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Tunnel system 'problems'

keletkezes

Wise Old Thumper
We have a playhouse and run setup at the moment: the run's not very big (5'x3'x2.25' ish) and my Dad's still building the decent wooden run (my Aunt fractured her ankle so he's helping her first :)) so we extend the area to a puppy pen on the grass. Everything is accessed through tunnels.

The tunnel from playhouse to run is about 3' long, slopes downwards into the playhouse and is straight. We've not had any arguments really, although sometimes one of them sits at the top of the steps and the other has to jump down off the bricks to get past :lol: :roll:

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(Photo is from their first day: it now has a tarp over the far end, a hayrack hanging under that and the orange box-shelter thing in the corner.)

The tunnel from the run to the pen is minimum 15', up to 30' or even more, depending on where on the lawn it is. Picture shows shortest.

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Lopsy has decided he likes sleeping in the tunnels:

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This causes problems when we're getting them into the run-house setup from the pen at night: Aboleth is a good girl and has learnt that shaking the pellets in the bowl means it's time to come in, but last night she had to back out because somebunny was in the tube. He might have been scared by something: he's gone in there for half an hour or so before when something's scared him; I last saw him do that when I was picking the strawberries and right next to him and he just shot off. Aboleth was sat there nonplussed and watched him go, looked in the tube and then went back to munching. Or he could've been kipping this time: he's easily distracted! Either way, Matt spent ages getting him in (I went to bed early ;P), even picking up the tube gently to check he was in there :) Once he'd separated the tubes out so he could see him, Lopsy went in as if nothing had happened (swiftly followed by a presumably-grumpy Aboleth).

There's not much space in the pen: it's an 8-panel puppy pen. I am thinking now of putting the littlest tube in the pen so Lopsy has somewhere to kip, but I doubt he'd use it for hiding :roll: They have more hideyholes in their run and house as they're more secure, but the pen is lacking because it's just so small. Lopsy's perfectly capable of throwing the little tube out of the way: he's proven that in the run when he was a singlebun.

I'm going to try the shortest tube in the pen today and put the longer tube back in the run (the bendy green type). Might try the cat tube in the playhouse this weekend, see if it causes a fight (it's Lopsy's and unneutralised), but I don't think it'll be a problem (we never neutralised the long tunnels!). They don't really fit in the little orange thing (from P@H) but rather turtle around in it and use it as an anger management toy, but they can fit into the base of the cat tree in the playhouse. They also have a semi-enclosed space where the bricks form the steps under the tarp and under the window seat in a couple of places.

Do you have any other suggestions? Or, indeed, do you also have stubborn rabbits who block tunnels?! :lol:
 
Is that a joint half way along? One option would be to try adding in a box at that point - doesn't need to be big just enough for two bunnies to pass each other. It's a long tunnel to back all the way up in so it might make him more likely to let her through and give him a good hiding spot without blocking the tunnel.
 
I agree with Tamsin, a box midway would be a great idea, I don't think mine would ever reverse up the length of yours, they are a pair of scaredy buns :lol: I've got a hay hutch from runaround that sits between two pipes, it's great, but not cheap. My girl Treacle, got spooked by a visiting hedgehog one evening, I was out there til midnight trying to entice back in from the pipe !
 
My girl Treacle, got spooked by a visiting hedgehog one evening, I was out there til midnight trying to entice back in from the pipe !
:lol: Oh dear, I think that was Matt last night! :lol: Aboleth has proven multiple times she can back out all the way (and she's bigger, well, longer): she didn't quite get to the light the first few times and backed out to the safety of the run!

Thankyou, and Tamsin too: there are usually 2-3 joins :) The wooden twig thing is covering a bend in a sawn straight tube and it fits snugly into the biggest tube. The remaining tube is usually not snug enough to fit tightly so Matt uses the old cover that came with the run to wrap it.

I shall investigate pass-point boxes! We were thinking of putting the old hutch in as a waypoint so we could do that this weekend. I want to board up the mesh window (an easy job as I won't remove the mesh :)) so they can have a hidey place, and I'll need to mesh the end again as it was removed so it could slot on to the run :) And devise a tunnel connecting system for the second tube. Lopsy does tend to sit about 3' in, though, in the middle of the first 10' tube, little s#d :lol: I'll let you know!
 
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