Any tips for keeping the home of house rabbits from looking like a disaster?

[ClareKate]

 Hello!

We’ve had our cute little Dutch Fiver for over 2 1/2 years now and have had our big New Zealand girl Spring since March. You’d think by now we’d have come up with a solution to keep our home looking like it’s completely overrun by rabbits, but we haven’t. Well, really our home is overrun by rabbits, but I’d like it not to look that way!

We have both buns in separate 4’x4′ pens (their bonding is taking a very, very, very, long time) in our living room and our house is on the smaller side. I have bins in the living room with pellets, litter, and hay. I’m thinking that I might get a lift top coffee table at some point or some storage ottomans to stow away the bins. Anyone find any good solutions to hiding rabbit supplies but still having it close by?

We also end up with our carpet covered in hay. I think that maybe I need a bigger hay bin. I have a big 25 or 50 lb box of hay in the basement and a bring a day or two’s worth of hay upstairs in the bin, but I just end up with hay bitseverywhere. Any good solutions for keeping hay less messy?

Really, any cleaning or storage/organization tips that you’ve come up with for your rabbits would be much appreciated! I feel like all I do is clean, but my house still looks like a barn!

Thanks!

Clare, Geoff, Fiver, & Spring

[Deleted User]

I had that problem when my rabbis lived upstairs and the supplies were in the basement. I now have my rabbits’ pen in the basement as well. You need to keep the hay supply right close to where they are eating it, or the hay will keep going everywhere.

At one point I had an NIC grid condo when they were still in my bedroom and I had a weeks’ worh of hay right above the condo, in a couple of grid cubes, so I would just reach in and drop it into their hay boxes underneath.

Welcome to the forums.

[RabbitPam]

I can’t post a picture at the moment, but I bought a wooden two door cabinet that sits next to the bunny’s cage. It is about waist high, holds a bin with hay in it, has a shelf, and holds my cleaning supplies, meds, toys, etc. It hardly holds all her stuff, but it looks nice and I open it, pull out the hay bin, put the hay in her hanging bin that’s only a few inches away, and then close it all up. Keeps the hay out of sight and not far to go to get the hay feeder filled.

I got an unfinished wood piece because I am picky, but one of those standing floor cabinets they sell for bathrooms, where you can store towels etc., would work.

[jerseygirl]

Spring is a cute name for a girl bun!

I thought of a pic that wendyzski has posted here before. Maybe something like this could work for you?

(pic from Wendyzski)

Or something like this below. I believe Wendy and Skibunny use something like this but using wood or cardboard instead of wire grids. You can load alot more hay and bunnies access it at the bottom.

I like browsing at sites like Apartment Therapy or Ikea Hacker blogspot. People come up with nifty ways to convert furniture into pet stations.

[angelicvampyre]

Just remember that with hay racks bigger is better. I got mine made and it is to small for my two let alone if I manage to get Rufus in there as well.

[Beka27]

Hay is probably the most annoying thing to try and keep contained. We do the big 50lb boxes of hay, so I transfer some of it into a smaller box for daily use, and that cuts down on the mess a lot.

[Catalina]

I use Ikea storage bins to store my bun’s hay/pellets/wood litter pellets. They stack and the front part lifts up on a hinge. I just bought them in March, so they should still have some. They had 2 different sizes – BIG ones and smaller ones. The big ones will easily hold a 50lb bag of bird seed and the small ones barely hold a 40lb bag of wood pellets (just for an idea of their size).
I also use a plastic bag holder from Ikea for my bun’s hay rack. It works really well. It is supposed to be used to hold extra plastic bags – like grocery bags.
The best thing idea I had for keeping the mess down is to buy a rug just for Tansy. It stays in his main living area – the dining room and I vacuum it every other day.
He’s about 90% free range now and actually I keep my house tidier now, because if something is out of place it WILL GET CHEWED ON! LOL!

[Deleted User]

A good vacuum cleaner can make a big difference too. Shop-Vacs are good for hay and litter.

