How to keep your rabbit happy
Pet rabbits spend most of their lives in their enclosures. As animals that need entertainment, freedom and choice, providing them with places to hide, toys to play with, food to forage, and spaces to safely spend time with companions and alone is vital for their health and wellbeing.
On this page, you’ll discover how to create an enriching environment that allows rabbits to express natural behaviours, feel safe and live happily.
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What is enrichment?
Rabbit enrichment refers to the way you set up and fill your rabbit’s environment that keeps them mentally stimulated and encourages their natural behaviours. This can include providing hiding places, platforms, toys and the way you give them their food. It can also include giving them company, such as another rabbit, or people. Rabbits with enrichment are often much happier and healthier than those without.
Why is enrichment important?
Rabbits are intelligent, active, social and inquisitive animals – freedom to explore, exercise, forage and socialise is vital to their wellbeing. They also need to feel safe, protected from predators and extreme weather conditions, and to have the opportunity to be alone when they choose. Wild rabbits spent their time exploring, digging, hiding, socialising, foraging – and more. Pet rabbits need the opportunity to fulfil those very same needs.
Dietary enrichment
A rabbit’s diet is incredibly important. But food is more than just an element of their health; it’s vital for their happiness and natural behaviours. Food can be used as a form of bunny enrichment, providing mental stimulation while encouraging their instinct to forage.
In the wild, rabbits spend around 70% of their waking time eating grass and other plants. Foraging and grazing keeps them occupied and mentally stimulated.
Encouraging chewing and foraging
Chewing is a natural behaviour that helps to keep rabbit teeth the right length, shape and size, avoiding dental problems.You can encourage it by providing:
- Hay and/or grass
- Safe leafy greens
- Wooden chew toys or sticks designed for rabbits
- Branches from fruit trees that aren't chemically treated
- Scatter feeding: Scattering greens and/or their daily pellet ration around their home for them to find.
- Hiding food: Such as under flower pots and in cardboard boxes or cardboard toilet rolls or other tubes with the ends stuffed with hay.
- Hanging food: Such as hanging up their greens so they have to stand on their back legs to reach them.
- Wrapping or bagging food: Wrap pellets in brown paper for them to unwrap, or stuff paper bags with hay.
- Adding puzzle feeders or activity toys: Such as treat balls or puzzle feeders, to encourage rabbits to push, explore, and problem-solve.
- Picking fresh forage: Pick suitable foods and place them around their enclosure, like hazel, apple and blackthorn branches. If you aren’t sure whether certain forage is safe for your rabbits, it’s best to not provide it.
- Making a turf tray: If access to growing grass is limited, fill a litter tray or plant potting tray with rabbit-safe turf, which allows your rabbits to eat fresh grass.
- Get creative: Some everyday household items can be utilised for enrichment, such as muffin trays or egg cartons filled with hay, their nuggets or other healthy treats. Or you can buy play tubes from our shop.
If rabbits don’t have enough enrichment...
If your rabbits live in a small, bare and plain environment, they can become bored, frustrated and even depressed. Signs of an unhappy rabbit can include:
- A hunched posture
- Little interest in moving or exploring
- An unhealthy or poorly maintained coat
- Dull-looking eyes
- Digestive problems
- Chewing at their fur
- Excessively chewing unsuitable items
- Repetitive behaviours, such as circling on the spot
If you notice any of these signs, it likely means your rabbit needs more enrichment in their lives. However, to be safe, contact your vet to rule out illness. You can learn more about other rabbit behaviours here.
Safety when scoffing
When introducing dietary enrichment, there are a few important things to do to help avoid competition and frustration:
- Initially supervise your rabbits: To ensure the feeder size is suitable for them and that all rabbits can access the food.
- Always check the opening: To make sure it isn't blocked and food can be removed easily.
- Always ensure they’re safe: Make sure items are clean and free of staples, tape, heavy dyes, or toxic glues before giving to your rabbits.
