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House rabbit flooring advice needed- urgent

MrBunnsey

New Kit
Hello, this is my first post; sorry to skip the intro and go straight the advice thread, but I have a bit of a dilemma:

I am looking after rabbits for friends, they usually live in a garage. I have housed them in a large dog enclosure and used gym mat tiles with newspaper and plastic underneath for flooring (I bought this because I want to get house rabbits).

The problem is they are eating the foam from the tiles, (definitely eating rather than just chewing). Has anyone had this problem, what can I replace the flooring with?
 
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It's about 1.5m x 1m, so not huge, they have access to the rest of the room when supervised. I have some lino, but I'm concerned that they will eat through that too, I thought I fixed the problem by giving them distraction toys, then I caught one of them really tearing through the tiles. I can get hold of some hardwood plywood from a local builders merchant (local petshops have not been helpful), I could cover that with cardboard, just not sure it's rabbit safe.
 
I've had one or 2 rabbits nibble lino with no problems, mostly they don't bother with it, but it's better than eating foam. You have to watch cardboard also, they will definitely eat it and it can cause a blockage. If you can get a piece of plywood that would be better. Do they have hay to chew?
 
Didn't know that cardboard would cause a blockage, I've put cardboard in over where they've chewed the limo to stop them chewing it anymore as I knew the Lino wouldn't do them any good. Mind you there is loads of shredded cardboard so I don't know if they just shred it or eat it [emoji5]


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Treacle is a real destructabun, she is fine on Lino, unless she can get to the edge and then nibbles it ! :roll:
 
I use carpet tiles - rare the girls dig/eat them.
Hope you find a solution soon.

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Thanks for your replies. I put some wooden boards down. The chewing behavior has stopped, I wonder if it was because they were stressed by the sudden move. They seem really happy now, this evening they've been charging around and doing binkies.
 
My buns will chew anything rubber or foam or soft plastic. I had a gate to keep them contained once. A few nibbles and they were free.

Wood is good. I usually have cardboard houses for mine. They don't eat it as much as tear it. Either it's sticking time bomb or I'm lucky. But 3 years now and no blockages. I'm inclidlnded to say it's safe.

I so plan on making them some sort of plywood hutch to replace their very disposable box houses.

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Do they have hay to eat? A big box or tray (eg underbed storage box) full will help to distract them from chewing things that they shouldn't. I would watch their droppings for a few days to make sure that everything is passing through OK - or they may need an urgent vet visit.
 
They have plenty of hay, which they don't eat near enough of. They don't eat the cardboard that much. Just tear it off. It's the only thing they chew. Actually surpised their teeth aren't getting too long. I think it's the cardboard. Be nice if they chewed on the pumice stone.

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