Any rabbit owners out there, advise on best hutch to start with please

[mummyeme]

Getting dd a pet rabbit, shes old enough now to enjoy having one. Obviously it's me that will look after it. Can anyone recommend best hutch to start with and the best place to get one from.
Completely aside from that is there much difference between boy and girl rabbits for temprement.
Thanks for your help.

I'd get a boy definitely. Girls can be aggressive (you can have they spayed but it might not alter their aggressiveness).

I'd look either online - there are loads of good hutches - or go to a big pet store - although the 'life' of those isn't great. The pet shop guy told us we'd need to get a better (read more expensive) one after a year!

I'd go for the niceest size wise you can afford and the largest - if space isn't a prob.

Also try to get one with a pull out shelf to make cleaning easier.

I can't remember the company but you can get dark green coated plastic ones that are really easy to clean out. Wood is a bit of a mare and rots with the urine!

Rabbits need plenty of time in a sizeable run too.

Do you have your heart set on a rabbit? Guinea pigs are much easier ime.

this may help.

Recommended minimum hutch size is 5ft length, garden centres are good or plenty of options online.

you'll need to get a pair of rabbits so they can be company for each other, one rabbit is a lonely rabbit.

they would be safer, happier and healthier if you kept them in the house rather than outdoors

they will need an outdoor run for the warmer weather

they will also need to be let out of their house for at least a few hours a day and given freedom in a closed room if possible.

Be cautios though as my sister bought a pair of sisters and now has to speparate them as they fought so badly. She literally had to pull them apart and one had its ear bitten off by the other! She's had them both spayed and it made little difference. As they're house rabbits, she now has to divide the house up so they don't attack each other and logistically for her, it's a nightmare.

There's nothing worng with a hutch in the garden as long as it's sheltered and covered over in winter at night. Obviously exercise is very important but there's nothing to say you can't being them inside for a run around.

If you live near north Essex we have a 2 story palace and run that we had for our old rabbit only had it for 3 months before it decided to go and play with the foxes - DS and DD thinks he is off playing in the fields of sidcup happily with the other rabbits!

Our rabbits (spayed females, been together since birth) spend a lot of time grooming each other and snuggling up next to each other, so I wouldn't get one to live alone.
get a breed which is very laid back - definitley not Netherland Dwarfs, which are nervy and hate being handled!
Ours actually live in a shed which has a hatch cut so that they can get into an attached outdoor run at will (though i shut the hatch at night). The run has fox-proof wire, and I have tent pegged it to the ground and bolted it to the shed (foxes will overturn a run, and even some hutches) I also dug chicken wire into the ground a few inches below the run to stop the rabbits digging out / foxes digging in!

Some very good hutches have bad catches - sort of heart shaped swivel catches - a fox could easly tip a swivel like this and our local pet shop has reported that this has happened. If you get a hutch like that, put proper bolts on.
Rabbits must have 2 injections each year to stop them getting myxamatosis and something else.

I am v fond of our rabbits and find them entertaining, but in all truth, guinea pigs would have been a much better pet for DS - easier (and cheaper) to look after, much easier to handle, and they make that lovely squeaking sound when you approach, so you feel loved!

Ah yes, the squeaking sounds! and the purring sort of sound. My little guy used to do that when he'd see me going to the fridge for his salads!

Thanks so much for all your help everybody!. Dds going to be so excited when she finds out.