- Maintain feeding time: If your rabbits learn to expect their feeders at a certain time, stick to this routine as it can reduce stress.
- Provide one feeder per rabbit: To avoid one rabbit monopolising a feeder.
Remember: These enriching foods and feeding items should be part of, not in addition to, their normal daily amount of food.
Hiding places, platforms and lookout points
From safe hiding spots to roomy places to look around, rabbits require different areas to enrich and encourage different behaviours.
Hiding places
Rabbits tend to hide if they're feeling afraid, unwell, stressed or want time away from other rabbits or humans. They can also retreat into hiding spots whenever they feel vulnerable or threatened; a natural instinct for prey animals.
Providing hiding places in the exercise area of their home (in addition to their main shelter, such as their hutch or shed) allows rabbits to escape and hide, helping them feel safe and reassured. Examples include:
- Tunnels: These act as a backup burrow. Make sure there’s both an entrance and exit so your rabbits don’t feel trapped. Tunnels can be made from cardboard boxes (with holes cut at each end) or tubes.
- Multi-tier structures: These can function as quiet hiding spots or lookout points, like our large wood pet castle.
- Cardboard boxes: These are cheap and easy to personalise to suit your rabbit.
- Low shelves and stools: Which act as both private structures to hide beneath, and platforms to jump onto.
Position hiding places in areas free from the sights and smells of potential predators, such as foxes, cats, dogs, ferrets, stoats, birds of prey and other people. Place them away from draughts, out of direct sunlight and in a quiet area. Hiding places should be high enough for rabbits to move underneath them quickly, but low enough to give them a feeling of security.
To ensure hiding places are effective, never trap or remove rabbits from them – allow them to be used freely. If rabbits can jump onto them, they also function as platforms.
Make sure to:
- Provide at least one hiding place per rabbit: So that all your rabbits can hide at the same time – but if possible, add extras.
- Provide one large enough for all rabbits to rest together: Again, if possible, add a few.
- Ensure hiding places have two entrances and exits: This prevents dominant rabbits becoming territorial or aggressive and trapping the more submissive rabbit inside.
- For different sized rabbits: Make sure at least one hiding place has an entrance large enough for the smaller rabbit, but too small for the larger rabbit. This ensures smaller rabbits can escape from their larger companion.
Important: If rabbits use hiding places regularly and for long durations, they may be unwell, stressed or frightened, so ask your vet for advice.
Worried a pet rabbit is at risk?
Are you concerned that a rabbit is experiencing cruelty and neglect; showing signs of pain, fear and mistreatment? If you’re worried that a rabbit is suffering, let us know as soon as you can.
Platforms and lookouts
Rabbits are a prey species, so need to be able to scan their area for threats. Providing ‘lookout points’ can reduce their anxiety and be used as a hiding place if they feel scared.
As well as being lookout points, platforms are often used for rabbits to jump on and off. They’re a great way to keep them active, maintain a healthy weight and strengthen their bones. Low shelves added to indoor enclosures or outdoor spaces like sheds also provide additional spaces for them to rest or hide.
You can create platforms using the following:
- Small straw bales
- The top of strong cardboard boxes
- Wooden crates
- Tree stumps (from fruit trees not treated with chemicals)
- A wooden shelter with a low, flat roof
- Or try our large wood pet castle
When creating platforms, keep your rabbits safe by ensuring these are:
- At a height they can easily jump onto: If necessary, add interval platforms or a solid, low ramp (with footholds and not too steep) to allow rabbits to access the platform easily.
- Low enough that rabbits can stand: Rabbits should be able to stand on their hind legs on the platform without their ears touching the roof of their enclosure. They should have at least one metre of distance above them, allowing them to rear up and scan for predators without putting them at risk of a spinal deformity.
- Made of non-slip material: To stop rabbits getting injured when they jump on or off.
- Strong enough for the weight of the rabbits: Made from a material that’s able to withstand the weight of one or more rabbits jumping onto it.
