Any rabbit needs his own corner, where he will feel completely safe. When massively breeding eared farmers equip entire cell complexes, but at home, if you have only a few animals, you can do with simple, hand-made products. How to make a rabbit house without bulky drawings and expensive materials, this article will tell.

Housing Requirements for Rabbits

Regardless of which particular rabbit you are preparing a house (a dwarf decorative or an ordinary large one), there are a number of general points that must be taken into account when developing the design.

First of all, they include:

1. The optimal size of the structure so that the animal can freely accommodate in it and even straighten to its full height (if there is no space for such a structure, you will have to build a smaller house, but with the condition of a regular walking of the pet).
2. Calculation of design parameters "for growth." For a bunny, the dimensions of his house should be at least 4 times larger than his real parameters, of course, if you do not want to remodel the house in the future. Standard shelter sizes for representatives of dwarf breeds: 140 * 80 * 50 (L / W / H).
3. The selection of quality materials. Any rabbits are very sensitive to toxic substances, so when choosing raw materials it is better to give preference to clean, varnished wood.
4. Arrangement of a mesh floor (required with small cells) or the installation of a special excrement tray covered with a hard rug (its corners should be bent in advance so that the animal does not injure itself).
5. The height of the structure: either to the full height of the animal (measured by its height in a standing position), or taking into account the number of tiers (for two-story structures, the height of each floor can be reduced by 40 cm).
6. A place for installing feeders and drinking bowls (it is important that they can be well fixed and not overturned).

Important! Do not take the animals in your arms immediately after eating. After 5-10 minutes, all food can go outside in the form of excrement, which stains not only clothes, but also carpet or furniture (for this reason, animals are not allowed to walk around the apartment at this time).

How to make a do-it-yourself rabbit house

For rabbits intended for meat, wooden cages are usually equipped, in which compartments for rabbits and young animals are immediately provided. Of course, such a solution will be more costly, but its advantage is in durability and reusable use.

For decorative animals kept at home, the simpler option is suitable: you can even prepare a house for them from an ordinary box, and if the baby gets dirty or doesn’t like it, then in the future it can be replaced with another (there is no shortage of such material). We suggest that you consider both options for a step-by-step arrangement of home for the eared ones.

From the box

A cardboard house is not durable and is not suitable for the constant maintenance of a pet, but if temporary housing for a decorative or even an ordinary rabbit is required, this option is not the worst. For one baby, one small box, 60 * 30 * 40 cm (L / H / W), will be sufficient, especially if the cardboard house is needed mainly for sleeping or for a short stay of the animal in it.

Larger animals will need several boxes, interconnected by improvised means. So, in the latter case, for the construction of the structure it is worth preparing the following:

• two cardboard boxes with a height of at least 30 cm in height and 40-50 cm in length (the exact dimensions depend on the parameters of the animal itself);
• compass;
• scissors;
• Scotch;
• pencil.

Did you know? Typically, the length of the ears of a rabbit does not exceed 20–25 cm, but in 2003 a small animal fell into the Guinness Book of Records, whose ears grew to 79 cm. The animal was first presented to the general public at an exhibition in Kansas (America).

Once all the required materials and tools are ready, you can proceed to the construction of the house itself. The sequence of actions in this case is as follows:

1. Take one of the boxes, put it on its side, and use a compass to draw a circle on the second side - the borders of the future entrance (you do not need to leave the threshold below, you just don’t have to finish the circle, it will turn out a bit cut off at the bottom).

2. Draw the same holes on two side, narrower sides (only the back wall of the box should be whole).

3. Having cut all three entrances along the circle line, turn the box over and lay its upper edges behind each other, gluing the joints with adhesive tape (as a result, you should get a solid structure that remains stable).
4. Perform the same actions with the compass with the second box, only so that as a result it has two inputs: one on the side (the same as on the side of the first box), and the second in the middle.
5. Having glued the top of the second cardboard box, it remains to connect both products together, simply wrapping them together with adhesive tape (inside, the side openings of both boxes should match).


6. If you wish, you can decorate the boxes with drawings or paste over with self-adhesive paper, but this will not be a strategically important task.

As a result of the work done, a long shelter should be obtained with two entrances in the center and one side hole. Inside you can set a bowl with food and fix a non-spillable drinker. The bottom is usually covered with hay or a hard, preferably non-soaking rug.

Video: How to make a cardboard house for a rabbit

Wooden

This option for rabbits is more successful, especially considering their ability to chew on almost any surface. In addition, the wooden product has a more attractive appearance, so it can fit into any interior of the master's house (if we are talking about the construction for decorative rabbits).

We recommend that you learn how to make a bunker feeder for a rabbit.

If there are solid and even wooden planks, it is good, but if they are not there, the construction of particleboard plywood, wooden profiles, mesh and tin, which even a beginner in carpentry can handle, will look no less impressive. Based on the size, this design can be placed both inside the house and outside its walls, which contain not decorative, but ordinary large animals. In addition to materials, you will also need:

• nails and self-tapping screws (including with large hats);
• small hinges on the doors;
• chipboard plates (the exact number and dimensions depend on the parameters of the future design, the area of ​​the walls, ceiling and floor);
• tin sheet (not less than 60 * 100 cm);
• fine galvanized wire mesh;
• wooden slats;
• saw;
• hammer;
• scissors for metal.

