Why a Pen Is the Safest Home for Your Rabbit

Rabbits are inquisitive by nature. They love chewing, digging, and jumping — but these activities can cause severe injuries. We hope to encourage you, as loving bunny parents, to keep them as safe as possible.

A well-appointed exercise pen — the kind pet stores sell for puppies, called puppy pens or X-pens — keeps them safe when you cannot supervise. It prevents them from chewing your rugs, furniture, walls, cords, and wires.

Some owners feel bad or guilty seeing their rabbits confined. They’ll say, “Oh, I don’t believe in caging animals. I let my rabbit free-roam my apartment. Cages are cruel.” There are many reasons why that belief is mistaken.

Time and time again, we’ve seen how free-roaming rabbits tend to develop behavioral or health issues. For one thing, they can become sedentary. When allowed to roam loose in the house all day, most of their time is spent under a chair, couch, or something that feels like a burrow. Since rabbits are crepuscular, they spend their daytime hours bunny-napping, and after a few hours they’ll feel territorial about their space under that chair. It becomes theirs.

This can prevent them from forming a bond with their owners, since the only reason they need to interact is during mealtimes. They can even become feral-like, displaying behaviors such as lunging and biting when the owner attempts to get them to come out.

For one thing, a puppy pen doesn’t even feel like confinement to a rabbit. Rabbits are wired differently from cats and dogs. They are prey animals who crave the feeling of safety above all else. A pen provides a secure “home base” for the rabbit to lounge, eat, drink, and defecate. It’s a place to take a break from the energy of the house, from the cat, or from eager children’s attentions.

Secondly, bunnies that are loose in the house every day can become bored, having no impetus to explore because there’s nothing new to re-explore. Conversely, rabbits who are confined part of the time will do their natural “perimeter security check” when let out of their pen for playtime. They’ll explore and re-explore the same room as if it were the first time — checking for potential dangers and escape routes and re-memorizing the furniture placement. Upon determining that the coffee table is right where it should be, they’ll proceed to do the Bunny 500 around it. This mimics wild rabbits’ healthy, instinctive behavior.

So while it may seem counterintuitive, confined rabbits will actually move, run, and binky more — because every outing feels like a new experience.

Third, free roamers often settle under a sofa that’s far from their litter box, hay, and water. The rabbit forgets to graze and hydrate, which can lead to problems such as not using their litter box, dehydration, or even GI stasis. Making matters worse, as tricky as it is for humans to detect stasis in rabbits, it’s infinitely harder if the rabbit is tucked into a dark corner behind the sectional.

Living in a pen during their less active hours reminds your bunny to eat, drink, and use their litter box because these items are close by and easily accessible.

Another benefit of pen living is that owners become aware sooner when their rabbit is “off.” A common nighttime emergency call we get is from an owner who notices that their rabbit has not come out to eat or drink. At that point, the rabbit may have been sick for many hours, since the last time the owner saw them was early in the morning at breakfast time.

There are many potential dangers in a home. Rabbits have been stuck in recliners and box springs, resulting in fractured jaws, broken legs, or broken backs. Rabbits have been electrocuted from biting cords. There have even been injuries from other pets in the household. Living in a pen during unsupervised times would greatly reduce these accidents. And in the event of an emergency such as a fire, you (and first responders!) know exactly where your rabbit is.

Providing your rabbit with an enjoyable and safe home base in the form of a puppy pen is one of the best things you can do for them. Outfit the pen with a rug for traction, as you should elsewhere where they play. Add a generously sized litter box filled with fresh timothy hay, cleaned regularly and topped off daily. Don’t be timid about the size of the litter box — it’s not only where they will defecate, but it also serves multiple other functions. It’s a recreational space for them to graze and dig, and it encourages them to eat more hay during the day. It’s like simulating a meadow right in your home — the bigger, the better.

Use a heavy, un-tippable ceramic dog crock for water. Serve their mealtime foods — pellets and greens — in the pen. Add safe chew toys like woven baskets, mats, and other items sold for rabbits on reputable websites. Clean corrugated cardboard and untreated wood pieces are fun for chewing too. Make it a homey, fun sanctuary, and reserve their exercise time elsewhere in the house for when you’re around to supervise — so you can enjoy many safe and healthy years together.