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Benefits of Free-range bunnies

luvabun

Warren Veteran
The risks are well known i.e. the main one being the risk of predation.

I would like to ask those that free range bunnies, what benefits have you seen (perceived -obviously, this isn't scientific as we wouldn't know what they'd be like if not free range ;)).

I'll start with mine - the trio have supervised free range time and no attached run (or detached run for that matter).

Totti - 9 1/2 years old. Despite his abscesses, his general health is really good and the way he leaps around belies his age. He can still leap comfortably up the railway sleepers, into the hutch (5 inches off the ground) and in and out of pots :lol:. I attribute his good muscle tone to the free ranging.

Mentally: with space to hop and play around together, the trios joyous antics are a joy to watch. They don't dig or display any destructive behaviour. Could this be because they get plenty of stimulation.

I'm interested in what others have found.
 
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I think they must be happier free ranging. Mine are in a walk in run (4ftx11ft and 4ft x14ft per pair) but Poppy will insist on jumping the 3ft high partition to get out as soon as I open the run door for Bugsy and Chloe to free range first. So she obviously can't wait to get to the grass! Now I let Poppy and Pebbles out first and wait for them to go back to run - then let Bugsy and Chloe out.

Benefits must include natural grazing behaviour - as that is all mine really do - and natural sunbathing ( which they can do in the run!)
 
I typed a big reply and then realised you meant free ranging outdoors NOT inside! :oops:
 
I think a set up that lets them mimic natural behaviour more closely has to be good. I have buns in the same garden who would never cope with being in the same hutch/shed, but the space and hidey-holes make it possible for them to live together without falling out. Also fewer dentals/stasis issues, maybe again because it's closer to their natural environment? On the downside it's less easy to monitor them closely - although in practice if one of a group is off-colour their behaviour stands out from the others, so it's easy to spot it quickly....
 
For indoor and outdoors, it has to be the freedom.

When the bunnies were allowed to free range outside at our old place, they loved it, they could go exploring, dig big holes, rest under a scrub and eat my pansies. Roll in the dirt, leap up various parts etc.

Wasn't very big but was secure and I always stayed outside with them. For10 years my bunnies free ranged.

Unfortuantely I tried this last weekend. Neighbours cat from upstairs tried to attack them so brought them inside. I see no point in a run so I will continue to let them run around the house.
 
Please re-type :lol:. I have 2 that free range in a bedroom so I'll get my thinking cap on for what I think their benefits are :)

Ok then! I love the fact that Louie can decide to do what he wants when HE wants to, he doesn't have to wait for me to let him out of a cage :D

He eats when he chooses, runs round, sleeps, chews! whatever he wants to do he can do it :D

I love that he can come and sit with me if he chooses or he can go and have some alone time if that's what he wants. He is so much a part of the household, as much as our cat and I would never shut the cat away in a cage ;)

It's also so easy to clean him out, change the littertray and that's it.

He also gets supervised free range time everyday in the garden, probably around 4 hours or so, in bite sized chunks :D He adores tearing round the garden and leaping around, grazing and annoying the cat!

I would never now keep a rabbit in any type of cage or hutch.
 
Thank you all for your input - I find this very interesting.

As far as my indoor free-rangers go, I can't state that their behaviour benefited as despite having a whole bedroom to run around in, they developed a taste for soft furnishings :oops: and trashed a bed to make a warren :lol:

Again they have good muscle tone though - proved by their effortless leaps onto the bed :lol:
 
Thank you all for your input - I find this very interesting.

As far as my indoor free-rangers go, I can't state that their behaviour benefited as despite having a whole bedroom to run around in, they developed a taste for soft furnishings :oops: and trashed a bed to make a warren :lol:

Again they have good muscle tone though - proved by their effortless leaps onto the bed :lol:

:shock: Naughty bunnies.

Thankfully my 2 don't chew anything other than the suitcases. Sunshine will throw my shoes around. so make sure they are all put away.

Do have the benefit in our new place, of a huge huge hallway with laminate floors. Although its not really the same as the garden.
 
