Rabbit-safe flooring?

[BethM]

I am looking for suggestions on rugs/mats, etc., that are safe for rabbits.
I have had people say, "oh, just get a jute rug," but I can't find one to save my life. (There are the large ones at World Market, but I'm looking for something small for the rabbit pens. Those are also dyed, and I worry about the rabbits ingesting the dyes.) Seagrass mats from Busy Bunny are nice, but they slide around and aren't big enough.

Tobi currently can't have any rugs at all in her pen, as she sets on eating them within minutes of me putting them in. I have tried kitchen rugs, and cotton rugs.

Nick tries to eat carpet and linoleum when he's sick. I wish I could get him to eat hay, but he just wants to eat the carpet, including the rugs in his pen. I have removed some of them, but one that's still in there is covering up the linoleum seam, so if I took it out he would just eat the linoleum underneath it.
Nick and Amelia have a small cotton rug in their condo. It's on plywood, so it doesn't slide around too much.


Any suggestions on where I can get medium-sized jute or seagrass or sisal rugs/mats?

I have had people say, "just go to Kohls or JCPenny's, they have them all the time." But I have been checking both those places regularly for a year, and have yet to find even ONE rug. I know Pottery Barn has an assortment, but the teeny tiny ones are $80, and I can't afford to spend that much for a little mat that will get chewed up.

Thanks!

 

[Luv-bunniz]

How about vetbed? it wicks away urine, its clothes washer-safe and lasts ages if cleaned properly. It also doesn't hurt if the rabbits ingest any of the fibers.

 

[terrellflyer]

Not real sure what you are looking for,any rug ,carpet,mat,or board that I've tried, the rabbits used them as food. Last couple of years I've been using foot relax pads, price from $ 2.50 to $ 12.00. my favorite pad and supplier is Bunnyrabbit. com, Ph.830 885-4834, email- [email protected]. They are super nice people and the mats last at least couple of years even with my 12 lb. rabbits.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

terrellflyer wrote:

Not real sure what you are looking for,any rug ,carpet,mat,or board that I've tried, the rabbits used them as food. Last couple of years I've been using foot relax pads, price from $ 2.50 to $ 12.00. my favorite pad and supplier is Bunnyrabbit. com, Ph.830 885-4834, email- [email protected]. They are super nice people and the mats last at least couple of years even with my 12 lb. rabbits.

Thanks for that sire there are a few things I can use off there.

No trying to hijack but that site is great

 

[tonyshuman]

I bought some seagrass mats made for lying on the beach at walgreens last fall for $1 each. They're very big, and appear to be safe to eat. I would bet that most home goods stores would have them as things to take to the beach and lie on this time of year.

 

[bunniekrissy]

What about indoor/outdoor carpeting (the kind that you cut off the amount you want from big rolls at Home Depot and such)? Usually the carpet is too low-pile for bun to chew unless they can get hold of the edges.

Also I used Palace Pet bedding with my disabled bunny.

 

[maherwoman]

We use pegboard as flooring in our buns' cages. It's cheap, and you can find it in places like Home Depot or any home improvement type store, and most stores will cut it for you in-store. Just zip-tie it down and it works like a charm. It's compressed wood, so them chewing it wouldn't be harmful...not to mention, I've never had any of our buns chew it...so either way, not a problem!

 

[BethM]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Looks like bunnyrabbit.com has a nice large seagrass mat that is affordable. (I usually see tiny ones for around $10, which I just couldn't replace frequently.) They might work well in the condo. (I currently have World Market grass mats in the condos, but someone has raised the question of whether those are really safe and untreated.)

Are vetbeds available with a non-slip back? I currently use kitchen mats on the floor of the pen, to help with traction, especially at the step into the condo. Tobi has to go without, as mentioned before, she just eats them. I'd like to have something more digestion-friendly.

