house rabbit - cage size requirements for a rescue

Hi

We're looking to get a pair of rabbits to join our menagerie (!). We are hoping to get rescues from the RSPCA or another rescue. The room we are going to be using is my daughters bedroom and have looked into getting the 'feroplast 120' cage and then they have 24/7 free range of the room too. We have just spent the morning rabbit proofing it !

We've had outside bunnies for years, but never inside ones before. Just wondered how the RSPCA feel about house bunnies and what their requirements for cage/room sizes would be ? I know the Feroplast 120 is too small on its own but hopefully RSPCA will be happy with the additional floor space in the bedroom. We will also get (or my husband will make) a large run so they can spend some time in the garden during the summer months, plus have stables with lovely deep shavings beds for them to play in too !

Do you think this will be acceptable ? as we're hoping to get rescues we're not sure of the breed/size of bunny yet. Ive only ever had Dutch rabbits in the past !

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly received.

thanks

Lucy

edited to say, do they actually need a cage if they have free range 100% of the time ? but how would RSPCA feel about no cage ?

Good on you for rescuing
the recommended size is a 6ft x 2ft hutch with 6ft x 8ft run (or equivalent square footage).
Personally I like them to have a cage which acts like a den where they can go to get away from everything. I'm not sure what the RSPCA will say about no cage, you can always ask when you go to look at rabbits.

Most rescue are happy to rehome as house rabbits as they'll come and do a really thorough home check.

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daphnephoebe said:

Good on you for rescuing
the recommended size is a 6ft x 2ft hutch with 6ft x 8ft run (or equivalent square footage).
Personally I like them to have a cage which acts like a den where they can go to get away from everything. I'm not sure what the RSPCA will say about no cage, you can always ask when you go to look at rabbits.

Most rescue are happy to rehome as house rabbits as they'll come and do a really thorough home check.

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thank you, so even though they'll have the run of the bedroom 24/7 the cage (feroplast 120) may be considered too small ? I did look at the liberta 150 but it takes up such a chunk of the room and would be in the way :/

I rescued a rabbit for free range in the house and we didn't need a cage. It wasn't the RSPCA though. They were perfectly happy to let us adopt a rabbit to just live in our living room. However I will warn you - if they are completely free ranging they WILL find something to destroy even if you have completely rabbit proofed. Mine live in my living room and like to hide under the sofa. We pulled it out to clean yesterday and it has been absolutely destroyed. I don't mean to put you off (it hasn't put us off) but its worth knowing. They also chew our floorboards and pull the wallpaper off of the wall haha x

Also - as long as you're not shutting them in the cage I dont think they will worry about the size of it x

the RSPCA have just returned my earlier answerphone message, the lady said they don't like to home rabbits as indoor pets. so maybe thats our idea scuppered ? I wonder if all rescues are like that ?

LucyJK said:

thank you, so even though they'll have the run of the bedroom 24/7 the cage (feroplast 120) may be considered too small ? I did look at the liberta 150 but it takes up such a chunk of the room and would be in the way :/

Click to expand...

So long as they're not being shut in it shouldn't matter about the size of the cage

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LucyJK said:

the RSPCA have just returned my earlier answerphone message, the lady said they don't like to home rabbits as indoor pets. so maybe thats our idea scuppered ? I wonder if all rescues are like that ?

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We have rescued 2 bunnies from the RSPCA (different branches) & both were ok to be rehomed as house bunnies. All RSPCA's are different. Some rescues do prefer outside bunnies but I'd say those that stipulate that are probably in the minority.

I've always had indoor bunnies & never had a cage, I just bunny proof & let them free range. My current three are not destructive at all, 2 of them did minor wallpaper removal 2 years ago & that is it. Older bunnies are less destructive in my experience. I think providing lots of natural stuff to chew (forage & safe tree branches) helps- it does for us anyway.

