Best base for hutch?

I am looking into what is the best base to use on the floor of my hutch, I have been advised against using wood chippings which is what they have at the minute but in all honesty I would be glad to get rid of it. (Its difficult to get it all swept up and into a bag when cleaning them out)

Any suggestions on what is easy and safe to use? People say newspaper but I feel a little awful just giving them plain old newspaper to walk on. It seems boring? :roll:

I have vinyl on the floor of mine. The litter tray sits on top and any stray poops are easy to sweep up with a dustpan and brush.

Sarah1991 said:

I am looking into what is the best base to use on the floor of my hutch, I have been advised against using wood chippings which is what they have at the minute but in all honesty I would be glad to get rid of it. (Its difficult to get it all swept up and into a bag when cleaning them out)

Any suggestions on what is easy and safe to use? People say newspaper but I feel a little awful just giving them plain old newspaper to walk on. It seems boring? :roll:

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I must admit I find most newspapers boring as well :lol::lol: but the rabbits have never complained about it. They do sometimes like to tear it up that's the downside. A lot of folk like Aubiose but you have to buy a big sack of it, I think.

Mine have a layer of newspaper which is covered with a thick layer of hay. They currently have sore hocks (but are getting better :thumb and the vet said that the newspapers/hay will be a good soft base for them. They have the same in their outdoor run too.

By the way, newspaper is not boring to a bunny as they will have great fun digging at it, ripping and tearing it to shreds. It's even better fun if they have to dig through a layer of hay to get to it and it makes mummeh really cross as it makes such a mess but we don't care as it's SO MUCH FUN!!!!! :lol:

Sarah1991 said:

I am looking into what is the best base to use on the floor of my hutch, I have been advised against using wood chippings which is what they have at the minute but in all honesty I would be glad to get rid of it. (Its difficult to get it all swept up and into a bag when cleaning them out)

Any suggestions on what is easy and safe to use? People say newspaper but I feel a little awful just giving them plain old newspaper to walk on. It seems boring? :roll:

Click to expand...

My hutch has vinyl flooring fitted through out. Then I use a litter tray filled with a layer of megazorb and hay. Any spills or stray poops are easily cleaned up. Some people use newspaper to line the litter trays and other people use megazorb equivalents such as fitch bedding, carefresh, etc.

This way I just have the litter tray to empty daily for George and Harry and every few days for Hershel. The rest of the hutch gets sweeped out weekly and I deep clean when required.

I have tried using hay on top of the vinyl flooring but found my bunnies just pee'd and pooped everywhere and I had to keep cleaning out the hutch and was wasting a lot of hay.

Newspaper with hay on top.

Lino on the hutch floor and a litter tray (32litre underbed storage box) per rabbit filled with newspaper and hay.

I use paper pellet cat litter with hay on top, would love to use newspaper but he eats paper like it's a treat
Cleans up easy enough with dust pan and brush and touch wood he doesn't eat the litter