The whole process of manufacturing a rabbit cage in this case looks like this:

1. First, cut an element for the future floor from a chipboard sheet (for example, a rectangle of 100 * 60 cm).
2. Then cut the same tin segment and fasten it with the previous one using self-tapping screws.
3. For the construction of walls, cut two pieces of 60 * 50 cm and two rectangular parts of 100 * 50 cm.
4. Having marked the boundaries of future windows and doors in the right places, carefully cut them out with a fine file.
5. Fasten the walls of the structure to each other (nails are used), and then attach the floor to them, fixing it with self-tapping screws (for ease of connection, you can use metal corners of the desired length).
6. On the openings for windows, fix the mesh, fixing it from the inside with small cloves with large hats.
7. From the slats and netting, make a door and, hanging it on the door hinges, fix it in the doorway. If you wish, you can attach a hook to it and, having organized a loop on the side, close the rabbits inside in this way.
8. Decide what kind of rabbitry roof you need: flat or gable. The first is usually made removable (it is simply superimposed on top of the walls and removed to clean the house), and the second is attached with nails.

At this, the rabbit house can be considered ready, and all that remains is to install feeders and some toys for your pet inside the drinker.

Important! If you want to build a two-tier cage, you will have to increase the height of the walls by at least 40 cm. The second "floor" can be attached to the walls without any problems using the same metal corners and screws, without forgetting to make a suitable hole in the floor and install the stairs so that the animal could freely climb up. To create a staircase, the remaining pieces of chipboard and wooden slats nailed on top with nails are suitable only so that the gaps between adjacent lintels are at least 4 cm. The outer surface of the walls can be designed at your discretion using paints or upholstery.

Video: DIY rabbit cage

How and how to equip a house inside

A wooden or cardboard house, made according to the above scheme, is just a box with holes, which, for the convenience of the pet, must also be properly framed from the inside. If you are going to keep decorative rabbits in the house, then the floor of the rabbitry can be covered with bamboo fiber or other dense, but at the same time soft material. In one of the corners it is worth leaving a place for the toilet, covering the surface with a moisture-absorbing cloth or simply installing a tray (many domestic rabbits almost immediately understand what it is for). In two-tier structures, a toilet space can be reserved under the stairs.

Did you know? The rabbit feeds its children no more than 10 minutes a day, so not all cubs (and they happen to be 15 or even 20) survive and develop normally.

It is also worth taking care of the good fixation of drinking bowls and feeders, preparing a place for a sennik in advance. It is advisable to raise the drinker not too high so that your pet does not have to reach for it. Feeders can be purchased ready-made and simply attached to the walls with the included fasteners.

A piece of a large rope, cardboard tunnels or even cotton balls will be suitable for the role of toys, however, none of them will be enough for a long time. Stronger toys specifically designed for eared ears can be purchased at a specialized pet store.

Home Care

To make the house created by your own hands longer in its original form, and the animals to be healthy and not sick, you will have to do the cleaning daily, removing food debris, stool and soiled hay from the floor (if it is used as bedding or just fell out of the sennik and trampled by animals). Drinking bowls and feeders can be washed once a day, and change the filler in the tray - once every few days. The remnants of dried urine on the floor and walls of the house can be removed using an acetic solution (it is enough to moisten a soft tissue in such a solution and walk on all surfaces).

Important! No synthetic products are suitable for cleaning a rabbit's house, since all of them are characterized by harmful fumes and can greatly harm the health of a sensitive animal.

General cleaning of the rabbit’s home is usually done once a week. It provides for a more thorough cleaning of all surfaces, possibly using hot iodine or chlorine solution. The mat from the floor must be removed, washed and dried, and then removed and boiled the feeder, drinking bowl and sennik. Toys that can either be boiled or treated with a disinfectant safe for pets deserve special attention.

Tips for keeping rabbits

Decorative rabbits are quite capricious creatures, which in their effeminacy surpass even larger relatives. They painfully respond to any changes in the microclimate and are very sensitive to low-quality feeds, therefore, in addition to arranging a home, it is also worth knowing about the rules for caring for these fluffies.

Here are some of the most common recommendations:

1. Place the cage with the animal only in a room with a constant air temperature within + 18 ... + 22 ° C and the complete absence of drafts.
2. Take care that other pets (especially cats and dogs), as well as young children, do not have access to an eared pet, because they not only can drive him into stress, but also cause physical harm.
3. Never grab a rabbit by the ears and do not grab the withers: this causes him tangible discomfort and can even scare him.
4. Always maintain the temperature in optimal limits, preventing the animals from overheating (it harms them even more than low temperatures). In an extreme case, if there is no other suitable place in the room, and the sun's rays fall on the cage, cover it with a damp towel and regularly wipe the animal’s ears with a clean, cold, damp cloth (there should always be drinkers in the cage with cold water or even ice) .
5. When airing a room, it’s better to temporarily transfer the rabbit to another room, placing it in the coolest corner.
6. If you don’t have time to completely remove the cage, clean at least the toilet to avoid toxic accumulations.
7. Organize daily walks of the animal around the apartment, and in the summer often take it out to the yard, only mainly in the evening (these nocturnal animals can sit quietly in the cage all day, activating only with the arrival of night).
8. Do not limit the movement of the animal, otherwise it will begin to gain weight quickly and soon become obese, which will negatively affect its general well-being.
9. Longhair pets will have to be combed and trimmed from time to time to prevent it from rolling.
10. As it grows, it is necessary to trim the claws of the animals, for which purpose special nail clippers are intended.
11. For feeding furry pets, choose only high-quality feeds, possibly with the presence of probiotic substances in the composition (they prevent the development of problems with the animal’s stomach). In addition to dry mixes, it is useful to give rabbits apple, pear (in limited quantities) and vegetables harvested in the summer.

Building a rabbit house is not as difficult as it seems to many, but no matter which option you choose, do not forget that this is where your mission is just beginning. For a comfortable life in it, the animal will need appropriate care, the basic rules of which you already know.