Claire, if only I'd had room in my luggage when I went to Hawaii last year, I could have brought back TONS of those beach mats! They were so cheap there. However, I'd never seen one before then, as we don't even have fake beaches here in Kansas. When we go to a lake, we use lawn chairs, there's only grass or rocky ground, no sand. Ha ha! (I was a bit concerned about the string that holds them together.) I have never seen those mats for sale around here.

Indoor/outdoor carpet is out, my girls can scratch even low pile up to where they can grab it with their teeth. Those things always smell really awful, too, so I'm concerned about the chemicals in them.

I guess I wouldn't worry so much if I had "good" bunnies who didn't constantly chew and eat flooring!

 

[maherwoman]

BethM wrote:

I guess I wouldn't worry so much if I had "good" bunnies who didn't constantly chew and eat flooring!

Oh...don't get me wrong! Our buns will chew just about anything that'll come their way! In fact, Maisie has some sort of supernatural ability to pull into her cage things that are two inches away from her cage wall! She pulls them in, and we don't notice, and the something like one of our daughter's shirts has big ol' holes in it, a la Maisie! LOL!

We can't give Fiver grass mats, either, as he'll have them all chewed overnight. LOL!

But for whatever reason, we have yet to find that any one of our current or past buns get interested in chewing the pegboard. Maybe they can't get their teeth around it? I don't know. But I do know we've had some major chewers, and they haven't yet managed to chew a hole in it. Not to mention...the pegboard's holes make for excellent traction!

 

[BethM]

maherwoman wrote:

But for whatever reason, we have yet to find that any one of our current or past buns get interested in chewing the pegboard. Maybe they can't get their teeth around it? I don't know. But I do know we've had some major chewers, and they haven't yet managed to chew a hole in it. Not to mention...the pegboard's holes make for excellent traction!

I actually tried pegboard in Tobi's condo when I built her new one. (The old one had carpet, which she was eating.) I used the rough side up, but she still had a lot of problems with sliding around on it. The pegboard around here says it is all, or in part, pressed eucalyptus. Is that safe? Mine would actually eat it.

My bunnies all seem to have problems with traction. The bottom of their pen is plywood, covered with linoleum. (I used to use just linoleum, on carpet, which they could grip better. But the girls would scrape it in one spot until they could get a hole through it.) The condos are floored with plywood, rough side up. Still, they slide around a LOT. I put World Market mats in the condo, since I could cut lengths to fit, and clamp them at the edges so they don't move around.

They do have some trouble hopping up to the first level, though, from the linoleum. Tobi has to deal with it, since she ate the rug I put in for her; Nick and Amelia have had one of those cheap, flat kitchen mats at the bottom, so they have some traction where they jump up. I also hot-glued a carpet sample on top of Amelia's house, and a piece of mat on top of Nick's house, because they like to get up there. Before I put those on, their poor little legs would flail around when they would jump down. I was really afraid they would hurt themselves when jumping down.

I do like the linoleum for the general floor covering. It is inexpensive, and I've got their pen so they can't reach the edges. It is easy to keep clean, and stays cool in the summer.

I'm really looking for rugs/mats that would provide traction, have a grippy back, and be more digestion-friendly than the petroleum-based kitchen mats, to put inside the pens.

Also, the house we're getting later this week is all wood floors. Over the weekend, we purchased a big woven cotton rug for the rabbit room, it covers the entire play area. I am sure it will be chewed on, but since it's cotton, that is fine. I just hope it lasts long enough to be worth what we paid for it. We're still working on getting rugs for the other rooms that the rabbits will be allowed into.

 

[maherwoman]

Oh wow...sorry about that, then.

 

[BethM]

maherwoman wrote:

Oh wow...sorry about that, then.

That's ok, you didn't know!

It seems that my bunnies are "special," since they can't manage a lot of the other surfaces that other bunnies are just fine with.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Why not ziptie your little seagrass mats together, then ziptie that to the frame?
That way, you can custom-size the fit using the little ones.

Put the pegboard down first, then ziptie the mats through the holes.

