Indoor Rabbit Housing
Exercise Pen
For your rabbit’s health, mental and physical happiness, and for you to better know when something about them changes, a puppy exercise pen (also often called an x-pen) works well as their home base for when you are sleeping or away from home. Or, you can make a double x-pen, connecting two together to make one large pen. This arrangement not only gives your rabbit more space to explore and play, but also makes for easier clean-up and supervision. The pen should have a layer of padding over the whole flooring, plus areas of thicker padding, like a soft bed, rabbit-appropriate toys, a large plastic litter box full of hay, one or two water bowls, and a cardboard box with cutout doors or a willow tent or footstool to hide under. Having housing that allows your rabbit space also lets them hop around more, which is important for their gut health.
For most rabbits, a 30”tall pen will be tall enough that they won’t jump over. There are several styles of puppy pens at different price points.
MidWest Foldable Metal Dog Exercise Pen
Clearly Loved Pets - Clear ‘Lucidium’ Pet Pens
Flooring options:
Ruggables - washable rugs. They sit flat, and rabbits are less likely to chew them, especially when the edges extend outside of their pen.
Large washable pads, then add a fleece blanket on top
Litter Box
Get a large plastic litter box, or boxes, if you want one in another location. Your rabbit should have room to pee/poop on one end and eat on the other end. A medium-sized or large-sized, rectangular cat litter box is a good size for a dwarf to a standard 5-6lb rabbit. A small litter box, or a triangular-shaped one, will end up with your rabbit having pee accidents over the edge, and kicking poops and hay out of the box when they jump out. For giant-sized rabbits or groups of rabbits living together, a concrete mixing tub or utility tub works well.
For senior rabbits, or rabbits with arthritis who need a litter box with a lower entry, I recommend:
Litter
I like wood stove pellets (inexpensive). They are often available at hardware stores and sometimes supermarkets in the colder months, but can be harder to find in the summer. I also like compressed paper pellets - if you get these, make sure they do NOT contain baking soda. Then, have plenty of hay over the top so your rabbit can eat and think and ruminate and pee/poop all at once. Add a handful of hay twice a day to encourage your rabbit to eat more hay.
Ace Hardware - Wood Stove Pellets
Small Pet Select Recycled Paper Pellet
Food & Water Bowls
For pellets, a small ceramic bowl works fine.
For water, you’ll want a large dog-sized ceramic crock, and always filled to the top. Rabbits drink more water for their size than dogs - the average-sized rabbit drinks the same amount of water as a 20lb dog! You’ll want a heavy ceramic bowl, as rabbits think it’s fun to throw and tip over lightweight bowls.
CLEANING PRODUCTS
White vinegar from the grocery store is a great cleaning product that is non-toxic and safe to use around rabbits. It effectively neutralizes and removes rabbit urine from hard surfaces, including floors and litter boxes. If the bottom of your litter box has urine stains, pour an inch of white vinegar into the box and let it sit for 10-15 minutes, then wipe clean.
Other cleaning products (chemicals) used in areas your rabbit comes into contact with may expose your rabbit to risk of respiratory or skin problems.
Rabbits have very sensitive respiratory systems, and eliminating extra Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the home can help to prevent sneezing and respiratory problems for your rabbit, and improve indoor air quality for everyone in the family.
I recommend using an unscented laundry detergent and skipping dryer sheets on any washable materials in your rabbit’s enclosure. Do not use scented products like Glade Plug-Ins or essential oil diffusers. Do not use strongly scented cleaning products in the home, like Fabuloso.
Rabbit Proofing
Your rabbit will enjoy running around and exploring inside your home, but until you know your rabbit well, it’s best to do when you’re home to keep an eye on them. You’ll need to rabbit-proof your house, preventing them from causing damage to your home, and from potentially getting sick or injured.
For door/window frames, furniture corners, and some baseboards, I recommend corner shields, available from the hardware store in either tape-mount or nail/screw mount versions.
I recommend blocking off the underside of beds, where rabbits would be inaccessible if they were sick and hiding, or in the event of needing to evacuate due to fire. Rabbits can also chew through the fiberglass fabric and climb up into your boxspring. Some people use plastic or wire panels and zip-tie them to the frame.
Cube Wire Grid Storage Shelves
You’ll also need to protect your electrical cords, as rabbits will chew them and could potentially injure or electrocute themselves, and a damaged cord could be a fire hazard. You can move cords up where rabbits can’t reach, move cords behind heavy furniture where rabbits don’t have access, block access to areas with a lot of cords with a baby gate in the doorway or using the panels above, or cover cords with cord protectors. Wall-mounted hard plastic cord protectors offer good protection. Rabbits may chew through thin corrugated plastic cord covers.
CordMate Cord Cover 5ft - you can cut these hard plastic cord covers to fit your needs
Outlet Cover With Cord Shortener
Small Pet Select Heavy-Duty Cord Cover
Safety 1st Perfect Fit Safety Gate - this baby/pet gate can be used to block doorways or stairs. It has solid plastic panels that rabbits generally do not chew, and can be used with rabbits on both sides (they can bite noses with a gate with holes in it).
Outdoor Hazards
There are a lot of risks out in the yard, including but not limited to: predators, parasites like fleas, maggots, other things you don't want to hear about, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus and Myxomatosis (both fatal infections). Your rabbit will live a longer life staying indoors and being spoiled by fun bunny toys and your love.
Diet
Hay
The biggest part of a rabbit’s diet should be hay! This includes timothy hay, orchard grass, oat grass, 3-way (oat, wheat, and barley grasses), meadow grass, and botanical hay. With oat or 3-way hay, you can use it as a primary hay if your rabbit is eating the fibrous stalks, but if they are only eating the seed heads, offer it only as an occasional treat. Do not feed oat or 3-way hay to rabbits who need to lose weight. Alfalfa should only be provided to pregnant or nursing rabbits, young growing rabbits up to 6-months, and rabbits with medical needs or seniors who require extra calories. You can provide several kinds all the time so your rabbit is encouraged to eat hay as much of the day as possible. You can get hay at pet supply stores or online, but you can get a better value with larger quantities, buying from rabbit rescues or by the flake or bale at feed stores. Your rabbit should eat their body size in hay every day!
Pellets
Choose one with no seeds or fruits mixed in, and that contains Vitamin D in the ingredients. I like:
Science Selective Adult Rabbit Food or House Rabbit Food
Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food
For the average adult 5-6lb rabbit, feed about 1/4 to 1/3 cup per day of a compressed pellet, like Oxbow Essentials. With an extruded pellet, like Science Selective, the daily serving is about double. Read the back of the package for the serving size, and never offer a rabbit an unlimited bowl of pellets as they will eat too many pellets and can develop health problems from not eating enough hay.
Leafy Green vegetables
Start with lettuces, like romaine, green leaf, red leaf lettuces, or baby greens (no spinach), adding them in one at a time so your rabbit’s gastrointestinal (GI) system gets used to the new vegetables. Rabbits also enjoy herbs - try parsley, cilantro, mint, and basil. Dark leafy greens are also good for rabbits, including kale, chard, dandelion greens, carrot tops, beet tops, and bok choy. Some of these dark leafy greens are high in calcium and oxalates, so best to give a variety of greens daily from these 3 categories (lettuces, herbs, and dark leafy greens), and don’t just feed dark leafy greens. Don’t give cabbage, which could cause gas.
Rinse greens and feed them to your rabbit wet on a plate, which provides your rabbit with additional hydration.
Carrots are high in sugar, and similar to fruit (see below), can contribute to GI issues and weight gain in rabbits. If carrot is given, I recommend giving a coin-sized slice of carrot.
Fruit
I recommend not giving rabbits fruit as treats, as the natural sugars in fruit can create a bacterial imbalance in rabbit’s gastrointestinal (GI) systems, and can contribute to GI Stasis episodes. It can also contribute to weight gain in rabbits.
Toys
Enrichment in a rabbit’s environment helps to keep their minds stimulated and allows them to express natural behaviors.
Apple and pear branches for chewing, promotes dental wear
Willow toys for chewing, promotes dental wear (Binky Bunny brand willow toys are a special favorite with rabbits!)
Stacking cups (made by many companies, ones for babies are fine too)
Foraging mat (you sprinkle the pellets in the felt and your rabbit has to work to find them, this one has a place to stuff hay - but anything like this is fine)
Foraging toy (again, rabbits like to search for their pellets, there are lots available now that the rabbit has to solve. If it gets too easy, there are more complex puzzles for rabbits.)
Grooming
Brushing/Combing
Rabbits have several big sheds a year, and are constantly licking themselves to groom. It’s important to brush them regularly, especially when they are shedding, to prevent them from eating large quantities of their own fur, which can cause a GI slowdown or obstruction.
HandsOn Animal Gloves (for petting & removing shedding fur)
Fine-tooth comb (for flea removal or combing shedding fur)
Hair Buster Comb (for shedding)
Zoom Groom (massaging brush)
Nail trims
Your rabbit will need a nail trim about once a month or every other month. I recommend using small cat nail clippers. Have someone teach you how to safely trim nails. You’ll want to have a styptic powder like Kwik Stop just in case of a quicked nail (trimming too short).