Hoosier
Well-known member
Rabbit keeping tips and tricks
Though we are brand new to having rabbits, I thought I would share some money saving ideas and alternatives for items that we have found. They may not apply to you and your situation, but they are working for ours. If anyone sees any dangers or concerns with my ideas, let me know. I would love for others to share their ideas. Move this post if it is not in the appropriate section.
Ceiling fan. Haven’t put in one yet, but are seriously considering it for the summer. Our rabbits are currently housed in a former horse stall under the lean to of our barn and therefore have a roof over their heads and electricity is available.
Receptacle for waste. Under our hanging cages, we needed something to catch waste and the cages didn’t come with those nice trays that you can get. Instead, we used cardboard boxes placed in a LARGE garbage bag and then taped the bag shut. Bag’s purpose was to “waterproof” the cardboard. Boxes had held grapes and were several inches deep. Most produce boxes are fairly deep and made of heavy, sturdy cardboard.
We were a few inches short so I grabbed a couple of plastic paint trays to make up the difference. Wanting a more durable alternative, we purchased some large mortar mixing tubs from Home Depot. Any container with flat sides and corners would do. Flat edges make it easier to put containers right up against each other so there are no gaps. A large plastic snow sled would work too under a small cage if it was deep enough. Just grab the rope and drag to the dump spot.
Dishes and crocks. Found some great buys at the thrift store in the human dish section. Large cups for soup have a handle to use for attaching to cage. I found other small, heavy bowls about 20oz that have worked well. When the babies were younger, I used some shallow dishes about 4inches to give them oatmeal in. They were big enough so the babies could hop over them without spilling the contents. I purchased some ‘custard’ bowls that work well since they are pretty thick glass. Most of them cost me fifty cents each and some are Pyrex. I used caution with any glazed dish avoiding most that were made in China due to the possibility of lead content in the paint. Also, some candle containers got mixed in with the dishes so watch for that.
Wall protection. Some of the cages were bent enough that the bunnies couldn’t get to the garbage bag that I split and hung behind the cages. Also used some plastic sheeting that we got at Tractor Supply that comes in various thicknesses and sizes. I put the bottom edge of the bag in the boxes so urine ran easily down it. Paid about thirteen dollars each for 4’ x 8’ sheet of smooth tin at a local owned farm supply store which will replace our garbage bags and be bent to funnel the urine. I wanted smooth tin so that ruled out metal roofing remnants, but those may work for others. We painted it to increase its slickness and to increase rust resistance. This same tin could be used to make trays using a wood frame. Corners would have to be sealed using caulking or a piece of Gorilla tape.
Resting mats. When our one doe had really bad sores on her hocks, we put a paper grocery bag over a large portion of her cage floor. Found some small ones in the frozen food section and cut them to fit. We used pieces of cardboard as well. Cutting cardboard boxes was too labor intensive for us. At Sam’s Club, I found a ‘hamper’ of cardboard pieces against the wall near the end of the cash registers and most weren’t colored. I preferred the uncolored ones so when the buns chewed on them they wouldn’t be exposed to the chemicals. Searching through the store, I found many cardboard pieces in the laundry detergent aisle and other areas. Love the cardboard because it is free, buns can chew if they like and when its no longer any good it can simply be thrown away. At Sam’s, large pieces of brown paper often separate stacks of boxes too. Another source of brown paper was found at Rural King in a shopping cart and it had Quickcrete (a concrete mix) written on it though I never searched for the location of it in the store.
Someone on here mentioned plastic cutting boards and I found some at the flea market and thrift store really cheap. There was a hole in the top that I ran a couple of strings through to attach them to the cage bottom.
Someone else on here mentioned marble slabs, but I haven’t been lucky enough to come across any of those yet at the thrift store. The marble pieces I found at Home
Depot were larger than I wanted and it takes a special saw to cut marble. I am wondering if a person could purchase granite or marble remnants from a countertop store.
Glass squares and rectangles used for shelving were found at a local thrift store for a dollar a piece. These have worked well and clean easily. They have a nice smooth edge too.
Treats. The treats at the pet supply store can contain stuff that just isn’t good for rabbits and are usually a bit pricey. I found no sugar added dried papaya at the health food store. I also found rolled barley, cracked pearly barley, flaxseed, wheatberries, dried strawberries, and oat groats. Meijer also had some of the same items. Obviously the small bags/containers aren’t very practical if you have many rabbits. Meijer also had raw pumpkin seeds, split peas and lentils.
Measuring cups and spoons. Work great for feed and treats. Leave in the feed container or hang on the wall. Found some heavy duty ones on sale and the Dollar Store has some too.
