• Overall quality: Just like with any other product, quality varies in outdoor rabbit hutches. When shopping for a hutch, look for quality workmanship and materials. Make sure it’s sturdy, and that the wire and wood aren’t flimsy and poorly finished.
• Protection from weather: The rabbit hutch you buy has to protect your rabbit from cold, heat, wind and dampness. So the hutch needs a waterproof covering and a well-crafted nest boxes, if one comes as part of the design. It needs good ventilation so it can prevent hot air from being trapped inside the rabbit hutch where it can kill the rabbit.
• Protection from chewing: To prevent your rabbit from gnawing at the wood portions of your hutch, make sure to purchase one that has protection over the exposed wood sections.
• Flooring: While an outdoor hutch requires a metal mesh floor to allow the rabbit’s droppings to fall through, you’ll also need a portion of the floor to be a solid material. Rabbits who stand exclusively on wire day in and day out develop sore hocks and possible infections as a result. Make sure at least a third of the hutch floor is solid material, preferably not metal, which is poorly insulated from heat or cold. A wood floor safely treated to keep out moisture or covered with a no-wax flooring is preferable.
June 23, 2017
