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How important are bunny houses/cages?

Siona

Mama Doe
I ask this seemingly dumb question because nearly everyone who has a housebun seems to have bed areas and/or cages that they get locked in at night.

Ive had Nigel for nearly a year, and since we got him he's roamed free in the house (apart from rooms we shut him out of when we aren't in because of wires)
From the first day he's shared the cat's litter tray and slept under our bed. He's refused all blankets and bedding, prefering to sleep on the carpet.
We bought him a furry igloo, but now the cat sleeps in it because Nigel ignored it. At night he follows us upstairs shortly after we go to bed and sleeps in our bedroom doorway like a dog.

I wonder if this is unusual rabbit behaviour?
 
Ours happily sleep on the carpet in the bunny room ... give them things to lie on and they push them out of the way! Give them a 'bed' and they usually treat it as a litter tray! They're happy and that's what counts!! :D
 
I ask this seemingly dumb question because nearly everyone who has a housebun seems to have bed areas and/or cages that they get locked in at night.

Ive had Nigel for nearly a year, and since we got him he's roamed free in the house (apart from rooms we shut him out of when we aren't in because of wires)
From the first day he's shared the cat's litter tray and slept under our bed. He's refused all blankets and bedding, prefering to sleep on the carpet.
We bought him a furry igloo, but now the cat sleeps in it because Nigel ignored it. At night he follows us upstairs shortly after we go to bed and sleeps in our bedroom doorway like a dog.

I wonder if this is unusual rabbit behaviour?


Bunnie's the same she like to lay on the rug or half on the rug and half on the laminate flooring!

She has a blankey on half of the floor of her dog crate but sometimes pulls it back and lays on the newspaper!

She does have a lovely soft cushion dog bed though which will call the Snuggle Bucket as she likes to come in it for nose rubs and strokes!
It's infront of sofa by our feet!
SuggleBunnie.jpg
 
Cute! I see the teddies- The only one I ever gave Nigel was a grey and white dog, but he growled and attacked it everytime I showed it to him! After a while I took the hint and took it away. :lol:
 
My Lene absolutely detested her cage to the extent that she became like Hoodini, escaping from it everytime she was shut in so now she has a rug, a little tray and a little igloo that she hardly uses and a baby blanket in the spare room. I guess some buns are just happy to roam free :)
 
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Mine hate any sort of barrier (even a closed door!), so they are free range within reason. They have a cardboard box turned upside down with doors cut out that they like to retreat into to feel safe, and they often sit under a small table in the hallway, but that's all.
 
My first house rabbit Charlie was more like a pet dog! She had a litter tray in the bedroom and living room, and never did anything outside of it. She didn't have a cage and just free roamed the house.
She used to follow me everywhere and was usually on my knee if I was sitting or by my feet if I was standing!! She did used to like to sit on the window sill like a cat and watch people go by. She used to get a lot of people doing double takes! everynight she would come to bed with me and sleep right next to me all night. She was one of a kind!

I have two houserabbits now that don't have a cage and have their own room but they don't choose to explore the entire house for some reason.
 
I guess it's down to each bun's character. Nigel is very independent and likes to explore so he's not nervous of anything. It's a pain when I want a cuddle, but it's also nice to have him lying near my feet; obviously quite happy.
I have kicked him in the head several times whilst getting up to go to the toilet in the night, despite walking carefully - but he doesn't move so I suppose he doesn't mind too much!
 
She did used to like to sit on the window sill like a cat and watch people go by. She used to get a lot of people doing double takes!

Lottie does this too and often sleeps on the living room windowsill. :)
Hubble does occasionally follow her but doesn't like how slippery it is and prefers to sleep under the radiator.
 
I ask this seemingly dumb question because nearly everyone who has a housebun seems to have bed areas and/or cages that they get locked in at night.

Ive had Nigel for nearly a year, and since we got him he's roamed free in the house (apart from rooms we shut him out of when we aren't in because of wires)
From the first day he's shared the cat's litter tray and slept under our bed. He's refused all blankets and bedding, prefering to sleep on the carpet.
We bought him a furry igloo, but now the cat sleeps in it because Nigel ignored it. At night he follows us upstairs shortly after we go to bed and sleeps in our bedroom doorway like a dog.

I wonder if this is unusual rabbit behaviour?

sounds like heaven.. id much prefer not to have a cage, but while my demons are so young i cant leave them out id never be able to relax..

i hope oneday they can be cageless too
 
Mine like to roam and are free range. I give them cardboard boxes, cut into a house, and they go in there when they want to be alone.
 
i wanted mine to be proper house buns but the wee n poops all over the place meant i decided to put them in the kitchen but they just love playin in and out of each others cages..they sometimes venture in the hall and sit on my feet while i do my make up in the bathroom..we live in a flat.And after chewing thrugh the fridge wires and loosing a full fridge and freezer full of food we were worried about other wires so they go in their cages at night and mooch through the day!
 
We have a cage for our three, but we have taken the top off so it is basically just a litter tray as we never shut them in the cage. I have many times bought what I thought would be nice cuddle sleeping beds and igloos but they have never shown any interest in it... They just sleep under our bed at night. I have also made some cardboard houses for them which they have demolished/eaten... We bought a baby fence so that we can shut them in the bedroom when we are not home (to protect the cords... although we have all our cords in plastic pipes...). In the bathroom we currently have a little lionhead baby girl living, she stays in her cage at night but during day the cage is open. Her favorite spot is on a shelf under the sink, amongst the towels and she gets furious if you rearrange her towels:bunny:

We started out with one bunny (Roger). My boyfriend said yes to only ONE bunny at first. After a few weeks he agreed to get Roger a wife. 8 months later we started filling the apartment with rabbits that needed a new home and we have found new homes for a few... So then he said absolutely no more than THREE rabbits. Right now we have 5:D
 
we have the biggest dog crates you can get ...48" ones.
as we have a german lop who refuses to get on with any other rabbit, but she loves to see other rabbits! we had her on her own for a week after we lost the rabbit we had got her to bond with. she became really depressed and we tried to get her to bond with another rabbit but no luck ...we got a rabbit that she "tolerated" being near!!!
so they take turns in being out..12 hrs each.
they love being in the pens.. i know this because when one has to go to the vets, the pen door is left open ,and the bun that stays at home is always in the pen when we come back!!:roll:
buns love to have an area they can "hide" in..
if this is your only bun and they can be trusted to not eat furniture or chew carpets etc:roll:,why not just get a box!
we have cardboard boxes that we cut archways into and windows,
they love to retreat into there when they are out ,,
pooh is 7yo she has a cat basket with vet bed in the bottom as her joints are sore..mainly i find buns love to sleep in the litter tray anyway!!:roll:
 
I don't think a specific bed is important, but if they are free range I do think it is important that they have an area where they feel that it is their's and they can go there to retreat and feel safe. I personally need to be able to shut mine in somewhere for safety in certain circumstances. They like their crate as a base anyway and often go into it of their own accord.
 
We started out with one bunny (Roger). My boyfriend said yes to only ONE bunny at first. After a few weeks he agreed to get Roger a wife. 8 months later we started filling the apartment with rabbits that needed a new home and we have found new homes for a few... So then he said absolutely no more than THREE rabbits. Right now we have 5:D

You're an inspiration to me, we started with one, then I said we couldn't possibly let him live a lonely life without a wife (even though he's a pampered house bun ;) )so my bf said 2 was fine, then we got Lene who I couldn't possibly have left... lol I have my eye on one more...

lol
 
i want a nigel

I want a nigel - he sounds fantastic. My 2 live outside but come inside to play sometimes - they prefer to be outside and I'd love them to be house rabbits. I am sure they wouldn't be as good as Nigel though - they seem to prefer just being in the kitchen for some reason and rarely venture any further. :)
 
orig posted by charlie82:

"My first house rabbit Charlie was more like a pet dog! She had a litter tray in the bedroom and living room, and never did anything outside of it. She didn't have a cage and just free roamed the house.
She used to follow me everywhere and was usually on my knee if I was sitting or by my feet if I was standing!! She did used to like to sit on the window sill like a cat and watch people go by. She used to get a lot of people doing double takes! everynight she would come to bed with me and sleep right next to me all night. She was one of a kind!"



THAT IS SO SO SO CUTE!
:lol:
 
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I wish Nigel was like Charlie. He doesn't really like cuddles unfortunately. Right now he's asleep under the dining table after an exhausting bout of licking the leg of my husbands chair :)shock:)
He will let me stroke him sparingly, scratch his neck and ears and occasionally his nose, but he'll box my hand away if i go too low on his nose or when he's had enough. He's definitely the boss!
 
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