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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Carpet or hard flooring??

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    • Mimzy
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        So I’ve been wanting hard flooring for a while now, even before I got my bunny. I’m thinking laminate wood flooring, it looks really nice. But I’m wondering if it will be bad for my bunny? Like can she hurt herself on hard flooring when she’s binkying/running around?

         I had a few reasons for hard flooring, 

        1. It is 80 degrees in my room (because of turtle tank) so it would help keep it a bit cooler 
        2. Easier to pick up my bird droppings (He usually makes it on the mats I put on his perch or by his cage but occasionally….)
        3. Easier to clean up bunny pee (She normally goes in her litter box, but she’s starting to forget her litter habits every so often since she’s 4 mos currently)
        4. She’s shown signs of ripping at the carpet
        5. My carpet is so old, many stains plus a large burnt circle that I did by accident thankfully my bed is currently covering it!

        So anyway, I really would love to have the hard flooring but I really don’t want her to slip and injure herself. Would hard flooring be fine as long as I have a rug or something safe for grip?


      • blackfang
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          Depend on your rabbit(s).

          One of my two rabbit will hate her life if she put her foot on hard floor. I took her to kitchen floor for about 30 to 60 minutes for five days straight. She never move. She HATE to be in homemade cage that come with hard floor (coroplast – type of flooring). So carpet is for her and good thing that she never chew or dig on carpet. However, she isn’t litter-trained even though she is already fixed. She will pee somewhere from time to time. I’ll have to replace carpet like once a year.

          My another rabbit didn’t care but prefer to hop around on carpet because it is much easier but like to sleep on hard floor. He chewed on carpet.

          So.. my female rabbit hate hard floor so I have to get carpet but my male rabbit will chew on it! How can I solve this problem?

          I came up with a solution. Thin carpet.. yes very thin carpet.. not puffy thread coming out of carpet. It’s like a classroom carpet that you went to K-12 school.
          The chewer rabbit will chew some of the corner of the carpets but I blocked them by placing heavy things cover the chewed spots. I noticed he NEVER chew carpet in middle of room? 0.o But that’s good thing!

          Both of my rabbits are happy which is good!

          Anyway, my point is that you should try to get thin carpet after your rabbit will be fixed (spay) which will improve your rabbit’s litter habit of going to litter box(es). Also try to observe your rabbit’s chewing behavior.. Is she chewing carpet in middle of room? No? then get thin carpet and heavy object to block that she will chew on. (From what I read, most of rabbits tend to chew near the walls or corners but make a double check with your rabbit’s chewing behaviors)

          1. Why don’t you move turtle tank to other room? Rabbits NEVER like to be in hot temperature like 80 for rest of their lives. They like to be in 55 to 70 F.
          Don’t bother to get hard floor if you want to cool down. I mean do you want your rabbit to hop for few seconds and realized it’s too hot and lay down on floor to cool down. Then later she will develop her habit of laying down for rest of her life just because it’s cooler not to move. (the more rabbit move, the more she will feel heat, heat come from energy burn)
          2. Get a shark hand vacuum to clean your bird poops faster.
          3. She more likely won’t have accident if you take her to vet for spaying her.
          4. Get thin carpet
          5. look at answer number 4 if your carpet isn’t thin.

          Yes rabbits can hurt themselves by slipping on the hard floors. I dislike the idea of getting rugs. I mean, that’s very limited space and freedom for her to move.


        • RabbitPam
          Moderator
          11002 posts Send Private Message

            Many people have large area rugs on hardwood floors and they are fine for bunnies, as are runners down hallways. I never met a bunny that didn’t like wall to wall carpeting, but they seem to vary in their feelings about floors. Some of our members have bunnies that enjoy cool tiled floors in warm weather, yet my own bunnies never would set foot on kitchen floors at all. Ever. And now my Sammy is in her area rug habitat and will not venture out of it onto tiled flooring.
            But other members have bunnies that are quite content on hardwood floors, and do just fine.

            I think you could take your bunny to different rooms to see how she responds to any floors you already have. Try the bathroom or kitchen, or any where you have tile at least, though if you have wood floors at all that would be best. You could also take her to visit a friend with hardwood floors to see if she moves on it, but the problem there is that other factors may make her timid.

