Do you think your bunny is happy in his little caged home? Think again and take a good look at the cage.
Rabbits are small, fluffy animals who don’t need much to stay happy in their home. However, they sure have some necessities that you must fulfill to keep them happy. That includes customizing the hutch for your pet rabbit.
If a rabbit’s hutch is not made to its liking, your poor bunny won’t survive much longer living in it. Here are a few things that you can do to make your rabbit cage more bunny-friendly for your pet.
8 Essential Things That Rabbits Need In Their Cage
Although rabbits don’t like cages, you can still keep your bunnies safe and happy in a cage by making sure all its requirements are fulfilled.
Pet bunnies are observed to be ten times happier and healthier if they have everything they need in their cage.
Let’s see what the 8 essential things your rabbit needs to live happily in its cage.
1. Adequate Personal Space
Rabbits are mostly fond of living in small underground holes. They love wandering around in open spaces looking for food and exploring the area. Small rabbit cages usually don’t have enough space in them to offer exploration.
Make sure you buy a large rabbit cage that has sufficient space. So your bunny can freely hop around the cage without feeling trapped or agitated.
The ideal rabbit cage should be 12 sq. ft. in size. It’s not a fixed standard but a good estimate for a rabbit cage. Just make sure the cage is three to four times the size of your rabbit.
2. Soft Cage Floor
Rabbits love living in small holes filled with soft soil. Recreating this look inside the cage would be a good idea to make your bunny feel at home. You can spread soil on the hard cage floor to make it a suitable rabbit home.
The hard cage floor made with wires can be very painful for your bunny to walk over. Your cute friend may even get blisters and sores on his small paws. A soft soil floor will help to avoid any unfortunate injury to your bunny.
You can also use other alternatives that are safe to be spread over the hard cage floor, such as:
- Hay straws
- Recycled paper
- Aspen shavings
- Fleece material.
Dried material should be avoided in creating the cage floor. According to studies conducted by vets, non-kiln-dried pine and non-kiln-dried cedar make very pointy and unsuitable bedding for the cage. This bedding may lead to cancer and other enzyme alteration issues in rabbits.
3. Hideouts
Rabbits are categorized as “prey animals” with an active mind state. This is exactly why bunnies get scared by the smallest of things that may appear threatening to them.
Wherever a rabbit gets scared or feels an approaching threat, it tends to scurry off to the nearest object to hide in it. Therefore, hideout places are a must-have for your rabbit cage.
You can create a small hideout castle or simply place a box inside the cage as a hideout. Tins and cans make excellent tunnel-like hideout spaces. Rabbits feel more at ease in cages that have a hideout.
4. Healthy Food Pellets
Rabbits are big on eating, and they need a proper nutritional diet to stay healthy and happy. You must create a nutritious food pellet for your bunny rabbits inside their pet cages.
Use a variety of different food items to be included in the rabbit food pellet. Add both mineral and fiber-rich foods to provide proper nutrition to your rabbit.
Studies suggest that quality food pellets that promote your rabbit’s health should include at least 22% crude fiber, 14% protein, and about 1% of both calcium and fat.
Avoid using plastic bowls and lead containers that may endanger your rabbit’s life if eaten. Some food items that you should not include in rabbit pellets are dried seeds, nuts, honey, etc.
5. Water Bowl
When placing a food pellet, it’s always necessary to place a water bowl just beside it. This way, your rabbit will receive a sufficient amount of water and won’t face dehydration.
Rabbits are usually eager to chew solid food and don’t pay much attention to drinking water. This may lead to many different problems.
Use a lead-free water bowl, or you can also use a unique water bottle created especially to feed the rabbits.
6. Covered Sleeping Area
Rabbits are lazy and sound sleepers. They need a quiet, clean space for sleeping. Rabbits usually don’t sleep in the same space where they urinate or defecate. They can smell the bad odors and feel uneasy sleeping near them.
Having a separate sleeping area in the cage can help to provide sound sleep to your pet rabbits. You can also cover one side of the cage to make it separate from the rest of the cage.
7. Litter Box
Since you’re separating the cage into different parts, it’s better to place a rabbit litter box inside the cage. Place it in the far corner of the rabbit cage.
