Please critique my set up :) photo heavy!

Hello everyone

Firstly I'd like to say thank you to everyone that's helped me with various questions over the past few weeks. I know this isn't a forum that promotes getting rabbits from breeders, but unfortunately I had promised my daughter she could have these baby rabbits before I started to do my research. I hope by ensuring that they have a happy, safe and stimulating home I am doing my bit for rabbits.

Anyway, using the excellent pieces of advice I've had, I've tried to create that happy stimulating home. Please would you mind having a look at it and letting me know what I've forgotten, need to add/move/take away, think about or otherwise change!

We have a secure fenced all round garden. Within that garden I have gated off a section for the bunnies. The gated enclosure is 12ft x 9ft approx and they can have free range there while I'm in the house and garden and will be put away in their own house whenever I go out. They can also have supervised access to our grass (although this will be well supervised to make sure they're not eating my plants!)

Gated enclosure:




The hutch is 9ft x 4ft, and 4ft tall. The sleeping area is 3.5ft x 4ft and the run area is 5.5ft x 4ft. There is a wide shelf that runs the length of the back of both the run and the bedroom, and is triangular in shape in the bedroom, which is a lovely sitting area with hidey hole underneath.




The run is lino'ed on the bottom and there's a few toys in there (although you can't see them all) - do you think there's too many and should I rotate them so buns don't get bored?

Are the hayracks and litter tray in the right place? And the food bowls?

Run (left hand)\



Run (right hand)



Bedroom



I have left the top of the shelf clear for sitting - does it need toys, or a carpet tile for warm bums or anything else?

Underneath is a small house for sleeping/warmth/hiding. I feel that as the bunnies grow, I will have to get another of these as I can't see two frenchies squeezing in there, it's about 2ft x 1ft from PAH.

Any other comments gladly taken on board

thanks!

Looks lovely

The only thing I would say is (and I only picked up at the end that the buns you are getting are giants), is it's probably on the small side for a pair of frenchies, to be completely honest. What would be ideal is if the decked area could be closed off to make a large walk in run for them, then it would be amazing . Should be relatively easy to do with some aviary panels.

I adopted a pair of frenchies from the RSPCA and they have a similar type dog kennel set up, except it's 10 x 6, and I think it's a little on the small size so am adding another run to it soon. They grow to be massive buns!!

But for now, it's fab for two baby frenchies :thumb:

ETA: I'd personally lino the bedroom area too. And I'd move a litter tray in there. My two always snooze in their trays

Thank you

DH thought about putting aviary panels on top to make a walk in run. However, as it's coming into the summer, I will be out in the garden/doors open and pottering around for most of the day so they will nearly always have at least the run of the enclosure, and more often than not if I'm in the garden, they'll have the run of the whole garden. Putting the aviary panels might be a good idea in the Autumn though and then they can roam free all of the time.

The bedroom area is lino'ed, but not all of the way and then covered with a carpet tile. I will go and lino the rest now and buy a litter tray to go in there - do I need to put a hayrack in there too do you think? (given that buns like peeing/pooing while eating!)

I got a load of carpet tiles from our local carpet showroom, who sell off the discontinued carpet samples for 50p each. These bunnies will be sitting on carpet which is £45 a sq m! Bargain!

Get an underbed storage box as a litter tray, a regular litter tray will very quickly become too small for 2 giants. Personally, I wouldn't let them in an unroofed run without someone being out there with them all the time, it only takes a few seconds for a fox or even a cat to get in. So I'd be going for the aviary option but apart from that it's a lovely set up.

Katex said:

Thank you

DH thought about putting aviary panels on top to make a walk in run. However, as it's coming into the summer, I will be out in the garden/doors open and pottering around for most of the day so they will nearly always have at least the run of the enclosure, and more often than not if I'm in the garden, they'll have the run of the whole garden. Putting the aviary panels might be a good idea in the Autumn though and then they can roam free all of the time.

The bedroom area is lino'ed, but not all of the way and then covered with a carpet tile. I will go and lino the rest now and buy a litter tray to go in there - do I need to put a hayrack in there too do you think? (given that buns like peeing/pooing while eating!)

I got a load of carpet tiles from our local carpet showroom, who sell off the discontinued carpet samples for 50p each. These bunnies will be sitting on carpet which is £45 a sq m! Bargain!

