Making care/cleaning out easier.

Hi there! I've had rabbits since I was very young, so I'm by no means foolish about them being an easy pet [mine are more difficult than my dogs!!] but I was just wondering if anybody had any tips on making cleaning the hutch out, and general care a bit easier? I only ask because I'm disabled and recently my health has declined quite a bit and I'd like to avoid this affecting them if possible.

Thank you so much!

Hello and welcome to the forum:wave:Are your bunnies litter trained?You could try them with a litter tray full of hay where they usually pee/poo so you can just lift out the tray each day and replace it with clean hay.
Otherwise is it at all possible to have them indoors?I don't know if that would actually make it easier in general but having them with you can mean doing little bits of cleaning for them during the day rather than going outside to do a big clean out every few days if that makes sense?

Welcome to RU!
May I ask what your setup is like? It might be helpful if we knew what size hutch/area we are discussing, plus if there are any items, runs or tunnels within and how they are organized. (It's often hard to clean around their 'toys' and boredom breakers, and I often find I've tossed something out accidentally that they were still using, or have left something too long that they show no interest in and it becomes an obstacle. )

Are your bunnies all together in one place and bonded? Or are they all separate bunnies? I have three that are singles and I often wish they were a family so that I would have a solitary enclosure to clean instead of three individual ones. :roll: As it stands I'm fortunate that I can delegate a few of my bunny chores to my daughter so I don't exhaust myself.

Of course, we'd all love to see your bunnies too, so if you have some pictures of them, feel free to post them.

I second the idea of a litter tray. I use the bottom half of a large carrier underneath a hay rack in my shed and it's so easy just to tip it out every day/every other day and clean the rest of the shed as and when it needs it.

It might take a bit of trial and error to find something that works for you and your bun. My rabbits won't use a litter tray if it's not underneath a hay rack and they like something large and deep or they'll pee over the edge or right next to it! Underbed storage boxes work well, anything smaller wasn't big enough.

Yes, litter trays have made things so much easier for me :thumb: I use wood pellet cat litter in the bottom, with hay on top, and I have rubber matting in my outdoor pair's shed, which I keep bare. It's easy to clean up stray poops by sweeping :thumb: you could use non slip Lino too. My indoor bunny has his own room, his floor is laminate :thumb:

Also, lining the bottom of the hutch with lino or lino tiles can make it much easier to clean as its super easy to sweep or to wipe clean.

Sorry I was just going to bed as I wrote that post, I seem to have missed out quite important information! My mistake. At the moment I only own one rabbit, but I'm currently looking after one for a friend. Yes, I know rabbits are better in pairs, I lost my females companion in August, I'm still devastated but I'll be looking for a new friend for her soon. On top of this, my run has literally fallen apart this winter, so she currently doesn't have access to one. At the start of December I asked my nanas partner if he could build me one and offered to pay for labour and materials, but there's been nothing, so it looks like I'll have to buy one. Any suggestions on who is reliable would be great!

Elsie is litter trained, yes. Well sort of, but if I don't clean it out fast enough she decides that it is no longer good enough for her, :lol:
Not possible to have inside unfortunately, my bedroom is absolutely tiny and I have two dogs in there quite often, it's not an option for the dogs not to be either, one is my assistance dog.


Set up wise, it was a 6x2x2 hutch with a 5x4x2 run but that run fell apart this winter [quite literally, the sides fell off :shock:] so I'm looking into getting another. The run is connected via a runaround system by the way!

Does anyone have any idea who I would contact if I was looking for someone to build a run, actually? Would it be a joiner or someone else? Thank you so much for all your help!

Lino on the bottom of the hutch is good, I e just done this to my new hutch and it is great. I also leave it clear too so I just have to sweep up stray hay and poos. I use under bed storage trays as litter trays which are easy to lift out and just til up into the bin.

As for runs, I got a collapsible 6x4 run off eBay which has lasted 5 years now and apart from having to replace the hinges on the roof panel last year is still going strong. It can have supports put in along the hinged sides to make it sturdy and has a sheltered area. They also sold larger ones too but I can't remember the sellers name. Welfare hutches do good runs I hear too

Was it the link below, out of interest? Because if it was, that was the same one that fell apart for me! Then again, it came damaged, I just couldn't send it back because it had been over 28 days, so maybe mine was just a bad apple, perhaps?

I'll definitely see if I can go about putting lino on the bottom of the hutch. Does it not get awfully cold at this time of year though?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FULLY-FOL...pplies_Small_Animals&var=&hash=item4182c9d425

As long as Elsie has a nice big underbed storage box full of (for example) newspaper, straw and hay to snuggle into it will be fine if the lino is cold underfoot. I put cardboard and straw over the lino in my sheds to add to the cosy factor but it does mean a lot more cleaning.

Yes that is the same as my run! Mine has been outside in all weathers and apart from the new hinges I needed, it has lasted 5 years. I've only stained it once and it could do with another stain when the weather is better. I'm not sure if the seller is the same but I'm pleased with mine. It's a shame about yours breaking

The lino I used has foam backing and is quite warm to the touch considering it's outdoors.