Bunny Bedding

[JessKez]

Hi! New member here, although I have been reading the page for advice for many weeks 

I’m looking for help with my cage setup as I feel overwhelmed by information. I have 2 male dwarf rabbits, Ozzy and Lemmy, age 12 weeks. They are separated right now, in cages next to each other until they can be neutered (in January) and bonded.They started out together as they were from the same litter, but I quickly spotted aggression and wanted to stop it before anything serious happened.

Attached to their cage is a playpen which they are free to run around in for at least 4-5 hours in the evening (more at the weekend). It is lined with carpet and they seem very happy with this. Eventually, when they are bonded and back together (hopefully!) they will have free reign of the room and be housed together in a larger setup.

My question is what to line the cage with? I’ve read so many different answers and very confused! Right now they have a thin layer of sawdust (not pine or cedar) and straw. They have a litter box with wood litter. We are still litter training them so lots of poop and pee in the cage, although they are slowly starting to use the litter box more and more. 

Ozzy likes to make a patch and sleep on the bare plastic, but I don’t want to empty the entire cage of any bedding? I don’t think blankets are a good idea yet as our apartment can get warm plus they are still learning to not pee everywhere. Both of them will scratch and chew at the carpet in their playpen at times, even with lots of toys, so I don’t want to leave them with carpet unsupervised

I would really appreciate any advice! 

[jerseygirl]

Welcome !

What is your concern about leaving the cage floor bare / bedding free? As they are indoors and you are looking to litter train them, it’s not really necessary to use bedding. Litter training is more successful without bedding too. It looks like one of the boys has already shown you his preference also. That’s pretty common.

[JessKez]

Thank you!

My only concern is that he likes to sleep on the bare plastic but it’s a little slippy for them when they run around.

[jerseygirl]

They do seem to prefer the bare surface. For traction, could you line the cage base with rubber flooring or some vinyl that has a bit of texture? The only issue with those options is bunnies that like to nibble the edges. 

[joea64]

Panda and Fernando have a bare-plastic lower floor on their condo, with a rough/nubby texture, which seems to suit them very well; the upper floor is carpeted and from all I’ve seen they find it nice and comfortable. Their play area’s floor (inside their X-pen) is a large natural-sisal carpet from IKEA. I’ve occasionally mulled over buying them a cushion or some such thing, but they appear to do very well as things are; Panda, right this minute, is bunloafing comfortably on the plastic lower deck.

[JessKez]

Thanks for the advice

We took away the sawdust and kept some straw in the base until we could find some vinyl type flooring. Both are currently flopped happily!

[Puffbaby]

Try a piece of cardboard on the bottom. They can chew it and dig it and I will provide some traction for them and can easily be replaced if any accident occurs. And it can be cut for your likeing. I cut little holes in a flat piece and put treats in the small holes so my bun has to chew and dig a lot to get the treat out. Keeps him busy for hours.

[Author]

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