Concerns and confusion over minimum space requirements for a house rabbit.

At the end of last year my partner and I built a very large purpose built pen for our then rabbits (now sadly just "rabbit" not plural). It's area is 45 square feet. I was pretty proud of this and pleased with the large size of it.

I am however a little bit confused. My partner and I were looking on various rescue websites, rabbit welfare organisations and house rabbit societies etc, we noticed they say you should have a minimum of 60 square feet of space lol ... Am I missing something? I have seen the various x pen set ups, dog crate conversions, NIC sets ups and cornered off rooms etc on this forum and none of them could possibly be 60 square foot. What I found baffling is, I would have thought most normal homes are physically unable to provide 60 square feet of space permanently. The rescues etc get to 60 square ft by saying 24 square ft for the "hutch" and 36 square feet for the run which should be permanent.

My concern was, I wondered how many rabbits are unrescuable from some of these places as house rabbits, if some rescues are saying they must have access to 60 square feet of permanent space as a minimum.

As far as my set up goes, there is nearly always someone in, while someone is in our rabbit is out 100% of the time and free roams around the entire place which was rabbit proofed meticulously (it took many months to do). So the total square footage on an average day available to her is about 500+ square feet. Most days she will spend 12 + hours out, today for example she has been out since 7am and its now 6pm .

Despite that however, I would technically not be able to meet the requirements of some of these rescues as the permanent space is only 45 foot squared, which just seems absurd.

I understand promoting the biggest space possible is the correct thing to do, but if some rabbits cannot be rescued to wonderful homes such as those from people on these forums, then clearly something is very wrong. I could also see a negative side effect where people who want a rabbit would just go to a pet shop (NOT SOMETHING I WOULD EVER DO) and buy a rabbit instead of rescuing.

I just wondered what the folk here think about this. Thank you in advance for your replies

Dave & Sandra

Im hoping I don't get shouted at but I agree and see your point, I sometimes think rescues are so "fussy" they drive people to P@H where you can hand over the cash and walk away not too many questions asked so to speak, same with cat rescues!! Buying is so easy that in a society where everyone is so busy and time is precious rescuing is become more and more difficult

I have two house rabbits who have their own bedroom. Their overnight space is 120sqft, during the day they have the whole house to roam. (They're confined at night due to our other nocturnal pets). We are in a 3 bed home which is rather cramp... the girls have the biggest room, us 2nd biggest and then the last is the guest/storage room.

Personally, I don't think its difficult for someone to provide a house rabbit with at least 60sqft. After all, its just the size of a small bedroom which could easily be fully rabbit proofed & shared with bun the whole time. Either that, or it could be easily exceeded by fully rabbit proofing the whole house & allowing bun complete full roam with a corner of the house dedicated to litter trays & bowls.

The other option is to get smart with the space available... make a multi level enclosure that meets the 60sqft requirement.

Sadly, not all buns do meet the 60sqft requirement but clear communication with the rescue often allows them to be re-homed to places where they may be confined for 4/5 hours during the day when the care giver is at work. Or, the bun has been purchased from a breeder, pet shop, or a P@H rescue where the homes checks are not carried out.

A lot of us who have house bunnies (myself included) allow them permanent access to a rabbit proofed room, so they are never shut in a pen or run. obviously this is not always possible. The forum has been around a long time and some photos will be old ones from before recommendations changed. Obviously I am aware that not everyone who posts is providing 60sqft.

It is easier to rescue than buy in my opinion as they are already neutered and vaccinated too, which saves time, cost and stress. And I like to rescue to offer a home to a rabbit who has found itself needing a new home often because of ill treatment.

I think rescues are strict with their requirements to ensure that the rabbit gets the best possible home and is less likely to end up in rescue again.

I wonder Zoobec, where you say ... a lot of us who have house bunnies allow them permanent access to their own room, what proportion of people on these forums are able to provide such a wonderful set up? I imagine by a big margin the majority of people are not able to.

Zoobec said:

It is easier to rescue than buy in my opinion as they are already neutered and vaccinated too, which saves time, cost and stress. And I like to rescue to offer a home to a rabbit who has found itself needing a new home often because of ill treatment.

