New and need help!

Hi,
I'm new to the forum but have questions about my rabbit. Eighteen months ago I bought two baby rabbits from Pets at Home, sadly a few months later one of them died suddenly through no apparent reason. I was worried about Ralph being left alone but he seems happy enough. However, there is one issue. Ralph has access to the garden during the day and loves hopping around out there, but the issue is that he has destroyed my garden. He's eaten every plant and every single blade of grass and now the grass doesn't even grow back. He's also poo'd everywhere! The garden is covered. We have two young children and I don't feel like they can play out in our garden because of the poo. My husband says we will have to start keeping Ralph in the hutch but I feel so cruel when he's used to having the whole garden. Is there anything I can so to stop him eating the grass if we returf the garden? Can I train him to only poo in one area?

Thank you!

Hi and welcome you could try litter training in his hutch once he had mastered that put a second tray outside and see if he will use it

Other than that I don't know but someone on here will

Thank you for your reply! I've just been looking at his hutch and am thinking of asking my dad to build a long run down one side of the garden. That way he'll still be able to have a play but not be eating all of my plants!
What do I do with a litter tray, just put it in and he'll use it?? Sorry, I'm clueless!

Rabbits love to graze, it's their favourite pastime! So there is no way you could stop him doing that. Also, even if rabbits are litter trained they still like to leave their droppings around as in the wild, so I am told, this helps to fertilise the ground If it were me, I would attach a big run to his hutch and he will still have plenty of space and the children would be able to play without the worry of poops. Lots of us have our rabbits in hutch and run combinations for various reasons, safety from predators being one. If you put the run on paving slabs they your bunny can't dig out, and instead of grazing on the grass, if he has lots of hay he will be happy enough.

If your rabbit is neutered have you thought about getting him a female friend. A companion helps to pass the time of day and alleviates loneliness.

Chocolatefudge1984 said:

Hi,
I'm new to the forum but have questions about my rabbit. Eighteen months ago I bought two baby rabbits from Pets at Home, sadly a few months later one of them died suddenly through no apparent reason. I was worried about Ralph being left alone but he seems happy enough. However, there is one issue. Ralph has access to the garden during the day and loves hopping around out there, but the issue is that he has destroyed my garden. He's eaten every plant and every single blade of grass and now the grass doesn't even grow back. He's also poo'd everywhere! The garden is covered. We have two young children and I don't feel like they can play out in our garden because of the poo. My husband says we will have to start keeping Ralph in the hutch but I feel so cruel when he's used to having the whole garden. Is there anything I can so to stop him eating the grass if we returf the garden? Can I train him to only poo in one area?

Thank you!

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Welcome to the forum!

I would recommend buying a nice big setup consisting of a minimum of a 6 x 2 x 2ft hutch with a permanently attached 8 x 4 x 2 run. You can go as big as you want with the hutch and run (the bigger the better!), enough so that you don't feel it's too cruel for him. It would be unfair to shut your bunny in just a hutch especially when he's used to being able to exercise a lot more, but if you get a nice big run or an aviary and provide 24/7 access he'd be happy with that.

You can get a 6 x 2 x 2 hutch with a 6 x 6 run underneath for £200 plus about £15 delivery here: http://www.happyhutch.co.uk/rabbit-hutches-runs/sykes-rabbit-hutch-run-combo-detail and you can get a 4ft extension for £99 to make it a 10 x 6 run: http://www.happyhutch.co.uk/rabbit-hutches-runs/sykes-rabbit-hutch-combo-run-extension-detail.

A 6 x 2 x 2 hutch is the minimum recommended by the RWAF and RSPCA to provide a good size space to hide from the weather, and the 8 x 4 run is also the minimum recommendation, so I definitely wouldn't go smaller. I personally would really want to go with something bigger than the minimum since he's used to having loads of room to run.

Another option is an aviary, where you can actually go and sit in there with him. The 12 x 6 one on here looks great: http://www.boylespethousing.co.uk/aviaries-birds-chickens-runs/aviaries/12x6x6ft-aviary.html

You can then go ahead and revamp the garden by laying new turf and planting new plants etc. You can still let bunny out for a few hours a day but he shouldn't be able to do as much damage, especially if you're out there with him and say a firm 'no' when he starts nibbling at plants etc!