Rabbits like living in a nice, clean space. Plus, a clean space helps to keep your pet rabbits healthy and free from any kinds of germs or diseases.
You can also spread loads of hay inside the litter box and change the bedding with fresh hay to keep it clean.
8. Toys and Entertainment
Last but not least, rabbit toys are the next items that every rabbit cage should have. Rabbits are very social animals who love hopping around the cage and playing with different objects.
You can place a small tunnel where your rabbit can play hide and seek. Or you can also use a hayrack.
Usually, the hay racks are placed near the litter boxes so that your rabbits learn to urinate only in the specific box while playing and chewing the hay hanging above.
You can also find a variety of rabbit toys online, like the hanging wood chewer or nut knot nibbler.
How Do You Make a Bunny Happy In A Cage?
Whether you believe it or not, bunny rabbits can live peacefully in a cage, even with their jumpy nature. All you gotta do is make sure that your bunny is happy with its cage.
Rabbits are naturally agitated animals who are accustomed to living in the wild. They are easily scared and very jumpy. Being very quick, bunnies often run off to the hills every time they feel uneasy.
It’s very hard to keep your bunny calm. All the rabbit owners must have gone through this struggle once or twice.
However, the uneasiness fades away if the pet starts to like its cage. You can start by customizing the rabbit cage with things that your bunny likes. Knowing what to do to make your bunny feel happy helps a lot.
We believe it’s the simple three-trick rule to keep your bunny happy in its cage.
Maintain Your Rabbit Cage
You must maintain the rabbit cage properly and put your thoughts into it. Selection of the size and space that your rabbit needs is a good start.
The cage should be large enough so that your bunny can wander around in it. It should have a separate playing, sleeping, and eating area.
The idle size of the rabbit cage would be a four feet long cage with two feet in height and a similar width. Also, make sure it has a solid bottom spread with hay. Don’t forget to clean the cage regularly to avoid germs and diseases.
Provide Enough Healthy Diet
A proper shelter is only good if it comes with an ample supply of healthy food. Your rabbit deserves a healthy diet to stay happy in its cage.
Due to their exciting nature, rabbits need a constant supply of healthy and vitamin-rich foods. With unusual digestive systems, rabbits easily get sick if not taken care of properly.
Hay, grass, and other fiber-rich foods maintain your bunny’s digestive health. Leafy green veggies are also a good item to add to your rabbit menu.
Root vegetables and muesli-style commercial foods should be avoided because they may lead to various tummy and tooth problems.
Encourage Routine Outdoor Activities
Your fluffy little bunnies may look small, but they are packed with so much energy. Rabbits have a very jumpy and exciting nature. They’re not the ones to sit quietly in one place and rest all day.
Understanding their active nature, pet rabbits should be allowed some physical outdoor activities.
The absence of physical activity can be harmful to your bunny as it may develop GI stasis. It’s a digestive disease in which your bunny can’t digest food. This may lead to all sorts of other problems, such as UIT diseases, being overweight, and bladder stones.
Do Bunnies Like Being In Their Cage?
Yes, bunnies like being in their cage. Once you are done customizing the rabbit hutch, your bunny will love living inside the cage. Just make sure you include everything in the cage that your bunny likes.
Food and shelter may be the two most important things, yet it’s not enough. Besides food and shelter, your bunny needs space, toys, a litter box, and a few other things to feel at home.
Make sure to provide enough roaming space and time for your rabbit. Take him out for a walk and establish a healthy routine to let him come out of the cage every once in a while.
After all, you wouldn’t want to disappoint your bunny rabbit.
Create a bunny-proof area or a bunny room in your house. A place where you can play with your rabbit and it can roam around freely without endangering its life.
In the end, all your rabbit wants is a safe place to live with enough food supplies.
Conclusion
Sheltering domestic rabbits is a humble act, but you cannot cage a wild animal. To keep your pet bunnies safe, you’ll need a large cage with a few necessary items.
To make the bunny feel at home, you can create a friendly rabbit environment with soft flooring made with hay and straws. Place food and a water bowl inside. Don’t forget to add some toys to play with and a rabbit litter box.
To create a nice sleeping area inside the cage, you can cover the upper part of the cage with a towel or a warm cloth.