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The point is though Zoobec, all of that is null and void if you have 45 square foot of space with 500 foot of roaming space, for which you wouldn't be able to rescue a rabbit from many places. Which in turn doesn't make it easy at all it makes it impossible! Otherwise, I agree it is easier to rescue, and I would personally never buy an animal from a shop while others are in need of rescue, never have never will.

Thank you for your input taking the time to reply

From a rescue's point of view, I would say that the 60 square feet permanently accessible space has been arrived at my research into the needs of rabbits. Therefore if that's what research suggests is needed, then that's what I'm going to ask for Space requirements and the understanding of what is needed and why have evolved over the years. When I first started rescuing, we asked for a 5ft hutch with a 5*4 run and were delighted if people went as decadent as getting a 6ft hutch! As Zoobec says, a lot of people have a whole room for them or wholly free range, which is usually the best way to meet the size requirements.

Another reason I would still ask for it for house rabbits is because, even though you know your circumstances and how you would behave, some people lie and unfortunately unless you personally know the person, there's no way to tell for certain whether you've got someone genuine or someone who is telling you what they think you want to hear. Some people want a house rabbit because they think it will be cheaper than spending the amount of money on a decent outdoor set up. So people will say that the rabbit will never be shut in, or only be shut in for 8 hours or something...but how do you as a rescue know that's true? The only way to guarantee that they'll get the space they need for as long as they need is to ensure that the smallest area for the bunnies meets the 60 sq ft requirement. Take your situation for instance, as a rescue my question would be - if the house is as well bunny proofed as you say, and if bunny is allowed to completely free range all the time someone is home, why can't bunny be free range all the time? Circumstances also change. It's all very well for someone to be home all day and allow 10-12 hours free range access over hundreds of square feet each day, but is that really likely to be the case for the next 10+ years of the bunny's life? In some cases (e.g. retired people) it might well be, but for others (e.g. stay at home parent) it could well not be as the children get older. Even at 12 hours a day out of a cage, there are 24 hours in a day and that's still 50% of their life in a space that is too small...so then what if the owner's circumstances change (or they actually had no intention of free ranging as much, or discover that the rabbits are too destructive), bunny could end up in that size for 75% of that time, or 100% of that time.

There are exceptions to every rule and I will consider them on a case-by-case basis, but I thought it would be helpful to explain some of the thought process that I go through

daphnephoebe said:

Personally, I don't think its difficult for someone to provide a house rabbit with at least 60sqft. After all, its just the size of a small bedroom which could easily be fully rabbit proofed & shared with bun the whole time. Either that, or it could be easily exceeded by fully rabbit proofing the whole house & allowing bun complete full roam with a corner of the house dedicated to litter trays & bowls.

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Not difficult if you have a spare small sized bedroom, if you don't then it is lol. My friend who has a house rabbit in a modern one bedroom flat physically doesn't have 60ft square spare space, nor does my sister who has a house bun. I also think it can be very dangerous to leave rabbits free roaming even in a rabbit proofed house. Some rabbits are just not suitable for that set up unfortunately. Maybe as you say with a multi layered thing, even then often it's supposed to be on a flat.

Sometimes rescues can be less ridged as you say, unfortunately it doesn't look like the ones that say the space needs to be "permanent"

Thank you for your reply .

xArthurRabbitx said:

I wonder Zoobec, where you say ... a lot of us who have house bunnies allow them permanent access to their own room, what proportion of people on these forums are able to provide such a wonderful set up? I imagine by a big margin the majority of people are not able to.



The point is though Zoobec, all of that is null and void if you have 45 square foot of space with 500 foot of roaming space, for which you wouldn't be able to rescue a rabbit from many places. Which in turn doesn't make it easy at all it makes it impossible! Otherwise, I agree it is easier to rescue, and I would personally never buy an animal from a shop while others are in need of rescue, never have never will.