[4Lily]

my home doesn’t even look like I have animals living there, but Lily is free to run! I have a corner area beside the couch that I put down a blanket, or rug or towel (sometimes while the others are being washed) that has her veggie bowl, cage bottom, basket w/litter box in it, behind chairs I have cardboard box’s with phonebook’s in them, or shredded paper, in our bedroom, I have a covered litter box with his litter & hay & anouther diggy box, he also has a blanky in there too! My boyfreind doesn’t want Lily’s stuff to take over our place, so he still gets all kinds of stuff, but I hide it! LOL! And I think Lily likes that too! Those area’s are just his!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

i find that what keeps most of the mess contained for me is I have their litter box in their cage and I have their hay rack over their litter box, so what they fling out of their litter box stays in the cage and they fling very few things out of their cage.

[Elrohwen]

I have a pet store cage attached to my bun’s pen – all of their hay is served in the pet store cage, either in the litter box (which is also in there) or a hay rack. Any mess they make with litter or hay stays in the plastic bottom of the pet store cage, and it’s super easy to sweep up and clean. The times I’ve used just a pen, they managed to get hay everywhere.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Petzy on 07/15/2010 01:46 PM
A good vacuum cleaner can make a big difference too. Shop-Vacs are good for hay and litter.

Yup, agreed.  I have simply given up trying to keep the hay contained in my apartment.. I also own a horse, so I track hay from the barn into my apartment too.  Between that and Zeus’s hay, I just gave up trying to keep hay out in the first place.
 

I have this little vacuum, and I looooove it:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dirt-Devi…u=13812585

It’s got a really long cord so I can just plug it in once and take it all over my living room.  It’s bagless and really easy to empty.  It’s POWERFUL for a little vacuum, easily gets hay/litter/scattered poops/scattered food pellets.  Also that clear thing on the top of it flips down into a little long, skinny nozzle that’s good for hard to reach places.  It’s just an awesome little vacuum, and I got mine on sale for $20 at the local Farm and Fleet!

[Lunar~Atticus]

oh bunnnnie! i completely agree with you, i have the same problem…between my horse and my rabbits hay is just everywhere!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Lunar~Atticus on 07/18/2010 11:27 AM

oh bunnnnie! i completely agree with you, i have the same problem…between my horse and my rabbits hay is just everywhere!

Yup, same here. 
 

[Meg]

Hey all!  I wanted to pick up on this old thread and see if anyone has any more tips, particularly for keeping the floor clean.  My two bunnies and I are moving into a condo, and I need to step up my game re: cleanliness.  Here are my three key problem areas:

1)  I have some carpet-like rugs from IKEA for the bunnies to hang out on, and man do they hang on to every speck of hay and fur!  I got them ’cause they have rubber backings (but the buns don’t chew them), but they’re very hard to clean.  Do you know of any rugs that aren’t too slippery, but are easy to sweep, vaccuum, or wash?  Or any good rug-cleaning strategies?  The only success I have with these things is by painstakingly brushing every inch with special pet-hair-removal brushes, but that takes forever.  

2)  Another problem area is the bunnies’ condo, which is currently in the corner of a room with an linoleum floor.  All kinds of hay, fur, poop, and grossness gets stuck between the condo and the wall, and it’s hard to clean back there.  Do you have any strategies for dealing with (or preventing) that sort of thing? 

3)  How about protecting your flooring?  I noticed that the pee stains in hard-to-reach areas (behind the condo, under the rug, etc.) were starting to stain the linoleum.  Now I’m moving into a place with hardwood floors, and I want to be very careful that a.) no pee stains get on the floors and b.) whatever I use to protect the floors doesn’t discolor it either.  (I noticed that the granite slab I have on part of the condo floor has discolored the linoleum below it a little.)  If you have a bunny condo (or similar housing) on hardwood floors, what do you use?  I’m thinking of building a bottom for the condo (with shallow walls) out of hardwood, but I don’t know if that’s the best material.  Or should I look for those hard plastic things that go under roller desk chairs?  

And as always, if you have any strategies for preventing the hay from getting everywhere, I’d love to hear ’em!  I thought I had an idea with a “bunny diner” made from a few cardboard boxes nested together (with the walls cut very low), and the hay just in the innermost box, but the bunnies stopped eating as much from that, and of course encouraging hay eating is my top priority.  