Click to expand...

It's always something to think about - mainly because rabbits are crepscular animals which means they are more active at dawn and dusk, and so if they had 24 hour access to that decked area they could do their bunny 500's and binkies to their delight

Echo Sam and Truffs re the litter tray. My frenchies have a 45l underbed storage box, which is much bigger than the usual 32l ones I have for boarders and my smaller pair. I just lump a load of hay in the base of the box and change it frequently rather than fit a hayrack to their bedroom tray, but it's all personal preference

Looks like a fantastic set-up; you've clearly gone to a lot of trouble!

One thing, have you checked that the surrounding plants are OK for rabbits. I'm sure you don't intend them to be food but everything gets nibbled, even stuff you might think is out of reach.
I can't really tell from the photos but there's something climbing the fence panel that looks a bit like ivy.

Edward

I think it looks great but have to agree with the previous posts. I'd put a lid on the whole area then that'd be perfect, but I wouldn't let your bunnies out in the decked bit without constant supervision. It only takes a second for something to go wrong.

And the bigger the litter tray the better Big bums need big trays

What a great first setup :thumb:

They have baby rabbits in rescues - thought I would say in case that you're unaware.
Baby French lops I imagine must be the size of medium adult bunnies when they're young. I'm only assuming as I've had no experience with them.

Good luck!

I like the hutch size it's the same square footage as my 7 x 5 shed and I think it would be big enough. You can't be too secure with rabbits. I have heard so many sad stories.

wow looks lovely! I would check all the plants that you have growing around the outdoor bit? If you have any ivy then definitely rip that out as it is poisoness but other than that it looks great. I lock my bunnies in at night in an outhouse at night from about 10pm to 7am and from watching what they do when I leave them in the dining room at night they do sleep most of the night so I don't see a problem with locking them away in a large enough space. People do say they are active at dawn and dusk but I think they do adjust to us slightly unlike wild rabbits who have to be careful from predators. I agree though for the future would be great to have an aviary style run so you don't have to worry about letting them out when your not in. Also I would make sure your decking has been stained well as bunny wee will stain it.

Thanks all

Sam and Truffs said:

Get an underbed storage box as a litter tray, a regular litter tray will very quickly become too small for 2 giants. Personally, I wouldn't let them in an unroofed run without someone being out there with them all the time, it only takes a few seconds for a fox or even a cat to get in. So I'd be going for the aviary option but apart from that it's a lovely set up.

Click to expand...

I already have an underbed storage box, just thought I'd put the little one in there for now while they're little

One thing, have you checked that the surrounding plants are OK for rabbits. I'm sure you don't intend them to be food but everything gets nibbled, even stuff you might think is out of reach.
I can't really tell from the photos but there's something climbing the fence panel that looks a bit like ivy.

Click to expand...

It is ivy intertwined with jasmine and clematis, but what you can't really see is that I've taken the solid seat panels from some old garden chairs and attached them to the other side of the fence panel to form a thick barrier, so you can see the ivy on the garden side but not reach it from the other side. The bits that are trailing over the top I'll twine behind the seat panels and keep an eye on them to make sure they're not growing through. There are bits of ivy trailing across the top of the hutch but that's fine as the buns would not reach there, and I'll just need to keep an eye on that too, although I do trim it back fairly often as I don't want it to get a hold on the fence.

I never thought about using the litter tray for hay :scratchchin: suppose it does two jobs in one!

I didn't realise about baby rabbits in rescues, I assumed there would be bunnies there that people had got sick of. I wouldn't go to another breeder for a rabbit though and would encourage others to rescue rather than buy. I went to the breeder because I didn't want to go to somewhere like PAH (although I was in our local PAH today and they were being lovely to the buns who all looked happy and clean which I was pleased to see).

I think I'll go down the route of aviary panels later on in the year. It'll give DH some time to recover from the amount of money that's been spent

The whole thing is a really good sized hutch for a pair of frenchies but I think it does need a run attached. As suggested, aviary panels are a great way to make a totally enclosed area which is safe for them without supervision :thumb:

It's great to see a new owner put so much thought and care in to providing the best possible home for a pair of rabbits - and it's so pretty!

