Rabbit Housing

Rabbits can be kept outside or indoors

Rabbits make good house pets, being easily litter and even voice trained, they are more intelligent and interactive than people think, they easily fit in to family life and can be more entertaining than the TV, with their funny little ways, the mad five minutes whizzing here and there, their curious in to every thing exploring  nature. Rabbits kept indoors will normally end up as better pets as you can spend more time with them. You can always start your new pet bunny/s off indoors for interaction and training, moving them out to an outside cage and area when they are older and responding well.The decision as to where the rabbit is to be kept will affect the type of Cage or Hutch. It is important to buy the correct size and style for the breed of rabbit that you choose and the amount you home.

A Netherland Dwarf will not need the size cage that a French Lop or Giant will. The rabbit will need room to stretch out and to stand up on its back legs should it feel the urge. A rabbit hutch that's too small can affect your rabbit’s health - causing spine problems, muscle wastage and obesity. Rabbits can have a long life span, so making sure you buy a hutch which is sturdy, and secure (from animals trying to get in as well as the rabbit trying to escape) and waterproof, will be a sound investment. Or if homing rabbits indoors buying the correct style and size from the beginning, will stop the unnecessary purchase of more than one cage.

So before buying your hutch decide which breed of bunny you are going to have.

Different breeds will require different size hutches/cages and runs. It is essential that your rabbit has the room to stretch in all directions. A French Lop or Giant will need a minimum of a 6ftx 2ft x2ft outside hutch with exercise  run area or a Rabbit 150 inside cage with playpen attached to the front. For a  small/medium sized bunny the minimum size outside hutch- is 4ft x 2ft - although this is really not ideal,  Dee will only home to a 5ftx2ft hutch outside with exercise  run area or for inside- the minimum is a Rabbit 120 with a play pen attached (single Dwarf only). If homing a pair then the sizes need to be increased.  Of course bigger is always better. We do not stock outside hutches under 5ft and will not advise homing  rabbits in anything smaller.

Dee's bunnies will not let rabbits go to homes if they believe that the hutch is too small or of a poor style or inadequate for the well being of the bunny. If you are thinking of a house rabbit then it is better to invest in an indoor plastic cage, these are far easier to keep clean indoors plus will give the rabbit a better view of the world, with better ventilation, a training pen attached to the front for training is a must. Once bunny knows the house rules and you can trust them to return to the litter tray when they need to "go" and not to chew everything in sight -the training pen can be removed. If you are wanting to home rabbit/s from Dee's Bunnies, and you already have a hutch or cage, you will be asked to email us photo's and confirm it's size. If  you are yet to purchase a hutch or cage we will advise you on the correct one for the pet rabbits you are homing.

The wrong style of hutch will result in a poorly trained, unfriendly bunny. If you can't  approach or pick up your rabbit easily you will not have a friendly interactive pet rabbit. Children will soon lose interest in their new pet if it is running away from them all the time. The worse hutches we have found  for this are Omelets, or chicken house styles ones. They are often described as large hutches when in reality they are the opposite. The actual living area is the house section, this is often as small as  24" x 27"   (that's a tiny 648), this  is not a big enough area to shut a pair of rabbits in at night, they will end up fighting, the run should be deemed as an extra  space not living area as this is not available 24/7. Dee;s Bunnies  will not home baby rabbits to these style of hutch.

These styles of hutches we deem as unsuitable, these are chicken house style.

We do not home to this style of hutch.

Chickens and rabbits behave very differently at night. Chickens roost, -so they do not need a large area just a perch to sleep on, where rabbits are as active at night as they are during the day- preferring to have power naps throughout the day and night rather than a good nights sleep. The light and ventilation on these style  hutches is also very poor with a tiny window to the front. It is very hard to train bunnies to be good pets in this style of hutch. They soon learn were to sit that you can not get them easily. If you have to chase them to get them you  will always have to chase them so you will  not end up with friendly interactive bunnies. The only thing this style of hutch have going for them  -is they looks nice, but  "nice" is not really a suitable practical hutch for friendly happy bunnies. If the house section of these hutches was a minimum of 4ft/5ft with a decent sized door for ventilation, then they would be fine, the run section would then be an added bonus. You could of then started the new baby in just the hutch section whilst they settle in and whilst they are being trained, then gradually allow them the run section when they know that you are not going to chase them and they are happily coming towards you for handling. We do not recommend omelets or iglu style housing for baby rabbits, it's no fun for you either in the winter months- crawling up the end of a run to get two rabbits that have learnt where to sit that you can not get them. The house section is far too small to shut rabbits into at night. In the winter months you really want the rabbits away safe and warm.