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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Flooring

  • This topic has 25sd replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by Bam.
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    • Reeem
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        Ideas for flooring in a bunny cage?


      • BarbaraC
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          Hi Reem. Thank you for bringing this topic up. I am interested in what others suggest too. Right now I have an NIC condo, the upper level is just vinyl tiles over plywood. The lower level has fleece pad that I made. It has an absorbent material in the center that also adds cushion. Attached to the condo is an xpen. This is where I have struggled to find something that is both good for my bunny’s feet and protects my hardwood floor. (I recently started bonding my bunnies and there has been some territorial marking.)

          First I tried an indoor/outdoor carpet but pee just soaks through this. So last night I put down vinyl flooring, the type that comes in a roll. This flooring has a thin foam backing that I am hoping also adds some cushioning for their feet.

          I am so paranoid about sore hocks after reading others’ experiences.


        • Reeem
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            I have fleece right now. I put two over each other , but she just digs it and eats it. It has a huge hole in the middling from all the chewing. I was going to try linoleum but I’m afraid of sore hocks too.


          • OliverBun
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              I have some rugs over his wire floor and wicker mats over the corner so he doesn’t dig at the carpet


            • vanessa
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                My bunnies bedroom has carpet, so I put a double layer of 10mil plastic sheeting, the kind you use in the crawlspace of your house. Then I layer it with puppy pee pads – just in case. It’s easier to replace a pee pad, then clean up pee that could run quite far on plastic. Then I put down a large blanket. I have different blankets I use. Sometimes I use a combination of smaller blankets, like while the bunnies are getting use to a new floor plan. It is easier to wash 1 small blanket at a time, than pull up the entire system. Airplane blankets work well for this. But Guin tends to dig up the blankets. Half of the room is plain carpet – the play area. The other half,their living area, has the plastic/pee pad/blanket combo. But then…. I got veterinary fleece bedding. Also paranoid about sore hocks. The fleece is lovely. But Guin pees on the fleece that is at the boundaries. So I cut it into a large square for the middle of the living area, and then a foot-wide strip for along the walls. That way if she pees on the strip along the walls, I can pull up a foot wide piece, instead of a whole large square. But then I got tired of washing the fleece. So I replaced the foot-wide pieces with towels. She doesnt’ pee on the towels, problem solved. I read that some rabbits like to pee on fleece. Lancelot tries to dig at it, but neither of them destroy it. I’ve read about those spongy puzzle squares, like gym mats. But I wouldn’t try those with my rabbits. They would gobble them, shred them, have all sorts of fun.
                The plastic I use runs up the wall about 6 inches, so they can’t pee down the side of the wall. But I do have to bloch those pieces from them, because Lancelot will chew up the plastic in no time. I dont think he eats it – he leaves me a pile of very tiny plastic pieces. He started plucking pieces of carpet in the closet, so I closed the closet doors and he didn’t try it elsewhere. Gwen has been easy on the flooring. I have a sisal-woven NIC panel, and a bunny dig box with sisal that I bought off Etsy.com, and an cat litter box with sand. But I took that away temporarily as the cat started using it… I want to attach an 8-inch corrugated pipe as an entrance, so the cat can’t get in. I think each bunny is different and reacts differently to different flooring options. Guin likes to chew up puppy pads. Lancelot leaves them alone. If I were you, I would find out about as many flooring options as people use, and then find a way to test them out before going all in. I like my current setup. Nothing is completely rabbit proof. But some optiosn work better for certain bunnies. Before I settled on my current setup, I tried vinyl wood flooring which was impractical and the pee spread was too much to keep clean. I tried sheet vinyl, but the rabbits wouldn’t walk on it as it was too slippery. So I painted on a clear non-skid coating. That was for the outdoor shed.
                I like wicker and grass mats, because they will want to dig and chew – they are rabbits. So wicker/grass is generally safe to chew.


              • Reeem
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                  Why does my bunny dig and eat the fleece ?!


                • Bam
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                    Reem, that’s one of the big questions of the universe and nobody really knows the answer. My bunnies dig and eat holes in fleece. Luckily I’ve lots of cheap fleece blankies so I can replace them when they get too many holes in them. If it’s not a lot of fleece your bun eats, it’s not very dangerous since fleece doesn’t have threads. Ragrugs and towels, on the other hand, have threads and those may cause blockages if ingested.

                    Cardboard is generally safer than fleece though, does your bun have access to cardboard hidey-boxes etc? Cardboard is cellulose and ok to eat (if you’re a bunny). Bunnies often like to remodel cardboard boxes. They don’t all have to be big, you can f ex serve hay in a small box and the bunny may like to add his personal touch to the box by using his teeth on it.

