Rabbit enclosure setup checklist

A rabbit enclosure needs ten things: 64.5 square feet of continuous floor, 3ft 3in of height, a shelter of at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft, non-slip washable flooring, unlimited hay in a rack, a large litter tray, two water sources, hides with two exits each, safe chew material, and a dig box. Four commonly sold items are worth leaving out.

The ten, each with its reason

1. Floor: 64.5 square feet in one unbroken block

The figure both RWAF and the RSPCA publish, and the one item on this list that nothing else compensates for. Platforms, upper levels and tunnels do not count towards it. How to measure and how to reach it.

2. Height: 3ft 3in (1m)

Enough for the rabbit to stand on its hind legs without its ears touching. RWAF states that a rabbit unable to do this can develop spinal deformity. This is the easiest figure on the list to check and the one most hutches fail.

3. A shelter, at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft

Dark, dry and enclosed, sitting inside the enclosure. For a pair, two smaller shelters beat one large one, because a single-entrance shelter can be guarded — see housing two rabbits.

4. Non-slip, washable flooring

Wire floors are ruled out by published guidance and cause sore hocks. Laminate and tile are slippery; bare carpet gets eaten. Rubber matting or washable non-slip mats, with a soft resting area on top. Rabbit hutch flooring.

5. Unlimited hay, in a rack

Hay is most of a rabbit's diet and most of its day. A rack keeps it off the floor and out of the litter, which means less waste and cleaner hay. For a pair, two racks well apart, because hay is the resource most worth guarding.

6. A large litter tray

Rabbits litter-train readily, and the trick is putting the tray where the rabbit has already chosen rather than where you would prefer. Use a cat litter tray rather than a rabbit-sized one — bigger than you think is necessary — with paper-based litter and hay on top, since rabbits eat and toilet at the same time.

7. Two water sources

Bowls rather than bottles as the primary source: a rabbit drinks more from a bowl and a bottle spout is slow. Two sources so a single failure — a knocked bowl, a frozen spout — is not a crisis. In winter this becomes a twice-daily check, per protecting an outdoor hutch in winter.

8. Hides, each with two exits

Cardboard boxes with two holes cut in them, tunnels open at both ends, or a raised platform to get under. The two-exit rule is the important part: a hide with one entrance is a dead end, and most escalation between rabbits happens somewhere one of them cannot leave.

9. Safe chew material

Untreated apple, willow or hazel wood, plain cardboard, and seagrass mats. Rabbit teeth grow continuously and chewing is not optional behavior — the choice is between material you provide and your skirting boards. Avoid treated or painted wood, and avoid softwood for the reasons in cage materials safety.

10. A dig box

A shallow tub or a large cardboard box filled with shredded paper, safe soil or hay. Digging is core rabbit behavior, and a rabbit without somewhere to do it digs at the carpet, the enclosure corner or under the run wall. A dig box redirects it for almost nothing.

What to leave out

• Wire-floored anything. Ruled out by published guidance and the main cause of sore hocks.
• Muesli-style rabbit food. Selective feeding means the rabbit eats the tasty parts and leaves the fiber, which is the opposite of what a rabbit's gut needs. Hay plus a measured pellet.
• Exercise balls and harnesses. A ball is inappropriate for a rabbit's spine; a harness risks injury if the animal bolts, which it will.
• Cedar or pine shavings. The same phenol question as for every species on this site. Paper-based litter and straw bedding instead.

The order to set it up in

1. 1.Site the enclosure. Shade first if outdoors — rabbits are more at risk from heat than cold. Drafts, then everything else. Cage placement.
2. 2.Sort the security if outdoors: mesh apron at ground level, welded mesh not woven, a two-action latch. Predator-proof hutches.
3. 3.Lay the flooring, then the shelter, at the end furthest from the litter corner.
4. 4.Place the litter tray in the corner the rabbit has already chosen, or the corner furthest from the shelter if this is a new setup.
5. 5.Hay rack near the litter tray, because rabbits eat and toilet together and putting them together is working with the animal rather than against it.
6. 6.Water away from both, so it stays clean.
7. 7.Hides and the dig box in the open area, with through-routes and no dead ends.
8. 8.Leave it a few hours before the rabbit goes in, and put some used bedding from the old setup in so it smells partly familiar.

Worth noticing about that list: the two items that matter most — floor area and height — are properties of the enclosure rather than things you put in it, and most of what is sold for rabbits is in the second category. A large enclosure with hay, a litter tray, a dig box and two cardboard hides beats a small hutch full of accessories every time.