Bedding?

What bedding does everyone use for their bunnies cages? I use woodshavings at present but wondering if their is anything better?.

hiya velvet i use the same as you i get one with lavender its quite nice but they make a hell of a mess with it
fiver...

I use anything as daisy doesnt have a cage. But I dont see that there is much of a need for it at all. It can cause problems with their little eyes and noses......The only time I can think of it perhaps being needed is if they done use a litter tray??

I think newspaper would be fine and a snuggly blankey to snuggle up into.

Obviously they need something in their litter trays, but a litter such as megazorb is much nicer, tidier and absorbs smells too.

i use woodshavings too,i love the smell,i know a lot of people use megazorb,i use this in the litter tray,a few people use paper on the bottom and hay on top

Woodshavings shoudn't really be used as they contain phenols which harm eyes and respiratory. Use as Katie suggested

Mine don't have litter trays but if I change from wood shavings they can easily be added but I could add into the rest of the cage newspaper and lots of hay and straw maybe?

straw isn't good either I'm afraid. The buns eat it, instead of hay, and it has no nutritional value, and it's sharper than hay.

So just have hay over the top of the newspaper?

Velvet.Tears wrote:So just have hay over the top of the newspaper?

Yup, better than woodshavings! You'll have to celan them out more regularly. You could put thick cardboard in the bottom to absorb wee, and get them litter trained, which will save you some work

Sounds ideal we have a big box in the bedroom doing nothing so at least that will get that out of the way. No I don't mind cleaning them out regularly i've been cleaning them out every 3 days lately and Paris every day which is why i'm thinking of something that is better to use and easier. Hard work having to lug a giant bale of sawdust around town

Snuffie doesn't have a hutch either but a really big dog basket filled with hay which is changed twice a day.

Hugs

JO xx

Carefresh for the litter trays, and newspaper and hay in the main parts. Looks like i'll be buying tons of newspapers tomorrow

Jay wrote:straw isn't good either I'm afraid. The buns eat it, instead of hay, and it has no nutritional value, and it's sharper than hay.

We use straw with thumper and she doesn't eat it

Then again, she doesn't eat hay either!!!

VT, when Thumper lived in her mansion outside, we used to get cardboard from asda, you know the stuff on the shelves.... that tins of beans and soup come packed in? Hope I'm making sense

They used to let us take it no problem. Great for lining hutches, cages etc

If you get them litter trays then you wont need anything other than the paper in the bottom hun.

As a first point why not try some corner litter trays with a little wood shavings in - this might make them use the trays as litter trays, then you can switch to a litter.

With just paper in the bottom of the trays they it will save you a fortune and you only need to empty the tray every day. Hay can go in a haynet or other container for eating and perhaps a blanket for warmth/comfort?

I have a little extra money this week so i'm going to treat the bunnies and get them all a litter tray each, a new food dish each and water bowl. Get some more willow balls for them as they have eaten the other ones

I usually use barley straw because it is a better insulator than hay but it is getting hard to get hold of locally so have switched to hay, I use meadow hay for bedding and timothy for eating (not that they differentiate between the two, but the timothy goes in the hay rack not on the floor).

If you have a local newspaper ask them if you can have some of their returns. They have to pay to recycle them so are usually happy to give old papers away.

My buns don't have any bedding. Bruce chews holes in any blakets I give them and he has almost strangled himself with one before so they just don't have them now. They have rugs on the floor and hay in the litter tray and central heating in the winter!

Thumper2001 wrote:

Jay wrote:straw isn't good either I'm afraid. The buns eat it, instead of hay, and it has no nutritional value, and it's sharper than hay.

We use straw with thumper and she doesn't eat it
)

Mine don't eat it either, not that it does any harm if they do...it just doesn't do any good!

I prefer to use Barley straw because it is soft and also a better insulator than hay in the winter due to it's larger tubular structure. The rabbits hay usually goes in the litter trays and the hay rack and they eat that quite happily. They seem to know the difference between what is for eating and what is for sleeping!

We put newspaper down first, then half their bed is hay and the other part is newspaper with their food and water dish on

Sooz wrote:I usually use barley straw because it is a better insulator than hay but it is getting hard to get hold of locally so have switched to hay, I use meadow hay for bedding and timothy for eating (not that they differentiate between the two, but the timothy goes in the hay rack not on the floor).

I can get barley straw from my local QD. Do you have a QD store Sooz?

My 2 have both a corner litter tray plus a rectangular one both lined with newspaper, small amount of litter then hay on top.

VT - I would highly recommend litter training, save yourself the cash and buy some washing up bowls from your local cheapo store, they will hop in and out of them and then you can put newspaper and litter (i use megazorb) in that. Don't bother with food bowls either, if your buns are anything like mine, they scoff them all in one go anyway! Instead save your loo roll inners and put their pellets in there, and fold over the ends to contain them. It will make them work for their food. I've attached some small plant pots to the side of the avairy and I put hay and pellets in them to make them work for the pellets.
Whilst at the cheapo store, see if you can pick up some little plastic storage racks, the sort that you couldn't put water in cos it'd spew out the sides due to the holey pattern, attach to the outside of the cage and stuff with hay so they have to pull the hay through the cage bars. Suspend over washing up bowl litter tray and they have to stretch up for their hay plus they dig at it to free up some of the hay.

hope this helps, it'll save you a fortune!

My lot having to work for their food oh gawd, they'd starve they are so highly strung!

Maybe I'm just mean to my buns

No - I agree with you. The more time they spend working for their food the less time they have to destroy the house.