                    Flooring doesn’t have to be super-soft, in fact it shouldn’t be.In the wild bunnies don’t line their burrows with soft stuff except when they’re having babies. What you want to avoid is wire bottom cages, they do harm bunny feet. 

                    I have a vet-bed for one of my buns, he likes to lounge on it. It’s like sherpa-fleece with plastic antislide on the underside, it let’s pee through so it doesn’t get soaked. (Yohio never pees on his, though.) Above is a pic of it. Other than that my buns live on un-carpeted floors, linoleum-type. 


                  • Reeem
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                      First of Yohio is so cute !! Ive tried cardboard boxes but she doesnt seem interested at all. Is it okay if she is eating it ?


                    • Bam
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                        Plain cardboard is ok for them to nibble on, in reasonable amounts, of course. They shouldn’t eat up whole boxes, that wouldn’t be good.

                        Yohio says thank you for the compliment! He’s sitting right here beside me =)


                      • Reeem
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                          Will she ever stop digging and eating the fleece ?


                        • Dalielah
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                            One of my girls doesn’t mind fleece and only chews it a tiny bit. My other girl will chew holes in fleece the size of my head, so she doesn’t get fleece anymore. Both buns have nic cages with plastic liner on the bottoms. They each have a tight knit rug and about three tshirts. Though the tshirts they just like to bunch up and dig in. Sometimes they’ll lay on them after they rearrange them for good 15 minutes.


                          • Reeem
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                              Do they like the plastic liner ?


                            • Xxventanaxx
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                                I would like to know what the best option would be for covering. I think lux is now potty trained almost. She pees in her litter box and poops in there more then anywhere else. I put wood pellets that are used for cats for her litter box and she rarely goes in the fluff now but I want to get rid of the fluff.


                              • Dalielah
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                                  They do like it. They move the shirts out of the way to lay on the hard plastic 90% of the time. The plastic is folded up at the sides to contain mess and one my bunnies has made it her life’s purpose to chew it down. She does not eat it, she just leaves it a crumbled mess on the floor, so I have not been worried about it. I don’t remember the name of the type I got, it’s sold at Home Depot and lowes. It came in a giant sheet and I was able to cut it down and bend up the sides.


                                • Boing
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                                    My rabbit eats (not just chews) all textiles and all cardboard. He is incorrigible! If he has access to any of that he replaces hay with it. So I have non-slip, porcelain, textured tiles in his pen.

                                    Here is a link!

                                    http://www.rona.ca/en/floor-tiles-71415236

                                    They come in slate grey too.


                                  • Reeem
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                                      My city doesnt really have many options and if they do i cant afford it.


                                    • vanessa
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                                        My little guy chews up (and spits out) cardboard, and 10mil plastic sheet. All my rabbits chew the plastic storage bins that I use for hidey holes. I find piles of plastic around the newly sculpted hidey-hole-entrance. If she eats and digs at the fleece – she probably will always do that. I would try something else. It’s easy for us to say – hey this works, and that works. Try different ideas until you find one that works. Somethign to keep in mind – you might also want to try to find something ELSE your bunny really likes to chew. I give mine maple branches and cardboard. That way they always have somethign they really enjoy chewing, and they leave the carpet options alone. If I took away the cardboard and maple branches, they woudl start chewing the carpet options. So even if you find a flooring option that they woudl not chew – they will only leave it alone if they have something ELSE that they prefer to chew. Rabbits are chewers and diggers by nature. So really – you do have to find something for them to chew and dig at that they wil enjoy more than their flooring. That might be your first option. If I were you, I woudl leave the raggedy and chewed up fleece, and first try to find these other preferable chew toys. Once I find something that they routinely chew, I’d then try to find a flooring option that they leave alone. And try samples. It can get expensive to replace the flooring all at a time. Try 1 or 2 square feet at a time.


                                      • Bam
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                                          I have lots of rag rugs on my floor, they give great traction and are easy to wash, but a bunny might like to chew rag rugs and that’s way worse than fleece. So I think vanessa has a good point about trying to supply sth safe that the bunny likes to chew. Wood of various kinds is often appreciated.

                                          Rag rugs are often cheap but the really cheap ones are flimsy so you need to put anti-slide underneath them. Otherwise you can slip on them yourself and get hurt.


                                        • Reeem
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                                            I had this big hay ball that she loved , but she still chose to eat the fleece. I feel like shell never stop.


