# Can I use newspaper (shredded) as bedding inside cage for my rabbit?



## Animeiii

I had two rabbits before but my mom had given them away. :X 
So now I want another one, and this one I'm keeping, yes. :sunshine: So, I have a question. Can I use shredded newspaper as bedding for my rabbit inside the cage? 

And oh yeah, what can I give *under* the newspaper bedding? Can I use umm... cardboard? I know cardboard is easy to get soaked but wouldn't the newspaper hold em and not allow to let 'em' get to the cardboard?


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## Blue eyes

What kind of cage do you have? 
Typically you only need litter in a litter box. The rest of the cage floor can be solid flooring. Some people use fleece or a cat bed somewhere in the cage. Covering the entire cage floor with loose bedding is just messy and unnecessary. 

Newspaper won't do much to absorb urine odor. You're better off getting a low-sided plastic box to use for a litter box. Place in the box something like Yesterdays News Unscented litter OR wood stove pellets (a favorite among many of us on here because they work so well and are cheap). Top it with some hay to encourage bunny to go in there.

A photo of your cage would help us better advise you.


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## Animeiii

Kind of like this. Though this I found from google. My battery of my camera went dead so I can't take a pic right now.


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## Imbrium

if you have a cage like that, you should return it if at all possible - it's WAY too tiny for a bunny!

actually, ALL store-bought cages are too tiny for bunnies. bunnies should have a nice, roomy cage (and because they don't have an exercise wheel like most "cage" pets, they need either 4-5h a day of "out of the cage" time to roam the house (once you've bunny-proofed!) *or* 60+ square feet of space that they have 24/7 access to).

a LOT of people build a NIC/C&C style cage (the size you should have depends on just how much time your bunny spends out of it each day, but I wouldn't go smaller than either 4 grids long x 2 grids wide x 2 grids tall with a partial second level or 3 grids long x 2-3 grids wide x 3 grids tall with a second and maybe even third level. personally, I went with 3x2x5 (three levels) and then fenced in my living room with playpens so that my bunnies have 24/7 access to a 120+ square foot "run" space... but then, my girls are quite spoiled .

http://breyfamily.net/bunnycage.html
http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm (shows how to do coroplast floors if you'd rather use that than plywood)
best deal on grids for the cages (assuming you're in the US): http://www.sears.com/stor-floor-sta...p-00913332000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

here's my condo:






a decent alternative to a NIC condo is to use one or more x-pens (exercise pens) to create a living space for your bunny. if you're stuck with the tiny store-bought cage you already have, I HIGHLY recommend that you get a playpen and zip-tie it to the front of the cage so that the bunny has access to the pen while "caged" (you may need to put something on top of the cage to make it taller so that the bunny can't get on top of the cage to escape).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H8YTJI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 is the best deal I know of for a playpen up to 30'' tall - it's $35 with free shipping. if you follow the link and browse the "customer images" for the pen, you can see a lot of great examples of people using it to create a living space for their bunny.

if you want something taller than 30'' (because your bunny is a jumper or because you want to be able to put cardboard boxes and such inside without fear of the bunny getting on top of something to jump out of the pen) then I recommend this playpen - http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?sku=31313 - in either the 36'' or the 48'' version. personally, I went with the 48'' since it was only a few bucks more and gave me the most options as far as furnishing their enclosure.

anyway... as far as your actual question goes, I wouldn't use any sort of bedding at all in the cage because that makes it harder to litter box train them (tends to confuse them into thinking the whole cage is a potty).

the most popular type of litter seems to be wood stove pellets that don't say they have an accelerant added (available from hardware stores in areas that have cold winters) or wood pellets (available from feed/tack stores) - they're really good at odor control and either one will run you around $5-8 for a 40 lb bag, making it the cheapest litter you can buy.


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## Blue eyes

Jennifer is correct. I'm afraid your cage is much too small. However, if you could get an exercise pen (Imbrium also suggested this) then you could wrap it halfway around your current cage and leave the cage door open. Bunnies really need to be able to stretch all the way up on their hind legs (which yours wouldn't likely be able to do in that cage). They also need to be able to move and exercise so that their bones & muscles can stay healthy.

Here's an exercise pen that can make a large area when part of a wall is used as part of the cage. You could put a heavy duty tarp down until yours is litter trained. Just picture your cage inside this pen, maybe against the wall by the window.

You can also see the litterbox I use there on the right side.


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## Nancy McClelland

We use shredded newspaper in plastic litter pans, not cardboard. It doesn't soak up the urine as well as some litters, but, if you change it a couple of times a week it seems to be fine and ours love playing in it.


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## Animeiii

Thanks for all your suggestions! I'll ask to make a bigger cage for my new bun bun now.


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## Imbrium

if you buy the NIC grids through sears like I linked and get a decent deal on zipties, you can build a basic 2x4x2 grid cage with a partial second level for like $60. hardware stores are a scarybad rip-off when it comes to zipties (wish I'd found that out WAY before I did!) - I actually sell zipties on my sugar glider supplies website because I found a good enough deal that if someone buys a few hundred or more from me, it comes out *significantly* cheaper than a hardware store even after having to pay for shipping, lol. sometimes dollar stores have them (I know Dollar Tree does, though I haven't seen them at others); it's like 100 or 120 for $1 which also comes out WAY ahead of hardware stores and is on-par with how I've got mine priced. dollar stores = win.


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