A hiccup in the run plans....Advice please

[Anya&Harry]

Hi I'm new to this forum, Last week I was given 2 brother rabbits, Their previous owner hadnt realised they had a girl and boy not two girls and all of a sudden 2 became 6 , they were unable to home the last two and the local shelter was full so I agreed to have them, had been thinking of getting rabbits anyway, and had already prepared a hutch (wendy house conversion) and an 8ft x 5ft run with 24/7 access. When I saw them they were in a teeny hutch with a run as the bottom floor (maybe 3ft x 2ft each level) with the dad as well! Needless to say they are loving their extra room!
However I still feel that this isn't enough room for a permanant solution, My plan was to allow free roaming of our garden (which is huge) for the majority of the day under supervision....that was until this morning, when I noticed that a family of wild rabbits has appeared to have moved into the end of the garden! This leaves me concerned about two things, one will there be a disagreement over territory? and Two Can't the wild rabbits carry things that could make my two boys very ill? they have been vaccinated but not neutured yet as one isn't quite ready and the vet (and myself) would prefer them to go together..... Any suggestions as to increasing their exercise area would be greatly recieved

 

[fruitandnutcake]

Are you in the UK? I thought I was the only one up so early in the morning :lol:

In the UK, wild buns can carry myxi and VHD, but as both your boys are vaccinated I am asumming it is the Myxi/VHD combi vaccine. Normally wild buns vacate an area that is populated by humans ( my parents old house had wild rabbits when we first moved in, but soon went). However to be on the safe side, could you not extend the run or fence of a section ofthe garden. I have a large garden with foxes in the area so I built a large 22ft by 9ft walk-in run attached to a shed, but I only use it in the summer. I also fenced off the top part of the very large garden so the buns can have access to the patio area and grass when supervised, but can not get to my veg plot and shrub/flower borders. Either wooden fence with wire mesh stapled on, or green plastic coated "fence on a roll" works well. I use a wooden arch with a wire mesh gate I made so I can access the bottom garden.

 

[tonibun]

The wild rabbits will attack your boys if they can as they think it is their territory. So I would make sure they can't get to them.

 

[Anya&Harry]

The wild rabbits will attack your boys if they can as they think it is their territory. So I would make sure they can't get to them.

That's what I was worried about and thought might happen :/ We had wild rabbits living here for ages before (despite having two dogs) but for the last few years they haven't been here, then suddenly my boys arrive and within a couple of days they are back :/
I will look at fencing off maybe half the garden for them, which should give them 50ftx20ft of exercise space, I'm just concerned wether any residual germs would be left from the wild rabbits urine etc that may affect my rabbits, maybe if I fenced it off but left it a week or two before allowing my rabbits to play there?
On closer inspection this morning, I'm not sure that the entire family is wild, One of the adults appears to have more domestic markings, the other is definitely a wild rabbit and the babies are a mixture of the two.....maybe someone's pet fancied a bit of the wild stuffs
Please excuse any typos, 2 sets of small fluffy feet are jumping all over me and the laptop!

 

[tonibun]

Don't forget they dig! Maybe a smaller space but safer.

 

[Anya&Harry]

Don't forget they dig! Maybe a smaller space but safer.

Could i not bury down below the ground, to prevent digging? That's how the run currently is, we're prone to foxes round here so wouldn't wanna risk anything that can burrow, Thanks for your input Tonibun, I really appreciate it