# Wooden or wire rabbit hutch floor?



## FurryFiasco

Hi!  I'm building a rabbit hutch and I'm not sure what kind of floor to use.  Would it be better to give them a wooden floor throughout (with hay in the nesting area and wood shavings in the run area), or a wire floor in the run with a tray filled with shavings under it?  I've read people saying different things about this.  What do you think?  Any advice is appreciated!


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry

I am assuming the ones advocating a wooden floor are either not really raising rabbits, except as pets, and/or are warning you about sore hocks. .5" x 1" galvanized AFTER weld wire is durable, allows waste to pass through, and does not cause sore hocks for the majority of rabbits. I have a doe that came to me with sore hocks, she healed on wires. However, having a resting area off the wires is good. We had warming pads for winter that are left in all year and floor tiles are good for cooling for summer as well as a resting pad.

I would NEVER raise a rabbit on a wooden floor. For one, you will end up having to clean it throughly EVERY DAY and then it will still get urine soaked, which can be quite unsanitary and will make your rabbit have permanent urine stains on its fur. However, if you plan to use a litter box, you still have to clean up the floor because while rabbits will urinate in a particular spot, they are not as specific when they poop. They poop while they eat and just hop around. You will still have to clean it every day.


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## FurryFiasco

Thanks for the reply! 

That does make sense to me.  I'm planning on giving each rabbit a wooden-floored nesting area either way, which I don't mind cleaning out every so often.  I'll give them some tiles too.  

For the wire, is there any source you can recommend?  I tried to look it up, but to no avail.  And does it need to be exactly .5" by 1", or would .5" by .5" work alright too?  That dimension seems more common, just from what I've seen.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry

Nesting boxes can, but I still do not advise it. We use wire only when the weather is warm and lined with cardboard in the winter. Cardboard is replaced with each kindle.

I forgot to add 14 gauge. 

As to the .5 x .5  wires...depends. For a small rabbit possibly. What breed or adult size (weight) of rabbit?


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## Bunnylady

FurryFiasco said:


> For the wire, is there any source you can recommend? I tried to look it up, but to no avail. And does it need to be exactly .5" by 1", or would .5" by .5" work alright too? That dimension seems more common, just from what I've seen.



1/2" x 1/2" is most likely hardware cloth. While that might work OK for some people with really small rabbits (Dwarfs or Polish, for example), it is much more likely that the smaller wire of hardware cloth will sag, creating an unlevel floor and a much greater chance of the rabbit developing sore hocks because of the uneven pressure.


It really isn't hard to find 1" x 1/2" welded wire; a lot of the sources even call it rabbit wire or cage wire. There are some online sources that sell rabbit or small animal supplies that will even sell it by the inch, if you want to order "the good stuff" (i.e, Galvanized After Welded) and don't want to buy a whole roll. If you don't mind replacing the floor after a couple of years, you can get cheaper wire in small rolls at a lot of hardware stores and home centers.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry

Bunnylady said:


> If you don't mind replacing the floor after a couple of years, you can get cheaper wire in small rolls at a lot of hardware stores and home centers.



Actually, my rabbits would pull apart the wire floor galvanized before the weld in as little as one day and bad enough that a 2-week old kit could get out, not to mention it is a hazard for them also. We ended up replacing flooring every few weeks, so the cheaper stuff was no bargain in the long run.


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## FurryFiasco

Ok, I'll stick to the "good stuff" then!  I'll have to look into where I can find it locally/online.   Do you ever still end up needing to replace quality wire floors?    My rabbits are Holland Lops.

For the nest boxes, I had planned to line them with hay, so I thought it wouldn't make a difference whether the floor was wooden or wire.  Do you think it would?  

Thanks again!


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## promiseacres

FurryFiasco said:


> Ok, I'll stick to the "good stuff" then!  I'll have to look into where I can find it locally/online.   Do you ever still end up needing to replace quality wire floors?    My rabbits are Holland Lops.
> 
> For the nest boxes, I had planned to line them with hay, so I thought it wouldn't make a difference whether the floor was wooden or wire.  Do you think it would?
> 
> Thanks again!


wire would be fine, would let pee and poop fall through. If you've any rabbits that use them as litter boxes.


