Cage etiquette

[ApolloTheBunny]

I recently got a rabbit and a cage. I have a igloo, water tank, hay feeder, and food bowl. All of that except water and hay feeder is siting on the cage floor. Below the cage is a tray for waster collection. The rabbit is sitting on the cage floor which is metal bedding wont stay on the floor cause it will just fall through into waste collector should I get a small cotton bed that they have at the pet store for him to sleep on or is he fine on the cage floor???

[kurottabun]

It really depends. What kind of cage floor is it? It shouldn’t be a wire bottom cage as the wires are harmful to a rabbit’s feet. My rabbit cage has a tray at the bottom as well to collect stray poop and food that has fallen through etc, but the bottom looks something like the picture below:

As for the cotton bed, it depends on whether your bunny is a chewer. Some bunnies chew on a lot of things and treat what we call “beds” as their chew toys or even their litter box (i.e. favourite place to pee). So I’d say watch out for that Hope this helps!

[kurottabun]

Also to add on, oftentimes rabbits don’t really need “bedding” in the same way that hamsters or some other animals do. It’s useful for litter boxes but not for rabbits to roll around/sleep in etc.

[sarahthegemini]

Metal wire bottom cages are cruel. You need a solid bottom or they’ll get painful sores on their feet. You don’t need a tray underneath to collect waste, use a litter tray and train your rabbit.

[Rio and Buns]

I had a cage like this in my earlier bunny years and what I did was put a towel down on the wire bottom, with a square litter box on one side of the cage and a hay rack in front of it, and a water bottle on the other side of the cage. It left my bun enough room to stretch out when laying down and was nice and cushioned from the towel. Regular bath towels are the perfect size and work great.

With that being said though, these kinds of cages are way too small and should be open for a good portion of the day – if not all the time – to allow your bun to get exercise and not go crazy from being cooped up in a tiny space.

[Mikey]

Rabbits shouldnt have wire or metal flooring. It tears up their feet. They also should be litter trained.

Side notes: Is the cage atleast 16sqft? If not, it is too small. Is he getting atleast 4 hours a day outside of his cage? If not, youre limiting his health.

[Author]

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