House Rabbit Novice: Advice needed!

[Tammie]

Hi Guys

Just wanted to state first that I am no novice to rabbit ownership, however when I move into a very large studio late august I want to adopt and go for the house rabbit option..

Adoption:
Firstly I want to help all those centres overrun with neglected bunnies and give one of them a home....could anyone recommend anywhere in london I can go to...As much as I adore babies, rabbits real behaviour doesn't seem to shine through till they mature so i'm more than happy to get a slightly older neutered one..

Housing options:

(1) I will be at work during the day once they settle in
(2) Hard Floors (no carpets)

Living in a studio with a small separate kitchen and bathroom, ideally I'm not particularly keen on keeping them in a large cage or big puppy pen...

I want my bunny to feel as little like a caged animal as possible.

At the same time I want to make sure a area feels to them like there's, and there happy to litter trained in...

Knowing how much they hate hard floors, If I got a washable rug for a area of the room, where a comfy litter tray filled with hay..favourite toys, food etc was...would this (a) work well for toilet training (b) won't appear like punishment to him/her when I need to block off the area to go out or sleep...

I did think of using the kitchen as a enclosure..but it's not big enough really for toilet training, without disturbing (him/her). unless you think this is good for when I go out..

Rabbit Breed/size most suitable for studio?:

Any tips from Dwarf to Flemish giant more suitable for a studio home..

Help....!!! Please tell me if you think caged is best...or anyone other suggestions..

 

[*lily*]

Hello and welcome to the forum

I have a houserabbit that has no cage and is never locked in. He freeranges the house when we are here and has the kitchen, conservatory and very large hallway when there is no one in, which isn't often.

He has his littertray in the conservatory, which has a tiled floor, plus some toys, his bowl of food and a cushion. He tends to sleep under a chair in the conservatory.

I don't think the breed matters as long as you have a big enough area for them!

 

[Tammie]

HI thanksxx Hey..you obviously have a large home..but i have a studio.. and i don't want to confuse the rabbit while potty training..plus i will be out during the day Monday to Friday....hence all my questions

 

[mclaugh]

Hi, I live in an apt and we have two freerangers They're always out whether we're home or not. Where they decided their toilet was is in a corner beside our shoe rack, I think your bunny might actually decide where he/she wants to go themselves, ours did completely ignored the corner we had the litter tray in :roll: so decided why fight it
Sounds like you've thought about a nice set up though with the rug and all that I'm sure you're bun will love it.
We have a dwarf and a mini lop, not sure if size matters but I'll leave that to someone with bit more bunny expertise than me to answer
Oh and I'm sure others in the forum will say maybe two bunnies, while you're out they can keep each other company

 

[*lily*]

HI thanksxx Hey..you obviously have a large home..but i have a studio.. and i don't want to confuse the rabbit while potty training..plus i will be out during the day Monday to Friday....hence all my questions

You said it was a large studio so what is wrong with my advice? I was only trying to be helpful :?

 

[Gemmapookie]

Hiya :wave:

my 2 are house buns. i live in a 1 bedroomed flat and they have free range all of the time whether I'm in or not. They have a cage which acts as their base and litter tray, their hay racks are attached to it etc, but the door is ALWAYS open.
Id definatly advise making your bun its own special area to help with litter training as you suggested, with somewhere that it can hide away and feel safe if he needs to. If you get a cage or a dog crate you can keep the bun confined to it for the first couple of days, to help it establish its territory and keep it from gettin too overwhelmed. Then when you start letting it free range it will know that that is "his" area
Make sure to bunny proof your flat before getting him. Cover or hide all wires, glue down and wallpaper or carpet corners etc. I find my two don't go into the kitchen or bathroom atall, presumably because they dont like the tiled floors :roll::lol: So I think that a large rug or carpet tiles (easy to eplace) are a good idea for yours and the buns living area.
Im sure someone will advise you of a rescue in your area soon. I think its great that you've decided to go down the adoption route, some bunnys going to get a very happyhome with you And the other bonus is he'll probably already be fixed and vaccinated. I would definatly advise getting 2 so that they have companionship when you're not home. Believe me it makes them FAR less destructive which is obviously very favourable for a house bun :lol: You will probably be advised of this at the rescue anyway.
Good luck and get some piccys up when you have them :wave:

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

I would not have a large or giant rabbit in a studio set up. They get everywhere and into everything.

I have a large home and a huge garden and the giant bun I had managed to race round both the bottom of my home and my garden. A smaller breed would have room to make more hops per square metre. Have a look at the recommended hutch sizes per breed from places like the RWA.

If your floors are slippy then some sort of none slip matting is a must, most buns dislike sliding in my experience.
I have large rugs which can be replaced when too badly chewed and use cotton rugs that are machine washable in the buns huge puppy cage.
Neeps is a destructive little monster with bunny teeth so unless I am in the house I have to secure her in the large puppy playpen to reduce the chance of another sofa being munched.:shock: Roll on when that new hutch arrives!

