Advice please!!

Our rabbit, Splodge, has the best of both worlds at the moment as he spends all day in his run and the night in the house. Whilst looking on this website we do now question as to whether this is the right thing to do for him? We did ask a local rabbit rescue about the way we keep him and was told that we were doing okay by him and that we had nothing to worry about. We are hopefully be pairing him with a lady friend from another aminal shelter soon and we have them coming to our house on Friday 6th to inspect our set up to see whether it's acceptable for us to have this new rabbit etc. We have just invested in a 10ft x 5ft x 3ft run with a 5ft x 2ft x2ft hutch as we want both buns to be kept outside permanently. Splodge does not like coming in at night but before we got the new run and hutch we were trying to train him to become a house rabbit which isn't working out, especially for him as he sits at the patio door looking out at his old run etc and goes on the rampage in the house (which we have earlier reported). Its obvious that he is not happy when he is in but we are worried about putting him outside 24/7. He moulted out his summer coat in October and now has his winter coat and likes to sit out in all weathers etc. His new hutch has a ramp so that he can get into it when it rains and is stuffed with hay but he just sits in the run getting wet!! Are we just worrying over nothing or is he derranged?? Can anyone advise us to whether we are doing the right thing.

Thanks for any advice.

Deon (and Splodge)

I wondered why you bring him in at night now he has a hutch out there? If he's happier outside then he won't get cold if he's used to it already - It's probably not good for him to get wet though as their fur takes ages to dry, so you could maybe peg a few shower curtains or a tarpaulin over the top of the run, and always shut him inside the hutch at night incase of foxes - they will sit in the rain otherwise as they go into a kind of trance - I think they fall asleep with their eyes open

When you are bonding him with the new bunny you may need to house her seperately at first, so have you got another hutch or a cage or dog crate for indoors? The 2x5 hutch may not be big enough for 2 rabbits to be shut up in, although it's fine as a shelter in a run - it really depends if they take to each other or not.

If Splodge regards the hutch as his own, you should give it a thorough clean too, or he may not want an invader in there - It's hard to predict how he will react as they are so individual

I'm assuming Splodge is neutered - how about the female?

They will need to be introduced in a different area than the run/house or Splodge will defend his territory - is the rescue going to help with this or have you got a room/shed where Splodge hasn't been yet, that you could use?

other than that - good luck!

Thanks Elve,

We've only just got the hutch and run as we are due to get the new bun in the next couple of weeks. The shelter advised us that this is the minimum sized hutch that we would need for the two rabbits as they are dwarf lops. The shelter will pair them up for us as they have invited Splodge to stay with them for a few days to see how he gets on with the, hopefully, new bunny. Both buns have been done so no problem there. Thanks for the tip on using a shower curtain, we'll try that.

Splodge came in at night as we did not have an outside hutch just an indoor cage/hutch as we wanted him to be a house rabbit at first. It was in the summer that we got him and because the house got warm we put him in a run outside so that he would be cooler. However, he decided that he prefrerred to remain outside in his run during the day but would reluctantly come in at night.

Thanks again.

Deon

elve said:

I wondered why you bring him in at night now he has a hutch out there? If he's happier outside then he won't get cold if he's used to it already - It's probably not good for him to get wet though as their fur takes ages to dry, so you could maybe peg a few shower curtains or a tarpaulin over the top of the run, and always shut him inside the hutch at night incase of foxes - they will sit in the rain otherwise as they go into a kind of trance - I think they fall asleep with their eyes open

When you are bonding him with the new bunny you may need to house her seperately at first, so have you got another hutch or a cage or dog crate for indoors? The 2x5 hutch may not be big enough for 2 rabbits to be shut up in, although it's fine as a shelter in a run - it really depends if they take to each other or not.

If Splodge regards the hutch as his own, you should give it a thorough clean too, or he may not want an invader in there - It's hard to predict how he will react as they are so individual

I'm assuming Splodge is neutered - how about the female?

They will need to be introduced in a different area than the run/house or Splodge will defend his territory - is the rescue going to help with this or have you got a room/shed where Splodge hasn't been yet, that you could use?

other than that - good luck!

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If you intend to move him outside and he already has a winter coat from being out during the day this milder weather is the perfect time to do it.

It sounds as if you are doing all the right things by him, getting him a companion and a lovely big hutch and run I think rabbits are happier outside if they have enough room and companionship.

I have 4 bunnies all outside at the moment and none of them appear to be the slightest bit cold - they sit outside in their (foxproof) runs until late at night, come rain wind snow etc! I currently have corrugated plastic sheeting over the top of most of the run, when I have finished re-doing it, I'm planning on getting some clear tarpaulin to go over the top - I'm not a big fan of coloured tarpaulin as it doesn't let a lot of light through. As long as he has his winter coat already, there's really no need to worry about him getting cold as long as he has a dry, draught free space to snuggle into full of lots of straw/hay.

Good luck with finding him his new partner

How tall is the hutch? If it's tall enough maybe you could put a second level in there and that will give them more floor space.