Is bedding really needed?

My rabbits never seem to sleep in the barley straw bedding I put in their 'sleeping quarters'. They sit out in their attached runs (I cover the roof) in all weathers, even in the snow :shock: and are still out when I've checked in the middle of the night. The bedding just gets full of poo and I end up chucking it.

If I were to stop using bedding, would this make me a bad person? Any alternatives anyone can suggest?

Thanks, Claire

Mine have carpet dotted around their living area. I've never seen them laid or sleeping in their bedroom bit although i do have hay and shredded paper in there at the moment. I take it out in the summer though and just have carpet.

in the summer i don't bother either. i just use newspaper, lino or thin carpet.

they like to nibble where they toilet, and they are probably nibbling the straw in their designated 'toilet' (the bedroom) - if you changed the straw to hay and took the bedroom partition out so you could fit a really big storage box in there (mine are about 2 foot long by 8" deep, for underbed storage) put a few cupfuls of litter in the bottom of the box and they'll use it for a toilet and bed (they just wee at the back of the box usually, which is why it needs to be big so they can lie on some dry hay too) - my hutches are bare apart from 2 big boxes of hay (one upstairs and one down)

I put barley straw in their bedroom and they use it as a toilet, but I wouldn't leave them without straw in winter. In summer, it'll just be paper.

my bun has a "day bedroom" and a "night bedroom" :roll: he has hay in the night bedroom which is all the bits he lets fall on the floor so no longer fresh or intresting or worth his time :lol:

he used his "day" bedroom (which is a smaller room on the bottom floor of his crate) when he has to go home because i'm popping out for the papers or having a nap in the day. that just has a grassy mat in it.

i can't use any sort of vet bed, towel, fabric etc because it just becomes a toilet!!

All my outdoor bunsters like their privacy, so they use the bed area as a toilet. I just put a big litter pan filled with hay in there now and barley straw the living quarters.

Thanks everyone :wave:

I'll go with the litter tray filled with hay option for now. They don't even wee on the straw (they use their litter trays under the hay racks for pees and poos), just literally do a few poos on it. I don't think they would go in their hutch at all if I didn't have one of the hay racks up there- nice Ryedale hutch, complete waste of £300 quid :roll::lol:

Claire x

I would definitely give them the option of having hay. Our rabbit Chelsea has the option of going in the run at night in the warmer months. I had thought she spent all night out before, but this is not always the case as she has been out when I went to bed (midnight)but when I nipped down in the night (3am)she was sat inside, though at 7am she was outside in the run again. This has happened on many occasions.

At least I know she has lots of warm hay she can come into if she chooses. Sometimes the weather can change dramatically half way through the night and it's nice to know she has the hay there if she wants. -Sue:wave: