Getting a good home for your rabbit is really important for their overall happiness. Sadly most cages that are marketed toward rabbit owners are actually much too small for rabbits. Don’t feel too bad if you’re just now realizing that your rabbit’s home is too small. My family and I made that same mistake with some of our bunnies growing up. It’s not too late to find a better home for your rabbit.
My recommendations here are based on the size of the enclosure as well as how easy it is to clean. I also don’t have any wooden hutches recommended here because sometimes they are made with wood or paint that is toxic to rabbits. So if you have your heart set on a wooden hutch, check with the manufacturer to make sure it is unfinished wood with no extra varnishes. And make sure it is not made of cedar or fir wood.
Top Choice: Foldable Metal Ex-Pen
I 100% hands down recommend getting an ex-pen for your rabbit’s enclosure. This gives your rabbit enough space to be happy in there home AND it makes cleaning your rabbit enclosure really easy. You don’t have to try to crawl inside a small cage to try to reach the back corners, or try to scrub any pee stains out of the tray underneath the rabbit cage. Just move the gates aside and vacuum the mess.
What’s even better is that these are easily foldable so they’re very easy to transport from one place to another. You can even get more than one of these and use them to block of portions of a room your don’t want your rabbit to get to. Or you could connect them together to make an extra large rabbit safe area. These are very flexible and give you a lot of options for a rabbit enclosure.
For the gate height, choose the size that is 36 inches or taller. Rabbits can hop very high, and might be able to get over the top of anything shorter.
Sisal Area Rug
Depending on the flooring around the ex-pen, you might need to get an area rug to go with it. Rabbit paws don’t do well on hardwood or slick flooring, so I definitely recommend an area rug if that’s the kind of floor you have the set up on. If your rabbit is a digger, you might want to have an area rug on a carpet too. This way, when your rabbit digs at the rug, your carpet won’t get damaged.
For the material, it’s best to get a rug with natural fibers, such as sisal. Since rabbits have a tendency to chew on everything, they might end up eating some of the rug. Sisal is a safe material for rabbits to ingest, so this is the rug I recommend using for the flooring under your ex-pen.
The DIY option: Metal DIY Pet Playpen
Some of you might have weirdly shaped space that you want to put your rabbit enclosure, or you just might like the idea of putting it together yourself. For that I recommend this DIY rabbit playpen. You can even build a second level to give your rabbit a little more space.
If you make the second level, make sure to put a towel or soft bath mat (such as this one) down on the wires. Rabbits can get sores on their feet from standing on wires all the time.
Rabbit Carrier: Bergan Comfort Carrier
You also need a carrier for when you take your rabbit to the vet or on a car ride somewhere. This Bergan Comfort Carrier has been really great for me. It will work for small and medium sized rabbit (up to about 8 pounds), but large rabbits will probably need a bigger dog-sized carry case. I really like this one because the bottom is removable, so you can wash if your rabbit pees in the carrier.
This is definitely not an appropriate carrier for any long trips. For the most part I only bring my rabbit in the car when we’re headed to the vet, so I don’t have any specific recommendations for a long-trip carrier. But you want to find something that’s big enough to fit a litter box, and something that you’d be able to install a water bottle on the side.