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## Baymule

Make sure you build removable nest boxes. If you build a permanent nesting area, it is just another poopy pee soaked place to clean up-daily. Nest boxes need to come out when litter is several weeks old.


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## FurryFiasco

I should have been a little clearer about what I meant by "nest box"...I'm building an enclosed 24" by 18" area into the hutch for the rabbit to sleep and hide in, and if/when there are babies, I'll just add a bit of a rim and they can stay there too.  Now that I think about it, they will be making quite a mess and it will have to be easily clean-able...so maybe wire flooring would be helpful in there too!  Would I still need to remove anything this way, or can it be a permanent setup?


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## FurryFiasco

P.S. - Just to be clear, I'm building an outdoor stacked hutch for three bunnies (each with her own level), with the total floor space of each level at 12 square feet (6' wide and 2' deep).  The nesting area would take up 1.5 feet of the width, leaving 4.5' for running around. The run area would be enclosed on three sides, with the other side covered in hardware cloth.  I've allowed several inches of headroom on each level for the flooring setup, with trays and all of that.  Advice on the whole setup would be appreciated too!


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## Bunnylady

Most of my rabbits live in all-wire cages in my rabbitry, but when I build hutches, I make the entire floor with wire. Part of the structure is surrounded with plywood, and in that more sheltered area, I lay a piece of plywood on top of the wire. That way, it can be removed for cleaning or replaced if it just gets too nasty.


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## Baymule

You will need to be able to open the top of the enclosed area, so you can look in on litters. I still advocate for a removable nest box. It's just easier to keep clean if you can take it out.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry

We raise meat rabbits and have two-row, hanging, stacked cages with a front door, all wire. 

I also have a kindling suite hutch, as we call it. It has a wire cage side with baby catching wire up 4 inches. This wire side is encased by wood down to the baby catching wire. The cubby side is wood with a wire floor. Both areas have a door and I can slide a thin wood piece between the two to inspect kits without mama interference, although I usually don't have to use it much. 

We improved the cubby with a drop nesting box, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the doe has to hop up on the narrow side and then over the lip to get out to the wire cage. A clinging-on kit will usually fall off if not the first hop by the second, move around, fall back into the nest box and find its siblings. We have not lost a kit yet to exposure since we made it, but I did once find a blind kit in the wire cage when it was warm so it survived. Before, we lost an average of none to three per kindle with a removable nesting box.

The downside of a wire drop box is it is exposed on all sides. We use cardboard that we can easily replace with each kindle and a heating pad under the wire bottom with cardboard insulating between the kits turned on when it goes below 40 degrees. We breed from fall to spring in the southeast.

Another thing I have notice, having used the two set ups in our nesting boxes is that the kits tend to stay in the drop nesting box several days longer than the other. I am thinking it is because their cubby is darker and quieter so they stay there. But I have a rotation breeding schedule so they all are moved out about 14 days after kindling. I place mama and them in a regular cage and provide a removable nesting box for them with fresh hay until they are out of it more than in.


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## FurryFiasco

Wow, these are all really great suggestions!  I'll have to think about it before I decide which way to go on some of these details...they do seem to have their pros and cons!  Thanks so much for all of the advice! 

I do have one more question, though - when you make your floors out of the proper wire, how long do you usually find it to last?  Have you ever needed to replace it?


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## mystang89

Everyone will have to excuse me if I repeat what someone else says as I haven't read all of the comments. It's 630am and my eyes are barely open.

Both homes that I've lived in I've made wooden rabbit hutches. I wouldn't put wood floors in. To unsanitary unless you clean it everyday.  I would use wire for the floor and have a piece of wood for the to use if you are worried about foot hock. 

I used to use a board for that reason but since moving to my new house I haven't put one in with mine. Simply forgot the small things like that and a year later no sore hocks. 

I wouldn't use hardware cloth. Everytime I used that the rabbits would pull it apart. EVERYTIME. I would use https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/ga...JXdYXoNxPNQhlMKAmBn7RABRcoA5LtrxoCn8EQAvD_BwE
Then you won't have to go back, take out the old fencing, cut new fencing to fit the doors and finally fanigle the stupid fence through the door (which is smaller than the floor space) and Hammer it in.....yeah, fun times...

