Pet rabbits are popular among animal lovers; they have adorable features, friendly and delightful characteristics. Plus, there are so many variants of breed options you could choose, such as Flemish Giant rabbit, Lop rabbit included German Lop, Holland Lop, and English Lop, Angora rabbit, and many more. There are countries that give permission to its people to keep wild rabbit, but there are also some that classified the action (keep wild rabbit as pet) as an illegal act.
As rabbit owners, there are many things to pay attention of such specific nutrition that should be included in rabbit food, and of course the housing. The housing was totally depended on where you put rabbit, inside or outside the house. For instance, if you decided to put your pet inside your house, common choices would fall to cage; but if you decided to put rabbit outside then the perfect choice should be the rabbit hutch.
Rabbit hutch vs rabbit cage: which is more comfortable? To answer this question, I suggest you to follow this article till’ the end of it, my friends. So without further do, let’s get to the topic!
Comfortable House for Rabbit
So, the main question people always asked is rabbit hutch vs rabbit cage: which is more comfortable for rabbit? Actually, this question isn’t precisely true. The thing that influence rabbit house – no matter what types of the houses – cage or hutch – is the precise set up of the house itself. Therefore, there’s no an absolute answer for this question; both of the houses could be a heaven for rabbit if you set it rights, but it could be a hell for your pet rabbit if you set it wrongs.
There are rabbit living space requirements that should be obeyed. Like people, we have certain “healthy” living spaces. The lack of space inside your house would affect your mentally and physical health. Let’s say, people are become easily irritated if you put five people in the room of 2 x 3 meters (this is only an example), especially in the middle of summer or high temperatures. Could you imagine what would happen? If, those people didn’t kill each other we should be thankful.
So, yes, this rule was also applied to animal, which specifically on this topic is rabbits. No matter what type of houses you choose, if you didn’t considered the healthy living space needed by rabbit, let’s just say you are put your rabbit in torturing house. Rabbit need a house that provide her a space for walk, jump, and standing – it’s an absolute necessity! Do you want – willingly – live inside a place where you can’t even standing or walk, just totally similar as living inside a box? The answer is an absolute no.
That is why today we would learn a proper measurement of “healthy” rabbit’s house. But, first we should learn what is the different between hutch and cage.
- The Size: the first differences between both of them is the size. The hutches – at most cases – is always larger than cages. If you consider to have more than one rabbit, then hutch would be a perfect house for them.
- Convenience: if you an individual who love to travel and didn’t want to leave your pet rabbit alone in your house, then cage is the most suitable choice for you. Cage easily to pack up; you can’t never pack up a hutch, my dear friends. It’s totally depend on your situation, if you move a lot and only have a single rabbit, I suggest you to choose cage rather than a hutch.
- Materials of the Houses: most of the cases, both of the houses has different basic materials. Ordinarily, a cage was made from plastic and wire, and a hutch was made from wood and wire mesh. An issue was arisen associated with this problem; rabbit love to chew almost everything, many people afraid that their rabbit would swallow those woods of hutch eventually.
Basic Requirement of Rabbit House
Based on regulation made by The Rabbit Code of Practice due to Animal Welfare act in 2006, reviled that the living area should be as large as possible – or at least:
- Big enough to give space for rabbit to stretch out and lie down at any position and direction inside the house.
- Long enough to give space for rabbit to move around to drink and eat. At least, the rabbit could perform three hops inside the house.
- Tall enough to give space for rabbit to stand up on her two hind legs without her ears touching the top of the house.
Keep in mind, rabbit need to have daily routine of jump and run, so ensure that the house was able to provide these necessities of your rabbit.
Living Space
A comfortable rabbit house always have a space for rabbit to move freely without hesitant. This space was also included all rabbit equipment such as feed and water bottle, litter tray, and toys.
- Rabbit House Width: a recommended minimum width of rabbit house for small and medium-sized rabbit is about 60 cm. For a large-sized rabbit you need about 90 cm (minimum). The point is the width was able to let rabbit stretch in her maximum position to relax.
- Rabbit House Length: rabbit should have enough room to hop – at least about 3 to 4 hops inside the house without bumping on the edge of it. So, at least the length require about 135 cm (minimum); keep in mind that one hop of medium-sized rabbit is about 45 cm.
- Rabbit House Height: a small or medium-sized rabbit require about 60 cm (minimum) of height inside the house. For a large breed, you need minimum about 90 cm. But, it is normal for some areas inside the house was lower as long as the majority of house space is in full height. The examples of the areas are sleeping boxes or tunnels. A proper length inside the house would provide rabbit a full space to stand up on her hind legs without folding her ears.