Rabbit housing and runs

[VenusClapTrap]

We are considering adopting rescue rabbits in the spring. I had a rabbit in my early teens, who I adored, so I am not completely new to rabbit care BUT that was thirty years ago (ouch) and I know that things have moved on with regards to what is recommended nowadays. No guinea pig companion as mine had, for a start.

As I understand it, hutches are out and sheds are in. This is fine - we have the space. Would four rabbits be ok in an average sized shed? I’m thinking four so they can snuggle up together in winter to keep warm - is that reasonable? Would it still need heating? We are in the south east so relatively mild compared to the wuthering northern hills I grew up in, where small animals had to move to the garage in winter.

I’m thinking a chicken coop for a run, with some sort of cat flap/tunnel for access, that could be locked at night. Now, the run my rabbit had all those years ago was basically a fenced off area of the garden; about 2x3m. She had access to this from morning till evening, and I’d let her out into the rest of the garden for an extended run around on evenings and weekends. She seemed to be a happy rabbit with this set up, and never attempted to dig out, although she did jump over the six foot high fence a couple of times, and ran round to the front doorstep to ask to come in the house .

So this was roughly what I was thinking, although with a larger footprint. But the research I’ve done so far always shows runs on paved areas, to prevent digging. Is this really essential? It seems a shame for them not to be on grass and earth. They can be let out into the rest of the garden when someone is there to supervise them (most days) but there will be times when they have to make do with their secure run e.g. when we are on holiday.

Finally, can anyone recommend a good supplier of suitable sheds/runs/coops etc? Neither dh nor I are any good at DIY so we need to either buy off the peg or pay a handyperson, and handypeople do not come cheap round here.

Any other pointers gratefully accepted. I want to do this right.

Id actually Google dog kennels and runs, they're more solid and larger than rabbit runs. The general rule is the bigger the better!

Mine had an omlet/eglu coop and run with a 4' square rabbit run attached last summer, I'd say it was just big enough for two rabbits. They're now living in my 12'x12' stable for winter, and hurtle about, constantly moving. The have the 4'x4' rabbit run inside the stable with a piece of wood on the top to provide a shelter if it snows through the stable louvre boards (ventilation boards) and they jump on and off that, and up onto a tack locker. In summer they'll go back into the garden where we've made a proper bunny run. Again it's about 12x12' , on grass, but we've put strong well mesh underneath the ground and grassed over it. In the little run my female bunny would dig a hole the length of your arm in about an hour.. She'd have been out if we'd not put mesh down. My male bunny didn't dig at all.

Good on you for doing research into modern standards of rabbit care.
Rabbits are the most misunderstood and mistreated pets in the UK and most are kept isolated and bored in totally inadequate conditions. It drives me bonkers

Have you visited the Rabbit Welfare Association? rabbitwelfare.co.uk They have loads of good advice and links. I don't think they recommend chicken coops because the ramps are too steep and rabbits have injured themselves falling off them.

I don't have rabbits myself (not enough space) but I fantasise about creating a fab, spacious and enriched home for some rescue bunnies one day.

Please do come back and tell us about your set up when you have decided. I'm a little envious!

Most modern chicken coops have very low, un steep ramps.

We bought all the hutches/runs then decided we loved the fluffy little buggers too much and they've never left the house

Was surprisingly easy to train them to the litter box and even though they're not the most affectionate of animals its lovely watching them playing together and they always seem pleased to see us in the morning. Wherever they are in the kitchen/living room as soon as they hear their food being poured into their bowl they both come running to it.

I was worried about keeping them indoors as had heard they don't sweat so the heat can be bad for them but as soon as the heating goes on they push their fuzzy little butts under it and stay there for ages!

www.runaround.co.uk/collections/rabbits

We are on our second pair, first 2 were rescues and we brought a 2 tiered cage and hubby fixed a second tier on to it making 3 and made it open . Its carpeted (the metal cages are so bad for their feet), and it's housed in a shed. Their run is attached to the shed via a cat flap. which is locked for the night. But they are out from 8am till 9pm in summer, less now in the garden and they can come and go as they please. I'm here most days. We've only had one fox (nxt doors dog barking mad at 12pm) and i spotted him from window. They are a joy to watch, don't bark and go through a bag of kale a week. Get some they need homes as the rspca have too many on their hands. You won't regret it and the advise we got from the centre was great.

