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New Run....Advice Please

sueny

Warren Scout
We have had our two mini lops for 4 weeks. Pip and Daisy are 12 weeks old now.

They have a 5ft x 2ft double hutch with extra height from the Rabbit Hutch Warehouse.

This weekend my father-in-law has built them a 8ft x 6.5ft x 3ft run with 3 removable roof sections. I have also today built them two platforms and a wooden shelter. The two platforms are quite slippery for them, any advice on what to cover it in to make it less so. I was considering a short artificial grass. Any opinion/advice on this?

My wife has made a couple of temporary things out of cardboard boxes for them, like a digging box filled with straw and hay, and a little cardboard shelter as well. My concern is that these will eventually get very wet and become pretty much useless. Any advice on replacements which will be better?

The hutch and run will be connected with a Runaround system once it is delivered.

She is also thinking of putting a large tray in there growing fresh grass as well once they are old enough.

I'm putting a hay rack in there tomorrow, or would hay in the wooden shelter be sufficient? They do have a hay rack in the hutch as well.

As we are totally new to keeping rabbits, we would appreciate any further advice on what else we could put in it for them etc. Anything that is in there now that maybe should't be in there and any other general advice regarding the current set up.

These rabbits have completely taken over our lives, and the children love them and they can now play and interact with them in the run, which is brilliant.

I have attached some photos.

Thanks in advance.
















 
Wow, that is a lovely run :) i'm sure your buns will be very happy! With regards to hay, this need to be the main part of their diet (90%) with a small amount of pellets and some veg introduced slowly :) As they are babies, it's a great opportunity to get them eating lots of hay now, rather than having problems getting them to eat enough later on and then them getting dental problems.

A lot of people use under bed storage boxes as litter trays (which bunnies are very good at using, especially once spayed/neutered) and I usually fill that up with hay as they munch while going to the toilet haha. General rule is that a rabbit needs to eat it's own body size in hay every day as a minimum

Good luck with your lovely buns :wave:
 
It looks fantastic and sounds like you've put a lot of work in for them, I bet they love it. :)

If you were feeling extravagant, you could always add another runaround tunnel going to a run on the grass so they can have access to that when you are there too, which would give them extra space as well as the opportunity to graze, otherwise, I think it looks as near perfect as you can get. :love:
 
Wow what a beautiful run. Can I borrow your father-in-law? :lol:

Ludo likes the hay wreaths that you can get in P@H that have a metal hook and a long string so you can hang them off the ceiling/roof etc. They're good as well because the bunny has to reach up to them and that strengthens the back legs.

Thye've got alfafa in, but not lots of it, but still I'd recommend them just as an occasional treat not all the time!

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/woodlands-alfalfa-wreath-treat-95469
 
We have artificial grass in our garden and the new bunny run is bigger so a bit of it is also on the 'grass'. The bunnies are fine with it and have never attempted to eat it. The only concern I would have is if you put the 'grass' on top of the wood when/if it gets rained on, it will soak through the 'grass' on to the wood and the wood will struggle to ever dry out so could easily rot
 
hi, great looking set up. I just made a run similar sized and added a couple of uPVC corrugated roof sheets to the top to give our bun an area that will be dry if it rains. He can stay in the run longer then. It cost £8 a sheet from Wickes for a 2.4m length. 2 together covered half his run. Wouldn't have to worry too much about the boxes getting damp then.
 
Hiya :wave:

Your buns are gorgeous! Its lovely to see what you have done for them :love:

I have the 3 storey version of your hutch and found that it leaked when it got wet in the rain - hopefully yours will be okay. Your run looks really good. I have water bowls for all of my rabbits as well as bottles - they like the water bowls and seem to find them easier to drink from. The bottles are a back up really and you can get covers for them that helps stop the water from getting warn in the sun and frozen in the cold.

Will it be possible to put roofing on the frame that you have over the run - corrugated plastic maybe? That will help with preserving everything in their run and protecting the contents and the buns from the rain etc. I cover my entire run with a tarpaulin to keep my buns dry as they take ages to dry out if they get wet.

Im not sure what you could use to make the surfaces non-slip that is animal friendly but I am sure someone here will have the right thing in mind.

I have large plastic cat trays that I line with newspaper and then cover with hay and all of the buns love to sit in them and munch on hay all day. I have a small half moon hay rack which is a hanging basket but it is very low down as there were some comments on here about buns getting their legs caught through when climbing in them.

My buns like to play with willow balls have enjoyed throwing small plastic plant pots around - supervised of course.

Also have a look in the housing section as it shows lots of set ups and what people have in them.

Look forward to seeing more photos :D x
 
I love this run! and your bunnies are super cute.
Maybe you could partly cover the run? So that some of the items don't get damaged in the rain and the bunnies can still go out in it if the weather is rubbish. This would probably also be a good idea for the winter. If the ramps were undercover then you could use carpet tiles (lots of people on here do) to add grip?
 
Great setup!

Regarding the slipperiness I would recommend roofing felt. Our buns used to sit on top of a Trixie house that was covered with roofing felt. I recently replaced it with a long shelf and left 2/3 bare wood, and covered 1/3 with felt just so they had something grippy to jump on and off. They ALWAYS choose to sit on the bit with the felt on, so I'll soon be covering the whole thing. I would have thought it'd be scratchy personally, but it obviously does'nt bother them!
 
Thanks for the advice guys so far. I did think of roofing felt after reading something on here. Today's job is grass planting fir them in a tray in preparation. These rabbits seriously gets treated better in me!
 
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