Thank you for your input taking the time to reply

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I actually said a lot of us provided them with permanent access to a rabbit proofed room, rather than their 'own' room. I don't know the proportion of people on here that do that. I'm not lucky enough to have a totally spare room so I have my house rabbit in the room that was easiest to rabbit proof. Basically the furniture in there is furniture that is not too precious to me and there is plenty of things for him to jump on. And there is nothing for him to hurt himself on :thumb:

The 60 square foot of space is the recognised minimum space recommended by the Rabbit Welfare Association (RWAF) this is why many rescues will only rehome to a home where the rabbits have 24/7 access to a secure predator proof and rabbit proof space that is bigger than this size.
IMO as a manager of a rabbit rescue if an owner isn't prepared to meet minimum housing requirements then they aren't able to adequately provide for a rabbit so yes I'd rather the rabbits remained at the rescue where unless they have are in quarantine or receiving medication they are in enclosures greater than the minimum size requirements, I can ensure that the rest of their needs such as correct diet and specialist veterinary care are also provided for.
Does it mean that our less desirable rabbits may be with us a long time, absolutely but I would rather that than home them to somewhere where their needs won't be met.

Niklovesrats said:

Im hoping I don't get shouted at but I agree and see your point, I sometimes think rescues are so "fussy" they drive people to P@H where you can hand over the cash and walk away not too many questions asked so to speak, same with cat rescues!! Buying is so easy that in a society where everyone is so busy and time is precious rescuing is become more and more difficult

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I have done loads of home checks over the years, for various rabbity organisations. I find it's a question of working with the owners to get the best deal for rabbits *over a long period of time*. Circumstances change and people can well do things that are different to the original plan. I try to encourage people to think laterally about how they can give their rabbits a very good quality of life, maybe by adding different things into the equation - building additional space, changing things around etc. Sparking some life into what could well be a fairly dull existence for a rabbit in a pen, when its ancestors used to travel miles every day, and at speed

Niklovesrats said:

Im hoping I don't get shouted at but I agree and see your point, I sometimes think rescues are so "fussy" they drive people to P@H where you can hand over the cash and walk away not too many questions asked so to speak, same with cat rescues!! Buying is so easy that in a society where everyone is so busy and time is precious rescuing is become more and more difficult

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I can see where you are coming from with this as it's much easier just to had over some cash no questions asked rather than research and ensure you can adequately meet any animals Welfare needs.
Personally I always try to educate rather than just turning people away.
It is a rescues job to ensure the animals in our care go to homes where their welfare needs are met and although it may be seen as making people jump through hoops, if we did not do this we'd be no better than a back yard breeder or pet shop ourselves.

I have a spare room I could use but I choose not to, it's never used, out of the way upstairs, I wouldn't have any contact with them. Instead...

The kitchen with a babygate on the doorway. No cage and it is rabbit proof

It meets the size, there's no cage so the whole room Size counts

I also allow supervised time in the rabbit proofed rest of the house and loose in a huge garden

If I didn't use the babygate I would not be able to give the space down stairs as there is nowhere safe to pen the area. It would be a fire hazard blocking the exits and so on


There are ways to give the space, just need to think outside of the box (cage/pen) sometimes

tabithakat64 said:

The 60 square foot of space is the recognised minimum space recommended by the Rabbit Welfare Association (RWAF) this is why many rescues will only rehome to a home where the rabbits have 24/7 access to a secure predator proof and rabbit proof space that is bigger than this size.
IMO as a manager of a rabbit rescue if an owner isn't prepared to meet minimum housing requirements then they aren't able to adequately provide for a rabbit so yes I'd rather the rabbits remained at the rescue where unless they have are in quarantine or receiving medication they are in enclosures greater than the minimum size requirements, I can ensure that the rest of their needs such as correct diet and specialist veterinary care are also provided for.
Does it mean that our less desirable rabbits may be with us a long time, absolutely but I would rather that than home them to somewhere where their needs won't be met.

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Thank you for the reply , I believe your message highlighted the very concern I have. A belief that somehow a rabbit with a 45 square foot pen with 500 square foot of daily roaming space means its "needs" are some how not met and it's better off in a rescue lol ... This cannot be with the rabbits best interest in my opinion.

That is literally the problem, and in my opinion you highlighted it perfectly.

xArthurRabbitx said:

Thank you for the reply , I believe your message highlighted the very concern I have. A belief that somehow a rabbit with a 45 square foot pen with 500 square foot of daily roaming space means its "needs" are some how not met and it's better off in a rescue lol ... This cannot be with the rabbits best interest in my opinion.

That is literally the problem, and in my opinion you highlighted it perfectly.

