Can they walk on hardwood floors?

[Buttercup n Charlie]

So there's a little part of our apartment that is hardwood floors. Buttercup never goes there. I tried putting her on it to see if she would take, but she scampered and slipped her way back to the carpet.

We've been condo shopping recently, and found one that we really like. But it is mostly hardwood flooring. I'm wondering whether it's a matter of practice and she will grow into it, or if its just something that bunnies cannot do? I wouldn't want to put her in a place where she cant run around freely ...

 

[jujub793]

My entire house is hard wood floors, they certainly dont like it but they can. I have a big area rug on the dining room floor so they do like to hang out on that. One thing I do notice.... Very few bunny 500's and binkys and I attribute that to the floors.

 

[MagPie]

That's was what I was wondering about hardwood floors. If they would do less bunny 500's and binkys. The people that had Harvey before me had hardwood floors and he was a little overweight. I have carpet and man he loves to zoom around, except in the kitchen.

 

[Buttercup n Charlie]

Hmm. that's exactly what I was most concerned with, that even if she can do it, she wont binky or run much. Guess I have something to think about!

 

[MagPie]

Could always buy some big rugs too. That's what my mom does at her place, since she has hard flooring.

 

[MILU]

It wouldn't be good to put her on the hardwood floor. Bunnies don't like it, it's difficult for them to walk there, maybe they can even get hurt.. I'd put a carpet or something to cover it, or put her somewhere else.

 

[Kipcha]

After our most recent problem, I would not put them on anything slippery. We're dealing with Flynn having a dislocated hip right now and she managed to hurt herself on flooring that wasn't even slippery, and the vet was mentioning how easy it would be to have the same thing happen on slippery floor.

Trust me, a dislocated hip is not something you want to deal with. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I never thought I would have this problem either...

 

[patches2593]

they can but say if they were running, they wouldnt be able to stop and could crash into something and sometimes get dentral issues if they smash their teeth. they can also get arthritus or the flooor could make it worse

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

We've got lots of hardwood floors (our whole main floor except some rugs). Ours bunnies who grew up on it don't mind at all (for example Ripley who's gone on in since 8 wks. doesn't think twice, but Taffy who hardly has been on it is freaked.

I don't think its the best idea for the sake of dislocating joints etc. I'm thinking we need some more rugs. Luckly we have a runner down the hall and some bigger area rugs which help a bit.

 

[BunMommaD]

We have carpet in our living room and tile throughout the kitchen and dining area... cookie doesn't mind the tile... But until we let him in the living room we never saw him binky! Or run 500s... We now have a carpet path for him from the living room through the kitchen to his house, and very rarely does he go off the carpet lol

 

[LaylaLop]

Layla prefers tile/hardwood flooring. If in a fully carpetted room with a tiny area of tile/wood floor she'll always flop onto the cooler flooring and even when exploring/running around she likes the hardwood. Mumford prefers carpetting. I had one rabbit before who would not set foot on hardwood flooring and I had to put down towels/carpet. It was very easy to bunny-proof since a rug in the middle of the floor touching nothing else meant I could walk away and he'd never go off the "island" of carpet!

 

[ZRabbits]

I had to put a rug down in my kitchen. Dobby is the only one who will venture off the rug to the cool linolium (sp?). And he does it very slowly. The rest of them like the carpet. They like the traction. And boy do they go.

K

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had hardwood and tile in our old house. Some were just fine and others avoided it. Put down a couple of rugs and runners and everyone was fine. Charlene and Nikki lived in the bathroom and didn't mind the tile at all. Bun used to jump from carpet to carpet.

 

[MagPie]

Harvey doesn't mind hard floors but he definitely doesn't run around on it. On hot days he will stretch out in the kitchen to keep cool.

 

[funnybunnymummy]

We have laminate (basically the same as hardwood). Gus does just fine on it. He's learned to slide to a stop and that he needs to start off a bit slower so he doesn't totally lose traction when he runs. He definitely prefers carpet and spends the majority of his time on his mat or on the area rug in the living room. But he certainly isn't handicapped by the laminate floors. He can hop around just fine on them. But he'll only binky on carpet and will sometimes even build up a full head of steam on the laminate then jump onto the carpet and let loose with a few "bunny donuts". It's really funny to watch.

Anyway, I think it would be fine to get a condo with hardwood floors. Then buy a few area rugs for the rooms and runners for the hallways. Your bunny will adapt. Or just spend her life hopping from one carpet to the next.

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[lapaki]

Zoomer doesn't mind walking on hardwood, ceramic tile, linoleum or other "slippery" surfaces, but he is cautious and doesn't binky or run around as much. Unless you shake a treat container and call him. Then he'll come flying around the corner with his rear end swinging out, scampering furiously in a big bunny drift.

I have linoleum in my kitchen, which was his room when I first got him. I went to the hardware store and bought some of that really cheap carpet you get off a roll and buy by the foot. It does tend to slip around a bit, but it gives him good traction. Sometimes Costco or Sam's will have a big roll for a cheap price.