New Rabbits

Hi everyone,

I'm new to owning rabbits and this site.

We recently brought our 2 boys (Roger & Dodger) in August, they were 14 weeks old. We brought them from Pets at Home, which we now realise was not the best decision but it's done now and we love our boys to bits.

I wish I'd found this site sooner as I now know that their hutch is nowhere near enough space for them. They have to 2 tier hutch from pets at home (I think it's called Rose Cottage). They have a run outside but only when supervised as it's not secure enough.

So....my plan is to build a rabbit shed with attached run. I've got to come to an agreement with hubby first as it's my plan is going to take a huge chunk of the garden, oops.

My ideal shed will be 7x5 but will compromise to 6x4, the run will be attached to the side of the shed and will be 8ft long and the width of the shed (depending on what size shed). The boys will have 24/7 access via a cat flap, the run will also hopefully be the height of the shed so we can get in with them and to help cleaning.

I've got to wait until after Christmas before I can do this as I've got to save the money and now is probably not the best weather to start building and painting. The boys hutch is currently in the garage (no cars ever in there) so they don't get too cold.

Does this plan sound ok size wise?

Does anyone have any ideas or photos on how to deck out the inside, I was hoping to have some levels for them to jump/climb so it's a bit more interesting for them?

Thanks in advance, all help is welcome.

Steph

Hello and welcome to the Forum. Yes your plan sounds very good indeed and your 2 bunnies will love having the extra space and protection that a shed provides. There are lots of examples in the Housing Section stickies, a 7 x 5 would give you more space to put llevels in rather than a 6 x 4 and instead of an attached run an aviary is better. Did pets at Home mention the importance of hay in your rabbits' diet?

Hi, as you've mentioned a shed with full height run gives both you and the buns more space.
Here are some pictures of the inside of my sheds so you can se different levels (I'd recommend using the tougher black tunnels from runaround/welfare hutches rather than the green ones as they are more chew resistant)
(the treat ball is usually hung up so little legs can't get stuck in it)


& pre my RRR bunnies moving in

Hi tonibun, they didn't mention the importance of hay but I came on here a couple of days after getting them so they get loads of fresh hay every day along with some fresh greens and a small amount of pellets.

Tabithakat64, that she'd looks amazing just the sort of thing I was imagining. I can't wait to get the boys in theirs.

tabithakat64 said:

Hi, as you've mentioned a shed with full height run gives both you and the buns more space.
Here are some pictures of the inside of my sheds so you can se different levels (I'd recommend using the tougher black tunnels from runaround/welfare hutches rather than the green ones as they are more chew resistant)
(the treat ball is usually hung up so little legs can't get stuck in it)


& pre my RRR bunnies moving in

Click to expand...

That looks really lovely, and I like the way the doors open into the aviary.

Steph530 said:

Hi everyone,

I'm new to owning rabbits and this site.

Click to expand...

welcome steph

Hi, welcome in! I absolutely love your boys' names.

I have an in-progress setup similar to what you are wanting to do (shed is done, run/aviary still to do).

Their catflap, water bottle holder and start of the ramp to their "sunbathing ledge".



The ramp leads up to the top of the "hay bin". The lid of this lifts up and I store all my hay, newspapers etc in there. And it's an extra place for the buns to chill out.



The boys' window ledge. This window gets full sun in the early morning and the boys absolutely love it. As a bonus they can see out into the garden.



Currently we haven't managed to build their aviary (we're hoping soon) so they have various temporary runs in the garden, and one attached to the shed. This is the area that is going to be used for their aviary. We will pave the whole area first, as paving is easy to clean/sweep, dries quickly after rain and, as an added bonus, tends to wear down their nails when they run around on it. We're planing to have similar levels in the aviary as we have in the shed, so they have plenty of places to jump on, run up, hide under etc.


Hope this maybe gives you some ideas. There are more pics of our shed build here: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...hed-Build-Blog-(Temp-run-attached-Pics-Pg-10)

Hi and welcome

As you say no cars use the garage and the hutch is already in there, could you leave them in there, leave the hutch open permanently and let them have free run of the garage?

*lily* said:

Hi and welcome

As you say no cars use the garage and the hutch is already in there, could you leave them in there, leave the hutch open permanently and let them have free run of the garage?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is not an option as the garage is also used as storage for kids toys, bikes and husbands man junk, lol.

Lisa F said:

Hi, welcome in! I absolutely love your boys' names.

I have an in-progress setup similar to what you are wanting to do (shed is done, run/aviary still to do).

Their catflap, water bottle holder and start of the ramp to their "sunbathing ledge".



The ramp leads up to the top of the "hay bin". The lid of this lifts up and I store all my hay, newspapers etc in there. And it's an extra place for the buns to chill out.



The boys' window ledge. This window gets full sun in the early morning and the boys absolutely love it. As a bonus they can see out into the garden.



Currently we haven't managed to build their aviary (we're hoping soon) so they have various temporary runs in the garden, and one attached to the shed. This is the area that is going to be used for their aviary. We will pave the whole area first, as paving is easy to clean/sweep, dries quickly after rain and, as an added bonus, tends to wear down their nails when they run around on it. We're planing to have similar levels in the aviary as we have in the shed, so they have plenty of places to jump on, run up, hide under etc.


Hope this maybe gives you some ideas. There are more pics of our shed build here: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...hed-Build-Blog-(Temp-run-attached-Pics-Pg-10)

Click to expand...

I absolutely love the hay bin idea.