EVA tiles
Are nasty, but handy. Bunnies love ripping them apart because they are squishy and feel good in their mouth. They must also smell good and need to be eaten. Once they have the taste for them, you can never make them forget.
The tiles interlock into each other like jigsaw pieces. Which is really handy until you need to mess up the alignment so the pieces to fit around furniture and the outies don’t fit in the innies.
Always use EVA tiles as an underlay with a heavy rug or carpet on top so the bunnies can’t move the rug and get to them. I got a heavy Jute Rug which worked a treat.
Remember that bunnies are destroyers and will dig/chew/find a way to get to all of the things that they shouldn’t.
It’s a popular belief to not let your bunnies destroy their floor, but what if you can’t help it and they do it while you are asleep/not looking? Isn’t it best to give them something safe to destroy rather than worry that they’ll do something dangerous?
Make sure that you entertain your bunny. By just dumping toys in their pen won’t actually entertain them. Bunnies need mental stimulation, things to climb on, crawl into or zoomy around. Also, bunnies won’t figure out how to play with items by themselves. They will smell an item and prod it a little, but they won’t actually know what to do. You have to show them what to do, unless it promotes an instinctual behaviour like digging, hiding in tunnels or eating.
I’ve found that if a bunny gets annoying or is too fidgety and can’t settle down, they are wanting attention. Spend time with them and they will calm down.
Bunnies won’t destroy their home if they are content and happy. It’s up to you to figure out what’s driving them nuts and making them destroy things. It could be that there is too much in their pen, too many pipes, too much entertainment and their brain has overloaded. Or it could be that the bun needs company, or pats.
Bunnies are quite easy to entertain. All you need to do is cuddle them, let them run around on you or pat them. They love love. No matter what, your bunny will like being patted.
One good thing about EVA tiles is that they shouldn’t stain the floor if they are down in the same place for a long time. Most rubber backed items will eventually stain the floor (I’ve hjad this happen on a vinyl floor) with a never-to-remove black mark the same shape as the carpet. You may have to replace the floor rather than try to remove the stain.
EVA tiles also are easy to clean, but they are hard to carry out in a large sheet if all connected together. The tiles collapse at the join (which is obvious) but it makes it hard to manoeuver if there is a lot of bunny poop/hay/fur on them…
Use a vacuum cleaner first on them, but hold them down with your foot so the tiles don’t get sucked up and block the vacuum pipe.
Washing them is easy, I use water, a bit of dish washing liquid and a brush to scrub. The water beads on the lumpy/gripped surface and doesn’t drip off easily, and it soaks into the flat surface on the back of the tile. EVA tiles can consume water so be aware that they may be wet on the inside if you use a lot of water. They can tolerate being out in the sun for a short time to dry – just move them around a bit to dry both sides and shake of any remaining beads of water.
I also use disinfectant wipes on them if I can’t clean them outside. Just make sure you air them for about 2 hours before putting the bunny back on them – even if the tiles are covered with a mat.
Bunnies are low to the ground and can smell chemicals hours after being used on the tiles. The last thing you want is for your bunny to be smelling chemicals and not be able to get away from them.
I got my EVA tiles from here. It seems expensive to pay $10 for 4 tiles, which it is, but in the long term, I think it makes it easier than any alternative.
I purposefully went for the small tile because they are easy to manage in these ways:
- moving
- cleaning
- replacing
They are also 50x50cm when they have the removable border around them. So it’s easy to calculate how many you’ll need to fill an area.
It is possible to get EVA cut to any size and shape from this place but if your bunny destroys parts of it, it would mean replacing the whole sheet. It’s not worth it. I’d rather replace a small tile than have to fork out bajillions more for a whole new sheet.
If you’re worried about bunnies mess leaking through the interlocking parts of the tiles onto the floor, I haven’t had much of an issue with it… yet. It seems to be that the grip-lumps on the tile face act like mini wells and collect the mess, then it dries up. But I’ve only noticed that when my bunnies were on their jute mat and their mess could get through, but only a little bit because the mat soaked most of it up. If you are worried, you can always put puppy pads between the EVA tile and the top layer (carpet or other).
Carpet tiles
I got 10 of these carpet tiles. The reasoning behind it was that if a bunny makes a mess on one, I can wash it and replace it with a clean one.
