What flooring do YOU use? And opinions needed

[kanin]

I’m interested in hearing what flooring everyone uses for their buns, both in their “cages”/enclosures, and outside of it where they exercise or free roam.

My situation right now is that I have carpet in the bunny room, and have always used a rug for their enclosure area. However I just bought some sheet vinyl and laid it down and the bunnies absolutely hate it. Quincy won’t step foot outside of her litter box, she’s been in there for hours now. I did put mats down so they could have the option to lay on a padded surface but she’s still having none of it. I was thinking about replacing my entire carpet with vinyl in the whole room because the carpet is old and HAS to go, but now I don’t know what to do. If I did Quincy would probably never get the zoomies and do binkies again. But if I put new carpet in, the buns would just rip it up and pee on it. I love the idea of vinyl because I’m so tired of hay and poop being hard to sweep up on rug, as well as pee spots taking a lot of time and effort to get out.

Ahhh! How do I cater to the buns and myself at the same time 🥴

[kanin]

Quincy is now trying to tear apart the mat that I gave her AND chew the edges of the vinyl when I let her out so I definitely don’t see this setup working long term.

[Wick & Fable]

Any flooring you don’t want chewed needs to be pretty flush with the floor and walls (end to end). If it’s in an enclosure, the flooring can’t be pickable at the corners/borders, and if it’s a room, it needs to go wall to wall with no gaps.

When push comes to shove, eventually a rabbit will walk on slippery floors if given no other option. If you want to do a full vinyl floor, perhaps you can get a large area rug or several carpet squares, and then cleaning can be just picking up the rug/squares, dumping hay/poop on the floor and sweeping it all up. Cleaning up pee is going to happen if your rabbits are not litter-box exclusive. The solution may need to be more litter boxes.

Carpets/rugs with low-ply, like the carpet squares you can get a hardware store, tend to be less chew-prone since they can’t really grip into any of the carpet fibers. That being said, they can be more rough, so you want to make sure it is still somewhat soft and offer comfier areas for rest.

 

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[DanaNM]

So I just got this sheet vinyl that is like mock-wood paneling, and it’s a bit textured (it was also the cheapest one from the hardware store!). The buns don’t seem to have any trouble walking or running on it!

But adding some carpets and rugs that don’t slide should help!

I’ve also used that indoor/outdoor carpet that comes in rolls and is very low pile. Buns seem less inclined to chew it than regular carpet. I was using that just previously but was having lots of marking with my current buns so I needed something easier to clean in the problem areas.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[kanin]

I don’t even think mine is that slippery either… when I walk on it with socks it feels pretty grippy. I think Quin is just being extra dramatic but I kid you not she is still in her litter box and has only gotten out to drink water lol. You’re super lucky your buns have taken to it so well. 😭 Fresno and Nora have been laying exclusively on the mat I put in there and only walk on it when they have to.
And yeah the low ply rugs are what I have been using but they’re such a pain to sweep up and clean pee off of. I don’t mind cleaning the occasional pee spot but I wanted to get this vinyl to make it easier on myself. Plus it just looks nicer and cleaner to me too. The cheapness of it is definitely another bonus! I got a 6’ x 8’ roll for 25 bucks.
I guess I’ll probably have to go the vinyl floor with area rug route, but I feel so bad because that’ll probably limit the amount of binky space they’ll have… maybe I’m just being too much of a sap though. Literally every life decision I make is based on their happiness. 😂

[DanaNM]

LOL it does sound like they are being very dramatic!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[pinkiemarie]

So we recently got some canvas from the University book store and it’s working great! It’s hard for them to rip up, they have to pee a lot for if to soak through, and you can throw a sheet over it to keep it cleaner. My BF bought it so I don’t know the exact details but I think it was from the art section of the bookstore on a big roll.. It wasn’t super expensive and you could roll it over what you have now to protect your carpet underneath, but since it isn’t slippery they should be ok walking on it.

[kanin]

Give me strength y’all I can’t win with these dang children. They’re chewing the vinyl, they’re chewing their beds and mats, they’re ripping up carpet. They get 4 different kinds of hay for variety, I give them sticks and those balls and toilet paper rolls, they have wooden planks to chew on, I’ve tried every safe toy under the sun from pet stores but they’re only interested in sinking their teeth into forbidden fruit. Why are you like this, bunnies? Why? Why.

Ive ordered these non-slip puppy pee pad blankets so that they don’t have to walk on the vinyl but they’ll probably rip those apart too, and I’ve emptied my wallet on things from the BB store like those flavored blocks, seagrass mats, and willow wreaths to see if they will suit their impossible-to-please needs but they probably won’t get here until next week, so in the meantime I’m over here trying not to rip too much of my hair out while refraining from dropping them off at the local fire station’s front porch.

They’re lucky they’re so freaking cute. 💪🏻😤

[Wick & Fable]

If you feel comfortable doing so, could you maybe post photos of the things you’re trying? I find a lot of times how you lay something down, where, and what’s around it can be important things to consider, sometimes equally so to what type of flooring.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[DanaNM]

How big is the area? Is this a problem everywhere, or just in the bunny room?

I’ve had good luck in the past with having vinyl tiles that are cemented to plywood as the floor in their main home (so a condo in my case). Currently I have vinyl on part of the bunny room floor, and that low pile indoor/outdoor carpet on the other part. I have to have heavy ceramic tiles covering the edges that are exposed, otherwise they will nibble on the edges. Bun Jovi will try to “dig” at the vinyl, but since there are no edges exposed he doesn’t make any progress, he just looks like he’s on a treadmill.

