Natalie
Warren Scout
After lots of discussions, and because of Caramel's age - for anyone who hasn't seen my multitude of threads about Caramel, we only adopted her about one month ago, we offered to take her on from a family who really weren't interested in her anymore, and we are completely new to all things bunny - we have decided to bring her indoors for the winter. I was just too worried about how to successfully keep her warm enough in the bothy, especially as we do now think she is 10 years old, if she's anything like me, staying warm in one's slightly more mature years is quite a challenge.
Anyhoo, we are dedicating the loft room to her and getting an indoor enclosure to keep her safe. We've only moved into this house about four months ago but the previous owners had just completed converting the loft, so it's a lovely open space, newly decorated and with carpet (we'll put lino down under her enclosure). We use it as a bedroom for our grown up children when they visit - which is a lot - but our youngest, Hayley, 24, is super excited to share a bedroom with Caramel - her partner possibly not quite so enthusiastic :lol: - but hey, us girls know best about these things right? :lol: Sharing a room with a rabbit has got to be so much nicer than not having a rabbit in your room!!! :lol:
Anyhoo it means that there will be a swing shut fire door which leads up to the loft room (so can't be accidentally left open), as the first line of defence between Caramel and our rescue dogs, and we are going to put a gate across the stairs at the top as the second line of defence, and she'll also be in her own enclosure which the dogs won't be able to access, which will be the third line of defence. She'll be able to run around the entire room whenever there is someone up there to sit with her and keep a watchful eye on her.
Sooooooooooooooo we have started the process of getting her used to the great indoors. First time Hayley and I took her up there, we were pretty sure she wasn't too pleased. We had taken up some of her stuff, her fave hideaway and tunnels and of course there was also the carrier for her that we left open and available. She had a good investigate, which was a good sign, but she also THUMPED quite loudly several times when she was in the tunnel, which concerned me in case she was upset or frightened. I was okay with it if she was just annoyed, but if she was frightened/upset that was much more of a worry for me.
She has lived outside for 10 years so I completely understand that indoors must feel very strange to her. But on the plus side, as she'd been rather neglected in her previous home and bored and lonely, I think it's quite nice that she has new things to check out.
Second go at getting her to spend time indoors, a little more successful I think. Again I took up all her favourite things, so she had somewhere to hide and play. She even allowed me to feed her the dandelions I'd taken up, but wasn't so okay with me taking her to such a strange place that she'd touch the basil, although the mint got a look in! :lol: She had another really good look and hop around and she also settled at one point and had a good ol' munch on her pellets. AND, no thumps this time.
The room hasn't had any heating on in it, but obviously as part of the house would be warmer than outside, but fortunately it's been amazingly warm these last few days, so she hasn't had to tolerate a big difference between the time spent indoors and going back outside.
As soon as I can get the indoor enclosure delivered, we'll start to bring her in over night and let her play outside in her run during the day if it's warm enough.
Does this all sound like an okay process to acclimatise Caramel to indoors? Could anyone please advise me how to do it better or what to be particularly mindful of in order to keep her safe and happy.
Thanks - Natalie
Photo of Caramel just becase
Anyhoo, we are dedicating the loft room to her and getting an indoor enclosure to keep her safe. We've only moved into this house about four months ago but the previous owners had just completed converting the loft, so it's a lovely open space, newly decorated and with carpet (we'll put lino down under her enclosure). We use it as a bedroom for our grown up children when they visit - which is a lot - but our youngest, Hayley, 24, is super excited to share a bedroom with Caramel - her partner possibly not quite so enthusiastic :lol: - but hey, us girls know best about these things right? :lol: Sharing a room with a rabbit has got to be so much nicer than not having a rabbit in your room!!! :lol:
Anyhoo it means that there will be a swing shut fire door which leads up to the loft room (so can't be accidentally left open), as the first line of defence between Caramel and our rescue dogs, and we are going to put a gate across the stairs at the top as the second line of defence, and she'll also be in her own enclosure which the dogs won't be able to access, which will be the third line of defence. She'll be able to run around the entire room whenever there is someone up there to sit with her and keep a watchful eye on her.
Sooooooooooooooo we have started the process of getting her used to the great indoors. First time Hayley and I took her up there, we were pretty sure she wasn't too pleased. We had taken up some of her stuff, her fave hideaway and tunnels and of course there was also the carrier for her that we left open and available. She had a good investigate, which was a good sign, but she also THUMPED quite loudly several times when she was in the tunnel, which concerned me in case she was upset or frightened. I was okay with it if she was just annoyed, but if she was frightened/upset that was much more of a worry for me.
She has lived outside for 10 years so I completely understand that indoors must feel very strange to her. But on the plus side, as she'd been rather neglected in her previous home and bored and lonely, I think it's quite nice that she has new things to check out.
Second go at getting her to spend time indoors, a little more successful I think. Again I took up all her favourite things, so she had somewhere to hide and play. She even allowed me to feed her the dandelions I'd taken up, but wasn't so okay with me taking her to such a strange place that she'd touch the basil, although the mint got a look in! :lol: She had another really good look and hop around and she also settled at one point and had a good ol' munch on her pellets. AND, no thumps this time.
The room hasn't had any heating on in it, but obviously as part of the house would be warmer than outside, but fortunately it's been amazingly warm these last few days, so she hasn't had to tolerate a big difference between the time spent indoors and going back outside.
As soon as I can get the indoor enclosure delivered, we'll start to bring her in over night and let her play outside in her run during the day if it's warm enough.
Does this all sound like an okay process to acclimatise Caramel to indoors? Could anyone please advise me how to do it better or what to be particularly mindful of in order to keep her safe and happy.
Thanks - Natalie
Photo of Caramel just becase
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