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Newbie bedding question...

B

buntastic

Warren Scout
Well, the Stuart's arrival is getting nearer and more and more questions are popping up. The current one being "what to use as bedding for a house rabbit". Read somewhere that straw is no good as it can damage their eyes, so do I just use hay? Would he end up eating his bedding overnight? Having vision of shivering bunny lying on cold bare floor :oops: What about that strange cellulose bedding stuff they sell in petshops? My ferret slept in fleece sleeping bags, somehow can't see them working on the bunny front....

Sorry if this is a really stupid question, just want to get it right (need to get a good rabbit book asap as well)....
 
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I use wood shavings, although both of mine push the shavings to the side to make a little hollow to sleep in - they seem to prefer sleeping on the plastic floor!
 
For a house bunny I'd probably use vet bed rather than hay/straw. It's much easier because the hay gets everywhere if it's used for bedding as well as for eating and you just put the vet bed in the wash every couple of days. Obviously still give him hay for him to eat, which can be put in a hay rack so that it doesn't spread as easily :)
 
Thanks for that. Just googled vetbed and it seems to come in mats or on rolls, is that the right stuff? Somehow thought it would have to be loose for him to snuggle up in - or is there different kinds of vetbed? And will he not try to eat it?
 
Yeah, that's the right stuff. I think you can get it in pieces as well, but I don't know. I've just bought some pro fleece pieces from Here which is the same stuff. I can't remember if it was cheaper than vet bed or not but it was quite reasonable.
 
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Fab, we'll definitely get him some of either of those two...do you just have one layer on the floor or do they get a "duvet"?
 
In their crates I just put the one layer because it's quite thick and it seems fine just having the one layer. If you think he'll need a thicker bit then you can always buy a bigger bit and fold it in half :)
 
Charlie has a room of his own in our house with a stair gate on (which he can now jump! :shock: ) but he still has his indoor hutch in there which is always open. I did put sawdust down in it at first but it just ended up everywhere except in his bed! So now we put recycled paper down. He mostly sleeps in a chair that he has in there but often goes back into his hutch and I've noticed that he moves everything out of the way and sleeps on the bare plastic!! Also, when he comes downstairs, he sleeps on the bare marble of the fireplace (got a fireguard as he took a shine to the coals in the fire, even when they were hot = singed whiskers!!!!) so I'm assuming that he likes the coolness of it all. HTH!! I guess it's just trial and error as to what your bunny prefers!
 
Lots of people on here would recommend either vetbed, carefresh/megazorb or shredded paper.

Carefresh and Megazorb is a highly absorbent wood pulp, also excellent in litter trays. Google them and you will find suppliers. Carefresh bits are a little bulkier than Megazorb and comes in much smaller bags. I have tried Megazorb but wasn't keen on the smell, although I know that others have said theirs didn't smell at all.

Wood flakes (and not sawdust) is ok but can irritate their sensitive noses. I use wood flakes at the moment but once my bun is litter trained I hope I can just put vet bed down, maybe with some shredded paper at the litter tray end to catch any leaks!
 
I used to have megazorb in the ferrets litter tray - didn't smell at all, but did get dragged all over the place and kept sticking to the fleece bedding...
 
I've always just put litter (megazorb) in their very big litter trays, with hay, so they'll use it for a toilet and lie in it too if it's big enough - I used underbed boxes from wilkinsons for litter trays. My rabbits have all been chewers and my vetbed (cheap imitation from wilkinsons actually :D ) has a nice lacey pattern now! They don't really need any bedding in the house as it's not cold like outside - When I kept my bunnies indoors they used to like lying on the bare plasitc in their cage

flup.jpg


However as dog crates are cold metal I gave the ones in crates a flat mat (80p from wilkinsons!) - which I just chucked when it got to dirty, and brushed off in between.

goodside.jpg


Please note - I do not have shares in wilkinsons, but I think I should buy some :lol:
 
I was wondering too about bedding - but for outside rabbits. At the moment they use their "night" compartment as a toilet so it's got a large deep litter tray in it, which is filled with newspaper, shavings and straw on top. As the weather is fine at the moment, I'm not giving them much straw/bedding and they are sleeping in the outside bit anyway.

But when winter comes, what do I do? Obviously they'll need lots more bedding but then they might wee and poo all over it if it's left in the night compartment as that's one of their litter spots, and that'll be a lot of straw to get through if I have to change all of it every night. Also, would they choose to sleep in the litter tray, as there's not much other room in the night compartment?
 
heleni said:
I was wondering too about bedding - but for outside rabbits. At the moment they use their "night" compartment as a toilet so it's got a large deep litter tray in it, which is filled with newspaper, shavings and straw on top. As the weather is fine at the moment, I'm not giving them much straw/bedding and they are sleeping in the outside bit anyway.

But when winter comes, what do I do? Obviously they'll need lots more bedding but then they might wee and poo all over it if it's left in the night compartment as that's one of their litter spots, and that'll be a lot of straw to get through if I have to change all of it every night. Also, would they choose to sleep in the litter tray, as there's not much other room in the night compartment?
Click to expand...

Those 2 bunnies in my photos are outside now in double hutches - there's 2 of those big litter/underbed storage boxes in each hutch and they use one for a toilet and one for a bed, plus eat hay in both - the hutch floors are bare as they have their beds to snuggle in :)

P1010154.jpg
 
Muppet's an indoor bun and he has the profleece that Fran mentioned. His (always open) 3ft indoor cage has a litter tray on one side (lined with newspaper with a layer of Tesco premium paper-based cat litter) and pro fleece the other side with his food bowl in one corner and a heap of hay in another. He seems to find this comfy :D and hay is on hand for a snack if he's too lazy to get up for it...
 
Bertie used to have Carefresh and hay/straw in his inside cage, but then he started sleeping on a towel that I used to cover something in his room. I got some towels from Charity shop, and now just use those, change them every 3-4 days. Sometimes I too find he's pushed it away and sleeps on the plastic base, there is no pattern; but I'm always pleasantly surprised at just how diverse buns are in their taste, and how they let you know what they like :D
 
It appears that wanting to lay on the bare floor is quite common, Bobbin too does this, so I would suggest not putting anything down that inhibits the ability to do this. Make sure they can get to the bare floor if that's what they want.
 
I was wondering, as bedding here is quite expensive, if I could sow two white bed sheets together and make like a duvet and then fill it with this white stuff, similar to vet bed and use them. And then hav e alitter tray in the corner with newspaper in! I could make 2 duvet things and while I wash the one use the other. What do you think?
 
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