Thanks everyone. I’ve spent a lot of this evening doing research, and your posts/suggestions/links are all really helpful. Any more on the amount of digging your rabbits do or don’t do? I don’t fancy digging up the ground in order to lay mesh underneath. The site I have in mind is under a massive copper beech, so very rooty.

Another question - could rats be a problem for rabbits? I know they visit my compost heaps, and probably nest somewhere near. I don’t mind rats generally - I don’t bother them, and they don’t bother me. In fact I admire their intelligence and whiskery cuteness. But would they harm rabbits? There’s that scene in Watership Down...

Polestar I feel the same sadness about the number of mistreated/abandoned bunnies, and have also harboured a secret dream of providing a home for rescues for years! DH is totally opposed, but the dc are now nagging, and he is putty in their hands, so I think we may be in with a chance with a bit of a push.

I am fantasizing about getting two friendly ones, for the dc sake, and two scaredy ones who just deserve a nice home to make up for sad times.

My rabbits are in my spare stable. I had hens in the one next door and had to rehome them a few weeks ago because they were attracting rats and they were damaging the wooden stables. I was worried they would then move onto bothering the rabbits once the hens were gone, but they don't seem to have gone near. They have a big pile of straw in a covered bed area in the corner and I give it a good poke with a broomstick every couple of days to make sure no rats have moved in! I also spoke to the vet about rats and he said they don't carry any diseases that are transferable to rabbits.

Funnily enough, the only time we didn't have mice and rats was when we had rabbits and guinea pigs! We thought it might be a territorial thing! I'd be worried about leaving too much food on the ground though. And if you do have rats about, you must be very assiduous about annual
injections (which I sure you would be anyway)!

The advantage of getting rescues is that (a) they will be old enough to know their sex and (b) you will be able to have an already bonded pair (c) if it's a decent rescue, they will have already been neuteured too (which saves money and worry) and they will offer advice and ongoing support.

Good luck op! The Rabbit Welfare Society site linked below is excellent. Oh yes, and it's good to find a rabbit friendly vet in advance too!

The one piece of advice I would give you is to be very careful about feeding as it will save huge problems later on in terms of health problems and vets fees. Don't go for any muesli mixes and only feed "complete" hard food (in small quantities) but the most important thing is to have lots and lots of lovely sweet hay and herbs and fresh food for them and some fruit branches for them to gnaw on to prevent teeth issues.

Thank you.

Yes the Rabbit Welface site was really helpful!

Welfare, even.

We have 2 rescue rabbits; a dwarf lop and a dwarf Netherlander (or so the rescue believes). They have the run of the front garden all day (it’s completely fenced and is about 30m x 10m), and are in a chicken coop with 8’ run attached at night. They don’t dig at all; we’re probably just lucky but the rescue were of the opinion that the larger the rabbit the more likely to dig.
The rescue also provided brilliant support in the early days; I texted multiple times in the first winter worrying that they’d be cold!

Sorry to hijack - What did they say about rabbits and cold? Mine live in a 12x12’ wooden stable, with rubber matting over the concrete and straw and hay on top of that. They’ve got a 4x4’ hut inside the stable absolutely full of straw, which I thought they’d burrow in when they were cold, but they don’t really use it. We’re in an exposed spot in the Pennines and it’s been v icy/snowy this week. They seem to be sitting around not doing much and I’m worried they’re cold. I’ve picked my smaller, shorter haired one up a couple of times and he feels ok. I wonder if I’m over worrying!

Pic from today.

They are very cute Honeyroar! I am in bed with flu and I’ve spent the day planning my rabbit set up and browsing rescue rabbits on all the local shelter websites! I really, really, want to get some now. But realistically I think it will probably have to wait a year, as it’s clearly going to be expensive to set up and I’ve already persuaded dh we need to invest in a pergola this year, so I think that’s all my garden credit taken up already for 2019.

