Moving house - rabbit care tips please!

We are being rehoused and moving next week. This will be the first move Darcy has ever had (always been at this flat) and am nervous. Please can you give me some much needed tips/advice on how to plan go about moving?

Should I move Darcy first or last?

Move him last. Either way there will be lots of activity, noise and scary things but at least if he's in an environment he's familiar with he'll be more secure. Imagine all that noise and commotion in a strange new place!

Good luck with the move!

AMETHYST

Does he have a dog crate/cage? If you have lots to move and there might be a wait the end then it might be worth leaving him at a friends for the day where it's quiet.

Keep him litter tray and bed and then his new place will smell like home

When I moved house, Jack went to stay a friends for a while (was supposed to be a week but ended up being over a month until we found a permanent & rabbit friendly place to live :shock: ).

I think it worked out better that way as it meant I wasn't worried about him being disturbed by everything being moved, and we were settled in our new place before he moved back in so it wasn't too stressful for him!

If there's no-one he could stay with, I'd move him last, for the same reason as Amethyst .

Good luck in your new house!

You could also try giving him a few drops of Rescue Remedy to calm him down just a little, it'll help.

AMETHYST

Hi,

I'm sure you will do the right thing Romy, as long as you spend some time with him after the move to make him feel secure. Any chance of taking any of the old carpet with you until he feels at home in the new place.


Maureen

All of my bunnies went to stay with my parents when we moved, and I collected them when we'd settled in, after about a week.
Squidgy had his normal house and settled in very quickly, soon finding his way about. The big bunnies were a bit more awkward, but we basically took down their run and reassembled it in the same day, so they had familiar surroundings.
Good Luck wih it all.

We only moved into our current flat 4 months ago, and we've gotta move again next week (stupid landady evicted us cos we wouldn't let her use our flat for a 2 week holiday -grrrr!!!!) so I'm in the same situation.

Our moving regime is to do the buns last - try to make sure their new location is empty and calm ish, and I've been known to cover more of their dog crate than usual and give them a cardboard box to hide in. I don't clean their litter trays when we move - they move full so that they smell familiar. Also, I don't wash their blankets or bears for the week before moving or a while after moving so they smell familiar too. Other than that stick we to their normal regime ie breakfast a 7am ish, dinner at 7:30 and veg at 10.

Oh and when we do let them out in the new place I put their blanket where I think they will want their 'space' to be ie normally under the rocking chair and/or coffee table, and then I put a pile of their toys there too, and of course we try to spend more time in the room with them.

My two are used to noise so in the past I've left the radio on quietly for them and things like that too as I think it helps to keep them calm.

Darcy will be a bit unsure for a few days but he'll be fine - its an excuse to give him more fuss and attention that usual.

Goodluck, moving is rubbish! I've spent all day packing - grrrr!

If you are interested inthe bach flower rems, walnut is good to help with a change of enviroment.

Jx

When I moved about 3 weeks ago, I left the rabbits until last, put Daisy in her pet carrier and Fidget in an indoor cage in the back of the car. Fidget looked terrified - for about 5 seconds before she flopped out and started eating hay (I'm sure she did the "fear" thing for dramatic effect"). Daisy was just a bit like..."Why am I in this small box?", but she was absolutely fine once we got her crate set up and put her in it. As long as they're not confined to carriers for too long and the journey isn't too bumpy :wink: I'm sure they'll be absolutely fine.

Thanks for all the advice guys its really helpful. I will def buy some bach rescue remedy. The annoying thing is this a temporary move, they are moving us to a temp flat until they find a perm one for us :roll:

Luckily I still have Darcy's old dog pen (he is free range now) so i will set it up with all his bits n bobs at the new home. His cardboard castle is on its last legs but am going to keep it as it smells of him and will hopefully make him feel safer.

I've been packing all our stuff which is so boring and hard to do in this heat! The funniest thing is trying to stop Darcy seeing all the boxes as his personal chew toy :lol: :lol:

I am very nervous how he will take two moves but hopefully if i do these tips you've given me he will be quite calm xx