How to
House a Rabbit
First, read
Ten Reasons Not to Put a Rabbit in a Hutch
and then come back here to
see suggestions on what you can do.
This page includes links and
inspiration as you scroll down.
All domesticated rabbits are
descendants of European rabbits and that means our little fuzzy
friends are diggers by nature. Currently, there are warrens in
Europe that undermine buildings, athletic fields, roads and are so
deep dogs are routinely getting stuck in them when chasing a bunny
down a rabbit hole. (See a sample of their wild warren
entrances at the bottom of this page.)
By the way, the
bunny in the photo is Groucho who was the "perfect" bunny. He lived as a lop king in his rabbit castle!
What to Consider:
Your
Rabbit's Personality. Is your rabbit spayed or neutered and
litter trained. How old is the rabbit and is the bunny still a
"teenager?" Some rabbits don't chew wires and gnaw
furniture legs, have perfect bathroom habits and are able to live outside
a cage. My Groucho was like that and for a long time he lived with a
kitty condo house and used a litter box right next to my computer
desk. The wires were very safe since he ignored them. As
the picture shows, other pets in the house had access to the his
romaine and cilantro salad.
 Bunny
Proofing
Once Rosemary came to live with Groucho, everyone had to adjust.
She was a chewer, a jumper and gnawed on everything. It was like
having a kangaroo in the house. A puppy pen at 36 inches high and 2
1/2 ft. wide by 10 ft. long fenced in both rabbits until Rosemary became a
fairly calm adult. There was plenty of room to run in the pen. But
the rabbits always had many supervised hours out
in the home running free everyday.
A
Place to Hide
Notice in both pictures there is a cat condo.
One is carpet covered and okay for a rabbit who doesn't eat carpet.
The other one is no longer being manufactured, but the bunnies loved running
though it and sleeping together inside. A rabbit who will chew
plastic will need a different hiding place made of cardboard or untreated
wood. There are other similar products if you look.
Non-Toxic
Construction
Amy Spintman created this Cottontail Cottage. It has
some
bunny-friendly enhancements. It looks great, too! Simple cardboard boxes also work.
Cut a few holes in them and put them on the floor. Most rabbits will enjoy
investigating every inch of the box and end up lounging inside. Also,
visit
Cosmo's
Website
by Tracy for more ideas.
 Adequate
Room
-
Leith Petwerks makes wonderful rabbit condos that are
attractive, sturdy and well thought out for rabbit comfort. If
nothing is too good for your rabbit, then
this is the ticket! They make them in one story, two and even three
level condos. These condos provide adequate room for one, two
rabbits or even three rabbits. Most pet store cages are inadequate
and don't allow a rabbit to even stand up or stretch out!
They are house rabbit owners
themselves. I have 2 of these myself and can attest to their quality. And,
if I can assemble one, anyone can. See Rosemary and Bumble in their Condo
on the left. They get lots of run time, but they enjoy lounging on the
second level and watching the cats walk by.
 On
the right is a set-up to either permanently or temporarily house rabbits
in puppy pens or also known as x-pens on the right. I have the female in a
2 ft. x 6 ft. pen and the pair in a 4 ft. x 6 ft. pen on linoleum. Notice
the edges of the linoleum are outside the pens so they can't chew it.
The round litter box tops are little houses that rabbits can't stand on and jump
out. There are big hay filled litter boxes in the pens. The rabbits
still get out for 2 hours of exercise when they were in this set up.
I have also attached a puppy pen to a two-story bunny condo like the one above
on the left so the bunnies had a 4 ft. by 6 ft. "yard" in front of their condo.
If I used a shorter cage (and the doors are always open), I made sure there were
things on top of the cage so the rabbits couldn't hop up and out of their living
quarters. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
Other
Spacious Ideas - Neat Idea Cubes
-
you can get them in office supply
stores and they can make a great bunny habitat with a little imagination.
There are several links for ideas on using Neat Idea Cubes.
Bunny Buddies
has plans for making cages using Neat Idea Cubes
or try these two links for more ideas:
Princess Blackie
and
NIC Cubes.
Also see:
House
Rabbit Habitats
by the House Rabbit Society. There are photos and ideas for other rabbit homes.
For a do-it-yourselfer here are some
ideas. The two on the left used to be sold in the United Kingdom and the others
are from unknown sources. However, someone handy with tools might find these designs fairly
simple to recreate:
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