Rabbit Housing

Housing rabbits is one of the most important aspects of owning a rabbit. A rabbit cage must provide many things for a rabbit. It must provide protection and comfort. It has to protect the rabbit from predators, weather and injury. It must also provide a comfortable living quarters for the rabbit AND it's owner. The cage has to be comfortable for the owner to feed, water, clean, and care for the rabbit.

We generally consider that the MINIMUM cage space required per animal is 3/4 of a square foot per POUND of MATURE rabbit weight. Therefore, if your rabbit is a New Zealand and has a mature weight (or potential mature weight) of 10 pounds, then it will require a minimum of 7 1/2 square feet of living space to be comfortable. A 30 inch by 36 inch cage will meet these conditions. However, if you choose to breed a rabbit, you will have to take into consideration that while nursing, the doe and kits will need a larger cage for maximum comfort. However, if all you own is a Netherland Dwarf, a cage of 1 3/4 square feet will suffice. An 18 inch by 24 inch cage meets these requirements. We like to use 1/2 inch by 1 inch - 12 gauge wire for our floors as it allows the droppings to fall unhindered out of the cages. For our side and top wire, 1" by 2" - 14 gauge or 1" chicken wire works well.

There are several types of cages available in today's marketplace. Most larger scale operations choose to use an all-wire cage that aids in ease of cleaning and working around. In this picture, you will see two of our rabbits demonstrating the comfort of their stacking wire cages!

For our bigger breeds, such as Satins, we have found that the outdoor cages made of wood and wire provide the ultimate ease and comfort. Seen here, "Jena's Scury" demonstrates the roominess of his outdoor 'hutch'.

Notice that on each of these cages, you will see water bottles hanging from the front. These water bottles are very common but many people (particularly in colder climates) prefer to use crocks to water their rabbits. The ceramic or plastic crocks are easy to sanitize - just throw in the dishwasher and voila! a sanitized crock! One of the downfalls to the crocks is the playful rabbits who like to dump their water bowls or play in them. Many others choose to use an automatic watering system. Automatic watering systems are fantastic as they cut back on labor time substantially and make it easy to treat the entire herd when medicating. The one downfall to an automatic watering system is that it is more difficult to determine each individual animal's daily water intake - a valuable measure for determining health problems!

Whatever type housing you choose to use, remember that your animal relies on you to care for its every need!