I suppose you have recently adopted one or two rabbits and now thinking about how can you make a perfect home for them. Maybe you still haven’t picked up your pets from local shelter or a pet shop because you want first to set everything up and then to bring your furry cuties to their new home.
If you have checked the products local pet shop offers, I am sure that you couldn’t find what your rabbits will need. The reason for this is because pet shops usually offer cages too small for bunnies, but promoting them as perfect habitats for your new pets. Yeah right! Besides this, the rabbit’s products offer is really poor compared to the products for dogs and cats. So basically you don’t have much choice and even the products you can buy are not good enough. What you can do?
In order to provide a safe and satisfying house for your rabbits, you need to know what are they like ? What do they need? How can you make them happy? Once you find the answers to these questions, you will be able to make an ideal home for your rabbits. Keep reading our article and find the ideas for perfect bunny indoors enclosures.
Table of Contents
What Are Rabbits Like?
Rabbits are very active animals. They like to run, jump, exercise. Bottom line – they need a lot of space
Rabbits are rather curious creatures, like to explore, to dig, to play. Bottom line – they need items which will keep them entertained
Rabbits are prey animals and they need some safe place to hide
Rabbits are animals that can be litter trained so they need a litter box
Like any other living being, they need to eat and drink water so they need food and water bowls
After a lot of activities, jumping, playing around they need to sleep. So they need some nice and cozy place to sleep
Ok, so you know your pet’s basic needs. Let’s use these information to ”build” the perfect house for them.
Rabbits Need Plenty of Space
Not to go into details, let’s divide pet rabbits into 3 groups according to their size. You can have small, medium and giants rabbits. Small rabbits weight is about 2-4 pounds ( but we have to mention Columbia Basin pygmy, the smallest rabbit in the world which weight is less then a pound) . Medium breeds are about 6-10 pounds and Giants can go up to 20-22 pounds.
To make a perfect enclosure you have to pay attention to your pet size as well as the number of rabbits you have in one enclosure.
If you have a small to medium breed of rabbit bear in mind that minimum size of habitat should be 2 Ft x 4 Ft. If you have one rabbit and if you have two ( which is strongly recommended ) you need at least 4 Ft X 4 Ft.
Take these measures as a minimum and provide larger space if possible. It is important not to place your pet in anything smaller than this. In case your pet is one of the Giant breeds then habitat must be bigger. The minimum size for two Giants should be around 7 Ft x 9 Ft.
Is the Cage Good Housing Option?
No, it’s not. Pet shops offer different cages for rabbits ( plastic bottom, wire cage) but these are too small, even for small breeds.
If you keep your bunny in on of these small cages you put him/her at risk. First of all, your bunny won’t be active as it should be. This can lead to lethargy and depression. Lack of activity will most probably cause obesity in your rabbit. Depression and overweight together can provoke many health problems and shorten the life of your bunny. To summarize – either you provide the space your rabbit needs or don’t keep the rabbit in your home. Simple as that .
What Are Other Housing Options for Indoor Rabbits?
One of the favorite housing options is Exercise Pen or X-pen or Play Pen. This housing option has several advantages over the classic cage :
- X- pen will save you some money as it is cheaper than a cage
- X -pen will give your bunny much more space than a cage. More space, happier rabbit!
- X-pen is very flexible and can adjust to the space you have available for your rabbit
- X-pen is easy cleaning rabbit enclosure and easy move
What you can do is to combine the cage and X-pen. You can make a ”sleeping room” out of cage and X-pen can be a front yard. Of course, that means that the doors on the cage will be constantly open so the rabbit can go out whenever he likes.
Always bear in mind that your X-pen must be at least 3 Ft high so your rabbit cannot escape by jumping.
After you have decided where you want to place X-pen enclosure, put some plastic or vinyl layer and then cover it with some rug in order to prevent your regular carpet and wooden floor being destroyed ( as bunny like to chew on things so if you don’t put any protective coverage, your beautiful carpet may end up nibbled). Place the X-pen in shape your available space allows.
Another great alternative could be Metal Wire Storage Cubes. This kind of enclosure you can find either online or in local Walmart. Although those storage cubes are not designed especially for rabbit’s house ( they can be used as regular shelves for clothes, books, etc), they can be just perfect for this purpose. They are a kind of DIY solution but a very economic and good alternative.
You can make a great home for your pets and the final look is only up to you. It can be two or more stories house. Like in the X-Pen case, you have to put some protective coverage first and then make the house. It is important to say that wire flooring is not a good idea as rabbit’s feet are rather sensitive so you should put some layer on the top of the wire grids to avoid accidents. The material can be plastic or vinyl and then some rug or piece of carpet.
Another partially DIY idea is to use a piece of old furniture and to turn it to a perfect home for your bunny. It can be some old sideboard in which you will remove the doors and put the wire instead. You can also take inside walls away so your bunny has a larger space for its activity. An excellent idea would be to combine this option with X-pen.
Completely DIY options are time-consuming but they can be cost-effective and what is even more important to provide the habitat your pets really deserve.
