Do bunnies need a soft surface?

[Neverhood]

My fiance and I have two bunnies both about 1.5 years old, not bonded so they are in seperate giant xpens with a few ledges etc. We are still in school and have an apartment up at school and a townhouse down near our parents a few hours south. So, the apartment up at school we have the standard built pen/cage with cubes and linolium flooring and they have access to carpet with a pen around the carpet area. Now at the townhouse they have the same pen/cage cube setup but there is no carpet where we keep them so it is just tile, aka they never have a soft area. And up at the apartment they only have access to the carpet during the day cause we close their access to the carpet at night. Should I be putting patches of carpet INSIDE their actual cube cages? If that is the case, one of them I think would be ok with it (only concern is him eating it at first I guess) and the other bunny would be a huge problem because I think he would pee on it like its carefresh. I actually know he would pee on it because he randomly pees on the carpet up at our apartment sometimes. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[tanlover14]

Not sure if this will help at all — but we used outdoor carpeting for our cage and it works wonders. Our buns CONSTANTLY tear at our carpet in our living room when they’re let out but the outdoor carpet is really thin without lots of things for them to grab onto with their teeth. Ours tried tearing at it and eventually gave up, LOL. This carpet is also water resistant so it makes cleaning it easier. Usually they pee in the same place, so maybe if one of them did begin peeing on a certain part of it then you could just stick a litter box there?

I’m not sure if walking on hard surfaces ever bothers them or if it’s just the wire cages that are bad for them to walk on.

[bunnyfriend]

From what I’ve heard it’s recommended that rabbits have a softer place available to them to prevent sore hocks. Since one of your bunnies likes to pee on carpet, a possible option could be to try those foam tiles/mats that people use for little kids. (These things: http://www.matsmatsmats.com/images/kids/SoftFloorsStudying.jpg). If you covered the entire cage floor with it (not sure how much they cost) that might make chewing on the mats difficult. Rabbits are okay being on hard surfaces, it’s just that sometimes if they’re always on hard surfaces they can get sore hocks, some rabbits are more sensitive than others. Hope this helped!

[Roberta]

I’ve heard untreated seagrass matt is really good. Has anyone else tried it ? I was going to get some for the bunny room to go over the vinyl floor. Other than that mine tend to hang out on the day bed which won’t be going into the bunny room as it has been pee’d on and needs to be refurbished or disposed of. ($25 2nd hand single bed base I cushioned and covered with a cheap fabric I found at spotlight, Total cost less than $100 after dressmaker friend made the cushions, all of which have been eaten!!)

[BinkyBunny]

Some bunnies do like to pee on soft bedding. Jack would at times. VIvian doesn’t but she likes to move it around and chew holes in her blankets. Like Roberta suggested — untreated sea grass mats are good, but they are rather flat so I am not sure how soft they are (Though there may be some thicker one that I am not aware of). There are Timothy based mats which are thickish. But with the grass mats, if they are peed on, it would not be as easy to clean.

Though I don’t have to worry about my bunny peeing on bedding, I have had to in the past with other bunnies, and so I just go to a fabric store, get several yards of soft fleece like material and cut them to make a few soft beds. If they get peed on one day, I just put it in the wash, and put a new one down the next day.

I have also used the foam mats and they work well for bunnies who don’t chew on them, but you would have to be very careful to make sure your bunny doesn’t eat it.

Note:Bunnies who are on flat surfaces and even on carpet can get sore hocks. There are some factors that may contribute: Bunnies who are overweight, whose nails have grown too long(putting pressure on the hocks), who is stuck sitting in their own urine/poo for too long, older/sedentary, or are of a certain breed (like Rexes with thin fur on their feet), are more susceptible.

[lola_bunny_21]

my little one has a cage and large xpen, but because she has a terrible habbit of chewing at the carpet (not good in rented accommodation) i have layed a large piece of linolem over the carpet, and on top of that is several blankets and towels she can dig and chew at i picked these up cheap so they can always be easily replaced.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I use soft mats made for dog kennels. The ones I use are called Snoozzy Mats. They are washer and dryer safe and I swear by them to prevent sore hocks. They come in different sizes so are great for condos.

[Mr. Bun-bun]

I have found eith Mr. Bun-bun that I can just run the lint roller very gently over him. I let him sniff it frist and get used to it. He really likes it and wont jump or move.

[Bam]

Mr.Bun-bun, this is an old thread. We ask members not to reply to old threads. Feel free to start a new thread though!

I’m locking this thread to prevent confusion. 

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