Advice on lionhead housing

I'm in the process of looking to adopt a pair of rabbits and I was hoping I could pick peoples brains as I'm pretty new to this and am struggling to answer a few questions.

My other half has her heart set on a pair of lionheads, (a certain pair in particular) and part of the process is a home visit so I'm quite keen to get this right. Whatever happens we're looking at a 6ft hutch.

What I'm trying to find out is how big a run would I need for them, and is it essential for them to have access to it 24 hours a day? We're in the process of shopping for a hutch and run and with the way our house and garden is laid out if we go for an integrated hutch and run then the biggest combined hutch/run (with the hutch on stilts and the run below) we could fit is 6ft x 4ft. If kept in a hutch overnight then moved to run for a few hours during the day we could put that in the main part of the garden and go alot bigger.

Another option would be the 6x4 combined hutch mentioned above with some DIY work by me, running a connection to a bigger run.

Which option am I best off going with?

Thanks
Chris

There are lots of companies who will modify hutches to order.

The strongest most durable ones I have met have come from
http://www.rehutches.com/ and http://www.kernowpethousing.co.uk/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=3

http://www.holidayhutches.com/ I have not actually seen any of these myself but am assured they are of good quality.

All the above will make modifications to them if you ask.

There is also http://www.happyhutch.co.uk/

There have been a number of people who have made modifications with tubes to join sheds to runs.

These are the two I have found.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=103844&highlight=shed
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=104437&highlight=shed

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. If push comes to shove though I'm quite happy making the necessary modifications myself (with the run at least, as I'm on a budget) but my main concern is finding out what size run would be the minimum they'd need?

Is 6 x 4 run big enough or do I need to look bigger?

Just had a look at those sites, 1 of them was down and the other two only do 2 and 3 storey 6 foot hutches. Thanks for the link though, helped me get an idea of pricing etc.

I think it varies from rescue to rescue as to what size hutch and run they will consider rehoming 2 rabbits in to. I should ask your particular rescue this question and go from there. I know our local rspca like 6' x 2' x 3' min hutch with 10' permenant run attatched for example.

Dustyrabbit said:

I think it varies from rescue to rescue as to what size hutch and run they will consider rehoming 2 rabbits in to. I should ask your particular rescue this question and go from there. I know our local rspca like 6' x 2' x 3' min hutch with 10' permenant run attatched for example.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I've just had a look in a bit more detail and it was exactly as you've described. Apologies for wasting everyones time.

Don't appologise - its great you are thinking ahead and making sure everything is just right.

Thought I'd give this a quick bump as I'm after abit more advice.

Having been to see the lionhead pair in question (and being totally smitten by them) we had a bit of a discussion and the way we're planning on working things is to have them inside the garage during the winter and outside in the garden during summer. I'm stilling looking at hutches - theres 3 strong possibilities - but I've decided to make the run myself.

How thick does the mesh for the run need to be, and what size spacing is too big?

Thanks
Chris

One other question:

We're planning on using a chunk of our garage (about 10x8 ft) as a winter home, and we're also considering putting them in there whilst we're at work - whilst also having a hutch outside for when we're at home and on our days off. We were thinking to add some sort of bedding area for them - is this a good idea, and can anyone suggest a suitable bedding arrangement?