To start, always buy the largest hutch you can find/afford for your rabbit. Remember, in the wild, animals have unlimited space, so no hutch is too big. Just make sure it's not too small. The proper dimensions for your rabbit's cage are:
- The cage needs to be 8-10 times the length of your rabbit
- The cage needs to be at 1.5 -- 2 feet in height.
- The width of the cage should be at least 2 feet.
With these dimensions, your rabbit will have enough room to move about comfortably.
The best hutch is one that is not made just of metal wire. Metal wire/mesh can hurt your rabbit's feet and can cause sore hocks. Also, baby rabbits' small feet can slip through the wires, ending up with a broken foot. Try to find a hutch that has a wooden shelter built into it.
As you can see in the hutch pictured above, part of the house is wire (top left), part of it has a wood shelter (top right), and it even has the bonus of a built in playpen (bottom)! The one disadvantage to a fancy wooden hutch like this is that rabbits love to chew and some will end up gnawing their hutches apart, even if you provide an abundance of wooden chew toys and sticks. This chewing of the hutch can be partially stopped by spreading Tobasco sauce on all wooden surfaces. Rabbits hate the taste of Tobasco sauce, and most will leave the wood alone after this.
You will need to clean the hutch every day (yes, every single day). If the waste is not removed, you can and will attract flies (whether your rabbit is indoors or outdoors) and the flies can breed in your rabbit's fur. Prevent this by cleaning the hutch every day.
Even if you are providing the largest hutch possible for your rabbit, your rabbit still needs a daily exercise. Imagine living in a space the size of a small bathroom all day, every day. You'd want to get out once in a while, right?? Well, so does your bunny.
Providing your rabbit with the proper hutch will keep your bunny happy, and best of all, healthy.
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