 

[BethM]

This morning, I took the kitchen rugs out so Nick wouldn't be eating them. I noticed that neither bunny went into the condo when I was home this evening.

Just a few minutes ago, Jason walked into the room, but startled Nick. Nick ran towards the step, tried to jump up, slipped and missed, then fell on his little bottom.

He seems to be ok. Nick has not been feeling well, and did not need this. The rugs went back in.


I don't understand why my husband is such an idiot. He KNOWS that he will startle the bunnies when he walks into the room quietly. (Seems to be the ONLY time he is capable of being quiet.) Yet he CONTINUES to do it.

HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL HIM TO MAKE NOISE WHEN COMING INTO THE ROOM?????? Seriously, we just had this conversation when he scared Nick YESTERDAY. Idiot.:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X

(sorry)

 

[anneq]

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL HIM TO MAKE NOISE WHEN COMING INTO THE ROOM??????"

Awww, your hubby sounds like mine, except my husbands forgetfulness resulted in another litter....'Hon, did you remember to separate Sam & Rosie when you let them out this morning'? Eeeeekkk!:nerves1

I figure he's suffered through my little idiosyncrasies these past 20yrs., so I can bear through his, lol.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I cant use any type of flooring with storm that does not have trasction he cant get it and will slide and freak.

I bought a piece of pile wood and 2 by 4's and a piece of cheep carpet made the pile wood come out about 2 inches past storms cage cut the carpet to fit the pile wood then drill screws in to conet to 2 by 4 to the ply wood carpet does not move and the cage has a nice base that I can slide the cage into.

Wait I m going to buy I mean during that on the first. I just dont put a pices of plywood on the front so it fits in snugg.

Storm is not a carpet chewer. He marks so I still have to get him off my carpet. I am going to add wheels to to make moving it easier.

 

[skipidragon]

I am looking for suggestions on rugs/mats, etc., that are safe for rabbits.
I have had people say, "oh, just get a jute rug," but I can't find one to save my life. (There are the large ones at World Market, but I'm looking for something small for the rabbit pens. Those are also dyed, and I worry about the rabbits ingesting the dyes.) Seagrass mats from Busy Bunny are nice, but they slide around and aren't big enough.

Tobi currently can't have any rugs at all in her pen, as she sets on eating them within minutes of me putting them in. I have tried kitchen rugs, and cotton rugs.

Nick tries to eat carpet and linoleum when he's sick. I wish I could get him to eat hay, but he just wants to eat the carpet, including the rugs in his pen. I have removed some of them, but one that's still in there is covering up the linoleum seam, so if I took it out he would just eat the linoleum underneath it.
Nick and Amelia have a small cotton rug in their condo. It's on plywood, so it doesn't slide around too much.


Any suggestions on where I can get medium-sized jute or seagrass or sisal rugs/mats?

I have had people say, "just go to Kohls or JCPenny's, they have them all the time." But I have been checking both those places regularly for a year, and have yet to find even ONE rug. I know Pottery Barn has an assortment, but the teeny tiny ones are $80, and I can't afford to spend that much for a little mat that will get chewed up.

Thanks!

My Fuzz Buzz regularly eats her Amazon seagrass runner. It takes her 3 months to demolish one. I like the runner because it has a cotton backing which covers the carpet which is also fair game. The price just doubled so buns everywhere are feasting on this rug. As far as I can tell nothing has been added that's bad. I did track the company on YouTube.

 

[Blue eyes]

My Fuzz Buzz regularly eats her Amazon seagrass runner. It takes her 3 months to demolish one. I like the runner because it has a cotton backing which covers the carpet which is also fair game. The price just doubled so buns everywhere are feasting on this rug. As far as I can tell nothing has been added that's bad. I did track the company on YouTube.

Please remember to note the date on threads before posting and refrain from reviving old threads. This thread is 13 years old. Most of the posters haven't been active for years. Thank you.