Why Don’t Our Rabbits Dig Out?

Recently we opened up a new paddock for our rabbits. They absolutely love the extra space and it’s been a delight watching them explore and graze in their new playground. 

One of the questions readers and visitors to the homestead often ask, is ‘why don’t your rabbits dig out?” And it’s an interesting one.

I’ll talk a bit about rabbits and their digging habits first, then we’ll get to how we prevent our rabbits from digging out of their pens and escaping.

It’s probably worth adding that when I use the word rabbits in this context I am only referring to the European rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus) which is the native rabbit throughout Western Europe and which is the species that all domestic rabbits belong to. 

Why do rabbits dig?

I think most of us strongly associate rabbits with digging and burrows. If you asked most children “where do wild rabbits live” they would say “in a burrow”. But in some areas many wild rabbits live much of their lives above ground, hiding in dense undergrowth when danger threatens. 

Where soil permits rabbits may create an extensive network of connecting burrows or warren, often with multiple well used entrances, and some cleverly hidden ‘escape’ exits that are very difficult to spot. 

Rabbits digging – male vs female

One of the first things to note is that there is a big difference between the sexes when it comes to digging. 

I’ve kept several different male rabbits in ‘tractors’ (movable pens) over the years with no wire or rails across the bottom of the tractor. And in my experience bucks make little or no attempt to dig out. Even on soft soil.

Does are a very different matter and any kind of movable outdoor pen for a doe will normally need some kind of anti-digging device attached to the underside. This is always a pain because it reduces the rabbit’s access to grass, adds extra weight to the tractor, and flattens any vegetation it’s being dragged across. 

The doe’s propensity for excavation stems from her instinctive need to dig that begins during pregnancy. 

Female rabbit digging habits

Female rabbits in the wild dig a short burrow, or ‘stop’ in which to give birth. This stop is a usually a dead end with its own access,  and doesn’t connect with any other burrow. 

The purpose of this underground nest is to protect the baby rabbits from predators and extreme changes in temperature. A few inches below ground, temperatures are more constant than at the surface level.  And the mother rabbit insulates the nest with her own fur. 

So female rabbits have this natural tendency to dig, and it’s generally assumed that much of the work carried out in constructing a warren is down to the girls in the group.  

In our colony of does, however, we’ve noticed that there is very little digging outside of a small window during pregnancy. 

It’s possible that rabbits naturally dig most at night, and our rabbits are shut indoors inside the stable during the hours of darkness. Whatever the reason, our rabbits don’t dig much, but even so, we do take precautions just in case one should decide to have a digging adventure. 

Precautions we take to prevent our rabbits digging out

We use standard rabbit fencing procedures, similar to those used to protect young tree plantations from rabbit damage. 

That simply means creating a turn under in the rabbit netting. A rabbit trying to escape is going to dig up against the wire, and will quickly come up against the turned under section. 

The turn-under only extends a few inches into the pen, but rabbits don’t seem to be able to figure out that if they only started excavating further from the fence, their route to freedom wouldn’t be impeded. 

You’ll notice that the fence is not very high. 

Rabbits are perfectly capable of jumping much greater heights than this, but usually only do so if panicked or pressured. Under normal circumstances, they don’t want to waste energy, and will spend their time in the pen just grazing, resting, or hopping about. 

We haven’t had a rabbit escape over fences this high in four years, but if they do, we have a great method for calling them all back.  That’s a story for another day though!

Nesting time

If we do notice a pregnant doe starting to carry nesting material or making little scrapes, we pop her indoors with a choice of kindling boxes and plenty of hay.  We find that once she has chosen her nest box and constructed her nest the digging stops, usually within 24 hours, and we can let her back out again. 

‘Nesting day’ tends to take place mid pregnancy, and there really isn’t a lot more digging activity outside of this period. 

I’d be interested to hear your experiences of rabbits digging, and to know if my ‘digging is nocturnal’ theory is correct.  Do your rabbits have access to soil around the clock? And if so, do you find that they dig more at night?

Let me know in the comments below!