what to put on top of wire floor in bird cage

Regardless of floor option, remember that they need a burrow-like "safety" area to cope with stress. Many pet rabbit hutches have BOTH a mesh flooring portion and a little "firm" like portion that has a solid floor with bedding. These are not used industrially because they take up much more than space and require bedding changes.

You lot'll need to decide based on your personal factors, only basically: MESH IS Like shooting fish in a barrel FOR PEOPLE. RABBITS PREFER LITTER/BEDDING if yous keep it clean similar you're supposed to.

"Movies" are not a skillful role model because animals are always provided by a trainer who keeps multiple rabbits and maybe other animals. They will generally opt for the "easiest" and most "industrial" mode methods.
- The rabbit cannot exist seen when in its "house" - so it is not used in Idiot box or rabbit farming.
- The pan tin can exist swapped out rapidly as soon as information technology's muddy and so that viewers do not see waste material. With litter/bedding, they might have to change it in the eye of filming, which would have time and also disturb the rabbit (make it nervous).
- Information technology is very possible that a trainer would have bedding for his rabbits - but uses a classic muzzle temporarily during filming/on set.

Compromise with both. Have a large mesh-bottomed surface area for piece of cake clean-up (eating, pooping, etc) PLUS a "hut" with litter/bedding for warmth and condolement. The hut can be made to have a big hinged lid for piece of cake access and cleaning. Make certain the wire mess will not hurt the rabbit'southward anxiety. (see below)
OR
Just give the rabbit what it wants and change out the litter. Using a litterbox makes everything even easier, but you lot should still alter all the litter occasionally.

Example from Bunny Hutch HQ (.com) This hutch provides THREE levels of protection: a hut, a semi-protected area, and an open surface area. A simpler hutch would be something like the peak portion only, with the left side beingness either mesh bottomed or solid bottomed with litter. An indoor hutch could be more open on the left side.

Mesh doesn't allow rabbits to chew their pellets (soft poo) for nutrition. - This is like to a moo-cow chewing its cud. Institute material isn't "finished" on the fist pass through, so the rabbit volition re-eat some poo pellets. These will be soft and round and you normally don't meet them. They are pooped during resting (such equally inside a hut) and eaten immediately. The "finished" poo volition be hard and the rabbit normally poops these in one particular corner of the cage. (That's where you lot put the litterbox for training. Y'all're not grooming the rabbit, you're just putting the litterbox where it poops.)

All info from this point on is summarized from the rabbit husbandry webpage of The Agronomics and Consumer Protection Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Un.

http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/index_en/en/
http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e08.htm#uses%20for%20waste

Litter helps the rabbit maintain warmth and temperature regulation.
- Likewise much mesh can allow too much airflow making temperature regulation difficult.
- Indoor housing volition help counteract this (do not put near sunlight, drafts, doors, etc where rabbit may be forced to endure a bad temperature or quick changes in temp)
- *Some mesh is good - and usually provided from at to the lowest degree one-half of the cage existence wire mesh on the elevation and sides. Less for outdoor cages. Most pet cages run into the fresh air requirement.
- All mesh makes rabbits rely COMPLETELY on YOU for temperature and airflow regulation.

Litter can encourage sure parasites to be spread from i rabbit cage to some other nearby rabbit cage.
- This is a bigger problem for rabbit-farming than pet ownership.
- You are unlikely to have this problem is changing the litter and/or using a litterbox.

Wire mesh can irritate the feet, causing bacterial infection. Make sure the wire is fat and the holes are modest then their weight is distributed.
- Information technology is fifty-fifty more likely when the expanse is warm and/or moist.
- It is also more likely if the animal thumps their foot a lot (stress).
- It is more likely in heavy breeds and nervous/excitable breeds.
- "New Zealand White or Californian breeds" were mentioned equally existence improve adjusted to mesh floor.

It can be difficult to observe proper mesh for just 1 pet rabbit.
- Simply because the pet shop sells it doesn't hateful it'due south whatsoever good.
- Plastic coated mesh can fatten the wire and provide a little more condolement - but rabbits tin can chew the plastic right off. Depends on the rabbit and mesh size.
Wire thickness: "Diameter two.4 mm, minimum 2 mm"
Size of "hole": "bore i to 1.3 cm, only narrow enough to preclude the feet getting defenseless in the mesh"

Even the best mesh isn't that comfortable.
- Provide at least some non-mesh expanse for the rabbit to remainder on.

Wire mesh tin be disinfected. Wire mesh is easy to clean.
- Again, this is more of a concern for rabbit-farming type conditions. Wood is naturally anti-microbial, but information technology'southward not microbe proof. The site recommended irresolute a wood flooring every ii years, just their focus was on farming atmospheric condition.

As yous tin can (hopefully) see, mesh is just piece of cake for people to bargain with. It's the standard for farming lots of rabbits in a tiny space. This concept has carried over into the pet rabbit, but it isn't necessarily appropriate. Traditional rabbitry in Europe uses straw litter. Modern rabbit farming uses mesh with waste collection pits or troughs (with rabbits stacked to a higher place each other - the site has diagrams) so that no one has to modify the litter in each cage. This allows maximum rabbits in minimum infinite. You can collect waste material and distribute food and h2o without opening each cage.

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Source: https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2677/what-are-the-benefits-and-risks-of-a-wire-bottom-cage-for-my-pet-rabbit

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