A Buyers Guide for your Small Pets

Small pets need more than a basic cage and food; a healthy setup should include safe housing, clean bedding, fresh water, hiding places, enrichment, and species-appropriate nutrition.
Rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas rely heavily on unlimited fresh hay to support digestion, dental health, and natural foraging behaviour.
Bedding should be absorbent, dust-free, non-toxic, fragrance-free, and suited to the specific animal, with unsafe options like cedar shavings, sawdust, clay litter, and fluffy cotton bedding avoided.
Each species has different habitat needs: rabbits need room to roam, guinea pigs need generous floor space and companionship, chinchillas need tall climbing areas, and hamsters need deep bedding for burrowing.
Enrichment is essential for small pets because it supports natural behaviours like chewing, digging, hiding, foraging, exploring, climbing, and running, helping reduce boredom and stress.

Small pets bring lots of joy into a home. Whether you choose rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, or hamsters, making sure they have the right supplies and setup is one of the best ways to keep them happy, healthy, and thriving.

Not all pet products are created with your small pet’s health and natural behaviors in mind.

The right habitat, bedding, food, enrichment, and grooming tools can make a huge difference in helping them feel safe and stay healthy.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the essential supplies these small pets need so you can confidently choose products that truly support their well-being. We’ll start with the basics small pets share, then take a closer look at the specific needs of rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and hamsters.

What All Small Pets Need to Thrive:

1. A Suitable, Safe Space or Habitat

One of the most common mistakes that well-meaning pet parents make is not providing their small pets with enough space to roam. In every situation, providing more room is the best approach, as many pet store cages fail to offer the space that small pets truly require.

Safety is another concern. It's no secret that small pets love to chew, but not all enclosures are designed with that in mind. Unsafe materials can lead to injuries or even escape attempts.

Good airflow is also essential. Proper ventilation helps prevent respiratory issues and reduces the risk of mold and bacteria building up in your pet’s space.

Lastly, avoid wire flooring. Rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and hamsters are all prone to bumblefoot, a painful condition often caused by wire bottoms.

2. Safe, Clean Bedding

Small pets need bedding for different reasons like sleeping, burrowing, or soaking up urine. The best types and amounts of bedding vary a bit by animal, but some things remain the same.

What to look for:

Absorbency: Wet environments breed bacteria and mold, which can lead to illness and skin infections.
Odor control: Good bedding helps manage odors without relying on artificial fragrances.
Safety: Bedding materials should be non-toxic and safe if accidentally ingested.
Environmental impact: Look for products that are partially or fully biodegradable.

When choosing bedding for any type of small pet, make sure it meets these criteria:

Dust free: Dust particles from wood or paper bedding can hurt your small pet’s respiratory system.
Sludge free: Some paper bedding is made from sludge, which is the name for the leftovers at paper plants. Sludge contains a toxin called dioxin.
Kiln dried (wood bedding)
No artificial colors or scents: While these may smell good or look pretty, artificial colors and scents are made from chemicals that may be harmful to your small pet.

Always select bedding that’s appropriate for your pet’s species and individual needs. It’s also recommended to avoid:

Cedar shavings
Clay litters
Sawdust
Cotton or “fluffy” bedding

3. Unlimited Fresh Hay, Daily

As herbivores (plant eaters), rabbit, guinea pigs, and chinchillas primarily eat one type of very important plant: hay.

Timothy hay serves as an exceptional dietary staple for these three species. It delivers the essential fiber they need to maintain a healthy digestive tract. As a key part of digestion, hay helps form cecotropes, nutrient-dense droppings that are re-ingested to support complete nutritional balance.

Hay also plays an important role in keeping their continuously growing teeth worn down and provides natural enrichment to keep them mentally engaged. For small herbivores, hay truly is a staple food and should make up the foundation of their diet.

4. A Safe Place to Hide

As prey animals, these little furballs naturally feel safer when they have a place to retreat to, a hidey-home. Every habitat should include at least one hide per pet.

Your pet’s hidey-home should:

Be large enough for your pet to turn around comfortably
Be made from chew-safe materials, like kiln-dried wood, grass, or sticks.
Include an additional opening or ventilation for proper airflow

5. Enrichment

Your small pet may be domesticated, but their wild instincts are still strong. They thrive when given opportunities to chew, dig, forage, explore, and play. Enrichment not only prevents boredom and stress, but also supports their overall physical and mental well-being.

6. Constant Access to Fresh Water

Water can be offered in a heavy, tip-resistant bowl or a water bottle, depending on your pet’s preference and setup. However, bowls are generally recommended, as bottles can leak, malfunction, and are more prone to mold and bacteria buildup. Either source you choose, remember to wash it out daily to remove bacteria and keep your little one’s water fresh and safe.

With common needs in mind, let’s hop into the specific needs for each small pet.

Species-Specific Small Pet Needs

Rabbits

Rabbits are curious, social animals with big personalities and even bigger needs when it comes to space, diet, and enrichment.

Habitat

An important consideration when getting a pet rabbit is where you are going to keep your bun, and whether you have enough space. First, we highly recommend keeping your bunny indoors and only allowing your pet outdoors for enrichment, in an x-pen or safely fenced area, under full supervision.

Outdoor rabbits are highly susceptible to weather changes, predators, and escaping. (They’re excellent diggers!).

The best indoor setup is one where your rabbit can roam freely. Whether they have access to your home, a room, or a large sectioned area, giving them space to move around safely and freely supports their overall well-being.

