When choosing the right housing for a rabbit, many people don’t realize that there are a lot of options they may not even have considered. A cage or a hutch is often not necessarily the best option for your new roommate.
Table of Contents
- Factors to Consider when Choosing Housing for a Rabbit
- Why Should Rabbits Always be Housed Indoors?
- Full Free Roam Rabbits
- Bunny-Proofed Rooms
- Indoor Hutch
- Portable Wire Exercise Pens
- Cages
Factors to Consider When Choosing Housing for a Rabbit
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing housing for a rabbit. Probably the most obvious consideration is the amount of room you have available.
Bunny proofing is another top consideration. Every rabbit has different preferences of what they prefer to chew and how much they want to chew. Some will chew very little, while others seem to chew everything in sight! Especially your lamp cords! To protect the things that you do not want chewed, you can buy or make protection for many things, including cords and phone chargers, furniture legs and fabric. We call this bunny-proofing, and it is one of the most important factors to think through when you are ready to set up your rabbit’s housing. The immediate area where your bunny lives must be bunny-proofed to protect both him and your house.
And of course you’ll want to think about how and where to put the litter box. Rabbit boxes do not smell like cat litter boxes do, especially when changed frequently. This is because rabbits are vegans! However it is a good idea to place it strategically for visuals, because once a rabbit decides where she wants to go, she always remember that spot!
Each option below has flooring considerations, too. Rabbit toes are sensitive, and they can have a hard time on slippery floors such as smooth hardwood or tile. However if they are free roam, they generally don’t mess their living areas. But if they are in an enclosed pen or hutch, there will be more concentrated hay in a smaller area. Depending upon your perspective, this could be easier (smaller area) or harder (more concentrated) to clean.
Why Should Rabbits Always be Housed Indoors?
Right off the bat, before we talk about choosing housing for your rabbit, lets talk about indoor versus outdoor rabbits. Rabbits are much better off living inside the house. In fact, many shelters refuse to adopt out bunnies if they know they will be outside. Rabbits that live outdoors are at risk of many different factors that could be life-threatening.
The most obvious is, of course, predators. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain, and are a very tasty meal for almost any predator you can think of. Even raptors, owls and dogs become predators to rabbits when out of doors. And worse, just the presence of a predator can be enough for some rabbits to send them into a life threatening shock.
The next most critical reason to keep a rabbit indoors is that they do not withstand temperature fluctuations well. While they usually can withstand colder temperatures, a fast fluctuation can be more challenging. Worse, high heat can be devastating to a rabbit. Heatstroke occurs when a rabbit gets too hot and is unable to regulate their body temperature. Unfortunately, this can be fatal. Never put your rabbit in a hutch outdoors where it gets over 75 or 80 degrees max. Remember, she can’t escape to a cool spot!
Then, there are mosquito borne illnesses which can also be fatal to rabbits. Myxomatosis is a viral disease spread by mosquitos and fleas and is endemic to the west coast of the US. That means that it is carried by local wildlife, such as our native rabbits who are immune, and can be easily spread via mosquitos to domestic rabbits who are not immune.
But perhaps the most important reason to keep your rabbit indoors is that when you make a rabbit a part of your family, keeping them inside with you makes it so much easier to socialize them so that they want to be hugged and pet and cuddled.
Full Free Roam
The best possible housing choice from your rabbit’s perspective is when you can allow your rabbit full free roam of your house. This is not always easy, and it requires some preparation. You’ll need to make sure the entire house is bunny-proofed.
Why is this the best option? Rabbits are curious and love to explore. They are smart and have an excellent spatial sense. Allowing them to free roam not only makes them more interactive with their surroundings, but also with their family. And they benefit significantly from the extra exercise. Giving them free roam lets them understand their surroundings, and gives them the confidence that their habitat is safe. We’ve all heard of rabbits that have heart attacks merely from the stress of a predator walking near a hutch.
Another great benefit of a free-roam rabbit is that you can place the litter box in a very discreet location and your rabbit will still be able to access and use it. I have found rabbits to be very considerate housemates. We have a litter room next to the laundry room. Even though Boo spends most of his time in the family room, when he needs to use the toilet, he knows just where to go.
But all of that freedom also means that little bunny foo-foo has open opportunity to chew on baseboards and power cords. So if you do choose to go this route, make sure that you have protected (or removed) your electrical cords and any other wood that may be near to the floor.
Bunny Proofed Room
If you have a space such as a spare bedroom or your office space where you work during the day, this can be a great option to allow your bunny companion to have space to explore. Setting your bunny up in your office is especially ideal, because you get to see each other for longer periods of time, and that helps to prevent bunny boredom.
You would need to set up a section of the room with their food, and of course a litter box. I’ve seen really lovely litter setups in an office closet so that the bunny can run in there at any time when nature calls, but the box is still out of the way from eyesight and video calls.
Indoor Hutch
More bunny parents are adding indoor rabbit condos as their rabbit housing. This is a genius solution, because it provides your bunny with a room of his own, doubled because of the vertical space where he can climb up to see … or stay low to play and hide. But it is also a genius solution for you, because bunny can get a lot of exercise without taking up much floor space.
Depending upon the configuration of the hutch, you can allow your rabbit to climb all the way down to the floor and then surround the bottom area with a pen enclosure. You can easily open up the pen enclosure when you are home, and then close it up again when you are away. Bunny still has a comfortable and spacious domicile, and you have peace of mind when you are at work or out on the town.
If you are handy, you can build your own indoor rabbit hutch. You will only be limited by your own imagination! Just make sure when building your own that the structure is secure, especially if in earthquake prone areas. And of course make sure there is a dedicated area for the litter box and food bowls.
Portable Wire Exercise Pens
Portable wire exercise pens, also sometimes called X-pens, are one of the easiest ways to house your rabbit. They come in different pen heights and lengths and are easily attainable at online stores or at feed supply stores. Not only can you move them around, but you can link two or more together to provide your rabbit with extra space. And they are so versatile – you can easily rearrange them whenever needed.
These types of pens are also a good solution for free roam rabbits when you need to block off an area of your home either temporarily or for longer periods of time.
If this is your primary way to house your rabbit friend, make sure that, in addition to his food, water and litter, that you include some toys or other things to bring interest to his area. Bunny could get bored looking out but not being able to interact with his surroundings. And you will want to think about flooring, of course, since the litter box will need to be inside the pen perimeter.
Cage
Of all of the housing options for rabbits, cages provide the least amount of space for your bun-bun to get physical exercise and mental stimulation. If you do opt to house your rabbit in a cage, be sure that you get a sufficiently large enough cage for the full size of your rabbit to stretch out and to have a ledge or perch that bunny can hop up onto. And it is very important that they get plenty of exercise time outside of the cage. Your bunny should have at the minimum 2 or more hours outside the cage every day.
Make sure that the cage is NOT wood, as any rabbit will easily chew her way out quickly. And never use a wire bottom cage for a rabbit! This can cause sores, broken toes / toenails and other, more serious medical problems. You probably also do not want a wood bottom cage as that can be a challenge to disinfect. A metal frame cage with a thick, solid plastic floor surface is ideal. And also make sure that there is plenty of ventilation – no glass should be used.
