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Housebunny problems..?? U/D with pic

SarahP

Wise Old Thumper
I've brought Clover and Dusty inside now, after having so many problems with them going into stasis - I need to keep an eye on them and avoid temperature fluctuations too.

They have the run of the kitchen and the hallway, including the stairs. I've got all their stuff in the kitchen, hay etc. But they absolutely love going into the hallway, charging up and down the stairs, laying on the stairs etc. They seem to associate the kitchen with 'bad things' and being trapped. So, as a result, they are eating less hay! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I coax them into the kitchen with treats and always feed them in there, but any other ideas? I haven't let them out of the kitchen all day today, as they just aren't eating as much hay as they were. Ideally I'd put hay all over the house, but it'll make such a mess!
 
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hmmmm... maybe you should try putting a tray of hay in the corner of the hallway or something... if you have an old door-mat you could put it on that as well... Odd that your bunnies don't like the kitchen, but it could be the smell of cooking meat or something like that that scares em off... good luck!!
 
You could put small amounts of hay in large litter trays dotted around to minimise the mess and slowly move them towards the kitchen over time?

I think hay everywhere is a bit of an unavoidable hazard of having house bunns really though :?

LBR might be right about them being scared of cooking smells and noises- Rowan in particular got a bit freaked out by it, but he got used to it in time....another thing is, do they have a comfy area in the kitchen? Audrey has her crate in the kitchen with vet bed in, so she often chooses to lie in there rather than in the hallway....
 
Do you have space for a large cat carrier that they'd both fit in? You could put hay in the back of that and then it'd be contained and they might feel a bit safer being enclosed
 
I think hay everywhere is a bit of an unavoidable hazard of having house bunns really though :?

Which is a very good reason for me to keep reminding myself I can't/shouldn't have a housebunny as David has bad hayfever :roll:
 
Thanks everyone. :) I think I'll try another litter tray, in the hall this time. They just hate being contained in any way - I swear that even if they had the run of Buckingham Palace, that would be too small for them :)roll: :lol: ) - they hate any kind of closed door or barrier. So I think the kitchen to them is a trap!

They don't like the smell of cooking food though, so I try to allow them the option to be out of the kitchen when that's going on.

I bought a plastic dog bed for them at the weekend, which is filled with hay. They don't have anything with a roof on, and I don't have room for a dog crate, but they would probably never use it anyway, for fear of me shutting the door on them!
 
My house rabbits don't eat a lot of hay during the day. They start eating around 6.30 a.m. and then sleep a lot, eating a lot more hay in the evening. I have hay in the litter trays which I change throughout the day and they eat a lot of this. Mine also do not like hay that has sat there for half a day, they like it topped up with fresh on the top. It could be psychological, but when they hear the paper hay sack they come running.
 
I have read that some buns don't like hard flooring and prefer carpet areas, do you have a hard floor in your kitchen? Mine are based in the kitchen and both also adore the stairs. We have a hard floor but the buns have never had a choice and don't have any probs x
 
When I had mine in the house they hated me cooking anything - totally freaked out by the smell I guess. I would also agree they don't like hard floor so is that the problem in the kitchen? Also I had to shut them into their crates for an hour after giving out hay, or Tia would literally eat nothing all day - I'd put her in her crate and she'd be like 'oooh look! hay!' and it had been there all day while she sat on the carpet 2 yards away! :rolleyes:
 
Thanks v much - this is all very helpful.

It is a hard floor in the kitchen and they prefer laying on the doormat, so I'm going to try to get a few carpet tiles, so it seems a bit more comfy to them.
 
Thanks v much - this is all very helpful.

It is a hard floor in the kitchen and they prefer laying on the doormat, so I'm going to try to get a few carpet tiles, so it seems a bit more comfy to them.

If there's a Wilkinson near you they do 'runner' type rugs 2x6' for just £4 - I use them for hutch covers but I guess they could actually be used as....runners :shock:
 
Have they got a somewhere to "hide in" in the kitchen. A cat carrier or a cardboard box cut into a house works for mine. When they want to be away when I am cooking they duck into it.
 
I think hay everywhere is a bit of an unavoidable hazard of having house bunns really though

So very true! We were doing laundry today and I was cleaning out the dust-trapping thingamabob, and found little bits of hay stuck in there even :lol:

I would definately suggest the carpet runners or a large rug in the kitchen, at least so that they can access their food and water safely. My rabbit has total access to the kitchen (tiled floor) since we dubbed him a house rabbit and let him have run, and he has never even gone into it once, even out of curiousity. :roll:
 
Have they got a somewhere to "hide in" in the kitchen. A cat carrier or a cardboard box cut into a house works for mine. When they want to be away when I am cooking they duck into it.

Will put a carrier in for them. :)
 
Hay really IS an unavoidable obstacle with housebuns!!!!!:roll: Every time I sweep it all up, I turn around five minutes later and it is EVERYWHERE again!!! I'm just used to it now!:lol: :lol:
 
Oh I know - it's just that I have house piggies, so already had absolutely loads of hay all over the place. I'm just hoping to get them used to not having to have hay in every room of the house. :lol:
 
I'd forgotten about hard floors Sarah sorry...Audrey doesn't like the tiled kitchen floor and will hop about on it if she has to, but loves it when she is let into the rest of the house so she can get a good speed up and binky!

Her cage is in the kitchen, and she has a blanket on the floor in front of it so she can lay on that. I also used to have one under the kitchen table and she enjoyed laying under there- but I had to take it away cos she was chewing the chair legs :rolleyes: :lol:

If you want to use blankets, you can get nice fleecy ones cheaply in Primark or Wilkinsons.
 
sooty doesn't like the kitchen either, his room is on the other side and he runs through the kitchen like it's enemy terratory. To help I cook when he's running around the rest of the house and never turn on the microwave when he's in it (the kitchen that is).

Re: Hay - I have a large black gravel tray about 75cm square which I put his litter tray, hay and all food on. It means that most of the hay ends up contained in it and can just be emptied daily into the bin or litter tray. Those very cheap thin dormats you can get are also good for stopping hay going from one room to the other. I have one outside the kitchen door.
 
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