I raised rabbits for 6 years or so now, maybe more and using this wire I have never had to replace it. You will need to clean their she'hair it, clean the wire occasionally because of their pee but all that is really just maintenance.


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## FurryFiasco

Wow, thanks for the early-morning advice!  

It really seems like the good wire is the way to go!   Do I need it for the walls too, or would simple hardware cloth do the trick there?

I am having a difficult time finding it locally or online. I thought I found one product on amazon.ca, but it would cost me $85 (plus tax and shipping) for just enough wire to cover the floor (double that to do the walls too), and it turned out to be 16-gauge and galvanized before welding!  

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada.  I've been looking at Home Depot, Kent, Home Hardware, etc...but I can't seem to find this wire anywhere.  I found one product at Home Hardware that's the right dimensions, but it's 16-gauge and I'll have to call and see if it's G.A.W.   16-gauge does seem to be the more common wire, so if I find something like that would it be okay?  I know 14-gauge was recommended, and I'll keep trying to find that.  It's just proving to be a bit of a challenge!


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## mystang89

16 gauge I think would be fine. They're rabbits, not dogs. Unless of course your rabbits are constantly attacked by raccoons, foxes and other such animals.

As far as the walls are concerned what I do is generally to make the walls out of wood and then use whatever I have left about half the wall. When I run out I generally turn to hardware cloth. Yeah, it's two different materials and if you are concerned about cosmetics then you'll be put off by it. I never have had my rabbits complain to me about what it looked like though.


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## Hopalong Causually

Doing an on-line search for "rabbit cage supplies" should give you many options.They may not be the most economical sources, but Bass Equipment and Klubertanz Equipment Co. probably have any kind of wire you could possibly want.  I built all my hutches from wire from Klubertanz and am well pleased with the result and their longevity.


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## jjaazzy

I raised rabbits years ago, had about 80 of them.  I built individual 2 x 8 hutches, and the reason I used 8 is that is the length of the 2x4 when you buy it.  Why have waste? I used 1/2 x1/2 hardware cloth around the whole cage and bottom, plywood tops.  I'm in Florida so heat is an issue cold is not.  I always put in a piece of plywood to save their feet for when they wanted a break.  And used 12" x 12" 2x4 edged nest box with a plywood bottom.  It worked great.  Everything stayed clean I don't remember the nest boxes ever getting ugly. I used coastal hay for those they build their own nest.  the other reason for less wood is males tend to jump spin and spray, need more be said about that!  Also less wood - less mites.  Mites in your bunnies is horrible.... horrible.  as for the sagging a couple cross members of 2x4 across the width of the bottom gives good support.


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## FurryFiasco

Okay, I think I have a pretty good idea what to do now!

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions...this is an awesome website!


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## M Claire

I agree with the vote for wire flooring plus a piece of wood for a resting area. Anything you can do to streamline your care chores gets a green light in my book!


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## Wispy55

FurryFiasco said:


> Wow, thanks for the early-morning advice!
> 
> It really seems like the good wire is the way to go!   Do I need it for the walls too, or would simple hardware cloth do the trick there?
> 
> I am having a difficult time finding it locally or online. I thought I found one product on amazon.ca, but it would cost me $85 (plus tax and shipping) for just enough wire to cover the floor (double that to do the walls too), and it turned out to be 16-gauge and galvanized before welding!
> 
> I live in Nova Scotia, Canada.  I've been looking at Home Depot, Kent, Home Hardware, etc...but I can't seem to find this wire anywhere.  I found one product at Home Hardware that's the right dimensions, but it's 16-gauge and I'll have to call and see if it's G.A.W.   16-gauge does seem to be the more common wire, so if I find something like that would it be okay?  I know 14-gauge was recommended, and I'll keep trying to find that.  It's just proving to be a bit of a challenge!


I live in new brunswick so i know what you are going thru. But there is a place called acadia cages here in new brunswick. They also have a facebook page, they have everything you will need, including premade cages.


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