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Best bedding for indoor bunnies?

Gf91

New Kit
Both my rabbits live indoors & currently in separate hutches. I spot clean daily but completely empty the cages twice a week (usually a Monday & Friday when my daughter is at nursery otherwise we end up in a hell of a mess) I normally line the bottom of both cages with about 2 inches of shavings and then do a big thick layer of hay & straw on the top with fresh hay in their hay racks. I get the bedding from pets at home & getting through a medium bale of wood shavings & 1 of their own large bales of straw a week, mixing Timothy hay with their own finer hay again using a medium bag of each a week.
My husband thinks I'm being OTT with bedding as they're indoors but I don't think I am? Is what I'm using the best bedding for them? Currently trying to litter train them both... which is like toilet training a toddler 🙄
 
Wood shavings aren't generally recommended as they can cause respiratory problems in some bunnies...many people here just use newspaper with hay on top. Other options are recycled paper pellets, megazorb, or wood pellets (the type used for cat litter). Saying that, your life will be made a lot easier if you can get the litter training sorted - are they both neutered? This often helps. If they have a litter tray, they don't really need additional 'bedding' as they will be cosy enough indoors. What sort of cages are they in?
 
Wood shavings aren't generally recommended as they can cause respiratory problems in some bunnies...many people here just use newspaper with hay on top. Other options are recycled paper pellets, megazorb, or wood pellets (the type used for cat litter). Saying that, your life will be made a lot easier if you can get the litter training sorted - are they both neutered? This often helps. If they have a litter tray, they don't really need additional 'bedding' as they will be cosy enough indoors. What sort of cages are they in?

I'm quite lucky that these so far havent had any issues with the shavings as there not dusty. But I won't use them for now on. Yes both neutered. But going anywhere and everywhere apart from the litter trays. They're currently in ferplast 130's but when they're in together I'll join the 2 cages together so it'll be 260 in length. They're allowed to free roam so they're not stuck in the cages all the time
 
So do the litter trays have the same stuff in as the bedding area? Because that might be confusing them. I would restrict the hay/litter to just the tray and try moving all stray poops into there. You may need more than one litter tray in their favourite spots to go until they get the hang of it. If the cages have plastic bases maybe put newspaper down to stop slippy feet. Some people use fleeces but probably not a good idea until litter trained!
 
The fumes from woodshavings aren't very good for rabbits, but I've gone back to using them. The reason being the other beddings I've tried (paper, hemp, wood pellets etc) seem much less absorbent and more dusty, and I'm sure dust and a strong smell of ammonia (due to tit becoming saturated so quickly) isn't too healthy for them either. There's also the cost and storage factor, shavings are cheap and you can easily get small bags, which I need because their hay takes up all of our storage space :lol: Plus I only use a tiny bit in the litter tray and it's covered with hay.

For the rest of their cage I don't use shavings/hay, they're pretty good with their litter tray and they'd just drag the mess all around the house. Instead I just lay puppy pads outside of the litter tray. B&M and home bargains have the cheapest puppy pads, I get them in packs of 100. I tried vet bed for a while, it's wonderful stuff, so soft and any moisture drains straight through, unfortunately my rabbits lose all litter training habits when it's down and they pee all over it. They stay nice and dry but its a lot harder to clean them out.

I empty their litter tray every other day, straight in a bin bag, no shoveling so it's nice and easy. As for the rest of the cage, I just change the puppy pads if they get wee'd on
 
I use Aubiose with hay on top. It's a horse bedding and remains dry on top and wet underneath, becomes compacted so easier to clean out. It comes in big bales and you can order online or go to local stable/farm shop. I've used it for years for rabbits, ferrets, reptiles etc.
 
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