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What's the best bedding for outdoor buns?

CucumbersKitchen

CucumbersKitchen

Young Bun
For bedding, I currently use: a layer of wood shavings, a thick layer of newspaper, thick layer of hay.

Is this the best to use for outdoor buns? I've always thought wood shavings were fine because they sell them at pets at home but I've been researching and it says they usually contain mites and can be toxic! Is this true? If it is, what should I use instead?

Also, do you have a soft cushiony bed for your buns (as well as normal bedding area)? I was thinking of getting a rabbit bed, similar to a padded cat bed, but just wondering if rabbits like it? Thanks :)
 
My outdoor bunnies have rubber flooring in the shed, with a large underbed storage box as a litter tray. I use wood pellet cat litter in the litter tray, with hay on top. some people use newspaper under the hay, or you could use Fitch if paper based cat litter. I don't use shavings as they release phenols and can cause respiratory problems. They have a fleecy padded cat bed inside a wooden hidey box. I don't have any bedding on the rubber floor, it's non slip and easy to sweep up the odd poo.
 
Yes, it's best to move away from wood shavings as they release phenols which care dangerous. Personally I use lino flooring and then use litter trays, and in the trays I use megazorb and hay. Other alternatives are fitch, aubiose, or anything paper/wood based and non clumping. Newspaper is fine! I don't have anything soft and fluffy for my two as all they do is wee on it and chew it up, but if yours appreciate it it's always a nice thing to give :love:
 
I pack the bedroom to the roof with straw ther have a couple of fleece blankets and a bed that fills the bottom of the bedroom area then pile the straw on top :D need to get padded cotton blankets as straw and washing machines is not good :shock: I was them in a pillowcase and just have clean straw too :oops:

They don't use it and prefer to sit in the run I top of the hide box which is also stuffed with straw :roll: but I try :lol:
 
i have stable matting in my shed and pack their bedroom bit with straw and a snugglesafe at night. i use fitch bedding and hay in the litter tray :) i bought them a plush bed once and they chewed it up in about an hour so no more of those :roll:
 
We've also put rubber stable matting in our (nearly finished) shed. We also have a super-large/deep tray with newspaper and hay in it (they're only little buns so that works fine - the underbed storage boxes would probably better for medium/large buns though).

I'm intending to try them with some fleecy beds/blankets when they move into the shed but I'm expecting them to just eat them! :lol:
 
Washing the rabbits' soft things in a pillow case is such a good idea Mrsmcarey! Thanks for suggesting it, why didn't I think of that before?
 
Wow thanks everyone, lots of good ideas here! I cleaned Cucumber out today and put an extra stack of newspaper in the bottom instead of the wood shavings.
 
In my girls' bed chamber there are a couple of newspapers on the bottom, covered by a piece of old carpet, then straw to the roof!

They have newspaper on the floor of their hutch which is also covered by a piece of old carpet which in turn has more newspaper on the top (just so that they don't eat it).

The floor of the shed has a very thick layer of hay on it which they both eat and snuggle into and of course at night they have a couple of snugglesafe pads.
 
I use megazorb on the floor in the same way that you would use shavings. Beds are stuffed with hay, in the winter I will often get a bale of straw and use this in the beds mixed with the hay as it's more insulating but at the moment I don't have the space to store a bale of straw as well as a bale of hay so it's just loads of hay at the moment
 
My quad have large unserved storage boxes with Fitch and hay as well as a purely fitch tray both indoors in the shed and out in the covered part of their run. They have thick fleece blankets on the various platforms and in the indoor and out door hop in hop out cubes and a large fluffy towel in their hidey
 
lollypop1984 said:
i didn't think straw was good for buns as it sharp. or am i wrong. :)
Click to expand...

Straw is very insulating in cold weather, as it's hollow in the middle. There was some scare that it may contain mycotoxins, but I have never known a bunny suffer any ill effects from straw.

The straw I get isn't sharp :) It's soft and warm
 
My just for pets straw is lovely and soft I use the loose baled stuff, it's easier to get out of the bag :oops:

My boys burrow into it or mostly just sit on top :roll: they ain't the cleverest :lol: pie arranges it into a nest, she nibbles it into short bits and places in very sweetly round her:love:
 
Mine all have newspaper, straw and hay in their litter trays. They have straw in their hutches (inside the shed) as well.

My indoor pair have a piece of vet bed on top of bubble wrap and newspaper which I change regularly (as well as their newspaper, straw and hay litter trays).
 
We stuff Cloud and Tifa's sleeping quarters with an ungodly amount of hay so they can eat some and sleep on the rest. They will eat anything that fits in their mouths so we stopped using straw as they were just eating it (it's not that bad for them, but it doesn't have many nutrients so we didn't want them filling up on straw and not eating enough hay.
 
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