Can rabbits use an exercise wheel?
No, rabbits cannot use an exercise wheel. It is best to let your rabbits just run around naturally on their own. Your rabbit will be physically uncomfortable using an exercise wheel so please don’t try it. Rabbits are not made to use something like an exercise wheel; they are not nearly as flexible as your typical exercise wheel user such as mice, gerbils, or hamsters.
A Rabbits spine
A rabbit’s spine does not flex the way a spine does in these smaller animals and they could seriously injure themselves on an exercise wheel and potentially break their delicate back. Chances are even if you provided your rabbit with an exercise wheel, they would not use it. Rabbits are not known for putting themselves in uncomfortable situations but its best to not have one at all. If your rabbit decided to hop on an exercise wheel simply out of curiosity it could cause an unnecessary injury to your rabbit .
Safe exercises for your rabbit
Let your rabbit free roam! I litter train all my rabbits so they can wander around the house as they please. They like to run, hop, play, binky and dig. If you let your bun out and he or she is not running around then you can induce exercise by providing toys, hiding treats inside of something like a cardboard box, treat toy or paper.
You can also provide them with a tunnel to run through, a ramp to run up and down (not to high, of course) or simply get down on the floor and play with them. Our rabbit, Mr. Bunny, enjoys batting at socks so if he is in the mood to play or we just want him to stretch his legs a bit then we will chase him with a sock. He will run, jump and bat at the sock. We all enjoy doing this, including Mr. Bunny!
Unsafe exercises for your rabbit
As previously stated, an exercise wheel is very dangerous and out of the question. Other things that make the forbidden list is allowing your rabbit to play with toys that contain small beads or balls. Your rabbit’s teeth are very powerful and when they tear a hole into the toy they could possibly consume these small particles and that can be very harmful to them.
Don’t do anything that requires your rabbit to stretch out too far like holding a treat or toy just out of reach. You also want to avoid the risk of them falling onto their back. Rabbits backs are very delicate, and you never want to risk causing any harm to them. Ramps are a good source of exercise for a rabbit to run up and down, just be sure it’s not too high to where if your rabbit has a misstep or a miss-hop it would not cause serious injury if they fell.
About the Author
My name is Vanessa and I love my buns. My current house rabbit is Mr. Bunny, he is a black and white Dutch that just turned 9 years old.
I believe that rabbits are a magnificent animal that make great pets for SOME people. My mission is to share what I have learned about rabbits over the past 20 years to improve the relationship between our pets and us. Please contact me or comment if you have any questions or comments.