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In my opinion, what is literally the problem is that you don't seem to understand why rescues have minimum standards, as I've already explained but you seem to have selectively overlooked. Sadly, it's because people can't be trusted. You might know that you're trustworthy and going to do that, but the rescue can't possibly know whether you're really going to or not. And unless you know those people personally and know you can trust them, you actually have no idea whether the rabbit will see the 500 square feet of daily roaming space for an adequate period of time or not. Or whether they will for the first year but then the household circumstances change and the bun finds themselves shut in the pen all day and let out for an hour or two in the evening.

For me, what's in the rabbits' best interests is knowing that they are in a home where their needs can be met 24/7, not for a selected period of the day which may or may not change over years, or which may not have ever been the intention of the adopter.

Santa said:

In my opinion, what is literally the problem is that you don't seem to understand why rescues have minimum standards, as I've already explained but you seem to have selectively overlooked. Sadly, it's because people can't be trusted. You might know that you're trustworthy and going to do that, but the rescue can't possibly know whether you're really going to or not. And unless you know those people personally and know you can trust them, you actually have no idea whether the rabbit will see the 500 square feet of daily roaming space for an adequate period of time or not. Or whether they will for the first year but then the household circumstances change and the bun finds themselves shut in the pen all day and let out for an hour or two in the evening.

For me, what's in the rabbits' best interests is knowing that they are in a home where their needs can be met 24/7, not for a selected period of the day which may or may not change over years, or which may not have ever been the intention of the adopter.

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I completely agree with this. Years ago I worked with an organisation doing home visits and working with potential adopters to get their accommodation to be appropriate.

In the very early days I did trust and take people at face value, but you soon figure out that that is not a successful way to be. For example, imagine rehoming a pair of bunnies to a grass set up, and highlighting the fact to the adopter that the rabbits could easily dig out and that my suggestion was that she made the set up so that wasn't feasible (ideally meshing, or setting it on concrete). She agrees that she will move the run regularly (if memory serves me correctly, I asked for daily), and therefore this won't happen. I took that at face value, as did the people who made the actual decisions. Then, two months later, I got a call from her telling me the rabbits had dug out and one had been killed by next door's dog. I went round later that day to see the run had been moved like three times, in the two months since she had adopted the rabbits. One rabbit dead due to me trusting someone who couldn't be trusted. My error. A fatal error. That never happened again. Everyone else had to prove that their set up was adequate at all times. That meant that, yes, at times, excellent people did have to make adjustments to their accommodation (it was very rare we turned anyone down outright, I preferred to work with people to get their setup as it needed to be and, to be honest, the ones who made good owners, did exactly that), but it also meant that I knew that those rabbits were going into homes where they would be safe and have their needs met.

Or another time when we adopted rabbits out prior to the person putting wet weather protection on the accommodation (and, this was not my choice, this was a massive error of the people who got the final say) and when I went and did the post adoption visit, the rabbits were severely matted, because the person had said they would do something that they hadn't, and, in fact, was just completely neglecting the rabbits.

And my list goes on. For every rule that is in place, there are a gazillion reasons why- and all those reasons are about what is best for the rabbit.

I think, unless you have seen and experienced those people who can not be trusted, then it doesn't compute as to why someone wouldn't be; if you are trustable, then you won't understand how people can't be. Sadly, people are untrustworthy and, in these situations, it's only ever going to be the rabbits that pay. The job of rescuers and rehomers is to make sure that those rabbits never have to pay, for choices people make, again.

You sound very caring owners, who want to do the absolute best for the bunnies you adopt, but there is no way for a rescue to know know, whether you're able to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. And that's the very sad reality of rescuing and rehoming.

I don't think 60 ft is hard if you bunnyproof. Mine have two bedrooms plus the landing in between, one of the rooms is about half a foot under the 60ft due to bookcases in there. It's quite a small room but even so without the bookcases it would meet those requirements comfortably.

Shayne_ said:

There are ways to give the space, just need to think outside of the box (cage/pen) sometimes

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:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

xArthurRabbitx said:

Thank you for the reply , I believe your message highlighted the very concern I have. A belief that somehow a rabbit with a 45 square foot pen with 500 square foot of daily roaming space means its "needs" are some how not met and it's better off in a rescue lol ... This cannot be with the rabbits best interest in my opinion.

