Bringing Home a Bunny? Here’s How to House Rabbits Indoors

1. It keeps them safe from outdoor threats, such as predators and inclement weather.
2. It lets you spend more time with them, which can help you learn what their normal behaviors are, and recognize symptoms of illness or injury, such as loss of appetite, lethargy, skin growths or wounds. Rabbits are prey animals, so their instinct is to hide pain and illness—but that’s harder to do if you’re together more often.

1A Bunny Burrow

Rabbits are intelligent and naturally curious, so you’ll want to provide them with their own personal rabbit habitat rather than giving them free access to your home. This prevents them from chewing on your things—including items that may harm them, like electrical wires, Dr. Malensek says.

Create a safe, cozy bunny burrow for them with plenty of room to stretch, sleep and move around. Your burrow should also be able to house a litter box. Some pet parents reserve a room just for their rabbits, but if you don’t have that kind of space, consider a spacious indoor rabbit cage. Look for one with flat flooring, not exposed wire flooring, which can cause foot pain, deformities and infections, Dr. Malensek says.

Make your rabbit habitat even more comfy with newspaper or commercial bedding made just for them. Bunnies love to dig and bury themselves under bedding and will even nibble on it to reduce stress or boredom.

That’s where the playpen mentioned above comes in. Laurie Hess, a professional services veterinarian for special species for Chewy, has worked with rabbits for 30 years. She recommends ensuring your rabbit is safe from items in the home—even wooden furniture legs could be a target, so the best way to bunny-proof your home is to keep them in a pen. “Give them a confined space so that they can’t get into trouble,” she says.

If you do decide to let your bunny roam around your home, exercise extreme caution and monitor them at all times. Rabbits are oral creatures—much like toddlers—and everything goes in their mouths. “You’d be surprised what bunnies can chew on,” Hess says. “You never think they’re going to chew on the baseboard or linoleum on the floor. If given the chance, they can even chew on your kitchen floor tile.”

“Rabbit owners sometimes think that you just put them in the grass,” says Hess, “but you don't really want to put them on the grass because there are all kinds of stuff in the grass, and they're going to eat it.”

That doesn’t mean that your bunny can’t play outside under the right circumstances. Just keep a few things in mind:

• Don’t leave your bunny alone: Predators abound in the outdoors. Hawks can very easily swoop in. Keep your eyes on your rabbit at all times.
• They get overheated easily: Ideal temperatures for bunnies are 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit. With the right breeze and adequate shade, rabbits can stay outside for a few hours while supervised.
• Keep them in a playpen or on untreated sod: Your backyard isn’t as bunny friendly as you might think. Parasites, fungus and insects thrive on grass, and bunnies will eat that grass if given the chance. And even if you aren’t treating your lawn with fertilizers or pesticides that can harm your rabbit, you may have runoff from your neighbor’s lawn.
• Keep food and water bowls and shade easily accessible to them: A great source for shade is a hide box or hutch—somewhere they can go to get out of direct sunlight or away from a threat.

We’ve got a full guide to litter training your rabbit, but here are a few top tips:

• When you see your rabbit start to pee or poop, put them into the litter box
• Give them a treat after they eliminate in the litter box
• Let them mark the litterbox area so they know it is their smell, and leave it there for a while so that they are reminded that this is where they pee and poop.