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Does anyone have a house rabbit that they never 'contain'

madcatwoman

Mama Doe
Since we lost Ozzie, Stan is now our last bun and he has decided there is no way he was living outside. We un-bunny proofed the garden, gave away the bunny shed and aviary then he started to play out! So we are now re-bunny proofing the garden:evil::lol:

In the house he doesnt move very far, very often or very much.

We dismantled a dog crate to make a fence the width of our lounge so when we are out or in bed he is contained but in a large area, its about 4ft by 12ft.

When we are in he has free run but never leaves the lounge infact rarely leaves the cats long fabric tunnel which he makes bee line for as soon as we open the fence.

Do people with house buns leave them free or fence them in when not around?

If we didnt contain him he could in theory go upstairs or in the kitchen etc but hes so lazy I dont think he would bother. The lounge is bunny proofed, the kitchen is by default.

He has plenty toys, things to chew etc but we all know buns and their love of doing what they want and not what we want lol. He does interact with our 5 cats and regularly has to grunt at one to get out of one of his beds or his litter tray.
 
My two have free roam of the kitchen/diner. There's nothing that they can do there that will harm them. They can look outside from the patio doors if they wish, and the temerpature is not too hot or too cold. And when we are in, they come and sit in the living room with us. Henry bun will have a zoom upstairs and sometimes sit up there but that's when we are in so we can keep an eye on him. It seems to work for us.
 
Thank you. I am pondering maybe a couple of baby gates so he cant get upstairs and put some chicken wire or similar at the bottom so the cats can jump through but i dont think Stan would have he brain power to.....watch him prove me wrong again.
To be honest I like him being in the house, dont like to think of him alone in the garden and my hubby although allergic to pet fluff so already taking medication is happy for him to be inside
 
Mr B was never contained but he rarely went out of the bedroom and hallway. Occasionally he would wander but I don't think he liked the laminate floors. Even if we were out all day he was never contained. We did shut the bathroom and living room door if we went out.
 
My two have free roam of the kitchen/diner. There's nothing that they can do there that will harm them. They can look outside from the patio doors if they wish, and the temerpature is not too hot or too cold. And when we are in, they come and sit in the living room with us. Henry bun will have a zoom upstairs and sometimes sit up there but that's when we are in so we can keep an eye on him. It seems to work for us.

it must be wonderful to have buns that will come & sit with you?
 
dear madcatwoman,-my condolences on the loss of your beloved ozzie,-,and I understand stan lost a mate/friend,-inside the house is the best place for a prey animal,-consider that you can monitor his health 24x7,attend to his needs..however free roaming is best in his own fenced space complete with,.hay bin,poop box,sleeping /hideaway boxes,--grasses,pellets,water-[mirror]-chew toys..-my wife and I found this to be a win/win situation..caution with other pets abound,--oddly our house cat loved the rabbit,they were inseparable..-sincerely james waller from across the great pond-usa
 
Mr B was never contained but he rarely went out of the bedroom and hallway. Occasionally he would wander but I don't think he liked the laminate floors. Even if we were out all day he was never contained. We did shut the bathroom and living room door if we went out.

Never even considered our floors, we have laminate right through downstairs with a couple of rugs in the lounge due to my husbands allergies and 5 cats. He maybe isnt lazy maybe he doesnt like the wood floor
 
it must be wonderful to have buns that will come & sit with you?

I agree, I am very much Stans provider but thats it, he was a house rabbit when we rescued him as a baby and before bonding him into a trio he was a happy people rabbit. Now since living outside with our two Bridge buns he has become a rabbit rabbit. He does like the cats though, dont think either species has a clue what the other one is
 
Never even considered our floors, we have laminate right through downstairs with a couple of rugs in the lounge due to my husbands allergies and 5 cats. He maybe isnt lazy maybe he doesnt like the wood floor

Could be the floor. I used to buy cheap cuts of carpet for the bedroom and replace every few months, he loved to shred them and carpet right used to sell huge cut offs for £15 or £20.

Mr B may have used all the rooms if we had carpet.

The chinchillas and hamsters don't mind laminate, they happily run around but I think rabbits claws tend to slid on it.
 
My buns can free range most of the time though the office / guest room is out of bounds & at times the kitchen. Only Boo makes good use of all available space, Mouse sticks firmly to the lounge (their base) & Joey & rudey limited in how regularly they explore. Floor coverings have been significant in how a good many of my rabbits have been prepared to explore further afield. They've varied so much, a few will walk on anything, a few only on soft stuff (no lino / wood / tiles) but most inbetween.
 
Lilac is a fully free range bun, the only time she gets shut in a room is when the food shopping is being delivered! That said, she doesn't like the kitchen or bathroom much because of the laminate, so perhaps this is the case for your boy. Could be worth trying a few rugs to see if that changes how much he moves around.
 
I have two that aren’t contained anywhere, only place they can’t go is the spare room but that’s because there are two more bunnies in there. They have their ‘nest’ under our bed and it’s all neatly lined with fur during the winter and often through the summer too.
 
Lola has free run of the entire flat unless there's something in a particular room I don't want her getting at, then I just shut the door to that room. Through choice she never goes down the stairs or in the bathroom or kitchen (which have lino floors).

Initially she and Rambo just had their room but they were so good (no peeing outside of the litter tray & no chewing woodwork or carpets) that I ended up giving them the landing too, and when I'd found good ways to stop them pulling my books and things off the bookcase and felt like I understood them a bit more I opened up my room too. It took a little longer to bunny proof the lounge but she's now in there whenever she wants too. I've put an extra litter tray in there because it seemed like such a big area without hay or a place to pee but I don't think she's ever done a wee in it.

She hangs out all over the place now but it did take her a long time to get comfortable everywhere, especially areas where there was nothing to hide in/behind. Depending on your set up it might be worth putting some more tunnels or boxes in to see if you can encourage him to explore.
 
Thank you everyone.
I moved the cat tunnel so it was kind of a bridge between his rug/door runner and the main rug and he happily started moving so he could go through the tunnel to the big rug and back.

We are decorating the lounge at some point this year so will be getting new rugs so I will be making sure they are more Stan friendly.

My husband wasnt keen on him being free range when we are at work or in bed.....will have to slowly do that one lol.

My two youngest cats, Sonny n Spook got the fright of their life last night when due to the heavy rain they were doing a mad half hour running round the house and went to leap and run through the cat tunnel only to be met by our ginger n white helicopter bun who quickly put them in their place. Go on Stan you show em!

Sonny does on occasion give Stan a couple of licks or a sniff. He has no idea what Stan is but there is a slowly blossoming friendship there. I reckon by winter when the fire is on there will be a bun laid with the pride:love:
 
Im sure your partner will relax with a bit of time and seeing that everything is fine. I know I used to be a bit on edge of lola was in a room without me but now it doesn't phase me at all.

She does insist on getting in bed and grooming me until I wake up every day at about 5am though. That I could live without!
 
My Bertie doesn't go downstairs. My late bunny did and it was quite cute to hear the pitter patter of furry feet coming down.
 
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