How do I build a safe run?

I want to build a permanent run for my three rabbits. I want them to have more space than they have at the moment. My rabbits are three unneutered girls. They’re not bonded, but two of them get along fine in large spaces. I would have to make the run into three (possibly two) sections due to this.

The thing is I am very wary about letting them live at ground-level permanently (during the night, or at all without supervision)… A couple of years ago a badger broke in to one of our hutches and killed one of my girls :´( The worst thing is that it was our fault for not making the hutch safe enough… We’ve never had problem with predators before this, but I guess you could call this a wake up call…
The thing is we also have foxes and a lot of dogs in our neighbourhood and I don’t really feel confident that a permanent run would be safe enough, unless I buy a proper “dog-kennel-kind-of-run”, which is a bit over my budget at the moment. I also have limited space for putting up a run since our garden is more flowerbeds than lawn, due to my mothers interest in roses…

My main question though is; how do I make the run badger/fox/dog proof?

/Linnea

I don't know much but...
I know it should be weld mesh you should use. Use secur staples to secure it on. If your having a lid door thing on top make sure it is not easy for an animal to push open so put bolts on it. Make sure no animal can dig underneath it, if it is staying in one place dig mesh into the ground but i'm not sure if you want to be able to move it.
Also once you have built it do spot checks every now and again just to make sure it is still strong.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Hope I helped

EDIT - Also use good strong wood.

The thing I'm most worried about is that I won't be able to attach the weld mesh to the wooden frame securily enough... I'm worried that predators will be able to just rip the weld mesh off the frame, but maybe I'm too worried without actual cause?? What's a good way to attach the mesh? Should it be on the "outside" of the wooden frame or on the "inside"? Hope you understand what I mean...

When the badger was here last time he went for the door, which wasn't secure enough. I will not be making that mistake again...

I haven't decided yet if I want to move it around or not, but probably not. Either way I was thinking I'll just have mesh along the ground as well, and not dig it into the ground... Is that ok? It's how I've done it on previous runs.

Thanks for your answer

our mesh is stapled to the wood with an industrial staple gun - seems to do the trick. its stapled on the outside - foxy had a go at it the other night and only pulled out 1 or 2 staples then seemed to give up...

You can also put mesh over the floor and turf over it so animals cant dig in and bunnies cant dig out.

I would recommend maybe building it on a level so it is secure from any ground dwellers lurking around:shock:

Not sure HOW to go about it as never really thought about it as Jims is a house bun.
Just others have said ensure you use strong materials.

The best thing no doubt would be to build it off ground, but then I can't build it as big. If it's deeper than say 90 cm it'll be very hard to clean...

But if I can't come up with a good way to secure a run, I'll just have to build new off ground hutches.

Thanks for your suggestions so far

Double up on the mesh, have it inside the wood and outside the wood. Use an electric staple gun with as big staples as will fit the wood. Make sure you have mesh underneath the run too, you can lay turf on top of the mesh to make it more comfortable. If you are really worried then get them a nice big hutch that you can lock them in overnight.

It's a good idea with the dubble mesh. Thank you

I'll give it a little more thought and do some calculating with the budget But I got some good new ideas anyway We're on our way to bigger bunny quarters