BattleKat said:

The whole thing is a really good sized hutch for a pair of frenchies but I think it does need a run attached. As suggested, aviary panels are a great way to make a totally enclosed area which is safe for them without supervision :thumb:

It's great to see a new owner put so much thought and care in to providing the best possible home for a pair of rabbits - and it's so pretty!

Click to expand...

Having thought about it, aviary panels making it completely enclosed would be a fab idea as they could come and go as they wanted…..might have a look around for cheapish ones

When we originally said DD2 could have bunnies this was the hutch I originally ordered - before doing research.

http://www.rabbithutchesuk.net/ark-rabbit-hutch-guinea-pig-house-cage-pen-with-built-in-run.html

The I did some research and knew that wouldn't be anywhere near enough! All of the pretty stuff is just for show as I really want the bunnies to be well cared for (as well as looking pretty!). DD2 is loving it and can't wait to get her bunnies in there. She loves animals so very much and chose rabbits over a dog!

Katex said:

Having thought about it, aviary panels making it completely enclosed would be a fab idea as they could come and go as they wanted…..might have a look around for cheapish ones

When we originally said DD2 could have bunnies this was the hutch I originally ordered - before doing research.

http://www.rabbithutchesuk.net/ark-rabbit-hutch-guinea-pig-house-cage-pen-with-built-in-run.html

The I did some research and knew that wouldn't be anywhere near enough! All of the pretty stuff is just for show as I really want the bunnies to be well cared for (as well as looking pretty!). DD2 is loving it and can't wait to get her bunnies in there. She loves animals so very much and chose rabbits over a dog!

Click to expand...

Yay for responsible owners doing some research before getting a pet

I had something similar to the thing you originally ordered when I first got my rabbits - it was the biggest thing I could find at the time but as soon as I put them in I realised it wasn't big enough. A few changes and expansions later and we have an 8x6 shed with an attached 8x8 run, yet I still find my brain preoccupied with ways to improve it. Honestly, it never ends!:lol:

So looking forward to pics of the bunnies when you get them! I have a real soft spot for frenchies, I actually got a gorgeous 6m/o from rescue quite recently after losing my gorgeous black french lop last summer.

BattleKat said:

The whole thing is a really good sized hutch for a pair of frenchies but I think it does need a run attached. As suggested, aviary panels are a great way to make a totally enclosed area which is safe for them without supervision :thumb:

It's great to see a new owner put so much thought and care in to providing the best possible home for a pair of rabbits - and it's so pretty!

Click to expand...

totally agree with this. Amazing and I'd love to see more people think things through as much as this. Your bunnies will be very lucky Katex

BattleKat said:

I had something similar to the thing you originally ordered when I first got my rabbits - it was the biggest thing I could find at the time but as soon as I put them in I realised it wasn't big enough. A few changes and expansions later and we have an 8x6 shed with an attached 8x8 run, yet I still find my brain preoccupied with ways to improve it. Honestly, it never ends!:lol:

So looking forward to pics of the bunnies when you get them! I have a real soft spot for frenchies, I actually got a gorgeous 6m/o from rescue quite recently after losing my gorgeous black french lop last summer.

Click to expand...

Ah sorry for your loss it hits hard doesn't it?

My DH (although he does really love bunnies) is hoping the spending will end soon!

I will definitely post photos, we are getting them on Thursday although Josephine (DD2) doesn't know yet, she think we still have to wait until the end of May.

We used to have a dwarf lop called Dylan (although he was really large even for a dwarf lop) and he was the softest, fluffiest, dopiest thing imaginable. He had a large double storey hutch but used to throw himself down the ramp deliberately for attention, and thump any time you stopped giving him attention. He was unneutered so "liked" everyone especially me and DH but he was also fond of the garden brush although he never sprayed.

I'm looking forward to having another garden friend as I've missed a furry lump following me around and demanding attention!

The Duchess said:

totally agree with this. Amazing and I'd love to see more people think things through as much as this. Your bunnies will be very lucky Katex

Click to expand...

Thank you (and catherine09 too ) we all like animals and want to look after the buns properly, as well as begin to encourage our 8 yr old to be responsible for them too.

I actually am fostering some baby bunnies for RSPCA Macclesfield if you change your mind. They are large lops and are 10 weeks old and were born with us as mum was found wandering with dad and she was already pregnant. They are gorgeous and very friendly. They come vaccinated and you will get them neutered for free just in case you change your mind about going to a breeder!

OMG cute or what??