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Advice please on house bunnies.

cannonwoman

Warren Veteran
After much grovelling to my poor suffering hubby, ( and the obligatory puppy dog eye`s ), he`s finally agreed to Brutus becoming a permanent inhouse resident. ( For those of you who don`t know Brutus, he`s normally an outdoor bunny who i`ve bought inside for the weekend due to his major dislike to fireworks. But since he`s been in he`s been so much more relaxed and friendly which is why i`ve been thinking about moving him in permanently}.
Anyway, as we`ve now decided he`s to be a house bunny i`m looking for advice, as i`ve never had a house bunny before. He`s a french lop and i`ve been thinking of getting him a puppy crate as his house for when he can`t be running around for as far as i can tell no-one makes indoor cages for larger rabbits. I know he`ll need to be trained to use a litter tray,( have a carpet washer on standby though)! So i`m just generally looking for any advice other house bunny slaves have on housing and any other specific needs house bunnies may have.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance. Su. :D
 
put the wires up out of his way or into a conduent to top him cheewing them as for a cage do you have a room he can be left in a bathroom or kitchen is best and lots of big litter trays or under bed storage boxes
 
hi

There's a section on bunny proofing in the refs at the top of this forum - although some are more destructive than others - the biggest dog crate (48" long) should be fine for him to snooze in - this is a good site to buy from
http://www.prizepets.co.uk/?OVRAW=dog crates&OVKEY=dog crate&OVMTC=standard

I use underbed storage boxes as litter trays - and lots of them - if you put their hay in at the end of the tray they won't tread on it much and will do all the toileting at the other end of the tray quite naturally - it does help if they are neutered though, as this reduces the need to mark territory.

If you keep him in his crate for a few days, he will get the hang of where his 'home' is - but if you see him raise his tail to mark when outside the crate, clapping your hands and shouting no might stop him - then put several litter trays in his prefered spots :)
 
i think i must have been really lucky with my house rabbits.

i'm sure i'll get yelled at now but bump actually has pretty much the whole of the house to run around in.

i've become somewhat of an expert at making sure any wires are bunny proofed - to be honest it makes the place look so much tider not having wires trailing around and that there are no plants or much of anything at her level.

we did have some hit and misses in the early stage - at first we restricted access to the hall while we were out and there were occasions when bump managed to bypass the babygate to get into the bedroom (its a loft conversion and so there is no way of fixing a door to the room) this resulted in the destruction of some (thankfully unplugged) wires and a crop of chilli plants i was growing (yes they managed to eat the chillis!).

we now are aware that if you leave a book/magazine/anything on the floor then its fair game. she also managed to take some books off the shelves and discover the joys of dust covers.

still, bump and us have an understanding. the office door is locked unless we are in here and she can come upstairs and hide under the bed if we are silly enough not to close the baby gate (no more plants at bunny level or wires to be nibbled).

the hallway is bumps room now. she has the biggest house from the cardboard guy, a litter tray and as many different toys as i can find to play with. she also has a litter tray in the lounge and under the coffee table she has her own bed, towel and a chew.

i always make sure that both litter trays are topped up with fresh hay twice a day (cleaned every other day now there is only one), and i grow fresh grass as i dont have a garden for her.

bump was great with litter training, she started off with about 4 trays and now only has the two. she sleeps most of the day in the lounge and occasionally there will be the odd scatter poop to pick up (this is usually caused by her kick if she launches herself out of the litter tray).

last night our next door neighbours were letting off fireworks that went pop right outside our window (great view for us). bump on the other hand didnt even notice! she'll thump when the little kid downstairs crys but things that make me jump dont even startle her.

as we speak she is eating her house and i'm sure its almost time for her afternoon nap.

the other thing i've noticed is to put the treat box out of reach. we have one of those boxes with clip sides from lakeland and she has worked out how to open the catches and help herself!

so um most important things - start them off in a small space first, place a litter tray somewhere they may have marked already, dont let them out unsupervised, keep wires out of reach or covered (you can get some great things to cover them now) make sure they cant get to hanging plants and remember that they can squeeze behind the smallest of gaps and under things too. oh and have lots of toys for them to play with so they dont get too bored being in a hutch all day.

ok, so i'm thinking that bump might be spoilt... but she seems very happy with the arrangement. the biggest mess i have to clean is usually hay that she sometimes decides doesnt belong in the litter tray. its also important to get them fixed - that way they wont have the urge to mark their territory - and that can include you (from experience).

right, i think i might have rambled too much there...
 
Thanks guys for your advice,
Have decided to invest in the largest dog crate, as elve suggested as hubby is a bit worried about chewing!!!!!!! and atleast brutus will have a safe place to retreat to and call home. He will ofcourse have access to run free a majority of the time it`s just for when we`re not here. Will also be buying LOTS of litter trays!
:lol:
Here`s to my latest venture...................

