How To Clean A Rabbit Hutch

Hi, my name is Marie and I'm the deputy manager of the small animal department at Wood Green Animal Shelters. I'm going to give you a guide on how to clean a rabbit hutch. It's really important that you keep your rabbit accommodation clean at all times as that will prevent any major health issues that could be fatal to your rabbits.

A great way of doing this is keeping your rabbits litter trays. This way, the trays can be cleaned out each day. Once a week, the entire accommodation should be completely cleaned out and this includes the rabbit hutch and the run.

Ideally, a hutch and run should be drained together so they're never confined. A rabbit that's confined to a hutch is more likely to have behavior issues and health issues. So in the hutch, it's a really good idea if you actually lay down some lino or sticky black plastic.

That way, the floor is really easy to wash down. You can then use a nice thick layer of newspaper and a big thick layer of hay. When it comes to cleaning, just get the newspaper, raise this completely up and then you can sweep it up and spray it out with a pet disinfectant and this will make sure that it gets rid of any bacteria that may be building up in the accommodation.

As I mentioned, everyday clean out your rabbits litter tray. Rabbits are really easy to train and this will encourage them to keep all of their feces in there so you can remove that regularly and prevent health issues such as fly strike. Again, this tray should be cleaned down with a pet disinfectant, wiped down and set up fresh and put back in there.

Once you've removed all of this, set it all fresh back up again and keep it busy and keep it new. It's really important the rabbits have some variety in their accommodation. So add more enrichment, add toys and bits and pieces in the hutch and around the run so it's new and different.

Things don't have to go back in the same position. You can add things like logs, different types of plants, pots with herbs, and dig trays and tunnels for them to hide in as well. So make sure like I said, keep the hutch nice and clean, keep them better trained and that will keep your rabbits really healthy and happy. .