Well, plans for my animal shed have been delayed until Spring as it's just too cold and dark to be working on it now!
The original plan was to convert out brick shed/outhouse as a room for all my animals, so I could actually have a normal bedroom!
We've sorted out the plans for making it secure, and for electricity and heating in there.
However, we've also got several wooden sheds, and I'm sorely tempted to keep all my rats, gerbils, mice, etc. in the brick shed and give the buns their own.
However, we do get wild rats and foxes, as we're surrounded by acres of farmland. How would I go about making it safe for the buns? The sheds are already made up, so I assume I'd have to do all the rat-proofing from the inside, e.g. metal sheeting to stop them gnawing their way in?
Would a padlock on the door make it secure enough to stop foxes? I imagine if I can I'd try to get an internal door/wire 'wall' built in so I can open the shed without bunnies hopping out, so that'd make it a bit more secure.
Another issue is our dog. We'll be having that part of the garden fenced off anyway, as we're putting a pool up (and being the silly water-loving dog she is, she'd no doubt love to jump into it!), so it's not the access I'm worried about, but she is a bit daft and likes to bark at the horses in the field. The rabbits are used to it from inside, but would it be likely to scare them if they were in a shed near it?
The original plan was to convert out brick shed/outhouse as a room for all my animals, so I could actually have a normal bedroom!
We've sorted out the plans for making it secure, and for electricity and heating in there.
However, we've also got several wooden sheds, and I'm sorely tempted to keep all my rats, gerbils, mice, etc. in the brick shed and give the buns their own.
However, we do get wild rats and foxes, as we're surrounded by acres of farmland. How would I go about making it safe for the buns? The sheds are already made up, so I assume I'd have to do all the rat-proofing from the inside, e.g. metal sheeting to stop them gnawing their way in?
Would a padlock on the door make it secure enough to stop foxes? I imagine if I can I'd try to get an internal door/wire 'wall' built in so I can open the shed without bunnies hopping out, so that'd make it a bit more secure.
Another issue is our dog. We'll be having that part of the garden fenced off anyway, as we're putting a pool up (and being the silly water-loving dog she is, she'd no doubt love to jump into it!), so it's not the access I'm worried about, but she is a bit daft and likes to bark at the horses in the field. The rabbits are used to it from inside, but would it be likely to scare them if they were in a shed near it?