Ok then! I love the fact that Louie can decide to do what he wants when HE wants to, he doesn't have to wait for me to let him out of a cage :D

He eats when he chooses, runs round, sleeps, chews! whatever he wants to do he can do it :D

I love that he can come and sit with me if he chooses or he can go and have some alone time if that's what he wants. He is so much a part of the household, as much as our cat and I would never shut the cat away in a cage ;)

It's also so easy to clean him out, change the littertray and that's it.

He also gets supervised free range time everyday in the garden, probably around 4 hours or so, in bite sized chunks :D He adores tearing round the garden and leaping around, grazing and annoying the cat!

I would never now keep a rabbit in any type of cage or hutch.

Mine free range outside and the fun they have binkying, running around jumping on the patio wall just must be good for muscle tone. They can mix with me and my family when we are outside. They also have had the chance to mix with our cats and so have two extra friends in them.
I agree with *lily*. I now would never keep any rabbit locked in a hutch, even if it meant they had to live indoors.
 
I don't doubt that free range time is something that helps to create happy buns, but after losing free range buns to a fox several years ago, it is something I no longer do. It's not a binary state of free range=good with the other alternative 'locked in a hutch'. There are plenty of ways to achieve a good size outdoor accommodation without it being either of these things. But while there clearly are benefits, i think it's very easy to over generalise about cause and effect.

3 of my 4 non-free rangers are now 8 years old. All can still jump and skip like young'uns and have good muscle tone. Until dudley's recent vet trip, neither him nor Harry had ever been to the vet for anything other than routine. Heather had a dental once - and that was back in 2005 when she did have some free range time. With big enough permanent enclosures, good diet and stimulation (and a good dose of luck on their health too) I think it shows that it's perfectly possible that the same level of health and wellbeing can be achieved without free ranging :)

Edit: Dammit Jane, you quoted me just as I was editing :lol:
 
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I don't doubt that free range time is something that helps to create happy buns, but after losing free range buns to a fox several years ago, it is something I no longer do. But while there clearly are benefits, i think it's very easy to over generalise about cause and effect.

3 of my 4 non-free rangers are now 8 years old. All can still jump and skip like young'uns and have good muscle tone. Until dudley's recent vet trip, neither him nor Harry had ever been to the vet for anything other than routine. Heather had a dental once - and that was back in 2005 when she did have some free range time. With big enough permanent enclosures, good diet and stimulation (and a good dose of luck on their health too) I think it shows that it's perfectly possible that the same level of health and wellbeing can be achieved without free ranging :)

I agree :)
 
All 12 of mine free range.

I was on holiday last week and had a house sitter, but the rabbits only had their sheds and enclosures - no free ranging.

The first thing I did was let them out when I got home, and they were all so happy to be free - running, chasing, binkying, flopping, digging and of course, eating.

They don't get the same level of exercise or satisfaction from their enclosures. They love to chin everything and re-mark their territory after they can smell other bunnies have been on theor patch. The greatest sight was BB (my big frenchie) who did about 15 happy hops on the trot, and then lay flat out on the grass munching around her - bliss:D

Mine rarely (touching wood here!) suffer from episodes of stasis, and when they do it usually follows a period of confinement (due to continual bad weather etc) where they haven't had the opportunity to run about as much.

Even Oscar, who suffers with very poor motility in his back legs, does some fab binkies in the garden, and runs at amazing speed for a compromised bunny. He comes alive when he's outside, even though he has the run of the house.
 
:wave: Agreed and using the same logic, not every bun that does not have an attached run, has a poor quality of life :)

There is no way I would say that hutch/run bunnies have a poor quality of life. I would say they have more freedom, experiences and real rabbit living.
 
I watch my guys racing round the garden at top speed, doing three feet high binkies or just quietly mowing the grass and am so grateful they have the space to do it. I am much happier they know what it is like to run at top speed than if they were safer in an enclosure through the day. Whenever I go out to work in the garden they are straight over to me looking for food and Floppy camps out between my feet while I hang out washing.:lol:
 
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