Safe wood for indoor hutch

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi all,

I’m sure there have been previous topics on this, but I can’t get the search function to work at the moment.

My bunnies currently live in a pen made from two outdoor run sort of wire cages that link together. I think its kind of ugly, and also since its made with bars it makes me feel a bit prison-y, and also as there are gaps in the bars it’s messy and hay gets EVERYWHERE . (Of course, they also have many hours outside the cage everyday, but the room is simply not rabbit-proofable for when we’re not around)

I was hoping to build something kind of like this: (and when I say I, I mean hopefully my dad )

https://boylespethousing.co.uk/product/4-sided-indoor-rabbit-pen-or-cage/

They don’t seem to say what wood they use, and every time I google it I seem to get conflicting answers about what wood is bunny safe. Of course, hopefully they wouldn’t be eating it anyway… 

So, what wood can I use for something like this? Is outdoor rabbit hutch wood normally ‘rabbit safe’? It seems to always be pine, and I thought pine wasn’t safe  You can see where my confusion is coming from 

 ETA: Also, if anyone can think of any cool features that should be included, I’d love to hear!

[tobyluv]

Kiln dried pine or kiln dried birch would be safe.

I notice that the door doesn’t go all the way down to the floor in the picture you showed.  To hop over that threshold wouldn’t be a problem for most rabbits, but if you are thinking ahead to when they are older and may have some mobility problems, it would be best for the opening to go all the way to the floor.

[Sirius&Luna]

That’s an interesting point Toby. I thought the little step was a great idea for hopefully keeping hay inside the hutch area, but i hadn’t thought about when they get less mobile.

Thanks for the wood recommendations.

[tobyluv]

If you like having that small closed area under the door, you could always try to fashion some kind of ramps if needed in the future. You would have to have a ramp inside as well as outside so that a rabbit could easily come in or out on his own, and having one inside might be kind of awkward plus take up some room, but I’m sure it’s doable.  All of my past bunnies started having some motility issues when they became senior rabbits, and it would have been difficult for them to jump over that part of the pen under the door.

I think there are some other woods that would be safe as long as they are kiln dried, but I’ve seen kiln dried pine and birch mentioned more than once as being safe.

[Sirius&Luna]

Yeah, I think I’ll keep the little step for now (all I dream of is not having hay over everything), and I can always remove that when they get older and swap the door, or make little ramps. That’s the benefit of having my dad make it

They’re both under 1 year still, so hopefully I’ve got a good while before they have mobility issues

[Author]

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