hello, advice for a newbie please!

Hi, this is my first post here so :wave:

I need some advice on the best housing option for my rabbits. We recently took on 2 going rabbits from someone we vaguely knows grand daughter as they were desperately looking for a new home for them. They came supplied with a very small hutch which I realised immediately was far too small for them so since we got them 3 weeks ago they have been living in our kitchen with a dog cage as a base and free roam of the lurched unless I am out or at night when I have to shut them in as I'm worried that our dog will open the kitchen door. They get out in the garden which is fenced for a couple if hours most days when I have time to supervise.

Obviously this is far from ideal, I feel bad shutting them in the dog cage at night and they have a tendency to jump on the table and eat my toddlers rice crispies as soon as my back is turned! I have been looking into better outdoor housing for them but I'm unsure what sort of size they actually need. I've seen that the minimum size recommended is 6x2x2ft but I'm assuming that is for one rabbit? And obviously I hope we can do better than just minimum size anyway! These girls are largish middle sized rabbits of no particular breed I don't think!

I'm thinking that a shed and run attached will be the best option, however my partner has already started moaning about the rabbit costs after getting them spayed and vaccinated so I need to try and keep price to a minimum. The other concerns about a shed and run setup is that it will need to be in our small back garden with doesn't get much sun so can ne very damp a lot of the year do you think that will cause a problem for the buns? What size of shed would the need? Also I haven't got a clue about DIY so I would need some sort of step by step conversion guide on how to insulate it, put up shelves etc is there such a thing?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading, sorry its ended up being so long!

Trina and bunnys x

Hi Trina, and welcome :wave:

Don't panic, you are already doing a very good job, most people don't even realise that bunnies shouldn't be kept in a tiny hutch so you are already doing so well letting them have more space

I would recommend, if you do decide to keep them indoors, to attach a playpen onto the dog crate you have at the moment, then they can have more room while you are out but still be safe.

I keep my bunnies outside, currently one pair are in a wendyhouse and run set-up, and the other pair are in an 8ft double hutch. Hopefully when I move house I am going to get a large shed and aviary style set-up and bond them all together. The general aim is 44 sq ft for 2 bunnies, with at least 12 of that protected (hence the 6ft hutch), but of course that is a minimum, and it's great if you can provide more :thumb:

In terms of shed size, obviously a 6ft by 4ft shed is perfectly adequate attached to a run, personally I will go for something bigger just because I would want to have the extra space to put more tunnels, levels and toys for them

I got my wendyhouse from eBay for £70, and got the run custom made, in total with all the adjustments we did (ours isn't insulated) it cost just under £200. I find sheds actually are much cheaper than wendyhouses on eBay, but at the moment while I am living with my parents we didn't have room for a shed. I would highly recommend getting something from eBay and sprucing it up, it means you can have it exactly how you want it, saves a lot of money and it's a great accomplishment to turn something a bit manky (ours was covered in chicken poo -eww!) to something that looks really nice and provides a functional bunny home :thumb:

There are two housing stickies with examples of lots of great indoor and outdoor housing, in this section. I'd recommend having a look through those, they provide so much inspiration :thumb:

catherine09 said:

There are two housing stickies with examples of lots of great indoor and outdoor housing, in this section. I'd recommend having a look through those, they provide so much inspiration :thumb:

Click to expand...

Sorry I don't have time right now to read the thread in it's entirety but these are the links catherine means...

Indoor - http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?304613-Indoor-Housing
Outdoor - http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?311878-Outdoor-Housing

A 6x2x2ft hutch with a large attached run would be fine for 2 rabbits from what I have read. The run would need to be about 6x4 and 2 high or if possible you could get a 6x8 run. Those are usually the sizes you will most commonly find but I am sure you can get different sizes.

You say you have a small garden that doesn't get much light? I would maybe suggest a play house They are usually about 4-5 ft high so it shouldn't block out too much light but will still give your buns a nice area to live in. Plus you can add a shelf or two inside as buns like different levels to hop about on. And then just stick a run on it with like a cat flap or door sawn into the side and it should be perfect

Plus you could paint it a very light colour, like cream or white, to help reflect what sunlight you do have around the garden :thumb: