• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Experienced owners I need advice

rabswood

Wise Old Thumper
All my buns have reasonable accomodation however the top shed and run, currently occupied by Mr Snow and Treacle opens directly onto the rabbit exercise area which means they get to run around and in and out of their shed twice a day while they are cleaned out and while the others are cleaned out. The other 3 pairs of bunnies have to be on the bunny exercise rota which means they don't get out as often as the top shed buns.

So I was thinking would it upset the buns too much if they were to swop accomodation therefore giving another pair of buns a year in the top shed and more time out on the grass or would swopping accomodation just freak them out? Obviously all accomodation would have a good scrub out before new residenst were put in and they would be taking their own litter trays with them.

What do you think?

Rabswood
 
I would be a little wary of reguarly changing them over.

I have dreadful memories of bonding Gisela's 3 buns - Penny, Snoopy and Cloud they were fine indoors but I put them outside on an area near where about a week earlier I had done another pairing up, all hell broke out. This was not the exact same space, I have never experienced this before. Once I separated them and moved them to the other side of the garden they were fine and were back to the same behaviour that they had been displaying indoors/
 
Ooh not sure, we've thought about switching Tilly & Humphrey with Paula & Trevor due to Paula's old age and illness (the former have a heater and a shed with hutch - the latter have a hot water bottle and a hutch & run area!), but I personally think it would freak them out. They are all very territorial about their spaces, and even about the garden - they all think it belongs to them!

Other than the smell of the other buns (the shed has carpet, the hutch is going to smell of P&T how ever much I clean it), it is evident that the buns really love their own accommodation. Even when the door is open, Tilly & Humphrey totally recognise the shed as 'their home' - the same with P&T - and they often go and sit in their shed, even when the door is wide open and they could run around the garden all day if they wanted. And when I call them they run straight in for their breakfast or tea!

Ours too have to share a rota, I feel bad often esp as we have to let Sylvia out regularly otherwise she tends to destroy stuff in the house; we may put a fence up but we'll still have 3 pairs sharing 1 area of the garden (+ new foster buns)... I do think they get used to it, as long as you can be as fair as possible with run time then that's ok.

Helen
 
Last edited:
bunnies are so attached to their routine and their environment, I doubt it would be worth the upset - they are most likely happy with the way things are if they get out a couple of times a day, and like Janice said, it could all go haywire if they get unsettled :?
 
I moved several of mine around recently and it was the best thing I could have done for them.

At first the two girls kept jumping up and headbutting the run lid but once they realised they had round the clock access they seem .

I must have incredibly secure bunnies or they're incredibly stupid because I didn't 'scrub out' the hutches, just swept and replaced all the bedding and they were all fine
 
Maybe it depends on the buns then. My pairs want to kill each other at the best of times so I dread to think what switching housing would do :shock: :lol:
 
Mmmm don't want to upset any happy pairings. They all share (not together) the same garden space and they accept that other buns have used it and all go round remarking when it's their turn on the rota but they have never been in each others accomodation. I can see that it could be a problem.

Rabs
 
Back
Top