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Could a rabbit ever be safe free ranging permanently?

mattyp

Warren Veteran
I just wondered if anyone thought a rabbit could ever safely free range perminently? Or if anyone had ever done this with theirs?

It seems like such a nice idea to have a little community of rabbits in the garden keeping the grass mowed :lol: So if the fence was high, and there was easy rabbit access into a shed or something? Or do you think it would be impossible to do?

I don't think i'd ever do it but it seems like it'd be nice, but I guess there are probably a lot of factors in it.
 
I was thinking this last night, but inside the house. My two seem good as gold when out all day. They never damage or chew anything, except raid their pellets.
 
Its not something I personally would ever do, and its not something we would rehome to (unless in exceptional circumstances), but know someone who does do something similar to this and its lovely.
 
If i put a mesh over my garden then i could potentially have a free range garden. I have 12 ft walls round three edges and my house at the other, so if i put a mesh over the top of the walls then i could, but then i dont have outside bunnies!
 
I know of someone who has 2 pet rabbits free range in her garden , they live in a burrow and dont really use a hutch at all .....not sure I'd really feel safe having bunnies living quite like that though.
 
we started off by letting out childhood rabbit out in a run during the day when she was younger. As the years passed and her sister died we just let her out in the garden free range and caged her of a night. Eventually she got where she would refuse to be caught on an evening and we just caged her for the winter. She lived to 13 years old and the last three winters she refused completely to be caught and lived under the shed:love:

Each morning she would tap on the back door and my dad would bring her out some brekkie, usually porridge. She loved yorkshire puddings and hot jacket potatoes (I know now they shouldnt have them but she did well on them:D) She had lots of fresh veg and used to sleep on the grass with the dog.

She even protected the dog from a feral cat as it was going to chase her (the dog, it would never have dared chase Bonnie! lol!) :roll:

Personally I think she lived a lovely happy life:love: She would come and sit near us and let us stroke her and looked well up until the day she didnt come out from under the shed:( She had burrows under the grass and yet she never burrowed out out of the garden so she must have been happy:love:
 
I don't think I ever would no, it's a big risk.

Mine are total free range, but in the house so it's completely different..


xxx
 
I know someone who does it and at first I was horrified because my two were killed by a fox years ago :( but actually they have a lovely life and can go into their hutch/run when they want to, so I think the benefit outweighs the risk.
 
probably not safe from predators but they would be one happy family of buns if someone was brave enough to allow permanent free range :love:
 
I know someone who does it and at first I was horrified because my two were killed by a fox years ago :( but actually they have a lovely life and can go into their hutch/run when they want to, so I think the benefit outweighs the risk.

This is what I was thinking. If foxes wern't so wiley I probably wouldn't have a problem doing it if I had a tall fence to keep cats/dogs out. It'd be so lovely to have them free range without having to worry about them.
 
Now this is where I get really confused and I'm probably going to start something that will end up in the thread getting locked.

There are many, many members here who (for their own valid reasons) will not allow their bunnies to free-range unsupervised. This is presumably down to fears for their safety.

However, some of those same people are happy to let their cats free-range where they could be killed by traffic, dogs, foxes, humans or just by getting themselves into a situation that they can't escape from:?. What's the difference? Please, please someone explain it to me because for the life of me, I just don't understand this :?. I'm not trying to start a fight - I just don't understand the reasons for treating two types of pet differently.

(For information, my bunnies often free-range in the garden during daylight hours and I don't watch them 100% of the time. I know the risks and I'm prepared to take them so that my bunnies have (IMO only) as natural a life as possible.)
 
My 2 have hutch and run but if i'm home they are always free to go in garden, they are locked in on a night so not totally free:roll:

Its fabulous to watch them tearing, chasing and binkying around garden which they couldnt do if they were confined to hutch and run:cry:

Flopsys been doing it for 4 years now and i would feel cruel if i suddenly confined him.:oops: though as mentioned its not 24/7.
 
Now this is where I get really confused and I'm probably going to start something that will end up in the thread getting locked.

There are many, many members here who (for their own valid reasons) will not allow their bunnies to free-range unsupervised. This is presumably down to fears for their safety.

However, some of those same people are happy to let their cats free-range where they could be killed by traffic, dogs, foxes, humans or just by getting themselves into a situation that they can't escape from:?. What's the difference? Please, please someone explain it to me because for the life of me, I just don't understand this :?. I'm not trying to start a fight - I just don't understand the reasons for treating two types of pet differently.

(For information, my bunnies often free-range in the garden during daylight hours and I don't watch them 100% of the time. I know the risks and I'm prepared to take them so that my bunnies have (IMO only) as natural a life as possible.)

I don't think cats are quite as susceptable to being attacked by predators as rabbits, and if a cat gets out of the garden it can always find it's way back. I don't own a cat but I also imagine it's hard to keep them in the garden and stop them from wandering off? :?

I think it's great that you let them free-range in the garden though, do you take any safety pre-cautions against foxes?
 
Now this is where I get really confused and I'm probably going to start something that will end up in the thread getting locked.

