Check out our advice on helping your rabbits feel at home.
In the wild, rabbits spend hours grazing on open grass and reaching up to forage along native hedgerows. They live underground, so busy themselves digging and exploring potential burrows. Wild rabbits also choose to be close to several different boltholes they can escape to if they feel threatened.
So, when you create your pet rabbits’ environment, it’s important to choose items that will encourage and support this natural behaviour. This will keep them active and mentally stimulated, so they stay healthy and happy.
Rabbits need compatible, neutered companions. A single rabbit, or one with an unsuitable companion, may stay very nervous and reluctant to come out and explore. In some cases, they could even become aggressive towards you. It’s vital you keep two or more rabbits who are happy in each other’s company.
If you have a lone rabbit, we can help. We have an onsite mixing service where we can help you find a companion for your rabbit. We can either mix them onsite or give you advice on how to mix them at home.
Rabbits feel safe when they have plenty of places to run into or hide. Give your rabbits several shelters, from plastic tables and chairs to card or plastic tunnels. Here are a few more ideas for shelters your rabbits will love:
Give your rabbits large rectangular cat litter trays or dog beds lined with newspaper and filled with lots of hay. This will help with litter training.
An outdoor rabbit enclosure with wooden walls, mesh fencing, a wooden shelf, covered beds, food bowls, a litter box, and hay.
Rabbits love to dig! Try giving yours a dig tray or old car tyre filled with organic compost, sand or hay.
Apple or willow tree branches and twigs are great for gnawing on. Often, rabbits don’t like wooden chew toys as the tasty bark has been removed. Try offering them apple tree or willow twigs instead. They love to chew all the bark off, plus it’s great for their digestive system! Fruit tree or willow logs make great lookout towers too! Rabbits love to jump on them and survey their territory.
Here are lots of ideas to help you encourage your rabbits’ natural foraging behaviour:
The wrong bedding for rabbits can have a negative effect on their health. Wood shavings, sawdust and straw cause respiratory conditions and give us humans an allergic reaction too. Straw can also cause nasty eye poke injuries, so avoid giving any of these things to your rabbits.
The most suitable bedding for your rabbits is green, sweet-smelling hay. It also makes up a large proportion of their diet, so it has multiple uses! You can:
It’s often more cost-effective to buy hay from a local farm or equine shop by the bale. You can then pick a nice, green bale and reduce the risk of it being old stock, contaminated or filled with sharp thistles. Find out about all the different hay you can use.
Some people are allergic to hay and sometimes mistakenly believe they’re allergic to rabbits.
This is vital in the summer months to help prevent flystrike.
This is important to keep your rabbits’ home in great condition and prevent flystrike.
Our Outreach team make a huge difference to pets and people in the community. Whether it’s responding to calls for urgent help, delivering vital supplies to pet owners, visiting communities and providing health and wellbeing checks, or offering practical advice, the team are always on hand to help.
Read more about 'Meet Woodgreen’s Outreach team'