Keep trying & good luck

thanks, hoping another of our local RSPCAs may be more flexible with allowing house bunnies. TBH the carpet in her room as already had it due to her last hamster eating it ! We also have rats in my other daughters bedroom, cats, dogs and budgie plus horses outside. miss having bunnies around though !

We have rehomed house bunnies from our local RSPCA rescue. We are using a converted dog cage and meshed puppy pen combination as a base, free ranging while we are around and the rescue appeared happy with the accommodation.
If your local rescue aren't happy to rehome as house rabbits, go to another rescue, there isn't a shortage, particularly if you are adopting a pair

RSPCA branches can each have their own requirements - they are effectively independent outlets under the RSPCA banner - so it's worth trying another branch, or a different rescue. Some rescues will rehome nationwide as well, so you don't just have to look locally.

Lots of rescues will rehome bunnies to be indoor bunnies. I would think they would prefer no cage rather than something that they could theoretically be shut in that would be too small. My rabbit free ranges in his own room and doesn't have any cage, he has litter trays and a bed. It is rabbit proof and has laminate so no carpet to chew! He has chewed the paper off the wall though :lol:

You can find inspiration in the housing sticky. And it might be worth looking on rabbit rehome website for your nearest rabbit rescue :thumb:

We re-homed an RSPCA bun and they were happy to hear he would be living in doors. We converted a Welsh dresser for his hutch and he has free run of the room all the time. We have a giant bun Rogue who lives in a different room (they haven't been bonded yet as they weren't getting on then Buster has been ill) and she has the same situation and seems very happy with it. Both go outside when we are at home and run around the garden.

As I said the woman who checked the house and the people at the centre were happy to hear he would be inside and have us around a lot.

It sounds like it's a centre specific thing rather than a general RSPCA rule.

It's definitely depends on the rescue centre, we were advised that we had to have at least a 6ftx2x2 hutch even though the rabbit wouldn't spend any time in it. I suppose it covers their backs in case people get bored with the rabbit after a while and it ends up confined to a hutch.

Rabbit residence rescue have lots of lovely pairs of rabbits that are available for adoption who would be suitable as house bunnies and rehome within a 3 hour drive of Royston, Herts. Email Amy to arrange to come and view and get adoption paperwork sent over, the email address is rabbit_residence@herts.ac.uk

Some different rescues have different homing criteria, sadly sometimes outdated. However you could also convert a well lit stable into bunny accommodation very easily.

I would look at having something bigger as a base, or having them in a different room. Bunnies are noisy at night, it's their most active time, and my bunnies used to jump on me a lot in bed, which of course are both not good for a good night's sleep. Sometimes I had no choice but to shut them away if I had any chance of getting some sleep, particularly when they went through their stage of weeing on me when I was sleeping!

Most rescues are fine with bunnies being indoors, but many require them to have access to a large enough space that is permanently theirs, i.e. a large base/pen or room.

I personally prefer bunnies to be in my living room, as they get more attention, access to a bigger room and it doesn't matter how noisy they are at night!! I don't miss the bunny 500s crashing all around the room and binkies on my head at 4am!

edit: P.S. Just seen the bit about the stable - this would make a lovely home. When I was a child I had bunnies living in a stable and it was great because I could sit in there with them and it was cosy and warm even in winter.

I would try a different rescue or RSPCA branch, I wonder why they don't like indoor buns :?

That cage as a base would be fine, but as others have said a rescue might worry that you'd end up shutting them in at night. I think you should have a good look around at rescue bunnies and when you've found one's you like, contact the rescue and ask exactly what they want. They may all have different requirements, so you don't want to follow one rescues requirement (eg. no cage at all just free ranging) and then fall in love with rabbits from another rescue which demand something different. Most indoor cages/hutches don't require much setting up and you can usually get next day delivery so you won't be having to delay things for very long once you've found the right rabbits.

Also if they do require a 6x6x2 base then zooplus sell a 160 cage for £90 and you can buy an extension for £30 that makes it 6ft.

Some rescues have rabbits that they recommend as house bunnies. Over here our rspca do.