Kids love pets and there’s so many pets to choose from. Big and small, feathered or furry there’s so many choices for parents of children who are clamouring for a pet. But in my view one of the best pets or children is a rabbit. Lets see why a rabbit is a great pet and how you go about housing their rabbit in a great rabbit hutch.

A rabbit is small and cuddly and just the right size for children to pick up and pat. They can be housetrained so won’t make too much mess around the house, and they are very social, so love spending time with children. Generally a rabbit will live for around 10 years.

A rabbit has a relatively simple diet. You can buy bags of rabbit food at the pet shop and they are also happy to eat hay and vegetables. In particular they like to ask green vegetables like broccoli leaves and spinach as well as carrots and some fruits. Rabbits are quite cheap to feed.

If you’re thinking of getting a rabbit for a pet for your children there are some things to consider before you rush in and buy your first rabbit. The main consideration is housing the rabbit. You will need a rabbit cage, or what is often known as a rabbit hutch. A rabbit hutch is a simple construction that allows your rabbit to browse outdoors on grass whilst also having shelter from the elements in a part of the hutch.

Most rabbit hutches provide a sheltered area where the rabbit can sleep out of the weather as well as an area where you can hop around during the day to exercise and browse on grass. Good rabbit hutches can be moved around from place to place.

If you’re using wire on the floor of the rabbit cage you need to understand that rabbits don’t like to walk on wire. If the hutch is placed on the ground and the wire is in contact with the ground the rabbit will be fine but if the rabbit hutch is lifted off the ground, which is a good idea again for cold weather to avoid the rabbit getting sick from dampness, then you will need to cover the wire something that makes it easier for him to walk on such as hay.

There is an advantage to having a wire floor with a hutch above the ground. The droppings fall through making it much easier to clean. However you wish to do this look for a material which has much wider areas for the rabbits feet and much smaller holes. Plastic slats may well do the job better.

It’s not essential to use wire, you can use wood or metal. Wood will usually soak up urine and smell, so metal works better and is easier to clean. But a solid floor doesn’t allow your rabbit to eat the grass.

What about the size of the cage? Suggestions I have seen is that it should be 3 or 4 times the size of the rabbit, but to me that is way too small. If you have a rabbit hutch this small you must allow your rabbit out to exercise every day.

And you need to clean the hutch and replace the hay each day, so you need a good door on it that allows this.

A rabbit is an excellent pet for kids. Do your research on rabbit breeds, and give yourself plenty of time before you buy one to sort out a solid, effective and well built rabbit hutch.

It’s not hard to build your own rabbit hutch, that’s part of the fun.