The golden rule is that your bunnies’ accommodation can never be too big!

Rabbits love to run loose in the garden – many of you will have seen the sheer pleasure your bunny gets from running full pelt down the garden, twisting and jumping and kicking their back legs in the air. However this access should be supervised as rabbits are at risk from many predators, most obviously from foxes and other known predators but also from neighbourhood cats.

Safe and secure accommodation must therefore also be provided. The minimum recommended hutch size for two average sized rabbits is 5 foot long x 2 foot deep x 2 foot 6 inches high. The height is particularly important to enable your bunny to sit up on its hind legs.

One advantage of this type of accommodation is that you can sit in with your buns and enjoy their company (and carry out essential cleaning) without braving the elements! It also allows your buns to come to you and form a friendship with you on their own terms.

Not only does providing larger accommodation keep your bun active and entertained and therefore happier and healthier, but I cannot emphasise enough how much more pleasure you can get from your buns by allowing them to express their natural behaviour and curiosity.

Where it is not possible to provide daily exercise in the garden, a large exercise run should also be attached to the hutch. Again the exercise run should be a minimum of 2 foot 6 inches tall and be as large as possible to allow your bunny freedom to move around. Rabbits are most active at dusk and dawn when most of us are tucked up in bed! This run should be placed on concrete to prevent your bunny digging out or predators digging in.

If access to the garden is not possible, you might also consider providing a larger separate exercise run which can be placed on the grass. This run should be large enough to allow your rabbit to run rather than just amble from one end to the other. Alternatively if your run is designed for the hutch to stand in side, that run can simply be lifted off and moved to a grassy area on days where your bunnies activities can be supervised!

Sadly many standard hutches and runs sold by pet shops do not meet these requirements. This is particularly true of the two-tier hutch and run combinations. These may look fabulous but unless your bun is very small, it will not be able to stand up on its hind legs on either level.

Often the best solution is to design and build your own accommodation. This way it can also blend in with, or become a feature of your own garden. Possibilities include summerhouses, play houses and my own personal favourite, converting a garden shed into a bunny home. With a bit of imagination, you can add shelves and ramps to provide your buns with space, exercise and stimulation. An aviary or run can then be built on the side of the shed (bearing in mind the 2’ 6 height recommendation). The run can then be accessed by either a sliding wooden door or a cat flap.

Anyone else have any other ideas to add or piccies, feel free

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There are 33,000 bunnies young, middle aged, old, large and small all looking for a second chance and loving home, can you help? www.rabbitrehome.org.uk



If tears could build a stairway, And memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven, And bring you home again.

Great post Crofty.

Cant rep you, i have to spread it around a bit first. Plus ive run out.

So many behavioural issues can be prevented by supplying a rabbit with the appropriate housing. When we take an animal into our care, it should first and foremost be a pet, and its our responsibility to proved the correct housing to ensure the animal is physically and mentally stimulated.

So many commercial hutches and runs dont allow buns to exhibit natural behaviours, and under the Animal Welfare act, that is illegal. The sooner companies stop making such cruel wooden boxes the better. Id like to see pet shops selling nothing smaller than 6ft for ALL breeds.

I have also found that many people get the tiered hutches, then think they dont have to supply a seperate run.

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Knacker Lacquer - Adds Luster To Your Cluster

My bunnies leave in here



That is Pep and Nesbit's home.


This was Charlie and Mocha's home, Mocha has since passed and only Char;ie is living in there.





The only difference in each set up is the last one is only a 4ft double tier hutch with 4 by 8ft run, Pep/ Nesbit's home is 5ft double hutch with 5 by 8ft run.

I also have in my front garden an 8ft by 4 ft run. They get free time in my back garden for at least 3 hours, at least 3 times a week.

Way back when I thought a double 4ft hutch was bunny paradise but a visit to RSPCA rehoming in Norfolk sorted that out. They won't rehome to any less than 50 square foot for medium sized pairs of buns. Which in their words is a 6ft by 4 greenhouse frame covered in mesh with a hutch in it. Spot on advice.


Hello Crofty.

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Wow, those are fantastic!

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Knacker Lacquer - Adds Luster To Your Cluster

Hey my lovely!!

Thanks for the fab piccies bunny paradise!!!!

__________________
There are 33,000 bunnies young, middle aged, old, large and small all looking for a second chance and loving home, can you help? www.rabbitrehome.org.uk



If tears could build a stairway, And memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven, And bring you home again.

Aww I feel put to shame! My boy lives here, its a 6x8ft brick shed and he gets free run of the garden every day (supervised)



the hutch on the right is this one :


its pretty big! xxx

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Mummy of: 4 Guinea girls, 3 Ratty boys, 1 Jack Russel, 1 Pony, 1 Tortoise, a handful of African snails, 2 Girl bunnies and their boyfriend

Dont be silly cupcake i think your setup is fantastic!!!

__________________
There are 33,000 bunnies young, middle aged, old, large and small all looking for a second chance and loving home, can you help? www.rabbitrehome.org.uk



If tears could build a stairway, And memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven, And bring you home again.

Couldnt agree more!

Looks really nice, and very neat and tidy.

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Knacker Lacquer - Adds Luster To Your Cluster

Thanks I wish he had free access (safely!) to the outdoors aswell. If I could, I'd bust a hole in the bricks and build a run and put a ramp up to it.
(the brickshed is sunken)

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Mummy of: 4 Guinea girls, 3 Ratty boys, 1 Jack Russel, 1 Pony, 1 Tortoise, a handful of African snails, 2 Girl bunnies and their boyfriend

He has more room than a lot of buns do.

He looks very happy and healthy sitting in there.

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Knacker Lacquer - Adds Luster To Your Cluster