mesh on floor?

Hi need some advice, I am attaching a run to my outdoor hutch and have got mesh on the floor to stop rabbit escapes and foxes getting in. Will this make for sore feet or should I cover floor, what would you suggest I cover the floor in?

Hey,
Yes you should place something on it, if you didn't it would give them sore feet.
I would recommend putting wood on it.?
Or hard plastic.

You should lay turf on top of the mesh. The roots will grow through and your buns will enjoy being able to eat the grass too

thanks peeps, will take your advice x been thinking hard about this. Do you think the rubber grass matting laid on floor would be ok on feet? It's to sort you put down to stop grass wearing out but has holes on for grass to grow and water to drain. Want to be able to detach run from hutch and move if need be so don't really want to lay real grass on mesh.... Gosh so many things to think about!

Very old thread but I also have had this problem and would like to hear what you ended up with?! At present have had to add mesh to the bottom of my run to stop things digging in (my buns have 24hour access to their run). The buns don't seem that bothered by the mesh and there hasn't been any injuries but the mesh squashes the grass. I don't want to put wood oranything down as my buns love the grass so don't want to stop them going on it!! If I lay turf on top of mesh then I won't beable to move the run around the garden to get fresh grass??

kt6382 said:

Very old thread but I also have had this problem and would like to hear what you ended up with?! At present have had to add mesh to the bottom of my run to stop things digging in (my buns have 24hour access to their run). The buns don't seem that bothered by the mesh and there hasn't been any injuries but the mesh squashes the grass. I don't want to put wood oranything down as my buns love the grass so don't want to stop them going on it!! If I lay turf on top of mesh then I won't beable to move the run around the garden to get fresh grass??

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I have asked this question a couple of times but it has been missed :shock::lol:
I currently have mesh on the floor of Finx and Tango's run, and have done since he moved in with her and I extended the run at the end of September (ish). I was really worried about their feet, but I've been checking regularly and they're fine so far.

I don't really want to lay turf either as I'm in a rented house and I need to be able to move them out quickly and easily if the landlord decides not to renew our contract, it was only 12 months. So far, no sore feet. The grass didn't have enough summer to grow through properly but has tried, I think it will grow through and keep their feet more cushioned in the spring. I can't move it as it covers 1/3 of my garden and is attached to the hutch :lol:

I've asked the question a few times too. Most people seem to advise keeping the runs on concrete or wooden floors, but I don't really understand this as bunnies natural habitat is grass and my boys LOVE the grass! They would hate to be kept on concrete! I haven't noticed sore feet at all although I do worry about it... The grass doesn't get a chance to grow up through my run as the buns munch the grass and then I move the run to fresh grass. Glad someone else is doing the same

If you are laying mesh, the key thing is to get the mesh in contact with the ground underneath, so if you are laying it over grass then you may need to cut the grass short first. This way the part of the foot the lands between the mesh, rests on the ground, so the weight is evenly spread. The problem comes when mesh is 'floating' so the only part of the foot in contact with anything is the bit touching the mesh - this means a very small surface area takes all the weight.

If it's to stop digging then you can use wider spaced mesh eg 1-2" which gives you bigger holes for the grass to grow through.

Hello :wave:, just caught up with this...
I meshed the bottom in the end but decided not to put anything covering it. As Tamsin say's, if the mesh is in close contact to the floor and the grass starts to grow through it seems to be fine.
I have had them on a meshed floor sonce Feb and haven't had any problems but do check their feet and hocks all the time. the mesh has also now sunk into the grass/mud so isn't sticking up at all.

Mine is now attached to a wendy house 24/7.

Tamsin said:

If you are laying mesh, the key thing is to get the mesh in contact with the ground underneath, so if you are laying it over grass then you may need to cut the grass short first. This way the part of the foot the lands between the mesh, rests on the ground, so the weight is evenly spread. The problem comes when mesh is 'floating' so the only part of the foot in contact with anything is the bit touching the mesh - this means a very small surface area takes all the weight.

If it's to stop digging then you can use wider spaced mesh eg 1-2" which gives you bigger holes for the grass to grow through.

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That very helpful, thanks! :wave:

Thanks for all your replies. My run has quite a wide mesh floor, 2 or 3 inch holes so that the grass can poke up through it, my buns aren't really diggers, it's more to stop foxes etc digging in and just an added precaution as they have 24 hour access. I do worry that sometimes the wire is floating a little above the grass, as someone said above, I sometimes try to poke it down with a stick but not very successful. Trouble is I want to beable to move my rn around to give the bunnies the best grass in the garden, they eat a lot and I like to move it every few days, especiall ynow that the grass isn't growing as fast. I do check their feet and haven't seen any problems?

I also sometimes worry about their fet inside the shed. It has the old wood floor as a base but sometimes I think wood can be quite slippery, but I haven't got around to lino-ing it yet, although I struggle to see how this would make it any less slipplery?!

If you look in a garden centre, you'll find wire hooks designed for holding down fleece over flower beds, you can also use them to pin the mesh to the ground if you find it won't stay in place

I wouldn't put it straight on the floor to be honest, either bury it under or just put it around the edges

DemiS said:

I wouldn't put it straight on the floor to be honest, either bury it under or just put it around the edges

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When you say just around the edges do you mean around the outside of the run? to stop predators digging in? I want my buns to have 24hour access to their run as they love being outside all hours but I don't want anything to dig in or them to manage to dig out!! We initially put the mesh under when we were going on holiday for a week because no-one would be home all day to see if they were digging or not.

kt6382 said:

When you say just around the edges do you mean around the outside of the run? to stop predators digging in? I want my buns to have 24hour access to their run as they love being outside all hours but I don't want anything to dig in or them to manage to dig out!! We initially put the mesh under when we were going on holiday for a week because no-one would be home all day to see if they were digging or not.

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I meant inside to stop buns getting out (they could still get out but would have to build a much bigger tunnel and I'm sure you'd of noticed by then, if they could be bothered that is) But yes you could put it around the outside too