What is the right way to house a rabbit??

Question

Should I lay hay down... how big should the cage be... etc...

Answer 1

A cage that is large enough for the rabbit to move around and get some exercise. Hay holds dampness and can make mold. Put Cedar Chips in bottom of cage, this helps the urine order and also repells mesquitos and fleas. leave one side of the bottom solid wood, the other side wire. The wood side gives the rabbit place to stand , keeps from hurting his feet.

Answer 2

A large mistake new owners make when purchasing a rabbit is that they think it can live it's entire life happily in a cage. This is not the case, however. Rabbits should have free roam around the house and should only be in their cage or a crate for part of the day. They need excercise like all other animals and no cage is big enough. Like ferrets, they can be litter trained easily and you should have no problem with rabbit pellets around the house. They also sell rabbit harness/leashes in pet stores, but be careful where you walk them. Make sure your house is rabbit safe (no cables lying around, clean, no holes or ways to escape the house, etc). If you cannot provide these things, maybe you should get a different pet :) A life in a cage is no life at all.

Answer 3

That is all going to depend upon the size and breed of the rabbit.

Netherland Dwarfs can comfortably live in a cage about the size of a carrying cage for large breed rabbits on one end of the scale.

On the other end of the scale you have large breed rabbits such as Checkered Giants, Flemish Giants, and French Lops that need solid wood floors and bedding such as straw or wood chips with a cage that is about 3 foot deep and about 4 foot wide.

A good rule of thumb is if the adult weight of your breed of rabbit is 10-11 pounds or under, then it can and probably should be kept in a wire floored cage. Wire floored cages are much easier to clean out, keep the rabbit clean, and keep it healthy. Normally a 24" long x24" wide x 18" tall cage will do for most rabbits that fit into this category. Sometimes a 32" long x24" wide x 18" tall wire cage is used. Wire cages are normally made in 8 foot long sections for non-stacked cages.

If the adult weight of your breed is about 11 pounds or more it needs a solid floored caged and not a wire floor to keep it from getting sore feet. It will also need bedding that needs to be changed about once a week to keep it from getting dirty. Normally a 4' long by 3' deep cage will work. You don't want to make the cage deeper than 3' or it can be hard to reach in and get the rabbit out.

You shouldn't use bedding for a wire bottomed cage. For a solid floored cage I normally use straw. However ground up corn cobs work really good and wood shavings work pretty good. I don't recommend using hay for bedding.

If you keep your rabbits outside, it's important to keep the cages under a good shade tree or something to provide shade in the summer. Don't put them under a poor shade tree like a cottonwood or walnut tree that looses its leaves early.

In the fall once the temperatures start getting around the low fifties or below you'll need to make sure your cages are closed off from the wind on three sides. Rabbits can take the cold well, even in a totally wire cage with no bedding. However, they cannot take a draft. A cold draft will give them pneumonia and kill them. By providing a solid barrier on 3 sides of your hutch or cages you prevent a draft from hitting your rabbits.

Also if you keep your rabbits outside in a hutch, attach the hutch to a pole set 3-4 feet deep in the ground. This will help keep your hutch from blowing over in a bad storm. There is nothing worse than having to chase your rabbits around to catch them in the middle of the night in a bad storm.

Answer 4

I actually house my rabbit in a dog crate. He's a netherland dwarf, so he's not very large. But I went to Target, got a doormat with a rubber bottom, put it into the cage rubber-side up and put down some old bath towels. This way, he has plenty of bedding that he loves to chew on and move around and it's very soft on his paws, preventing any sores.

We litter-trained him, so he has a box in the corner of his cage. We like to use the cotton, fluffy litter and we put some baking soda underneath that to help control the odor. We also got this stuff to put in his water called Bi-Odor. It takes a few weeks to take effect, but once it does, the smell of his urine just gets weaker and weaker.

The cage should be large enough that your rabbit can move around a bit and definitely so that i can turn around.

We put his hay in a hay box and lifted it off the ground. That way, he has a good posture when he is eating. We also use a gravity-feed dispenser. You pour food in the top and it pours down as the food in the bottom is eaten.

One of his favorite treats is the Carrot Slim. It comes in this light green color and it looks like a crunchy little carrot. The treat is corn-based and he goes nuts over it.

Definitely recommend litter training if possible. It keeps their cages clean and fresh and it makes clean up much easier.

Answer 5

I would leave the nozzle on the end. I use the metal, straight kind,
rather than the pistol-grip type. Set the water a little above the
"mist" setting. That way you can get the rabbit wet without.....
Oh my...... I thought you said "hose" a rabbit. My mistake.

Answer 6

a nice size cage and with hutch. get a good book on rabbits as a pet.

Answer 7

in a pot of boiling water