Cleaning

Keeping your rabbit pen clean is the best way to control disease. Your rabbit depends on you to keep it healthy.


Clean cages and equipment help prevent diseases in rabbits. Sanitize the equipment every month or whenever your rabbit has had a disease. Use a chlorine bleach solution to sanitize.


Put 1 cup of bleach in 1 gallon of water. After you have removed the fur and manure from the cage with a wire brush, put some of the chlorine bleach in a spray bottle and spray the entire cage. Let it dry before you return the rabbits to the cage. If the cage has a wooden floor, it needs to be cleaned every day and sanitaized every week. Other disinfectants can be used, but make sure they will not irritate the rabbits.


Cleaning Tips

You can clean the feeding and watering equipment daily with a milder bleach solution (1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon water). Clean the hutches and cages at least once a week with a stronger bleach solution (1 cup bleach to 1 gallon water).


Let your equipment dry in the sun. Direct sunlight is also a disinfectant.


Use a vacuum or a stiff bristle brush to remove loose fur on cages and other equipment before it becomes a problem.


Disease can also come from using old cages or nest boxes discarded by other breeders or former rabbit enthusiasts. Do not use equipment from these sources until they are disinfected with bleach and direct sunlight.


Source: 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System BU-6069 What's Hoppening?