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Newbie, setting up the hutch

C

cathysavill

New Kit
Hi All,

Im a newbie, picking up my first ever bun in a couple of weeks. I have the hutch and ive bought the non perishable bits, but what i keep getting confused about is how exactly to set up the hutch.

A friend who used to keep a rabbit when she was young said newspaper on the bottom then straw? oh i dont know

Could you experienced lot help me out.

HOW DO I SET UP THE HUTCH?

thanks guys:wave:
 
Welcome :wave:

A lot of it really is up to personally choice and often the rabbits choice! Some people line the hutches with lino, some use vet bed (but mine destroy it!), some people use newspaper but can be unsafe it rabbits eat it because of the ink, you can use hay or straw. I line my cage with rubber matting with straw on top.

I use cat wood litter pellets in my litter tray which soaks up their wee really well.

I'm sure people can post some piccies which can be useful.

Best wishes
Lian
 
:wave: and welcome.

I have a double hutch, and have newspaper with straw and shredded paper upstairs and then just their litter tray downstairs.

I know some people use woodshavings, but they can be quite dusty, and also I have lionheads and shavings would be forever stuck in their fur, so I use just straw. You could also use meadow hay as bedding, but make sure there is fresh hay aswell for them to eat.

Rabbits are amazing little creatures and I am sure you will be a great owner!

What type of hutch have you gone for?
 
I have a double hutch. The top floor is covered with self-adhesive floor tiles and vet bed on top . I removed the bedding partition and put in their carrier for sleeping in..makes cleaning much easier:) It's easy for me to "shoo" them into it if I want to take them to the vet or move them to the garden run and back! The litter trays have a layer of megazorb with soft bedding straw on top and a bit of hay at the front so they can munch as they go!! The lower part is straight on the patio and has nothing down apart from their water bowl, a straw tunnel, another litter tray and odds and ends for them to chuck around. Here's a piccie.Since that pic was taken we've added an extra run to the front in case I'm unable to let them out into the garden run.
DSC01350.jpg


DSC01519.jpg
 
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I use newspaper and hay (they do enjoy shredding the newspaper, especially the girls for some reason). I also have a litter tray both in the hutch and the run and all four use them with virtually no training whatsoever, and it makes cleaning them out much easier. If your new bunny is a baby a normal cat litter tray will suffice - I started with that but now have a much bigger one so both bunnies bums fit in at the same time as they like to sleep in them. I use shavings covered with hay in the trays and change them every other day.

Have fun with your new rabbit, they're brilliant pets
 
Matilda has Arrived

Hi there all,

Our new little pure Lionhead has arrived! It is a little girl (discovered after the farm had told us it was a boy) We have called her Matilda! she's about 10 weeks and weighs 0.8 kilos, which the vet said was perfect! and i love her!

thanks to all of you for your advice so far and no doubt ill be on here very soon x:wave:
 
Awww glad you have her. How's she settling in? Are you managing to get her to use a litter tray?

Don't forget to take some pics and post them please :)
 
well at the moment she is very happy, she bounds up to the side of the run when her dad checked on her at lunch. Shes done her first poo, and had a little drink and she loves dandelions! but at the moment she doesnt really know how to use the water bottle so ill have to teach her - some how! she also doesnt seem to have eaten any pellets yet ...?

how do i upload photos of her on here?
 
Hi. If she's used to a bowl for her water then don't bother with a bottle. I keep the water bowl in the lower part of the hutch so it doesn't get lettered with stray hay and bedding. To put photo up you need to load them into a site such as Photobucket and follow the instructions from there. It's very easy once you get the hang of it!!:lol: :lol:
 
While your hutch is new, you might want to line the base and part-way up the walls with lino or something similar. You can get lino offcuts from carpet shops or you may know someone with some going spare (or even try Freecycle), or you can get self-adhesive packs from somewhere like Poundland though they will leave little gaps between each square.
This prevents the wee soaking into the wood and making the hutch smell even after cleaning it out, and is much more hygenic too.
 
I use the lino tiles from Poundland on the floor then layers of newspaper on top and a litter tray layered with newspaper with hay on top. I change the litter tray everyday and remove any soiled newspaper daily. When the weather was cooler, Maisie (my newest bun - just been spade and getting a husbun in 6 wks!) had a piece of vetbed and a Snugglesafe in her bed area.

Enjoy your new bun :)

Rabswood
 
We use lino tiles too, only £2.99 for a pack of 11 so plenty there..They are really easy to keep clean and nice and cool for summer. The litter tray has carefresh bedding in and hay. Upstairs is also lino tile but in the bed area there is a mixture of straw and hay..
We used to use sawdust but it makes such a mess, much cleanier and easier to maintain with floor tiles...
The hutch opens onto a permanent run on slabs so I have a big piece of vetbed in the corner to prevent sore feet.
Good luck with your new bun

Deb
 
capel said:
Hi. If she's used to a bowl for her water then don't bother with a bottle. I keep the water bowl in the lower part of the hutch so it doesn't get lettered with stray hay and bedding. To put photo up you need to load them into a site such as Photobucket and follow the instructions from there. It's very easy once you get the hang of it!!:lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

she had a bottle at the farm where she was reared but i dont know if she used it much, i mean how much are they supposed to drink a day?
 
Goodness..I don't know really. Some mornings when I go to check them the bowl will be nearly empty, so now that the weather's heating up I'll be using a larger bowl just to be on the safe side.
 
Another point re bottles: Do a daily check that the ball bearing in the nozzle doesn't jam. Last summer I was aware one morning that the buns seemed to be rattling the bottle a lot(i'd refilled it) and I noticed in the afternoon that they didn't seem to want to leave it alone. When I checked I realised that the water wan't flowing as the ball in the nozzle had somehow got stuck!! They were so thirsty that they practically jumped over each other to get to the bowl I put down. Felt really awful and was just so thankful that I was at home and had noticed.(Eventually:oops:)
 
newbie!

Hi i was new on saturday too! nearly a week now bunny has settled in great my giz:wave: mo has trouble with the water bottle too so as the weather is hot i have out both water bottle and a dish of water, i considered a hutch but as we live in the middle of the wyre forrest there is too much wild life that would be a threat to him, so he has an indoor cage which he seems to be quite happy with, please let me know how you get on with bonding as me and rabbit have seemed to get really close really quickly!
:wave:
 
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