If you have any thoughts, I’d be so grateful!  Thanks for reading!!  (:

[mia]

Posted By Meg on 06/09/2011 02:18 PM  

2)  Another problem area is the bunnies’ condo, which is currently in the corner of a room with an linoleum floor.  All kinds of hay, fur, poop, and grossness gets stuck between the condo and the wall, and it’s hard to clean back there.  Do you have any strategies for dealing with (or preventing) that sort of thing? 

3)  How about protecting your flooring?  I noticed that the pee stains in hard-to-reach areas (behind the condo, under the rug, etc.) were starting to stain the linoleum.  Now I’m moving into a place with hardwood floors, and I want to be very careful that a.) no pee stains get on the floors and b.) whatever I use to protect the floors doesn’t discolor it either.  (I noticed that the granite slab I have on part of the condo floor has discolored the linoleum below it a little.)  If you have a bunny condo (or similar housing) on hardwood floors, what do you use?  I’m thinking of building a bottom for the condo (with shallow walls) out of hardwood, but I don’t know if that’s the best material.  Or should I look for those hard plastic things that go under roller desk chairs?  

If you use a condo base that’s a big larger than the condo, you should not have a problem you listed in item 2. Of course, you have to clean it regularly. I made (rather I designed it, bought the materials and had someone else make it for me) my base from plywood. I used 1/4 plywood sheet and 2x3s. You can see a pic of my condo here; I put wheels underneath mine.

[Elrohwen]

Meg, your vacuum doesn’t pick up the hair? We added a rug to the bunny area about 6 months ago and it’s been fantastic. Before the fur would just float everywhere, so I actually like that it sticks to the rug instead of floating around the hardwood floors. We generally vacuum once every two weeks or so when it starts to look bad. I got my rug for $30 at BB&B – they usually have some nice cheap neutral rugs. Maybe it’s just the texture of yours that makes it tough? Or the color doesn’t blend in with the bunny colors well and you see every single hair?

[Meg]

Thanks, guys! Elrohwen, my rugs hold onto fur and hay with a vise-like grip! What kind do you have?? I’d love more information.

Miaieh, thanks for the suggestion! I am going to try to build something like yours.

What would you all suggest for protecting hardwood floors? My bunnies like to pee right by the edge of one of their play rugs — lovely! (; — but I’m not sure what would be best to put underneath it to protect the wood.

thanks again!

[mia]

How large is your rug? I used flannel blankets from ikea and have found that it’s easier to just rinse under the water instead of trying to vaccum it. Also, wetting your hands and running it along will collect a lot of fur. Sometimes it’s easier to do this a few times instead of vaccum.

I have carpet so don’t know how this works on hardwood, but I use a shower curtain (again, cheapo ikea ones) for their play area; my buns have an area right outside their condo which has most of their toys.

[Meg]

Thanks! I’ll try the shower curtain idea. My Ikea rugs are 63″ x 76″. I went for the kind with a rubber backing because on linoleum or wood I’m afraid a blanket would slide around quite a bit; and when they get blankets they like to rearrange them a lot. This gives me some ideas, though!

[Elrohwen]

I would say shower curtain or vinyl tablecloth. I used to have the buns on a vinyl tablecloth (one with the felting under it, designed to protect tables). When I got their rug I just put it on top of the tablecloth so any pee wouldn’t seep through to the floor. We just moved the cage for the first time in a year to a different part of the dining room and there wasn’t any damage under it.

As for vacuums, mine’s not particularly nice. I know it doesn’t get all of the hay up because if I rub with a damp paper towel (like if I see a dried pee spot) a bunch more fur comes out, but I can’t see it otherwise after the vacuum does its job, so I don’t worry about it. Sometimes running a slicker brush over it is helpful and gets out a lot of stuff.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I find that with my disabled bun a dirt devil handheld vacuum actually works best my bunny doesn’t mind when he’s in his cage for the vacuum to be in there. As for my healthy female I can never seem to keep her cage clean. I clean it then in a few hours its a mess again. I have straw mats covering part of her floor and she loves to dig and shred those so that makes a mess. Plus she loves to move her ceramic water bowl. I keep the hay in the basement and the pelleted litter in a container in my basement. I also have a garbage can down there to empty the litterbox. The pellets are in air tight containers next to my buns cage. I feel up my females hay in her litterbox in the morning and it last all day so I don’t fill it till the next morning.

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