Animal Care Associates, Inc
840 Oakwood Road
Charleston, WV 25314
304-344-2244

Rabbit Housing

Rabbits can be housed indoors or outdoors. Indoor rabbits should be confined to a suitable enclosure when their activity cannot be adequately supervised.

Suggestions for cages:

A roomy wire cage with at least one-half of the floor's surface area covered with Plexiglass or washable towels is recommended. The Plexiglass or towels provide relief from constant and continual contact with the wire floor, helping to prevent hutch sores on the feet (see section on Hutch sores-Sore Hocks).  The wire mesh should be just large enough to allow fecal pellets to drop through. A water bottle or ceramic crock, food dish and a litterbox should be provided for the rabbit inside the enclosure.

In the Fall 2001 edition of the HARELINES The Newsletter of the Buckeye Rabbit Society, there was an article by Kristen Doherty that had the following suggestion for an enclosure.

Wire Exercise pens.  Exercise pens are made up of eight heavy gauge wire "panels", all connected together, so that they can be stretched out and shaped into a square, rectangle, octagon, or whatever shape you want.  Each panel is 24" wide.  The total space when the panels are made into a square is 4' x 4', or 16 square feet.  When purchasing the pens, you can choose from heights of; 24", 30", 36", 42", or 48".  A 30" height is recommended (36" for jumpers).  One of the eight panels acts as a swinging door when opened, and the pen is secured shut with large dog leash clips that come with the panels. NOTE: the wire slats of the pen must be close enough together so that a tiny rabbit cannot walk through!

Exercise pens are a good solution for blocking off areas in you home where you don't want bunny to go.  To make the pen area smaller, overlap two or three panels and clip together.  There is no need to take the panels apart.  To make a bigger pen buy two and overlap panels as necessary.  Make a "lid for the top, if needed, By placing two 48" high panels horizontally over the top of the pen (individual extension kits can be purchased, two panels per kit, without having to purchase an entire pen).  Secure the lid to side panels with large leash clips, so that one panel opens on a hinge, while the other stays in place.

Do not forget to occasionally disinfect the panels.

Flooring, you can use any type of flooring you wish as long as it's safe for the bunny.

Under no circumstances should rabbits be allowed total freedom within the home. Rabbits love the chew and can be very destructive to household furnishings. Furthermore, they can be seriously injured by biting into telephone and electrical cords.

Like cats, rabbits can be easily trained to use a litterbox in the home. If the rabbit has already selected an area for elimination, the litterbox should be placed in this location. It helps to place some of the rabbit's fecal pellets in the litterbox to encourage its use.  

Adequate shade and a "hiding spot" should be provided as well. Rabbits are typically anxious, wary animals and are easily frightened. This is especially true of newly acquired pet rabbits and rabbits kept for reasons other than as pets. A concealed area into which these rabbits can retreat when they feel threatened is necessary to prevent injury that would result from excessive and futile efforts to escape from the cage. Hiding provides a safe alternative to useless and often injurious escape efforts.

Shade must be provided to prevent heat stress or heatstroke. All rabbits, even those housed indoors, are especially sensitive to high environmental temperatures. Adequate shelter must also be provided against wind, rain, snow and ice.

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