Always ask your vet for advice before adding platforms to your rabbit’s enclosure, to ensure they're installed and used safely.
Important
If your rabbits have previously been kept in a restricted environment with little or no opportunity to exercise and jump onto objects, ask your vet for advice before providing platforms, so that you can make sure they don’t injure themselves. They may be prone to fractures due to poor bone strength. In this situation (and with your vet's approval), you may need to start by giving them low platforms and gradually increase their height as your rabbit's fitness and bone strength improves.
Toys, play and exercise
Rabbits love to play and explore. Toys encourage them to perform natural behaviours such as jumping, chewing and chin rubbing, as well as preventing boredom and encouraging movement.
Different rabbits may prefer different toys, so provide a variety to find out which your rabbits like best.
Some suitable rabbit toys include:
- Paper: Shredded, plain paper or newspaper, paper bags with the handles removed and toilet paper rolls are good examples. You can even wrap your rabbit’s favourite food in brown paper for them to unwrap.
- Cardboard: Boxes with holes cut into them make great hiding places, and tubes can be stuffed with hay and healthy treats.
- Tunnels: As well as being used for hideouts, rabbits like to play in tunnels. Buy plastic and fabric tunnels or create some from cardboard boxes, tubes and large ceramic pipes (with a wide diameter).
- Places to mark their territory: Make sure there are objects or areas within your rabbit’s home where they can mark their territory using chin secretions, urine and droppings.
- Objects to throw, chew or destroy: Such as untreated straw, willow, sea-grass mats and baskets, hay balls, plastic flower pots and solid plastic baby toys (like rattles and stacking cups).
- Digging opportunities: Provide a digging box or tray filled with safe materials such as shredded paper, hay, or rabbit-safe soil or sand.
Note: Make sure these items are non-toxic, with no small parts that your rabbit could swallow, and supervise their use. Read more about enrichment safety below.
Rabbits need plenty of exercise, for both mental stimulation and their physical health. Find out more about the ideal exercise and activity space for your rabbit’s home here.
Playing with others
As social animals, rabbits also need the opportunity to play with their companion rabbit – and even you! Playing games will strengthen your bond and keep your bunny entertained. You could encourage your rabbit to follow you by leaving a trail of food. Or build low and safe walls out of cardboard, using treats as a reward to tempt them to hop over. Training, such as target training and clicker training, can even be a form of play.
Rabbits love to explore, dig, play and forage.
Giving them plenty of opportunities to do what comes naturally keeps them active and curious, while supporting their physical and emotional wellbeing.”
-Eloise Dicks, Scientific And Policy Officer
Spaces for digging
Rabbits love to dig. In the wild, they constantly dig to construct burrows and warrens (a group of burrows that are connected, housing a colony of rabbits), search for food, to escape or get attention, or to uncover patches of earth to rest on.
Provide your rabbits with some form of ‘digging box’ so they can enjoy this natural behaviour. These can be a large plant pot or litter tray filled with earth, a cardboard box filled with shredded paper or a sandpit filled with rabbit-friendly sand. Make sure to change them regularly.
Note: If your rabbits have access to grass, make sure they can’t dig out of their enclosure.
Using enrichment safely
To ensure your rabbits are getting the most out of their enrichment items without being at risk of injury or competition:
- Check the items are safe: Ensure they’re non-toxic, have smooth edges and aren’t choking hazards.
- Inspect them regularly: Check for potential dangers, such as sharp edges or broken pieces.
- Repair, discard or replace any items that become damaged or dangerous.
- Provide plenty of choice: Ensure there are enough items in the enclosure for each rabbit to interact with, to help prevent competition or monopolisation.
- Give them space: Your rabbits should have enough room to move away from a new object, and be able to run, jump, stand upright and exercise freely.
- Stick to a routine: If you typically give your rabbits a toy at a certain time of day, keep to this schedule to avoid stressing them.
- Introduce new items carefully: Keep a close eye on your rabbits when first giving new items. If they appear stressed or frightened by a new item, remove it and watch their behaviour – talk to your vet if you’re worried.