            As for safety, I think you can bunny proof your areas on and surrounding the new floor to make sure there’s nothing that would cause any real harm. Sliding into a wall is a possibility, or a chair leg, but a bunny tends to be good at maneuvering (binkies are very skillfully controlled twists and runs) so you may just need to keep her nails trimmed well to avoid slipping.


          • lindsay715
            Participant
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              I lived in a studio apartment for 6mo that was all hard wood flooring. back at my mom’s house, Wesley was never thrilled with the wood floors downstairs (he had run of the second floor which was all carpeted). however, he adjusted to it in the apartment to an extent – he was comfortable moving around on it, but was much happier on the rug (which took up probably 2/3 of the room). he would not binky or run on the wood floor. he would zip around and binky on the rug, though.


            • Amys Animals
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                My whole house is hard flooring. I wish it wasn’t since I have buns but I don’t think they mind much. In their pen area I have large rugs down on most of it but I leave some space of hard floor for them to lay on if they get too warm, which they take advantage of. Normally if I have them on the hard floor and I put something like a towel or rug down they will just hang out on that when they get tired of the floor. My bunnies don’t have run of the house, unfortunately but if they could I don’t know that they would be okay running throughout the house on the hard floor. But who knows…

                I have laminate in my bedroom and in the living room…It is VERY slippery for bunnies. Tile is better, I think. But as long as there are some rugs down I think they should be okay what ever you choose.


              • Elrohwen
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                  Rabbits absolutely prefer carpet over slippery floors. They don’t have pads on their feet like dogs and cats, just fur, so they can’t get traction.

                  With that said, I prefer hardwood floors and some rooms in my house have them (my last house had them everywhere) and I make it bunny friendly by adding rugs. Otto stays on the rugs to go from room to room, but Hannah is ok on the hardwood (though she sticks to the rugs for binkies and zoomies)


                • tobyluv
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                    My house is mostly carpeted. I have a series of throw rugs going through the kitchen so that my bunnies don’t have to hop on the vinyl floor. The one room where my bunnies stay the most is the living room, and there I have a large rug over the hardwood floor. There is also a large rug covering the adjacent dining room and I have two small rugs to connect the two rooms so that they don’t have to step on the hardwood to get out to their screened porch. There is one section of the living room floor that is just hardwood. My bunnies rarely venture there, but if they are hopping through the house and take a different route to get back to the living room, they will cross over that area. I have seen my bunnies slip a few times on that hardwood and it always scares me. Luckily they have never hurt themselves, and now they seem to avoid that area which is good.


                  • Huckleberry
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                      I have carpet in every room but the kitchen and bathroom, and I still have to have area rugs all over the place. Huck’s opinion about the laminate floors seems to change. In the morning, she is scared of it. Around midnight, her highest active playtime, she loves to run and skid across it, she is a weirdo. I hate having carpet. She has destroyed it. She chews on the rugs but at least those are replaceable.
                      If you have the time and money and prefer harder floors, do it! Just make it bunny friendly with lots of rugs. Keep in mind though, little baby bunnies (should you choose to bring more binky love to your home) can have problems developing their hind legs if they are left to slip and slide on tractionless floors. Your bun is old enough that she is pretty well developed, so you don’t have to worry about that… but for future additions reference, keep it in mind 😉


                    • Mimzy
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                        Nobody – unfortunately I can’t move the turtle :/ I live with my parents and they don’t want him in the living room and there’s no space in the other 2 bedrooms. I think there’s a chance that he could be moved to the living room if we ever get it situated better and make more space, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon
                        But I do like your suggestions!

                        Thanks everyone I think I’ll do hard flooring, her playpen is hard flooring (with blankets and towels here and there) and when I’m home, I leave it open all day. She goes on the carpet just as much as she does on the hard floor so I don’t think she cares much. And I’ll just get a good size rug that will allow her to binky safely

                        I’m currently trying to put all my electronics onto the wall (tv, DVD player…etc) so that way I can rid of my cabinet and she’ll have even more room!


                      • Jenna, Chubs & Comet
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                          Chubs treats any hard flooring as if it is hot lava and avoids it at all cost…lol. Comet doesn’t seem to mind it a bit

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                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Carpet or hard flooring??