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Hutch housing question??

PrincessPinky

Mama Doe
My bunnies have the Lavender Lodge p&h hutch. I use wood shavings in the hutch and in the litter tray and they have hay in there bed to sleep on and around the hutch. I tried using newspaper and all they do is rip it up and eat it. I keep seeing on RU that people use lino. Where do you get it from? Do you just put it in the hutch what do you use on top of the lino? IDEAS needed please!!

P.s- not sure why the pull newspaper up they have plenty toys and spend most of the day in the run :(
 
Newspaper is a problem with our Dutch Rosie - she maanges to tear it up into amazingly exactly the same sized pieces! It's a project I think :lol::lol:

Some buy the sticky tiles from the £1 shop. Ours was off a roll at Allied Carpets! But then the amount I needed I couldn't get any other way. It would have taken forever to stick down individual tiles! I usually get end of rolls from carpet places - you can get them off ebay too.

The £1 shop option seems the cheapest for smaller areas.

On top of the lino you could use chopped straw, you can get this from Horse Feed Suppliers. It's chopped into peices just over 2" long - so forms a good substrate. And they don't tend to eat as much as they do with full on barley straw! Or you could use similar items from horse suppliers, anything that isn't treated with insecticides etc. Megazorb and Cardboard squares are others. You could use folded towels/blankets. It really depends on how well litter trained they are as to how much additional floor covering you will need. :wave:
 
Newspaper is a problem with our Dutch Rosie - she maanges to tear it up into amazingly exactly the same sized pieces! It's a project I think :lol::lol:

Some buy the sticky tiles from the £1 shop. Ours was off a roll at Allied Carpets! But then the amount I needed I couldn't get any other way. It would have taken forever to stick down individual tiles! I usually get end of rolls from carpet places - you can get them off ebay too.

The £1 shop option seems the cheapest for smaller areas.

On top of the lino you could use chopped straw, you can get this from Horse Feed Suppliers. It's chopped into peices just over 2" long - so forms a good substrate. And they don't tend to eat as much as they do with full on barley straw! Or you could use similar items from horse suppliers, anything that isn't treated with insecticides etc. Megazorb and Cardboard squares are others. You could use folded towels/blankets. It really depends on how well litter trained they are as to how much additional floor covering you will need. :wave:

Thanks - they are well litter trained. The reason im asking is that the wood shavings are so expensive! Theya re like £15 for a full bag here which last us a full hutch clean and a few litter trays :shock:
 
I went in to a carpet shop and asked for lino, they sold me an offcut for £10 which did the base of both of my chicken coops. I chose one with a bit of texture, wood grain, so its not too slippery.

You want to make sure there aren't any edges for them to get a hold of to chew. We were able to take the coop off the base, cover with lino and then put the coop back on so there is no way they can get to the edge. Otherwise you may be better with the stick down tile flooring but your base will have to be really clean and dry for it to stick well.

I just use litter trays now so the floor is easy to sweep up and wash.

I would avoid woodshavings as they can be detremental to the health of your rabbit.
 
Thanks - they are well litter trained. The reason im asking is that the wood shavings are so expensive! Theya re like £15 for a full bag here which last us a full hutch clean and a few litter trays :shock:

have you got a jolleys pet store near you? i get mine from there for £8 for a bale size bag!
 
I have Thistle Hall and mine used to have B&Q value lino tiles on the bottom but the glue started to come up so now i use things similar to this: http://http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3024306/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSports%2Band%2Bleisure%7C12108128/c_2/2%7Ccat_12108128%7CHome%2Bgym%2Bequipment%7C12108295.htm
(but i got mine from B&Q) and sealed the join with strong diy tape. They are really warm and easy to clean and are not as slippery as lino.

At the top i have carpet, i just bought an offcut from my local carpet shop (£3), cut it to size and stapled the edges down with a staple gun. I have a litter tray in the "sleeping" bit of the hutch (as they never slept there anyway!!) and a big one at the bottom right behind their hay rack)
 
have you got a jolleys pet store near you? i get mine from there for £8 for a bale size bag!


:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock: Thats where i got it from :shock::shock: They was £15 in there. There was a tiny size for £1.60, a meduim bag for £8 and a large bag for £15 :shock: it was defo jolleys. Thats werid! My local jolleys is the Walsall one.
 
I have Thistle Hall and mine used to have B&Q value lino tiles on the bottom but the glue started to come up so now i use things similar to this: http://http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3024306/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSports%2Band%2Bleisure%7C12108128/c_2/2%7Ccat_12108128%7CHome%2Bgym%2Bequipment%7C12108295.htm
(but i got mine from B&Q) and sealed the join with strong diy tape. They are really warm and easy to clean and are not as slippery as lino.

At the top i have carpet, i just bought an offcut from my local carpet shop (£3), cut it to size and stapled the edges down with a staple gun. I have a litter tray in the "sleeping" bit of the hutch (as they never slept there anyway!!) and a big one at the bottom right behind their hay rack)

Do you use anything else on top of the lino bit or just leave it has it is?
 
In the wendy house we leave the lino and just put blankets down to lie on. It's easy to sweep daily then - shake off the blankets sweep and it's done.

There is the Hungry Horse in sutton coldfield, and farms by us do huge bales of sawdust for £8! It may be worth trying a farm shop? One bale lasts me with 4 litter trays 2 underbed boxes (5 buns) a month at least. I don't fill trays to the top - about half full.
 
when i was just using lino tiles, they were just as is. i would put a towel in there for them to dry their feet on when it was raining or wet outside :oops:

If you are using lino tiles, i would seal the joins with non-toxic glue (like pva or something)and leave it to dry properly before adding buns :lol:, otherwise their wee can get underneath and start lifting the tiles.

the better option is lino offcut but they can still be expensive (i don't know why!!)
 
In the wendy house we leave the lino and just put blankets down to lie on. It's easy to sweep daily then - shake off the blankets sweep and it's done.

There is the Hungry Horse in sutton coldfield, and farms by us do huge bales of sawdust for £8! It may be worth trying a farm shop? One bale lasts me with 4 litter trays 2 underbed boxes (5 buns) a month at least. I don't fill trays to the top - about half full.


I know the hungry horse pub yeah! Maybe our jolleys, are just dearer! To be honest everything is expensive in there. A can of Felix cat food is 99p!!! compared to asda at 56p! Anyway rant over :lol:

I might try them with just lino down then and wood shavings in the litter tray. I worry about them getting cold though :shock:
 
I put a couple of fleece blankets from IKEA in there too (mostly at the top but at the bottom too in the winter) you know the light blue ones? They are only something like £1.60 each and dry really quickly when you wash them etc
 
I put a couple of fleece blankets from IKEA in there too (mostly at the top but at the bottom too in the winter) you know the light blue ones? They are only something like £1.60 each and dry really quickly when you wash them etc


Not sure which ones you mean i will have to go and check. There is a IKEA by me anyway.

Another thing (sorry about all the questions :oops: ) Would using lino be cleaner because we keep getting mice in the garden, so my mum and dad are making me keep the garden/hutch unbeliveably clean!!! We need something comfortable for the buns but easily cleanable for me :lol:
 
i have lavendar lodge hutches for my lot and to be honest i dont even think you need lino!

I use a under bed storage thingy which is bigger then your adverage litter tray so fits perfectly in the bedroom area, full of shavings and some hay to eat. Then the main part of the hutch is full with hay.

Lino tiles can be good but personally i dont think it does great for bunnies feet, thisis just my opinion but if you cover the 'main' area with lots of hay you shouldnt need lino because they would pee in the bedroom area with the tray!

:)

also if you look into getting your stuff from a farm shop its loads cheaper, i get 30kg of shavings for £8!:wave:
 
I think they are technically throws, they are in the department with the cushions and stuff (usually in a huge box in the middle rather than on a shelf) they are just square (you can get different coloured ones with cutout patterns and frills), i have got about 8 of them which i rotate and add some and take some away depending on how cold it is. I have also stitched two together and added velcro and i use them as hutch covers (they don't let the rain in but let some air in, dry in about 10 minutes and look nicer than tarpauline)
 
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