There are many, many members here who (for their own valid reasons) will not allow their bunnies to free-range unsupervised. This is presumably down to fears for their safety.

However, some of those same people are happy to let their cats free-range where they could be killed by traffic, dogs, foxes, humans or just by getting themselves into a situation that they can't escape from:?. What's the difference? Please, please someone explain it to me because for the life of me, I just don't understand this :?. I'm not trying to start a fight - I just don't understand the reasons for treating two types of pet differently.

(For information, my bunnies often free-range in the garden during daylight hours and I don't watch them 100% of the time. I know the risks and I'm prepared to take them so that my bunnies have (IMO only) as natural a life as possible.)

I suppose people do it just because it's essentially the norm...but not necessarily right.

Cats do come back of their own accord too though - they have been domesticated for much longer than bunnies.
 
I don't own a cat but I also imagine it's hard to keep them in the garden and stop them from wandering off? :?

Not really - there are lots of different systems designed to stop cats escaping from their garden.

I think it's great that you let them free-range in the garden though, do you take any safety pre-cautions against foxes?

Other than 6ft fences and a hawthorn hedge - no, I don't. I know and understand the risks and I'm prepared to take them. Having lived at the same address for 18 years and done the same thing with my rabbits for 18 years, I'm probably due for a rude awakening sometime in the future. But I feel the benefits of allowing as much free-range time as possible outweigh the risks. I'm in contact with a company at the moment about having an electric fence installed along the tops of my wooden fences, primarily to keep cats out of the garden but also with the added benefit of deterring foxes.
 
Now this is where I get really confused and I'm probably going to start something that will end up in the thread getting locked.

There are many, many members here who (for their own valid reasons) will not allow their bunnies to free-range unsupervised. This is presumably down to fears for their safety.

However, some of those same people are happy to let their cats free-range where they could be killed by traffic, dogs, foxes, humans or just by getting themselves into a situation that they can't escape from:?. What's the difference? Please, please someone explain it to me because for the life of me, I just don't understand this :?. I'm not trying to start a fight - I just don't understand the reasons for treating two types of pet differently.

(For information, my bunnies often free-range in the garden during daylight hours and I don't watch them 100% of the time. I know the risks and I'm prepared to take them so that my bunnies have (IMO only) as natural a life as possible.)

Our garden is not safe for bunnies to be free in. Its can be escaped, poisonous plants eaten, got by the dogs over the fence, we have two ponds, etc. They will never, ever be able to free range here.

The risks for cats are different for rabbits. We don't have to worry about the ponds or the poisonous plants. She knew enough to stay away from the dogs. There are only quiet roads around here. The biggest risk to our cat was other cats, and at that point she started staying in. Including all of that, our cat used to be a stray and keeping her in unless she wanted to be in was very distressing for her, and it was, once more, an issue was quality over quantity. she's since died, but spent the last year snuggled up indoors perfectly happy, so we were h appy too.

That's all from our cats point of view though, not from those of the neighbours or anything. I'd always prefer to know where my animals are, but that's not always best for the animals.
 
There was a time on this forum when you would have been cooked alive for even dreaming of free ranging bunnies so I think more people are definately thinking more of the benefits for the animals more than the possible threats and dangers.

I myself let mine free range in the garden in daylight hours when I'm in, which I am most of the time and have done for a few years now. I prefer them to be shut away and feel secure at night time though.
 
There was a time on this forum when you would have been cooked alive for even dreaming of free ranging bunnies so I think more people are definately thinking more of the benefits for the animals more than the possible threats and dangers.

I myself let mine free range in the garden in daylight hours when I'm in, which I am most of the time and have done for a few years now. I prefer them to be shut away and feel secure at night time though.


As mentioned thats how mine are:D glad i'm not alone....
 
I know I will probablyh get snapped at for this but on more than 3 occasions I have left Riley in the garden for the night.

Most of the time I have to leave him out at night because I can't get him into his hutch because he refuses and no-one helps me as he is my responsibility.

I've had to go down in the early hours of the morning because he was thumping and he was scratching at the hutch door trying to get out.

I've found now that the weather is warmer I have left him out all night a lot more, which is not the right thing to do but he enjoys it so much.

His hutch door is ALWAYS open and a brick is put in front to stop it shutting when he is out free ranging so if any predator was to get in the garden, he has somewhere to go.
 
There was a time on this forum when you would have been cooked alive for even dreaming of free ranging bunnies so I think more people are definately thinking more of the benefits for the animals more than the possible threats and dangers.

I myself let mine free range in the garden in daylight hours when I'm in, which I am most of the time and have done for a few years now. I prefer them to be shut away and feel secure at night time though.

The dark ages eh? :lol:

Would you ever leave them if you wern't able to keep an eye on them then? When I let mine free range I often quickly nip inside to grab a drink or something. I'm uncertain if a cat would attack Marvin as he's probably the same size as a cat, but it isn't something i'd want to risk, so I don't leave them out of sight for more than 20 seconds or so...:lol:
 
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