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feeling emotional about the bunny house ( with added pinkness)

sparklefairy

Wise Old Thumper
Somevof you will know that i am being forced to house my buns outside :cry: I have never had outside bunnies and it feels wrong. I fought so very hard to keep the bunnies inside. Rowan is still in our room at 2 years old sleeping in a travel cot as we can't fit a bigger cot in our room. He cannot share with big brother river as river has autism and his behaviour is very unpredictable. I hate hate hate the " experts, " being right. I was so sure that the boys could share but I was wrong :cry:
when gypsy and Storm, my old arthritic bunnies were alive I fought tooth and nail to keep them in. They both reached 10 and had always been house buns. I believe that I did right by them, and they got to live out their days as house buns in the bunny room ( although it was a decision that caused so many problems with various people and organisations ) both old bunnies have since passed away. I now have aurora who is 2 and benny who is around 9 months. It was never my plan to get more bunnies but after gypsy passed away stormy nearly gave up so along came aurora. It I truly believe that she gave him an extra year of life, even if others thought my decision to take her on was a foolish one. Of course after stormy passed I could not leave aurora as a lone bun, so along came benny.
Meanwhile our 2 year old son is sharing our bedroom and my husband hates him being there now :cry: I have come to term with the fact that he can never share with river and needs his own room. We cannot afford to move or extend the house so the bunny room will be converted to a tiny children's bedroom. It is breaking my heart but no one seems to understand. I am hoping that being young healthy bunnies that they will be ok, but I am scared :cry: I will miss seeing them every time I go upstairs or get up in the middle of the night. I love having them inside with us. Benny loves the attention and doesn't mind the chaos. Aurora isn't really a people bun and may be glad of the peace outside but still :cry:

we have the bunny house in the garden ready to paint. Every time I look out of the window I can see it glaring at me. I should be happy but I am not.
I bought some pink and white paint to try and make it look more inviting, I know the buns don't care, it's more for me than them.

Anyway, here is the bunnies new house

 
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Honestly - they will be fine. I have an indoor pair of bunnies and an outdoor pair and I would say they are both equally happy. It's lovely to watch the outside ones pottering about on the grass when we're home too.
It definitely sounds like the best thing for your family as a whole and really won't put the rabbits at any disadvantage. Just try to go with it, and I bet you will adapt and enjoy the different routine they have in a very short time.
 
It is just so hard for me. It feels so strange and wrong. I have had house bunnies for around 20 years now

have I left it too late in the year to move them now?
 
I thought we'd decided to house your o/h outside. I'm disappointed in you!
Seriously, it looks lovely. Are you going to attach a run to give them more space?
 
I hope so. I just need to paint it and put a skirting board inside where there is a gap between the house and the base. The sleeping area is insulated and although the run part has mesh it is fairly sheltered. I may even get perspex pannels made to fit over the mesh for cold days. The bunny room is never heated and the window always open. We rarely have our heating on to be fair. Hopefully it won't be a shock to them
 
I thought we'd decided to house your o/h outside. I'm disappointed in you!
Seriously, it looks lovely. Are you going to attach a run to give them more space?


Haha there Is still time!
They have more room in this house than their bedroom but they will have access to a fence type run when I am outside with them. I am trying to convince the oh to let me put an aviary up. The house is 12 x 4 foot their bedroom was only 8 x5
 
It looks lovely, I'm sure the buns will love it. At least you can go and sit in there with them. I too would love my buns indoors, but that's not to be, maybe one day ! Still they seem to like their home, and love sitting out in all weathers given the chance !
 
It looks amazing!!! And once painted up it will be even more lovely. I am sure the buns will be very happy there - and you will get used to it. It does make sense - you can't continue living like you are and it's not like you can put your 2 year old outside now is it? :lol:

One way I would see it, is that when you go out to visit and feed the buns - it may well become a welcome escape and haven from the chaos inside. My buns are inside - upstairs - the puppies are downstairs - and I must admit I sometimes spend a bit longer than I need to with the buns to avoid the maelstrom that is downstairs :oops::lol:

A friend of mine moved her buns outside recently into a similar set up - and the buns are doing really well. I don't think it's too late - just provide them with loads of straw to snuggle into.
 
I hated having Lopsy inside when he was ill for the following reasons:

1.) We had to put him in the attic so it was a trek up loads of stairs to do ANYTHING for him
2.) I didn't feel like I could just pop up and see him like I can pop out and see them (maybe it's because I'm short?)
3.) He was super-distracting: I couldn't read, watch TV, do work etc. because he was too interesting (for the two days he was in the lounge)

I much prefer having them outside! Of course, I've always had them outside because my house is a tip but that's the best way they fit in with my life. It's a PITA having them inside but they deserve it when they're ill etc. :)
 
It looks wonderful, I'm sure they'll love it :) It is starting to get quite cold at night now so I think you will need to make the move fairly quickly - the longer you put it off, the more likely it is to be a problem to move them out, and I suspect that much as you'd probably like to, you won't get away with keeping them in until the frosts finish next June so the sooner the better now to get them acclimatised in good time for the colder weather. With lots of straw and hay bedding in the inside bit they'll be lovely and cosy. I use clear tarpaulins over the sides of my aviary and they not only stop the rain from getting in but they do keep it a couple of degrees warmer in there too, might be a cheaper alternative than buying perspex bits initially at least. Good luck, it must be a very hard thing for you to be doing but it looks a fabulous house and I'm sure the bunnies will think it's fantastic.
 
The house looks solid and hopefully secure. I can stand up in there so may turn it into a little bunny haven for me to escape to.
i wanted to paint it rainbow coloured but could only afford pink and white ( Rowan wanted pink, I couldn't decided between beach blue and bright pink )
I will have to get a little sign made up when we have given it a name. Oh, and bunting and fairy lights :lol:
just trying to make it into something lovely to make myself feel better I guess. I know that bunnies do not need fairy lights and bunting.
 
I think there are definately pros to house bunnies - particularly for us and they are convenient for cuddles. But for rabbits, there are a lot of pros to being outside. The scenery is a lot more changeable, it's like live TV and great enrichment. Even the weather - which we tend to view as a downside makes things more interesting for them day to day and they actually prefer the cooler temperatures as they are permanently wearing fluffy coats :lol: It looks like a very posh bunny house too!

I think the swap will bother you much more than them. You could do it gradually - letting them spend an hour or two having playtime out there a day so it becomes their territory before you swap completely. I expect it will be quite fun to watch them exploring the new space :)

It's good timing to put them out, the weather is warm but just changing so they've time to adjust ready for winter.
 
Thank you everyone:D
yes I think it will bother me more with them being outside. I will definitely worry more, especially about keeping them safe. The doors will be padlocked but I will still worry. Then there's the summer. They had air con inside, although benny broke into the cage around the air con and chewed the wire in 3 different places :? So it doesn't work anymore! All those years it was safe in it's cage and benny trashes it within days of being adopted haha.
I will aim to get the paint on and the skirting board fixed on when river goes back to school next week. It is absolute madness here at the moment :shock:

oh I got the house from duchy farm kennels. :D I got it with a raft base, wipe clean floor and insulation.
 
Thank you :D
hubby is currently fixing skirting boards to fill the gaps at the bottom for me :D it would have maybe been ok with the gap between the base and the house but I didn't like it.
fingers crossed we get nice weather so we can paint it. Pink with white trim? Or pink and white stripes? Then of course we need a name
 
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