It doesn’t look great, but maybe sheets of cardboard would be a good solution? You could stack up a few layers over the vinyl, so they they can chew away to their hearts content, and you could just replace it when needed.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Borya02]

Don’t know if this will help, but I ended up purchasing those transparent PVC floor protectors (you know those long sheets that you put desk chairs on to protect the floor. Search for something like: “Large office chair mat floor protector” and you’ll see what i mean). I have hardwood floors so i bought one for hardwood floors. They sell them in various sizes and I got one that was about 59” x 48”, which was exactly the length of my bun’s initial xpen! i’m going to add another one to it and double her xpen soon. so far the vinyl floor cover has been excellent. she’s never tired to chew it. one bit of warning – they sell a bunch of these online. look at the reviews, because some of them have problems – they don’t roll out all the way or they’re just not good quality. Some also have a sort of bumpiness? The one I got has a smooth surface. i sprung for a couple bucks more and got one that seemed really sturdy with no problems and it’s been a really good investment. i hope this helps!!

 

P.S. The one I have is made of PVC. I’m not sure if this makes a difference. I assume they’re all pretty much the same. But I think there are vinyl floor protectors out there. Not sure how well they work or if they’d work as good/better, etc.

[kanin]

Thanks for the ideas guys! The BB stuff got here a lot sooner than expected. So what I’ve done is cut the vinyl right up to where their grids stop so they can’t get a grip on it and laid down their pee pad mats to lay on and for grip and sea grass mats to chew on and rip up should they get the urge (Quincy has). So far they don’t seem to be too interested in chewing the pee pads! Although they have tried a little bit but they don’t seem to be able to chew holes into them very easily. They also looove the balsa block toys and have pretty much finished them already so I’m going to have to get more for sure. I’ll keep the office chair mats in mind for the future in case this ends up not working out. 😊

P.S. I just wanna say that the fire station part was a joke lol, I always tell my fur kids I’m going to drop them off there when they’re being brats but of course I never would. Can’t say the threat works to deter them anyway though. I’m starting to think they don’t understand English.

[kanin]

Fresno seems to approve

[Bam]

Fresno certainly doesn’t seem to have any complaints! 🥰😃

[DanaNM]

d’awwwwwwww ! Fresno! <3 <3 😀

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[kanin]

Isn’t he just dang precious 😍 I took a video of him twitching and kicking his feet in his sleep

[NalaBunny]

As of right now, I use an area rug that my family doesn’t really care about. But if the pee pads don’t work out in the long run maybe try taking puzzle play mats and covering them with fleece and setting the cage on top of that. This gives them no easy edges to chew but if they start to have trouble spots then the best thing to do would be to place a grass mat over the trouble spot.

[MooseMouse]

So my bunny boys have the whole basement to themselves the floor is carpeted and new so we completely covered it in foam puzzle pieces and cut them to the shape of the room.  It works great protecting to floor from any accidents and I love it but in hind sight it was pretty expensive to do the whole basement and probably would have been cheaper to just replace the carpet but i can mop it clean if i need to which is nice.

I also got concerned if they would get sore feet from it and bought washable rugs off of amazon that have grippies on the bottom and are very washable (i through them in the washer every week and no issues)

Here is a link if you wanna check it out

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Fresno just made me “squee!!” 🙂

They can be such a handful, but when they’re sleeping happily they are the cutest!

We have a free roam bunny, and we used to have carpets in the places where he could roam. Sadly he developed sore hocks, probably by making crazy jumps off the furniture and sliding across the carpet.

He loves to climb, which seems to be typical of Netherland Dwarf rabbits. They’re wild and a bit bonkers: Breintje loved to jump from the sofa onto the window sill, and more than once he fell down into the gap taking a flowerpot with herbs with him. Any sensible animal wouldn’t do that again, he just thumped and went for it again 🙄

We ended up covering the carpets with fluffy fleece blankets to relieve his feet. They’ve been in place now for 1,5 years and we can change them easily when they need to be washed.

As Breintje became older he didn’t like to jump off of things anymore. He still loves to climb, so we’ve installed a ramp, steps and a crate so he can climb onto and off the furniture. The ramp onto the bed is a favourite play item, he loves to run up and down it at full speed and he does a small head binky at the end.

[kanin]

Yeaaahhhhh the vinyl is working great for Nora and Fresno because they don’t chew on the pee pads that are covering it, but Quincy chewed up her pee pad, so I put a fluffy bed in there instead to cover the edges, but then she chewed that up, so I put a flat bath mat in there hoping she couldn’t grip her teeth on it which worked for a while but then she finally managed. So she started chewing holes in that too, so now it’s just exposed vinyl which is leaving the edges susceptible to chewing, which Nora is taking advantage of. I’m thinking of putting wood planks there to cover them… does anyone know what kind of wooden boards are safe for them to chew? And are hard enough to not be able to tear apart in a couple hours? These kids are really giving me a run for my money. The foam pieces would have the same problem with the edge chewing.

Breintje sounds so adorable! I wish I could see him having a blast on his ramp 😊

[Susanne]

My Ruby is also a chewer, so I can relate. She actually doesn’t chew foam mats (maybe Quincy wouldn’t either), but most other things. I even got her a natural fiber rug knowing it would get chewed apart eventually.   Wood planks have worked well for me too in different circumstances, I get pine or Poplar since both are safe and they can’t tear them apart quickly (if at all).

[DanaNM]

Untreated pine planks are safe to use. They don’t have the same issue with phenols that pine shavings do. Heavy ceramic tiles might also do the trick, you could lay them down along the edges (I used this trick with our last set-up).

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[kanin]

Sorry Dana I totally forgot that you suggested tiles earlier in this post. But thank you both, I’m going to get tiles AND wood so I have a backup in case one still doesn’t work.

[DanaNM]

LOL no worries, i forgot I had even suggested it already :p

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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