Rabbits are enthusiastic chewers, so your rabbit’s space and any areas of access will need to be bunny proofed. This means properly rabbit-proofing your space by removing potential hazards, securing wires and outlets, and protecting walls, furniture, and flooring from chewing.

If free roaming full time isn’t an option, a secure exercise pen can provide a safe and spacious alternative. Aim for at least 8 square feet per rabbit, though larger setups are strongly recommended to support natural movement and activity.

Rabbits should never be confined to traditional pet store cages, but these can serve as a safe space or home base if the door is left open. Similarly, multi-level enclosures are not appropriate as primary housing, but can be used for enrichment if they are stable and designed to prevent falls or injury.

Bedding

Rabbits need a designated litter box as part of their setup (yes, they can absolutely be potty trained!). The litter box is where bedding plays an important role, helping to absorb urine and control odor. Rabbit urine is quite strong and, if not properly managed, can even irritate or scald their sensitive feet, ouch!

Be sure to fill the litter box with at least 2–3 inches of safe, absorbent bedding to keep your rabbit comfortable and their space clean.

Safe bedding options for rabbits include:

Soft paper bedding
Heat-treated Aspen Shavings
Pelleted bedding: Paper Pellets, kiln-dried Pine pellets, and Hemp Pellets are all safe choices for rabbits and are great at absorbing urine.
Hemp Hurd bedding – It’s up to five times as absorbent as pine shavings.
Absorbent pads - often used to line the litter tray

Pro Tip: For a setup that is kind to your rabbit's paws, try layering paper bedding over a base of pellets.

Diet

Hay

Hay is the most important part of your rabbit’s diet. It provides the fiber needed to keep their digestive system moving and helps wear down their constantly growing teeth. Timothy hay is usually the best staple hay because it is high in fiber and relatively low in calcium.

Rabbits should have unlimited access to fresh hay at all times. Premium quality hay should make up at least 85% of your bunny’s daily diet.

Pellets

Rabbit pellets can provide additional vitamins and minerals but should only make up, at most, 5% of a rabbit’s diet. Too many pellets can discourage hay eating and may contribute to health issues.

When choosing pellets:

The first ingredient should be timothy hay
Avoid fillers such as corn or seeds
Avoid dyes and artificial coloring

Leafy Greens

While it may be hard to get your children to eat their greens, rabbits love them! In fact, they can have around one cup of leafy greens per two pounds of bunny every single day.

To ensure your rabbit receives a balanced range of nutrients and to avoid the health risks associated with excessive calcium, it is essential to rotate their green leafy vegetables frequently. High-oxalate options, such as radish tops, parsley, beet greens, Swiss chard, mustard greens, and spinach, should only be provided in limited quantities.

Treats

Like with humans, treats really should be saved for special occasions, which includes enrichment and bonding time. Hand feeding your bun a treat is a wonderful way to bond.

For your bun, treats can include rabbit-safe vegetables, small amounts of fruits, or herbs, as well as some healthy bunny treats. However, watch out for treats with artificial ingredients, sugar, dairy, or dyes.

Enrichment

Rabbits are naturally active and curious. Enrichment toys help keep their minds, bodies, and teeth active, which reduces stress and improves overall health. Focus on natural behaviors like chewing, foraging, digging, and playing.

Plenty of enrichment toys are available on the market, and you can also create your own. Just keep some things in mind:

Prioritize safety by choosing toys made from natural, chew-safe, digestible materials like hay, grasses, twigs, and untreated wood.
Consider the toy’s durability. Did we mention rabbits love to chew? Durable toys not only last longer, but can also help grind your rabbit’s always-growing teeth.
Offer a variety to see what your rabbit likes best. For instance, some buns love to chase a willow ball across the floor when it’s thrown. Others may simply want to chew on it.
Turn meals and snacks into enrichment. Placing your bunny’s hay inside an edible ball or tube can make munching more fun. Hide herbs in wooden puzzles and let them seek out the treasure. (Our hay and foraging mixes come in edible boxes for this very reason!)

Grooming

Rabbits don’t typically require regular visits to a professional groomer, as much of their grooming can often be managed at home.

Brushes: Many rabbits benefit from regular brushing, often around once a week. This can help reduce matting, remove loose fur, and support overall coat and skin health. Since rabbits groom themselves, reducing loose fur may also lower the amount they ingest. Some rabbits take time to get used to brushing, so starting gently can make the process easier. There are a variety of tools available, and some rabbits respond well to options like a gentle comb.

Nail Trimmers: A rabbit’s nails grow continuously and may need trimming from time to time to keep them comfortable. This is often done every 4–6 weeks, though it can vary. When trimming, it’s important to be mindful of the quick (the sensitive part of the nail). Using good lighting, or even a small torch, can help make this easier to see. If trimming at home feels challenging, a rabbit-savvy vet may be able to help.

Flea Protection: Even indoor rabbits can occasionally experience skin irritation. If you notice increased scratching or flaky skin, it could be worth looking into possible causes like mites or fleas. Care should be taken when choosing any preventative, as not all products are suitable for rabbits. A vet can help guide you toward safe options if needed.

Hop over to our rabbit grooming guide to learn more.

Guinea Pigs

Guinea pigs are social, curious little animals with big personalities and very important needs when it comes to hay, space, and enrichment. Here’s what you’ll need to get started.