Especially if you have Giants rabbits you will have to work on their habitat on your own.
For making DIY habitat you need material but also capability to use power tools. First, you need to take measurements. You can go to a local home improvement center and check if they have the material you need.
You will be needing wood, wire and some material to cover the floor ( vinyl is just fine). In these kinds of stores, you can get someone to cut the wood according to your measurements. Some types of wood are harmful to rabbits such as pine or cedar so avoid using these.
It is great if you have enough space so you can make one whole room completely bunny proof kingdom. Of course, this would be the best option as in that case your pets would have a spacious habitat. Another advantage of this option is that you simply close the door and a possible mess will stay behind them!
If you decide to separate one great portion of the living room for example for rabbits, you can put a baby gate to prevent your pets from running out of their habitat.
Last but not least is free-roaming which is quite popular among many bunny parents. Although this option may look like a perfect solution for rabbits, they still need a place that they will call their own. So don’t forget to make some kind of house where they can sleep or simply hide. Otherwise, your pets will be thrilled with the freedom you are giving to them.
What To Put in Rabbits Habitat ?
Rabbits can be litter trained ( you may even adopt already trained bunny) so you need to place a litter box inside its habitat. Rabbits usually use the corner to go to the bathroom so you should put the litter box in the corner. If you have more rabbits, it would be perfect that each one has its own litter box if possible.
The interesting thing is that your rabbit will decide in which corner he wants to go to the bathroom so you can put a box in any corner as that would be temporary and then your bunny will simply show you in which corner you should put the box for good. Depends on the flooring material you put, maybe it is a good idea to put some mat or rug to prevent gliding.
Naturally, you should put a litter in the litter box. The main purpose of litter is to soak the urine or poop and try to eliminate bad smell. Another interesting thing about rabbits is that they like to eat and poop at the same time so it is very important where you will put the next extremely important thing for rabbits – HAY.
Hay is a source of fibers which is crucial for rabbits so most rabbit’s parents decide to put the hay inside of the litter box, just on to the top of the litter. If you do that, you will spend much more hay as some of it will be full of poop and only a part of it eaten. Another alternative is not to mix litter and hay. You can take a hayrack, put hay in it and place it just above the litter box.
Hay is a very important part of the rabbit’s diet but your pet will need other food as well. Because of that, he will also need food and water bowls/dishes. Provide some good, heavy ceramic bowls and avoid light plastic and metal dishes which will be easy to tip over. Also, don’t use water bottles as rabbits drink less water from it then from the bowl so they can become dehydrated. Also, bacteria can develop on the walls of the bottle so it is not such a good idea using it.
It is recommended to put food and water bowls on the opposite corner from the litter box. If they are placed next to each other some poop and hay may end up in the water which can be quite messy.
Some rabbit’s parents don’t have food bowls at all. They are feeding their pets with pellets but not by putting them in the bowl but on the floor. They find this more natural way of feeding the bunnies so if you share their opinion do the same, it is completely up to you and whatever you decide won’t be a mistake.
Next is Hiding House/ Place. As rabbits are prey animals they need to hide in order to feel safe. No matter they are not in any danger inside of your home but still they need a hiding place. Every time when they are scared ( which can be caused by some loud noise) they need to hide somewhere.
If they don’t have such a place, they can become aggressive, eager to bite. This behavior is often misunderstood by the rabbit’s parents who simply think that their rabbits are too aggressive by their nature which is not true. They are just scared and try to protect themselves.
You don’t have to spend some big money on some fancy hiding houses. The hiding spot can be a simple cardboard box. You just need to make two exits, hols as rabbits don’t like to feel trapped so one hole/exit is not enough.
Also, measure the height of that hiding box as rabbits can easily climb on the top of it and jump over the fence ( in case you use X-pen). You need to have at least 3 Ft between the top of the box and fence otherwise your pet can easily escape. Of course, you can solve this situation by putting some cover ( you can buy the cover for X-pen but they are rather expensive). A cheaper option is some sheet that can be helpful in this case.
Rabbits like to dig. So to prevent them to dig in your carpet or some other things you don’t want to see destroyed provide some digging material. You can put some old newspapers, wooden toys. These things are also important as they need to chew on something in order to cut their teeth that are constantly growing.
When it comes to toys, it is recommended to provide 3 different toys ( different cardboard boxes, tubes, old magazines, newspapers, wooden chew toys, baby toys such as baby chains or keys for teeth or stacking cups ) every couple of days, then to hide them and bring another three. After a couple of days, you can rotate them.
You can also provide a bed for your rabbit. It doesn’t have to be an expensive option. You can use a wire paper tray, put some soft old blanket and your bunny will sleep like a baby.
Of course, the bed is not the necessary item in the rabbit’s habitat, especially if your bunny is still not litter trained but if it is and you would like him to have some nice and cozy place for sleep then just go for it.
Final Thought
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you will find this article useful. These are only ideas on how to make a perfect habitat for your furry pets. There are a million variations, especially on how to set up a house for rabbits. I just pointed out what they really need and it is up to you and your imagination how your perfect bunny house will really look like.