Su. :D
 
Desdi, your bunnies must think they`re in heaven! Brutus should be getting neutured soon so hopefully this should help, he`s only been inside for 2 days and already he`s using the same spot in the run he`s living in at the moment for toileting so hopefully this is a good sign.
Thanks for the good luck wishes melanie, will keep you posted on how we get on.

Su. :wave:
 
yep good luck my next one has goto be pheebee oh and you wont reconise her now since you saw her last week shes grown to about twice that size and has quite a fat tum now
 
i wish you good luck with training your bun . hes very lucky to be brought indoors . i never realised how easy and rewarding having a house bun was till i brought nemo inside . you build up a much closer relationship with them .
Angie
 
Can I just remind you about the toxicity of certain house plants. Also that rabbits can climb to reach plants. Check what houseplants you have and whether these might pose a problem. My dwarf lop is free range and is absolutely fine. He was thrown out the bedroom as he did nibble the wardrobe, but now sleeps on the landing outside the door at night. For a while, he would scratch the door to try and get back in!! I also have two French lops who are fostered and they are free range in the kitchen. They are all litter trained but the Frenchies do scatter their poo at night, but its not a major problem. I hate the thought of a solitary rabbit in a hutch outside all by itself and you are making the correct choice in bringing it in. They just thrive with all the human contact.
 
raine - good point about the fact that they can climb to reach the plants. i ended up investing in some plant tables from ikea - i think they are about £10-£15 depending on the size of the table. still, you get the added benefit of your plants being more of a focal piont and knowing that your furry friends cant climb up that high.

another tip is to invest in hosepipe for your cables, simply slit (carefully) down the length of the tube and it makes a great cover for cables. if you find that too unsightly then i went to the local DIY store and bought some cable boxing, if you run it around the skirting board it actually makes things look really tidy.

bump seems more than happy with the arrangement we have come to and i'm glad to hear that you guys agree too.

a friend of mine has a dog that had some accidents because of the fireworks - she actually uses talc to get it out of the carpet. she said that it draws the stain out and doesnt leave any bad smells. i guess if you use some baby talc you know that it wont have the same harsh chemicals that some carpet cleaners have.

all the best again.
 
Thanks for the advice on houseplants Raine, fortunately due to me having house cats these were something i had to say bye bye to along time ago!!!! :lol: Apart form in the toilet, which the door is permanently shut to, i do like my plants so the toilet is now known as the greenhouse!!!! It`s a bit like going to the loo in the jungle!
Also, the remaining bunnies i have living in the garden are all planned to be neutured as soon as we`ve settled into our new house as even though i spend hours down there with them i`m sure they`d be happy with a few more bunny friends to keep them company. And don`t worry guys, i`m exceptionally lucky with my cats, they so used to all the different little furries i frequently bring inside the house that they didn`t even look up from their beds when Brutus moved in! But this is one reason that i wanted some sort of cage for him, so he could have an area to curl up in that would be his own.

Su. :bunny:
 
I've found Molly likes to eat anything vaguely rubbery, as well as wires. He is especially fond of eating my slippers, and the rubber bottom of my laptop case and chair. He likes to eat rubber grips on shoes too, so don't leave any lying around he place if you don't want them nibbled. On the plus side it's made me a much tidier person. :lol:
 
My rabbit, truffy also has free range of the house apart from one bedroom upstairs where we keep the computer and other half's sunbed (little sneak got in there one day and managed to get to the sunbed wire under the masses of junk I had stuffed under there and nearly blew o/h up next time he switched it on!) so just make sure you bunny proof every wire even if you don't think they can get to them!!! Something I found invaluable are the treatballs you can buy, keeps Truffy amused for hours pushing it round the living room. (also means you can watch tele in peace without a bunny crawling all over you :lol)

TC, Truffy and Oren pup
 
its nice to know bump's not the only one to be a free range bun.

its odd but even though she is allowed in the kitchen and bathroom she never comes to visit. wicket would follow me into the kitchen and wait at the food cupboard or if it was open he'd help himself.

oh and does hubby mind you telling us about his sunbed *snicker*
 
Other half didn't talk to us for a week, aparently the flames that shot out were a bit un-nerving!!!!!!!!! It does say on all the adverts about how bad they are for you!!!!! (and he left the door open so it was kind of his fault!) I love having Truffy in the house, she has turned into such a character over the years I couldn't imagine her outside. She knows exactly where everyone should be at any given time, she will sit at the door to upstairs when it is time for bed and you can never sleep past the alarm, even on Sundays! Wouldn't have it any other way though!

TC, Truffy & Oren pup
 
heh hubby left the door to the snug open and bump managed to do a number on quite a few things we are still discovering! the door now has a secure lock!

i love that they have such wonderful characters - i dont think you can truely appreciate their personalities until you spend the amount of time with them that you can when they have free range.

bump lets us know when its dinner time (7.30pm on the dot!) and has thumped at us to tell us to get to bed if she is trying to sleep.

they are so wonderful to have around ^_^

i know i shouldnt laugh but i'm still giggling about the sunbed. soweee!
 
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