I would definitely recommend getting your bunny a friend if possible, although this would require your bunny to be neutered/spayed if he isn't. Bunnies have no way of communicating to us that they're lonely apart from severe depression which is fairly rare. Bunnies are a social species and are almost always happier together, bar the odd few bunnies who refuse to be bonded. In your situation you're understandably worried about making your bunny sad by restricting his access to your garden, so if you did get him a friend I'm sure that happiness would make up for the slightly less room. There are loads of bunnies in rescues all over the UK which are neutered/spayed and vaccinated, just waiting for a lovely home. You can find some on here: http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/search_form.asp and you can find some centres here: http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/centres.asp

Neutering should help with his toilet habits. Male rabbits are quite territorial so he'll scatter his droppings to make sure rabbits from the neighbouring areas don't try and invade. Rabbits can be litter trained just as well as a cat so there is definitely hope for a massive improvement. If there is a particular spot he does most of his weeing eg the corner of the hutch that's a good place to put the tray. It's easier to start where he wants to go and build from there.

What's his current diet? Rabbit's are natural grazers so with access he'll graze in your garden, but you can reduce that by providing the right sort of foods in his diet so he eats less of the garden. Hay is very important, but to be honest grass is tastier so you might have trouble persuading him not to eat it. Saves mowing though!

Providing lots of fresh foods, for example dandelion, bramble, thistle etc. will help make sure he eats less of your plants. If you have a look on some of the foraging threads in the diet section there is lots on identifying plants that are safe for rabbits if you've somewhere locally you could forage. It's a great activity for children too!

In terms of housing - a large run might be the way to go. If you can I'd suggest a full height walk-in one. That way you and your children can still walk in to interact with him but he's limited to his space. You could pop the hutch inside, or have a look at a shed/playhouse as his indoor space.

Thank you for your responses! His hutch is a double one and is quite big and with a large run I'd feel like I wasn't restricting him too much. He's not neutered but I am going to get him done. I've just put my phone on the wall and he sat on it and did a poo on it!! Is this a behaviour thing?!
He's very friendly and loves attention. If I leave the back door open he runs straight inside and never wants to go out again! I don't really worry about predators either, he's quite big and my cat is terrified of him. I think he must have warned all the other local cats too as we never get any in our garden any more!

Chocolatefudge1984 said:

Thank you for your responses! His hutch is a double one and is quite big and with a large run I'd feel like I wasn't restricting him too much. He's not neutered but I am going to get him done. I've just put my phone on the wall and he sat on it and did a poo on it!! Is this a behaviour thing?!
He's very friendly and loves attention. If I leave the back door open he runs straight inside and never wants to go out again! I don't really worry about predators either, he's quite big and my cat is terrified of him. I think he must have warned all the other local cats too as we never get any in our garden any more!

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You're right, with a double hutch and a large run it'd give him ample room to run about. The larger the better with the run really - a good 10-12ft would allow him to properly run around inside it which is lovely. As long as it's no smaller than 8 x 4 x 2 he'd be happy enough in it!

The pooing is often a territorial thing. When he's neutered he won't feel the need to mark everything as his own so much, so the pooing everywhere will likely lessen. Bunnies will always poo some places though, it's just in their nature! But it should lessen :thumb:

If he's coming in the house for attention I think he'd really benefit from a girlfriend as and when you can, it's so lovely to see a pair snuggling together

With regard to a litter tray, put newspaper at the bottom and a big pile of hay on top. They love to sit there chewing their hay and a lot of rabbits use it as their toilet at the same time.

Or your other alternative is once he's neutered & litter trained is he could be a house rabbit instead with just exercise in the garden

I love the runaround systems:

http://www.runaround.co.uk/pages/customers

With any luck your bunny will be with you for many years, so along with a decent hutch and run you could consider adding on tunnels ect a bit at a time.

A friend of mine has her rabbit's hutch with a small run close to the house, a connecting tunnel along the back of her flower bed which leads to large run towards the back of the garden. She gets to keep her formal garden but the buns still have a wonderful exercise/play-area.