Do rabbits need bedding (ie - carefresh, wood chips, etc)?

Do rabbits need bedding (ie - carefresh, wood chips, straw, etc) like hamsters, degus, gerbils, etc do ?

Or can we put down fleece blankets, towels and such that are washable and re-useable ?

Do they make nests to sleep in ?

Would they use a soft bed (along the lines of a very small cat or dog bed) ?

Do rabbits need bedding (ie - carefresh, wood chips, straw, etc) like hamsters, degus, gerbils, etc do ?

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In general, no, MOST pee makes it into the litter box.

Do they make nests to sleep in ?

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Nope, They sleep anywhere. Nesting is generally just for babies.

Or can we put down fleece blankets, towels and such that are washable and re-useable ?

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I do this for Mucky, but some will chew and eat towels.

Would they use a soft bed (along the lines of a very small cat or dog bed) ?

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They might, but more likely, they would tear it apart or use it as a litterbox.

Perfect.

I made out the list for what Bug4H needs before we learned much of anything about rabbits, and just went off what little I had read along with what I know of having small animals as pets (hamsters, gerbils, degus).

Thank you.

All of mine tear the typical fabrics up. Some of my chinchilla fleece has holes in it from using it with a tiny netherland dwarf buck. Big rabbits can do damage fast and fabric with strings like towels can cause digestive problems or damage limbs if they get wrapped up. I did experiment with suede cloth that is sturdier but very thin and you have to find the kind that doesn't have loose threads along the edges. There are woven ones and I'm not sure how they make the fleece like ones that pill instead of tear. Other sturdy materials like not waterproof canvas, denim, etc... might be sturdy enough you could sew more absorbent layers in the middle and use as a pad but that seems like a lot of work. Some manage to find heavy rugs they can't do much damage to and throw those in the cage if the rabbits are trained to a litter box since the rugs aren't the most easy to wash.

If you don't want to mess with fabric they are perfectly fine on wire with a spot to rest their feet or you can use most any type of bedding. Paper or wood is fine. No cedar and it's best to avoid the little corn cob pieces. Most use horse stall pellets for inside rabbits because it absorbs really well and rabbit pee smell is your biggest problem.

Instead of giving a fabric "bed" why not just use cardboard boxes, possibly with some straw or pine shavings as bedding?

Bug4H could make them look really cute by cutting out windows and doors- but the rabbit will also have its own views on architectural design, so will no doubt enlarge some doors, tear down walls (or make pony walls), et cetera.

Once the demolition is complete (or the "floor" gets too dirty!) you can just throw the old "house" away and give the bunny a new one.

Both Bug4H and I sew, so making a fabric bed would be as much fun for her as making a cardboard one !
I imagine she'll do both in the end.

I believe this is the suede cloth we bought http://www.joann.com/sew-classics-micro ... th&start=1 . I would get a swatch and see if it comes like fleece or with threads down the edges. It wicks like fleece but is very compressed so it's thin and harder to dig loose. Being so thin it might not be suitable but it did survive a durability test better than regular fleece.

So, no towels. Darn - I was hoping they'd work, so we could just keep a few spares, and wash as they got soiled.

HOWsMom":8edd2k8w said:

So, no towels. Darn - I was hoping they'd work, so we could just keep a few spares, and wash as they got soiled.

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I use towels for Caramel. No problem with her or Coco eating it. :shrug:
Paper bits didn't work well at all - Coco tried to eat those. I'm not so eager to let her have more bedding, so I just use a towel and switch it out whenever it gets dirty.

I like using Carefresh cause it safe and soft. Or maybe towels can work too.

For my litter pan trained buck, I use a thin layer of carefresh under a layer of straw just to keep any accidents contained. And Trooper can throw the straw around and burrow when he wants LOL

We are working on litter box training. For the cage I use newspaper and replace it daily. For the litter box, I use a "training" litter that has the pheromones in it. She hits the litter box most of the time with pee and poo but also drops little pellets all over her cage and when she is out roaming around in our office too. Hoping this gets better as she gets older and after she is spayed. She's just 9 weeks young.

What about flannel? We have a ton of old receiving blankets from the kids when they were babies. In wondering if they'd be safe for bunny

I always worry that mine will eat any type of fabric, because they like to play with just about anything I put in their cages