Food containers. I used to purchase daily horse dewormer in 50lb quantities and it came in a plastic tote. Other sizes did as well. Our horse feed is stored in an old freezer with a lockable top and overflow goes into PLASTIC garbage cans. (Plastic doesn’t sweat like metal.) Tote takes up less space and offers more protection than bag from varmints. Screw tops can be purchased from bee keeping supply places for 5 gallon buckets. Smaller totes (like Strongid 2cx) work well for treats. Containers labeled with different colored construction paper and a marker. Different colors make ID easier and quicker without having to read label. Masking tape, duct tape and a permanent marker work too.
Water containers. Gallon jug works great. Pours easy and keeps dust and debris out. Had been using a bucket but hard to keep clean and had to dip water out. Obviously we are using crocks not bottles. Used fruit juice bottles work well too as they are a heavier plastic than the drinking/distilled gallon jugs. Hoses harbor bacteria and are difficult to clean. Could buy antibacterial hoses for RV’s.
Cardboard tubes. Most folks probably already know this. Toilet paper and paper towel tubes work great to stuff with hay or alone as rabbit toys. The oatmeal container works great too once the plastic lid and lip are removed.
Make own nest boxes. Disadvantage is needing tools and the time it takes. Advantage is making them exactly how you want. A 4x8 sheet of plywood was plenty to make 4 nest boxes for our Californias with wood leftover. Hubby used fairly thick plywood which increased the weight but gave more insulation to the kits. Ours have a solid bottom which I am going to paint with toysafe Rustoleum so cleaning is easier. May build some wire bottom boxes to use in the summer which would be cooler and easier to clean. Love the fact that the roof is large enough for doe to rest on.
Galyan cages. Know that I am not spelling this right! These are wire cages used by highway/road crews to put riff raff (not spelled right either) /large rocks in to build/create walls on hillsides to prevent washing out. They come in various sizes and with various wire. We looked at ones that had 3” square welded wire. Lid is hinged using wire loops and would have to put solid roof on wire one. Considering using for a rabbit tractor. Would have to put smaller holed wire around the bottom. Floor is 3” square wire so be pretty difficult for rabbit to dig out, but allow easy access to grass. Keeps rabbits separated for those that don’t get along.
Hay feeder snaps. Bought some small snaps from a tool booth at a flea market which work great to attach feeder to wire. Got tired of feeder being flipped off the cage.
Though we are brand new to having rabbits, I thought I would share some money saving ideas and alternatives for items that we have found. They may not apply to you and your situation, but they are working for ours. If anyone sees any dangers or concerns with my ideas, let me know. I would love for others to share their ideas. Move this post if it is not in the appropriate section.
Ceiling fan. Haven’t put in one yet, but are seriously considering it for the summer. Our rabbits are currently housed in a former horse stall under the lean to of our barn and therefore have a roof over their heads and electricity is available.
Receptacle for waste. Under our hanging cages, we needed something to catch waste and the cages didn’t come with those nice trays that you can get. Instead, we used cardboard boxes placed in a LARGE garbage bag and then taped the bag shut. Bag’s purpose was to “waterproof” the cardboard. Boxes had held grapes and were several inches deep. Most produce boxes are fairly deep and made of heavy, sturdy cardboard.
We were a few inches short so I grabbed a couple of plastic paint trays to make up the difference. Wanting a more durable alternative, we purchased some large mortar mixing tubs from Home Depot. Any container with flat sides and corners would do. Flat edges make it easier to put containers right up against each other so there are no gaps. A large plastic snow sled would work too under a small cage if it was deep enough. Just grab the rope and drag to the dump spot.
Dishes and crocks. Found some great buys at the thrift store in the human dish section. Large cups for soup have a handle to use for attaching to cage. I found other small, heavy bowls about 20oz that have worked well. When the babies were younger, I used some shallow dishes about 4inches to give them oatmeal in. They were big enough so the babies could hop over them without spilling the contents. I purchased some ‘custard’ bowls that work well since they are pretty thick glass. Most of them cost me fifty cents each and some are Pyrex. I used caution with any glazed dish avoiding most that were made in China due to the possibility of lead content in the paint. Also, some candle containers got mixed in with the dishes so watch for that.
Wall protection. Some of the cages were bent enough that the bunnies couldn’t get to the garbage bag that I split and hung behind the cages. Also used some plastic sheeting that we got at Tractor Supply that comes in various thicknesses and sizes. I put the bottom edge of the bag in the boxes so urine ran easily down it. Paid about thirteen dollars each for 4’ x 8’ sheet of smooth tin at a local owned farm supply store which will replace our garbage bags and be bent to funnel the urine. I wanted smooth tin so that ruled out metal roofing remnants, but those may work for others. We painted it to increase its slickness and to increase rust resistance. This same tin could be used to make trays using a wood frame. Corners would have to be sealed using caulking or a piece of Gorilla tape.
