Hallo all!

 I am new to this forum and don't have a rabbit a the moment, but I have had rabbits for most of my life. Now I hope to become a foster home for rabbits in need of adoption. Lately I have been reading about behaviour enrichment for zoo animals, and that got me thinking about how to make it possible for rabbits living indoors to display a wider variety of natural behaviours. My last rabbit lived indoors and had free acess to the flat. He seemed quite happy, but of course there is alway room for improvements.

More specifically I started thinking of how to enable rabbits to dig. How about using storage boxes like this http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90027811/?query=DILLING+Underbed+storage+box (without the lid of course) filled with sand, soil or peat (available as horse bedding in Sweden at least)? Or maybe even planted with of grass?

Has anyone tried this? What did the rabbits think? Did they spread the contents all over the place? Was there a way to make them not use this as a toilet? Please share your experiences and thoughts, I am very curious about how this might work!

Åsa

Hi, Asa,
I think you're on the right track, but I would make a few changes to your suggestion. Do not use sand, soil or peat for a bunny to dig. You can take a phone book or just plain newsprint used for moving and shred it with a shredder or by hand with a scissors (or tearing) and stuff the box with it.

However, because of it's lid, which I have on a more square box from Target, I think it makes excellent storage for your bunny supplies! You can keep a variety of bunny items in that without making a mess, storing it under a bed or table, and then just popping open one lid side to get to the stuff. I actually have mine with my pellets bag inside and a scoop in that, and when it's time for breakfast, we pop the lid and scoop it out. It makes a very neat little box for hiding the supplies in the room.

Hi, and thank you for the answer!
I think using paper for the rabbits to dig in would also be a great idea, but why would you not use sand or soil? Being able to dig in a more heavy material would be a good workout for the rabbits as well. And my rabbits used to love to roll in sand when they had the opportunity.

Åsa