That is literally the problem, and in my opinion you highlighted it perfectly.

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I totally understand that people who run rescues, who likely have personal experience of what most of us would consider unimaginable cruelty and - as highlighted above - people who simply cannot be trusted to do what they say they will, have strict criteria for the permanent space for rabbits. And also why they feel that the rabbits they have cared for are better off with them in their large enclosures 24/7.

In fact I'd go further and may get shot down for this - rabbits in rescue are far better off than many of those advertised in Gumtree and the like who break your heart when you see the tiny cages they are kept in, forgotten by children and ignorant parents and, I'm sure, very roughly handled and treated by some. To top it all they are then offered "free to a good home" or "£10 to ensure a good home" with no checks at all to anyone who wants them.

If you can't rehome from a rescue because of your space constraints but are convinced you could offer a good home why not rehome a poor lost soul or two from Gumtree? A rabbit that is really in need? No disrespect to any rescue people meant but there are lots rabbits out there who have no chance at all of a happy life.

Two of mine are from Gumtree and both were in small hutches with no runs prior to me getting them. One had been a Christmas gift and had been with his new family for less than two months before the kids lost interest. He was £8 and anyone could have bought him for any purpose. It breaks my heart.

orangediva said:

I totally understand that people who run rescues, who likely have personal experience of what most of us would consider unimaginable cruelty and - as highlighted above - people who simply cannot be trusted to do what they say they will, have strict criteria for the permanent space for rabbits. And also why they feel that the rabbits they have cared for are better off with them in their large enclosures 24/7.

In fact I'd go further and may get shot down for this - rabbits in rescue are far better off than many of those advertised in Gumtree and the like who break your heart when you see the tiny cages they are kept in, forgotten by children and ignorant parents and, I'm sure, very roughly handled and treated by some. To top it all they are then offered "free to a good home" or "£10 to ensure a good home" with no checks at all to anyone who wants them.

If you can't rehome from a rescue because of your space constraints but are convinced you could offer a good home why not rehome a poor lost soul or two from Gumtree? A rabbit that is really in need? No disrespect to any rescue people meant but there are lots rabbits out there who have no chance at all of a happy life.

Two of mine are from Gumtree and both were in small hutches with no runs prior to me getting them. One had been a Christmas gift and had been with his new family for less than two months before the kids lost interest. He was £8 and anyone could have bought him for any purpose. It breaks my heart.

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I can definitely see both sides, so I'm not going to wade in.

But wanted to say that Orangediva your post really resonated with me. Two of our buns are from gumtree and both were kept in awful tiny hutches with little interaction. One is long haired and was severely matted and dirty and had to be shaved at the vets. We really felt like we really 'rescued' them and I like to think they have a lovely home now with us. With proper love and care lots of space and no hutches.

As a side note. I do remember before we got rabbits for the first time, we'd been to a Bluecross open day and my children said can we have rabbits. The rabbits there had lovely enclosures and I said to them if we can't provide better than what they have here then it's better that they stay here and eventually go to someone who can x

Hi all, this has been really interesting reading thanks!

This seems very relevant to my current set up. When I got my first bun she was a single girl in a too small indoor cage. I found this forum, did my research, got her spayed, moved her outside (I rent and couldn't offer her adequate space inside) and rescued her a friend.
This was 7 years ago and their new outdoor set up was bigger than the accepted minimum.
Now the requirements have changed and I'm still renting and physically don't have space to expand, I'm trying my best to be creative and add levels for them.
I've put so much into providing as much as I can for them for the last 7 years and it's horrifying to think that a rescue would say I'm not providing for their basic needs.

I'll continue to work to improve their space for as long as they're with me (hopefully a few more years yet!), but wanted to post as I can really identify with this subject!

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I also just wanted to add, on the flip side of this, that I have a clutch of rabbits and only one is an accommodation that would be acceptable for a rescue to adopt to. That doesn't mean I'm a bad owner, or I'm not caring, or my rabbits are suffering or better off with someone else. It just means that when I next come to adopt, I am going to need to make some major changes in order to welcome a new bunny into my warren, and I'll be more than happy to do that, when/if the time comes to it.