They are 1×1 metre and are backed with black polypropylene.
My bunnies love these carpet tiles. Each afternoon when they come in from spending the day outside their pen is clean and fresh. They like the cleanliness and try really hard to keep it clean all night until they go out again the next morning. They quickly trained themselves to use the litter box because they don’t like messing the carpet.
Washing the carpet
The tiles are easy to clean, by brushing up the mess then vacuuming it. The carpet stays looking new and fresh.
Any stains are easily cleaned with water and a little bit of mild soap or a disinfectant wipe.
I try to wash the carpet properly once a week or more often when the bunnies leave a piddle mess on it. The carpet dries pretty quickly especially in the sun. But if a water was spilt on it and soaked up with paper towel the damp residue is dried by morning.
I have 10 carpet tiles so if some don’t dry in time I can use others. By March 2024, I had 12 carpet tiles, only because they were a deleted line and on a ridiculous special in the shop and I can’t say no to having more than enough.
Buttons and the carpet
For some reason Buttons has decided to not destroy the carpet tiles. He actually loves laying on them with the EVA tiles beneath.
There was one night in the beginning when he did chew the edge of one tile, but he learned pretty quickly that it wasn’t a good idea. He never did it again.
Natural fibres are the best
These pictures are not mine.
I guess you could call it a plain (non-coloured) door mat, but it’s the best invention for stopping Buttons eating the flooring. Even though he loves laying on the mat, he doesn’t eat it.
The mat is backed with PVC which makes it easy to clean.
I wouldn’t go nuts (coconuts – lol) with making Coir the main flooring, but for a patch of different texture it is great.
It is hard wearing, Buttons greeted the mat by trying to chew it, he then wanted to lift it up and move it around (it was too awkward and heavy), he then gave up and laid on it. He now chooses to lay on it when he is sick of the carpet tiles.
What is Coir?
Coir (pronounced COY-er) is the inner brown fibres of coconut shells and is used for rugs, ropes, brushes, upholstery stuffing and potting mix and organic soil amendment.
It is naturally resistant to rot, making it perfect for door mats and other outdoor uses.
Coconut fibres must be soaked until the fibres can be separated and cleaned. They are then sorted and graded by size.
Dark brown course coir is from mature coconuts, while the finer and softer white or green fibres are from young coconuts. Fibres can be dyed in an array of different colours.
Caring for the Coir mat
I don’t really spend much time caring for the mat. I take it outside and bash it a bit to get the bunny hair and food bits off it, but that’s about it. I treat it with the same respect as a typical door mat.
Jute Rug
There are two types of jute rugs, one with cotton stitching to hold it together and the other which is woven together. I made sure that I bought the one that is woven together, because I didn’t want Buttons to be able to rip one strand of cotton out and the whole rug falls apart. That would defeat the purpose of purchasing the rug in the first place.
You can see the cotton stitching holding it together. Don’t consider getting a stitched one, it will end up being too much stress and work.
This picture is not mine.
This is the woven type of rug.
This picture is not mine.
This picture is not mine.
Jute is a vegetable fibre from the Jute (Corchorus capsularis) plant that is grown in India (10%) and Bangladesh (90%). It is easy to grow, it is biodegradable and is hard wearing when made into rugs, shopping bags, rope and sacks. It is also used to make outdoor cushions, curtains and laundry baskets.
Jute is the second most versatile fabric after cotton, and the second most common grown fibre. It uses less water to grow than cotton and little to no fertilisers and pesticides, making it one of the most eco friendly crops.
Washing Jute
All I did was drag the mat outside onto a flat surface, like the driveway and hosed it. I scrubbed the wee stains with a bit of dish washing liquid and a brush, then made sure I hosed off as many bubbles as I could on the front and back.
It was really heavy to lift when wet.
I left it on the driveway to drip dry in the hot sun. After a while I picked it up and hung it over two wooden work-horses from the shed. That way the air could get under it and stop it from smelling when drying.
The mat didn’t shrink, it also didn’t smell when it was dried properly.
It took 2x 32+ degree days to dry properly, but I left it out there for 3 just to make sure – so that’s 4 days all up that it was outside (1 to wash, 3 to dry).