- Regularly rotate the toys and objects: This will maintain their interest and prevent boredom and frustration.
- Be careful with fabrics: Towels, blankets, 'vetbeds', rugs or carpets can harm your rabbits if they eat them, so only give them to your rabbits if you’ll be supervising them.
If your rabbits seem to be scared of or have been injured by any of their enrichment items, remove the object, monitor their behaviour and, if nothing changes, contact your vet.
Enrichment for indoor and outdoor rabbits
All rabbits, whether kept inside or out, need plenty of enrichment opportunities, for their mental and physical wellbeing.
Enrichment items given to rabbits kept outside, especially in cold weather, should be regularly checked to ensure they haven’t frozen or been damaged by the cold. Find out more about rabbit winter care here.
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What is enrichment
‘Enrichment’ refers to the way you set up your pet’s spaces and the objects you give them. This can include hiding places and shade, platforms, toys and the way you give them their food. It can also include giving them company, such as other rabbits or people. The aim is to help your rabbits carry out more of their natural behaviours, more often. They’ll be much happier and healthier that way.
Why is enrichment important?
Rabbits are intelligent, active, social and inquisitive animals. So freedom to explore, exercise, forage and socialise is vital to your pets' health and wellbeing. They also need to be able to feel safe, to be protected from predators and extreme weather conditions, and to have the opportunity to be alone when they choose.
The size of their enclosure is very important, of course, but what’s in the enclosure is just as important. Interesting environments give your rabbits opportunities to perform normal behaviours, such as exploring, digging, hopping and foraging, and the chance to play and socialise with other friendly rabbits and people.
What happens if pet rabbits don’t have enough enrichment?
If your rabbits live in a ‘barren’ (small, bare and plain) environment, they can become bored, frustrated and even depressed. Signs of an unhappy rabbit can include a hunched posture, not moving much, an unhealthy coat, dull eyes and tummy problems. Repetitive behaviours, such as chewing at their fur, biting at water bottles or other items, and circling on the spot are also signs of unhappiness. It’s good to take them to a vet to rule out illness. But also take a good look at their home and see what you can do to help them.
Making your rabbit's home more interesting for them
Rabbits need a large, secure enclosure (a run or pen) with a big floor area and a high ceiling – this means they’ll be able to run, jump, hop, and rear up on their hind legs. They also need enough room to lie fully outstretched.
The enclosure needs to be attached to a large shelter, so the rabbits can choose to be inside or outside at any time, day or night, and have more space. We have more advice about what makes good rabbit housing.
Enrichment could include hiding places, platforms, and toys and objects to interact with. You can also enrich your rabbit’s diet (avoiding stomach problems) and the way you feed them. Puzzle feeders, for example, can simply be an empty toilet paper tube or cardboard box stuffed with hay. This lets the rabbits forage in a 'natural' way.
Here are some things to bear in mind when looking at your rabbits’ environment and enrichment.
- Keep a close eye on your rabbits when first giving them a new item in case it makes them stressed or frightened. Introduce new items for short periods, watch your rabbits' behaviour, and remove the item if needs be.
- Ensure rabbits can move away and/or hide from new items and retreat from social contact with other friendly rabbits or people if they choose to.
- If you have a number of rabbits, make sure there are enough items for each animal, so they don’t need to compete for them.
- Regularly rotate toys and objects to keep your rabbits interested.
- Rabbits need a predictable routine. If they’re used to being given a toy or object at the same time each day, keep up this routine to avoid stressing them.
- Don't fill your rabbits' spaces with so many items they don’t have space to exercise easily. Rabbits need to run, jump, stand fully upright on their back legs and hop about, so enrichment should encourage this behaviour and not stop it.
- Be careful with fabrics. Towels, blankets, 'vetbeds', rugs or carpets can harm your rabbits if they eat them, so only give them to your rabbits if you’ll be supervising them the whole time.