Resting mats. When our one doe had really bad sores on her hocks, we put a paper grocery bag over a large portion of her cage floor. Found some small ones in the frozen food section and cut them to fit. We used pieces of cardboard as well. Cutting cardboard boxes was too labor intensive for us. At Sam’s Club, I found a ‘hamper’ of cardboard pieces against the wall near the end of the cash registers and most weren’t colored. I preferred the uncolored ones so when the buns chewed on them they wouldn’t be exposed to the chemicals. Searching through the store, I found many cardboard pieces in the laundry detergent aisle and other areas. Love the cardboard because it is free, buns can chew if they like and when its no longer any good it can simply be thrown away. At Sam’s, large pieces of brown paper often separate stacks of boxes too. Another source of brown paper was found at Rural King in a shopping cart and it had Quickcrete (a concrete mix) written on it though I never searched for the location of it in the store.
Someone on here mentioned plastic cutting boards and I found some at the flea market and thrift store really cheap. There was a hole in the top that I ran a couple of strings through to attach them to the cage bottom.
Someone else on here mentioned marble slabs, but I haven’t been lucky enough to come across any of those yet at the thrift store. The marble pieces I found at Home
Depot were larger than I wanted and it takes a special saw to cut marble. I am wondering if a person could purchase granite or marble remnants from a countertop store.
Glass squares and rectangles used for shelving were found at a local thrift store for a dollar a piece. These have worked well and clean easily. They have a nice smooth edge too.
Treats. The treats at the pet supply store can contain stuff that just isn’t good for rabbits and are usually a bit pricey. I found no sugar added dried papaya at the health food store. I also found rolled barley, cracked pearly barley, flaxseed, wheatberries, dried strawberries, and oat groats. Meijer also had some of the same items. Obviously the small bags/containers aren’t very practical if you have many rabbits. Meijer also had raw pumpkin seeds, split peas and lentils.
Measuring cups and spoons. Work great for feed and treats. Leave in the feed container or hang on the wall. Found some heavy duty ones on sale and the Dollar Store has some too.
Food containers. I used to purchase daily horse dewormer in 50lb quantities and it came in a plastic tote. Other sizes did as well. Our horse feed is stored in an old freezer with a lockable top and overflow goes into PLASTIC garbage cans. (Plastic doesn’t sweat like metal.) Tote takes up less space and offers more protection than bag from varmints. Screw tops can be purchased from bee keeping supply places for 5 gallon buckets. Smaller totes (like Strongid 2cx) work well for treats. Containers labeled with different colored construction paper and a marker. Different colors make ID easier and quicker without having to read label. Masking tape, duct tape and a permanent marker work too.
Water containers. Gallon jug works great. Pours easy and keeps dust and debris out. Had been using a bucket but hard to keep clean and had to dip water out. Obviously we are using crocks not bottles. Used fruit juice bottles work well too as they are a heavier plastic than the drinking/distilled gallon jugs. Hoses harbor bacteria and are difficult to clean. Could buy antibacterial hoses for RV’s.
Cardboard tubes. Most folks probably already know this. Toilet paper and paper towel tubes work great to stuff with hay or alone as rabbit toys. The oatmeal container works great too once the plastic lid and lip are removed.
Make own nest boxes. Disadvantage is needing tools and the time it takes. Advantage is making them exactly how you want. A 4x8 sheet of plywood was plenty to make 4 nest boxes for our Californias with wood leftover. Hubby used fairly thick plywood which increased the weight but gave more insulation to the kits. Ours have a solid bottom which I am going to paint with toysafe Rustoleum so cleaning is easier. May build some wire bottom boxes to use in the summer which would be cooler and easier to clean. Love the fact that the roof is large enough for doe to rest on.
Galyan cages. Know that I am not spelling this right! These are wire cages used by highway/road crews to put riff raff (not spelled right either) /large rocks in to build/create walls on hillsides to prevent washing out. They come in various sizes and with various wire. We looked at ones that had 3” square welded wire. Lid is hinged using wire loops and would have to put solid roof on wire one. Considering using for a rabbit tractor. Would have to put smaller holed wire around the bottom. Floor is 3” square wire so be pretty difficult for rabbit to dig out, but allow easy access to grass. Keeps rabbits separated for those that don’t get along.
Hay feeder snaps. Bought some small snaps from a tool booth at a flea market which work great to attach feeder to wire. Got tired of feeder being flipped off the cage.
