Wood chips on floor of rabbit run?

[CiaraPatricia]

Hi

We have my rabbits runs on the patio in the winter and on grass in the summer (moving every day). We've tried putting different things down on the concrete in the run, straw, woodshavings, but they just get all wet and dirty after a while. Does anyone know if woodchips would work? Or have any other suggestions? Or should I just stick with the concrete? (They have a hutch too of course.)

 

[bunnybunbunb]

Hay would keep the rabbits off the wet and dirty concrete, plus they could eat it. Do you wash the concrete off? I would think every few days would help with the sanitation, even if it it just plain water.

You could use wood chips but unless you are composting it it is very wasteful :/ Hay they can eat. They will not eat the dirty hay so some will be wasted but not as much as the wood chips.

I use wood chips, hay, and pellets depending on where they are. I compost, though, so I am not wasting my money on the stuff. It gets composted and goes on the garden which inturn feeds the animals. So basicly the rabbits are feeding their selves part of the time

 

[snap]

Whats wrong with just plain concrete?

I just leave them on concrete, because my playpen is a huge circle-type-thing on about 10x10 feet of patio, which I still think is too small. I sweep it before putting a different bunny in, though.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Plain concrete is good when it's dry and good for their nails and all. But when it rains then it gets pretty wet. I guess anything would though

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

While concrete is good for their nails and provides and cool solid surface to lay in when it's warm, rabbits do enjoy soft and loose bedding that they can dig in and make cozy beds out of. Though you'll have to clean out any form of bedding more often as fibrous material harbors more bacteria.

Just be sure NOT to use cedar wood chips/shavings, pine wood chips/shavings, or newspaper. These will eventually cause respiratory problems in your rabbit.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Well they have bedding in their hutches to lie on, and dig around in, and they have their litter trays in the run that they sit in too! Silly rabbits, but the litter trays are always pretty clean.

We don't use newspaper for them, but I heard that newspaper ink was made out of non-toxic soy ink now? And that pine was ok if it's kiln dried?

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

The ink in newspaper is more toxic to younger rabbits and not all of it is made of the soy ink, sadly. I haven't heard that about thepine chips being kiln dried, so it may be okay in that case. The reason why it usually isn't safe is simply becuase of the small particiles of pine dust it gives off which can harm a rabbits lungs.

I've known some breeders who use sugar cane as flooring/bedding so you could possibly try that as well, though I personally don't know the pros or cons of it.

It really all just depends on how much an how often you want to clean and what makes your rabbit happiest. Plain concrete can easily be hosed down and sanitized quickly, while a soft material flooring will have to be swept up which can be quite messy and replaced with sanitations inbetween changing.

You can try different safe materials such as straw or safe wood chips and see if your rabbit prefers one over the other.

There are pros and cons to whatever material you use and it's up to you to decide what more convenient to use.

 

[aurora369]

Kiln dried pine is okay, cedar is never.

Kiln drying allows the phenols (the stinky aromatic oils in the wood) to dry up and then the rabbits will not be breathing them in. It is breathing in the phenols from the wood that causes the respiratory problems.

I use a compressed pine pellet that is kiln dried through the forming process. The wood has very little odour to it and absorbs very well.

You could make some digging boxes to put out in their run. Get some big covered cat boxes or a giant rubber maid with some doors cut in it, and fill with shredded paper, shavings or other bunny safe digging material. Then they would have somewhere to go and dig, and that would probably be easier to clean then the entire floor of the run.

-Dawn

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Yeah I use kiln dried pine in their litter boxes and the non-sleeping area of the hutches.

I'm going to be making the shed into a bunny shed soon and I'll give them lots of cardboard boxes to play in with shredded paper and stuff

 

[sbaxter]

I have mine on paving blocks on the patio and they are in a chicken coop/with run all covered by the roof of the run and the ground stays dry inside the run although ground outside is wet but ours is pushed up against a wall and butted up next to outside lounge wall so protected from the elements a bit.sides of run next to wall i pinned thick plastic to cover them(the roll type used to protect carpets).I hose it when necessary and because they are blocks they drain and it dries quite fast