Read up as much as you can and think about your work schedule. Buns are most active early morning and evening and tend to doze during the middle of the day so if that fits in around your work commitments then a small to medium pair may fit your lifestyle and you theirs.

 

[pigsforlife]

We have a house but Charlee is restricted to one room. I have 2 dogs which are predominately indoors so it is not safe for her to free range throughout the house. I have a base (6ftx3ft pen) which has her hay, litter tray, comfy sleeping area, extra level (she likes to sit up there bit like a look out) and pellet bowl. She then has access to the room during the day - I just shut her into the pen at night. I mainly do this cause it is also my bedroom, and don't want to trip over her in the middle of the night when I am half asleep and needing a drink!

I would recommend having some sort of home base. When I brought Charlee home, she had her pen. I let her out for a couple of hours of supervised play time starting after the first week (no time out for the first week to give her a chance to settle down). As she grew more confident and became more toilet trained I let her out more frequently, in larger spaces for longer time periods.

I would also suggest a smallish bun for a studio. They are very active - Charlee does some mad zoomies and binkies and loves exploring but can't get as high as a bigger rabbit would be able to. And as Tracybeakerisland said, they would have more hops per square metre. Charlee is a netherland dwarf. We are not sure on the size of her husbun but he won't be a large bun (I was hoping for a minilop or a lop, but it is whatever Charlee gets along with! 1 week to go before we meet him!!)

 

[Tammie]

Thank you so much guys

My post name is actually a very much missed bunny...but considering what you guy said about two being less mischief? really....?? the ones I've had on there own were always up to cheeky mischief lol...plus knowing all the medical costs with vacinations etc two would be expensive surely.....?

anyway I will update you guys in the future....thank you so much againxx

 

[pigsforlife]

If you are at work all day Monday to Friday, bun will probably get lonely at home by himself. Saying that, Charlee has coped fine (I am out of the house 6 hours a day, 5 days a week). She is always binkying and does not seem depressed at all - but I do feel sorry for her, and now that we are financially able to we are very excited to be getting her a husbun. I think that one bored bun is more likely to get up to mischief than two buns - because the buns entertain each other.

I have been told that cost shouldn't go up by that much. I get hay for cheap (buying by the bale saves heaps of money) and pellets are fed in such a small quantity that I can not see it affecting the pocket much. Veggies I can expect to go up, but it has been pointed out to me that there will be less wastage. Litter is also likely to go up but I imagine it will be marginal.

Vaccinations are once a year (where I live), and once they are nuetered they are nuetered. It is just those emergency vet bills that are the killers. Keeping a back up vet fund is great. I try to keep a certain amount of money for each animal saved away in the case of an emergency. Certainly saves a lot of stress when you are dealing with an ill animal.

 

[mushers]

the trouble with free ranging rabbits is ..... not all can be trusted ive had 3 still have 2 of these the first would have stripped the house of all woodwork and wallpaper within a week and probably dug so hard into the plaster he would have found lsome cables so he was caged while were out but out while we were in
the two i have now are much more easy going on the interior of our house however splodge is at times very adventurous climbing falling chewing ect so he is the reason both are cgead while were out daisy never chews and does not know what mischief is but she is caged with him as i think it would it be unfair to leave her free while he isnt

so my advice would be be prepared ! you may need a dog crate or similer just o keep your studio and bunny safe some of them are real trouble makers *stares at splodge *
hard floors dont seem to be a problem for most rabbits but carpet is better if you dont have a garden for them to run round in
and when litter training your best off starting with a small space like your kitchen otherwise they poo everywhere and take ownership of the whole flat

 

[Hanlou]

Hi! I have two rabbits who are currently house-bunnies.

I would suggest planning to have a dog-crate plus pen (I would never lock a rabbit in a dog crate for anything more than an hour or so) or a set-up made from NIC cubes as this would be....

a) Ideal as a starting point until the rabbit(s) are litter trained
b) It would be somewhere safe for the rabbits to go to (they really like to have somewhere as a 'bolt hole' in my experience.)
c) It would be somewhere you could shut them in safely as you will need to do this every now and then - perhaps when cooking for example.
d) It's handy to have a 'base' for their litter tray / hay rack and food dishes etc.

.... you could then work up to free ranging them permanently when you're happy they are litter trained etc.

But I do agree that it's difficult to gauge a bunny's personality - some are more destructive than others. Our two have been fine. They've destroyed my seagrass waster paper basket completely and attempted to nibble a corner of carpet but that's all. My two have a dog-crate base but have free range of a bedroom 24/7 with free range of the upstairs for 2 hours or so a day. I will be moving them outside soon though.

There are tons of alternatives when it comes to having a bunny area - loads of dog pens etc on ebay and elsewhere that would be ideal as well as I've mentioned the NIC cube set-ups.

I use non-slip Vet bed 'rugs' in their room - they love to stretch out and sleep on them and it gives them something to grip on as the room has laminate flooring.