@Honeyroar, your rabbits are super-cute! The rescue scoffed at me when I worried about cold. They said that any healthy bonded pair of rabbits with a reasonable amount of bedding would be absolutely fine. They suggested an old carpet over the top of the bedroom if temps below -5 and moving the hutch into the garage at -10. They said under no circumstances to bring them in for a night.
I am a bit soft and mine have a snuggle pad when the night is below freezing and I also move the bedroom right up to the house where I perceive it might be slight warmer (probably nonsense), but they’ve always be absolutely fine.

Aw thanks ladies. Good to hear that they're probably not cold!

Venus sorry about your flu. Hope you're feeling better tomorrow. While we're on the photos, here's a pic of their half constructed summer accommodation. When I said we've had to put anti dig wire underneath, we didn't dig up the garden, we put down the mesh, covered it with a few sacks of soil/compost and sprinkled grass seed over it. That was October, it's now bedded down onto the previous grass, and grown grass all over it - you'd never know there was mesh there. It's not finished yet, my husband (the bunny run maker) has been ill, but the intention is to put our old tiny hen coop in the run and stretch some fruit nets over the top of the run to stop predators getting in from above. It's not been too expensive.

Have to say, a pergola would be a great bunny run with a bit of wire nailed onto it...!!😄

Ps Needingcoffee, it's interesting they said the larger the rabbit the more it digs, because my diddy one didn't really dig at all, it's all his larger lady love's work!

Hay and straw (provided it's dry) is the best insulator. I've never kept rabbits (I have guineas which are far more fragile)

When we lifted them from their haybeds , the hay was snug , their bellies and feet were warm, maybe their ears were colder (they have skin on the feet and ears unlike your fur coated bunnies )

Snuggle pads can give 10 hours of slow release warmth ( I used newspaper to wrap instead of the fleece cover which got peed on) buried under he top layer of newspaper to stop them getting to it.

They used to 'cook' things in hay , an earthenware dish, part cooked in the oven and the residual heat and insulation of hay did the rest.
Not that I was thinking of cooking the guineas

Are the snuggle pads non electric? I'm nervous of leaving anything plugged in at the stables..

They're a funny pair, they seem to like to clear patches of straw and sit on the rubber mats with their backs against the wooden walls,C which surely wouldn't be as warm as the bedding, but I guess they have options and can choose for themselves.

That’s a nice run! Roughly the size that mine will be. Good tip about laying down mesh then tipping soil over - that would probably work for my area.

I’ve used snuggle pads for convalescing cats; they are really good.

Yes , they're solid plastic discs (I'm not sure if there's a gel in the middle) heating times are on the disc.
They don't get hot hot , I can hold an unwrapped one against my skin, but you wouldn;t want an animal lying directly on it ,
They come with a washable fleece cover but you'd be washing it pretty regularly .

I don't know if they have a maximum number of heatings , I bought new ones after a couple of winters , just in case.

Thanks. I've ordered one to try. I've a lab with arthiritis that will love it if the bunnies don't!

I have 2, in the winter they live in the shed in a 2 storey hutch with a 4x4 run attached with access to a 12x12 run whenever we are home (generally 6.30-8am, 5.30-11pm).
The shed gets absolutely roasting as soon as the weather turns (end march early April) and we have to relocate them to the patio (which gets shade at midday) and assemble a ramp for the large run to go onto a different area of the grass.

They are diggers, so we have laid mesh in their winter location but not summer yet.

I love letting them out in the garden but we have loads of kites swarming ahead, always on the look out for food. We stay out there with them, but even that doesn't deter them as one swooped down to about roof height last year whilst the kids and I were in the garden... luckily I managed to scare it away but I've been traumatised since!

Two very good suppliers of sheds/hutches/runs are Manor Pet Housing and Small Paws Playtime. They used very high quality materials and don't sell anything that doesn't meet RWAF guidelines. Four rabbits will need at least 60 square feet of permanently accessible space and you shouldn't need to lock them out of a run as long as the run is properly secured (high quality mesh on the sides and top and meshed under the grass). Great to see you are going down the rescue route, so many wonderful bunnies in rescues