                                          • Bam
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                                              Once a bunny gets an idea into its head, it’s very difficult to get that idea out again. So it’s likely she won’t stop eating fleece. You may have to take it away entirely.


                                            • Reeem
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                                                If i take it away she will just be on the floor which obviously my main concern is sore hocks. She doesn’t seem to eat it and swallow it she just rips holes and spits it out. So do i just let her do it ?


                                              • Bam
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                                                  It’s ok if she doesn’t eat it. My bunnies rip and tear in their fleece blankies all the time. I buy the cheapest fleece blankies, cut them in two pieces and let the buns do what they please with them. I wash them once a week (mine never pees on theirs, if your bun pees on the fleece it will of course have to be exchanged more often.).


                                                • Reeem
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                                                    Thank god she doesnt pee there are only a few poops that dont end up in the litter box. My mom wont allow me to use her washing machine , thank god fleece is extremely cheap .


                                                  • vanessa
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                                                      I would agree with Bam on taking away the rug. Chewing their favorite item – isn’t something they outgrow. It’s something they refine. For example – my little guy chews 10mil plastic. Shreds it. I have to keep it out of his reach – coz he won’t stop. He just enjoys it too much. Instead, I give him cardboard to chew. He has a whole lot of fun with that. My girl Guin is more of a digger. So when she started digging at the carpet, I gave her something else to dig at – sisal mats, and a sand box. Luckily she decided that the alternatives were better than the carpet, and she stopped. I also give her maple branches to chew. It appears to take some of the digging frustrations away. But Lancelot will always eat plastic sheet if it is available. So all I can do is keep it out of her reach. Guin’s chewing “vice”, are the puppy pads that I placed on top of the plastic but under her fleece/blanket/towels. She digs up the towels to get to the puppy pads. I also use puppy pads under the hay in their litter boxes. So I have to put enough hay down, so that she has such a terrific blast with tunneling, head-tossing, and kicking up the hay, that it is more fun – than chewing the puppy pads.

                                                      So if you can’t find something that your rabbit likes to chew better than fleece, then you may have to remove the fleece. Like other’s have said, it is super cool, awesome, luxurious, soft, stays dry on the surface, etc, but not mandatory.


                                                    • Alfred&Tui
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                                                        Lets revisit this topic. Flooring in General. I have spent so much $$ trying to build the ideal rabbit cage for my bunnies. I would say that my bunnies are terrorists too, sorry but they are. They find a way to chew through everything! They pee in the litter box and on the floor. They are both spayed/neutered. I have done tons of training with them to try to help their habits and I am down to just the need for the perfect cage.

                                                        I will spoil them with the cage and that’s fine because I feel bad that we took wild animals and made them into pets, but here I am doing the same thing. Rabbits need to dig, rabbits need to chew, rabbits need to pee/poop, rabbits need to be socialized, rabbits need to burrow. I have read it all and its all embedded into my emotions for them.

                                                        Wood is out of the question. I have done that so many times because it was cheaper and they just chew it up and it soaks up the pee. The galvenized tub I got was great! However its not big enough for them to run around in too. I want to do the wire cube cage so that I can change the cage when and if I need to as well. I move alot because im a renter not a house owner.

                                                        The flooring is everything! It needs to have the ability for my rabbits not to get a hold of it with their teeth. It needs to have the ability for me to able to ‘easy’ clean up the urine. My thoughts have been toward vinyl tiles with a floor sealer painted over it. However I have read online about people saying they are trying to get the urine out of that too. All animals urinate. Why hasn’t someone invented the perfect flooring for urine yet! I am going to go crazy.

                                                        I put pet bedding in there too. I have even used grass patches. I have even used dirt. Its all good and well until Alfred digs a whole and then Tui comes along and pee’s in it to claim it. They love each other but together they are evil some days. Its a love hate relationship.

                                                        So any new ideas or is it still all unsure, because I do hours of research trying to find things. Im considering cement and Im not even sure if cement is good enough.

                                                        #rantover #sorry #flooringissues #Idonteventwitter haha


                                                      • Bam
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                                                          This is an old thread, but it’s not about medical science (medical science ages fast) so I think we can keep the discussion going in this thread.

                                                          I honestly don’t think cement would be good. Cement absorbs urine especially the smell and needs quite forceful cleaning to get the smell out.

                                                          A custom made galvanized tray might be the best thing, but it could be very expensive unless you know someone that does that type of metal work, like a small car workshop or sth.

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                                                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Flooring