How to Build a Maze for Your Rabbit

Last Updated: May 5, 2022 References Approved

If you’re wondering what things you could do to amuse your pet rabbit, you might consider building your rabbit a maze. Besides entertaining your rabbit, this type of activity encourages higher levels of brain activity in your rabbit. Stimulating your rabbit's cognitive abilities can enhance brain power which will also help your rabbit live a longer, healthier life in their old age.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Building an Open-Air Maze With Cardboard Strips

1
Create the base of the maze. Lay out a flat piece of cardboard to use as the base floor. Choose a piece as long as the maze you want to make. A good size to start with is two feet by two feet. As you perfect your maze-making skills, you can get more adventurous with bigger sized mazes.
- You can also start building directly on the floor if you prefer. However, this means that you might have more to clean up at the end since your rabbit might go to the bathroom on the floor or make some other kind of mess. A cardboard base will help contain the mess to the toy maze and not let it escape into your home as much.
2
Make the walls of the maze. You can create walls for your maze by cutting ten-inch high strips from flat cardboard, the same length and width as the maze floor. Glue the strips around the perimeter to create the structure's walls. Each lane should be wide enough for your rabbit to move around easily – probably at least six inches wide, depending on the size of your rabbit.^{[1]
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- You can also use some heavy duty tape (like duct tape or packaging tape) as an alternative to glue to keep the walls of the maze in place.
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3
Design the maze. Draw a blueprint on the maze floor. You can even include divergent paths and dead ends to challenge your rabbit. However, try not to make it too difficult.^{[2]
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- You might want to start out with a fairly simple design that only has one dead end, for example, and build up to a more complicated pattern over time.
4
Create the inner walls of the maze. Cut additional ten-inch high cardboard strips and glue them into your maze according to the design you created. Make sure all of the pieces are attached sturdily so your rabbit can run through the maze without knocking them over.
- To attach the inner walls of the maze to the base, you can use glue or tape. Just make sure the walls stay firmly in place.
5
Create holding pens. Do this by cutting ten-inch high cardboard strips to use as barriers that fit tightly in the path at the beginning and the end of the maze. Secure them sturdily to the base to create separate start and finish pens.
- Make sure your holding pens are secured tightly and that there are no spaces around the edges for your rabbit to escape.
- You can secure the walls of the holding pens by creating slits in the cardboard sides that allow the pen door to slide into place. Then you can simply remove the wall by pulling the cardboard door out to let your rabbit out of the pen.^{[3]
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6
Let your rabbit explore the maze. Place your rabbit in the start pen and put a few pieces of your rabbit’s favorite foods in the finish pen to entice your bunny to finish the maze. Lift up both pens and watch your rabbit find its way through the maze.^{[4]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Creating an Enclosed Maze Using Cardboard Boxes

1
Gather some boxes. It is important that the boxes all be about the same size, or at least that they fit together end-to-end with no gaps in between the boxes. You’ll be cutting holes in the boxes and you don’t want your bunny to be able to squeeze out of the maze in gaps between the boxes.
- You’ll probably need at least five boxes, depending on the size of the boxes and the amount of space you have to build the maze. If you have more space, you can use more boxes.
2
Design your maze. Put the boxes together and decide where to cut the holes. You’ll want to put holes only on some sides so that the rabbit is led towards the end of the maze. However, you might also include a few dead ends to keep your rabbit thinking.^{[5]
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- To make a dead end in the maze, you’ll just cut a hole in a box that goes one direction, but then have no other holes in the box it leads into. That way, your rabbit will have to turn around and go back the way it came to continue the maze.
3
Cut holes in the boxes. Once you have designed your maze, start cutting holes in the boxes with scissors or an X-Acto/utility knife. Make sure the holes are big enough for your rabbit to hop through without getting stuck or feeling restricted.
- It might be helpful to decide what size and shape you want the holes to be beforehand and create a template. Then you can simply trace the template on each box where you want the hole to be so that you’re sure all the holes will be big enough for your bunny.
- Make sure you use extreme caution when using a sharp blade of any kind. If you are a kid, ask your parents to help you or supervise you during this step.
4
Put the boxes together. Once you have cut holes in all the boxes, you’ll need to make sure the maze sticks together. If you forget this step, the boxes may start sliding apart as your rabbit hops around inside.
- Use glue or double-sided tape (or tape that you fold around to make it double sided) to stick the sides of each box together. You could even tape together the top edges of the boxes for added security.
5
Set your rabbit loose in the maze. Now your maze is complete and you can let your rabbit wander through. Try putting some treats at the end of the maze to entice your rabbit to go all the way to the end.^{[6]
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- You can also add some newspaper or bedding throughout the maze to make it more comfortable for your rabbit.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Other Items as Mazes for Your Rabbit

1
Buy a prefabricated maze for your bunny. You can often find already made maze items specifically intended for use by rabbits. There are websites online that carry these items^{[7]
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- You will likely have to do a little assembly to put the maze together.
2
Create a maze out of tunnel toys. A popular toy for pet rabbits (and many other types of pets) is the tunnel. This toy gives your rabbit a chance to explore in narrow spaces, an activity that they really enjoy. These types of toys will also help keep your bunny out of smaller spaces that you would prefer it avoid – like under your furniture.
- To create a maze with a tunnel toy, you simply need to stick several of them together in a pattern of some sort. You can use Velcro or tape, depending on the material your tunnel toys are made out of.^{[8]
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- Combine the tunnel toys in various ways to make a fun and interesting maze for your rabbit.
- If you can’t find any tunnel toys made specifically for rabbits, you can use some that were made for cats. These tunnel toys will be easier to find.
3
Create a maze with a combination of cardboard and tunnels. You can make an even more exciting maze for your pet rabbit by building one out of cardboard boxes and tunnel toys that you stick together in various ways.^{[9]
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- Where the tunnel will intersect with the cardboard box, you’ll need to trace the outline of the tunnel on the box and cut out the hold. That way, the tunnel will fit snugly into the side of the cardboard box and there won’t be any chance your bunny could escape out of the hole.

Warnings

If you are a kid, ask for an adult's help while using sharp objects such as scissors.

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Make sure there is always two ways to go (or more) As rabbits are prey animals they would like two ways (or more) out.

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