What Rabbit Housing Decisions Should You Make Before You Buy Your First Rabbit?

There’s so many reasons why rabbits make a wonderful pet. You can housetrain rabbits, they don’t eat too much and they make wonderful companions for children as well as adults. Learning about keeping rabbits can be quite involved, but one of the earliest decisions you will need to make is whether you will keep your rabbits indoors or in an outdoors rabbit hutch.

It’s true that rabbits can be kept equally well indoors or outdoors, though for each there are different considerations. Normally a rabbit is kept in a rabbit hutch, and you can do so both indoors and outdoors.

If you’re looking to buy your first rabbit you should make some decisions about his housing before you buy anything. You should be aware for example that most rabbit hutches sold in pet shops or on the Internet are too small. He should be able to take at least 3 consecutive hops and be able to stand up in a hutch. Therefore it should be at least 6-7 feet long and 18 inches high. Many commercial hutches are way smaller than this, and it’s very sad to see rabbits cooped up in tiny cages.

If your decision is to keep your rabbit outdoors then you must ensure that your rabbit cage is thoroughly protected from all predators. Foxes and dogs and cats will all be extremely inventive at getting into a rabbit cage to get at your rabbit. It must also have an outdoors area where your rabbit can play in the sun and an indoors sleeping area where he can sleep thoroughly protected from the weather.

If you do have a very small hutch it’s important to provide a dedicated rabbit run near or around the hutch so that he can play in a much bigger space during the day which is also protected.

And if your rabbit is to be an indoors pet it is not important to have a roof on the hutch, and a roof inhibits cleaning, so unless you have a pet cats in the house a roof is not important. But he will still need his own private sleeping area.

Don’t place is a rabbit cage near glass areas which can become extremely hot during the summer in the sun, and cold during winter. Also avoid putting his cage anywhere near a gas appliance as these can leak toxic fumes.

And there is no reason why, if you have the space, you should not give your rabbit an entire room of his own provided it is thoroughly checked for hazards such as small holes in which he may get stuck.

There is no doubt that rabbits make a fine pet, but makes decisions well before you buy your rabbit, and in particular organise his housing beforehand.