hop and play, all those things that he cannot do inside his rabbit hutch, particularly if it is small.

But your responsibilities as a rabbit owner did not stop there. You also need to groom your rabbit daily. Groom him with a firm brush to help remove dead hair and anything else that has become caught in his hair such as burrs.

Rabbits can also get tangles in their hair, this is more of a problem in long haired than short haired rabbits.

Whilst grooming you should give your rabbit a good look over looking for discharge from the eyes, the nose for the ears and also check these for grass seeds which can become lodged in them.

And you also need to be aware of the length of your rabbit’s toenails as they grow and will need to be cut just like yours do.
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Most rabbit hutches are too small

Generally speaking most rabbit hutches that are purchased in pet shops are way too small. Rabbits are energetic creatures and require sufficient space to run around.

The rabbit housed in the hutch on the right is barely able to move.

It’s understandable that many rabbits are housed in hutches that are too small because those are the cheapest rabbit hutches available in the stores. However if you are looking to either buy or to make a hutch for your rabbit it’s important to remember that the bigger the hutch the better for your bunny.

And of course if you have more than one rabbit it’s important that the hutch be correspondingly bigger.

Rabbits are very active and require plenty of exercise during the day. Particularly if you have a small rabbit hutch it is also important to have a rabbit run where the rabbit and spend some time during the day running around exercising. Some people build a run for their rabbit in the back garden and take bunny out to the run each day for a couple of hours of exercise.

Others have a wired enclosure that is accessible from the rabbit hutch. Opening a door of the hutch allows the rabbit access to the run.

Your rabbit should have at least 2 hours during the day when he is able to run and jump freely. It’s also very important that the run have fences sufficiently high and strong to protect the rabbit from predators such as dogs, and to stop the rabbit escaping.

Remember that rabbits can dig. Read the rest of this entry

There’s some confusion over what a rabbit run really is.

There’s some confusion over the different terms used for housing for rabbits. You will often see the words rabbit run, rabbit hutch, rabbit cage and rabbit run used interchangeably. For instance there are some websites that sell both rabbit runs and rabbit hutches and when you look at the 2 it’s difficult to tell the difference between the runs and the hutches.

In both cases they are housing for rabbits.

There is in our view however a different meaning for the term rabbit run. In our view a rabbit run is an outdoors area where your rabbit can play and exercise safely. It is usually surrounded by some form of wire netting or fence so that predators such as dogs and boxes cannot attack the rabbits and so that the rabbits do not disappear.

Many rabbits are kept indoors. There’s no problem with keeping a rabbit indoors as long as you allow him time outside to exercise and play. Rabbits are naturally energetic creatures and love to run and jump. Not only that but just like people rabbits become unhealthy and overweight if they eat too much and exercise too little.

Like all of us rabbits need to stretch their legs, get the wind in their fur and go for a good run.

And if you watch native rabbits you will see that they also play from time to time. Rabbits like to play but cannot do so in a small rabbit hutch.

If you have an indoors rabbit then put some thought into how you can give him some outdoors playtime, preferably every day but if not every day then as often as possible. It’s not too difficult to design your own rabbit run, you can either have a permanent fixture with posts set into the ground and chicken wire around the posts, or you can have interlocking wire panels that can be assembled for use or taken apart for storage or to move them round. Read the rest of this entry