Rabbits - how do you house yours?

[Sara107]

Looking for advice. Agreed to get dD a pet rabbit (so that means two apparently!). So looking for accommodation for a pair of bunnies. A lot of the hutches I see in pet shops are really flimsy, thin wood, little bolts, thin wire with sharp edges. Then I saw the rabbit Eglu, which looks like a great option, easy to clean and move around. We were thinking of getting rescue rabbits, as I believe you shouldn't but them from petshops as you are supporting industrial breeding. Our local rescue centre tells me that an Eglu is nowhere near big enough (indoor bit is 80x 80cm x63cm high and outdoor bit is 210cm, or you can add additional 1m sections). That the rabbits would need a minimum size hutch of 2ft x2ftx6ft with a permanent outside run of 6ft x 8ft. I've never seen anyone keeping rabbits in a space that big. Apart from having to lay hardstanding in the garden for an enclosure this big, it would be away from the house and we would be looking after the rabbits in the dark during the winter. At least with the Eglu I could move it outside the back door in winter where we would be able to see them. So, is it cruel to keep rabbits in a set up where they don't have 50 sq ft of personal space? What do you keep yours in? Would it be ok to get them from a petshop so that I can make up my own mind on the best accommodation?

My rabbit is in a 2 storey high, 6ft wide hutch. He has a large playpen he gets to go in for some out of hutch time.

We have dwarf bunnies, one a rescue, one DH fell in love with! they both have seperate indoor and outdoor hutches. Indoor for winter, outdoor for summer. Their indoor hutches are smaller but they get out every night.
Their outdoor hutches have attached runs-I havent measured them but enough space for them to hop and do wee binkys! 4 or 5ft I think.
Each hutch is two stories.
Try the SSPCA, they have loads of wee bunnies!
Just googled Eglu-it does look a bit small.

The Eglu does look very small. I don't think that would be large enough for even one rabbit really. The rabbits won't want to be outdoors all the time so need indoor space to move around in and stretch out. We have this hutch plus a separate outdoor run on the lawn. www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/bluebell-hideaway-%28in-store%29
We added some extra door catches but have found it pretty sturdy.

Thanks for replies. Evilstepmum, I was looking at dwarf bunnies and thinking they might be a good option. A website I was looking at said they can be good for children. I know we'll have to get them used to being handled, but a smaller animal is probably easier for small hands. I've had a recommendation for a wooden hutch from another rescue centre ( who don't seem to request a vast enclosure!). It's a two storey one with a living bit upstairs and an extended run downstairs. But wouldn't fit in the winter location, also, you would have to reach across the extended run to access the hutch, which might be awkward for DD. Maybe different hutches for summer and winter is the way to go...I had a rabbit when I was a teenager, but it all seems to have got more complicated since then!

We have always kept rabbits ,all of them from rescue centres . Their accommodation was a small shed in the garden with a cat flap fitted, we locked the cat flap at night . Inside they had a litter box which they always used and would help as it saved time and money when cleaning . We used to half bury carrots in the garden for them to dig up and eat ,and they loved to sun bathe. Strangely enough they would go out in the rain too. Then spend hours grooming each other . They were all so different and such a joy, especially as they had so much freedom .We loved to watch them hide and play. Our last rabbit left us last month ,he was 10 , and his little grave is in his favourite spot in the garden.
I hope you really enjoy your bunnies , rescue rabbits are the best X

Our understanding of animal welfare has moved on in leaps and bounds (get it?!) since many of us kept rabbits years ago.

The rescue's advice is completely right, and is now the norm- it may seem like a lot compared to the old hutches that used to be common, but we now recognise just how awful and inappropriate it was to keep an active, highly social creature with powerful legs cooped up in a small space with no companion and no hope of ever actually exercising. Rabbits are way underestimated!

I used to be really enamoured with eglus for keeping chickens, but actually they are really small and not value for money at all, which I realised when I started looking into them a bit more.

Please remember that just because pet shops sell specific housing, it does not mean it is suitable. They sell whatever is easiest to make a profit with- genuinely had an email discussion with the head of Pets at Home about why almost all of the housing (for all small animals, not just rabbits) they sell in store is way below welfare guidelines (and in fact would be illegal in many European countries), and he admitted it was not ideal but that was what would sell best (or, as he put it I think, 'what customers want'-, not, you will note, what is actually necessary for the animals).

These links might be helpful for some ideas:

rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-housing/

www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwin_8SY2d7UAhXlDcAKHZZRDOkQFgixATAO&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rspca.org.uk%2FImageLocator%2FLocateAsset%3Fasset%3Ddocument%26assetId%3D1232725725160%26mode%3Dprd&usg=AFQjCNHt8J8kpt0RajHYUOy2i752jvtH4Q

(Also, so pleased to hear you're intending to rescue rather than support the awful factory breeding of pet shop animals when there are so many desperate for loving homes! )

My 2 have a double storey hutch with a run (5x5ft) attached but that was no way big enough so my dp has constructed another run that they have access to while we are home... that is probably 12ftx12ft, and seems much more reasonable as they run around and do binkys in that.

In constrast to my single storey 5ft hutch for my rabbits when I was a teen, mine are very lucky, but even so, they still look like they need more?!!

Like this, bit of garlic and some vin rouge!