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indoor housing for big bunnies

bunnymad

Warren Scout
:) Hi everyone :)

I`m planning on introducing one or two more larger breed house bunnies to our family.

Photos and ideas on indoor housing would be great.

Should I have both pairs apart for their sleeping areas?

This time I`m planning on getting babies, be it from a breeder or from the spca or pound! Hoping younger buns will pet down more than the two I have already.

Would 2 sisters be ok to bring in with my fixed male and unfixed female?

Is there any diet differences between the smaller and larger breeds?

Any info would be great as its going to take a while to get the housing and that together!

bronie
 
Hiya Matey!

I have 4 buns who live indoors as house rabbits and they all get on brilliantly. Just a few things though to keep in mind if you are going to introduce to another pair.

You really shoud consider having your existing female spayed. Not having this operation can be a serious health risk to female rabbits. They are at risk of develping ovarian cancer after 5 years and seem to die much younger.
Also she has her mate already. She has her home and not being spayed means she has all her hormonal instincts. If you add two more rabbits into the mix you will really stress her out. She will be very territorial and will probably attack. This can be very viscious. Spaying will make a huge difference here.

I agree that the younger the pair you plan to introduce means you'll have more chance of success. I chose a happy-go-lucky pair of babies to play with Holly and Caesar. Holly was a bit cruel and chased them around to scare the life out of them but never hurt them. Now, it is a very beautiful scene to watch. Holly and Caesar are very much "together" but they look after, teach and groom the little ones so well. Clio keeps trying to mount Holly which is hilarious as she is half the size. Holly just jumps a little to the left and Clio slides off. Holly just rolls her eyes at me as if to say "will she never learn?"

They are very much a family and to be completely honest (and lazy) it is sooo much easier to look after them and clean them when they all get along.

Good luck to you and if you have any other questions or just want to chat about how it's going , send me a PM.

KR
Andrea
 
I`m not getting any more in the near future. Cost is a major problem. So its the wondering how much and what do I have to make stage!!
I wasn`t planning on getting Bugzee getting fixed, but will add that to the first to do list!! :)

bronie
 
Hehe,
I've got a feeling Bronie wants some BIGGGGG bunnies - like the GIANT ones...........am I right?! Unless you're 'handy' or have a handyperson in the family, you might be having to save up to have such accommodation made Bronie. If you want to be able to confine them when necessary, plus include their bedrooms, you really need something along the lines of those dog motels. Cos sometimes you will need to have them outside, right? So really, you're looking at two sets of housing, indoor and outdoor. Last year I designed some guinea pig accommodaton in the form of raised (my head height) double hutches with all the user-friendly features I wanted, and had it made by a local timber firm that makes dog motels. It was all treated timber and marine ply and cost over $400! And that was just for 2 piggies. I couldn't afford to do that again, but it was worth it in that now I can enjoy the pigs without the hassle of crappy poorly designed cages and I know they are happy and comfortable. So work out what you want, get it on paper and get some quotes. The breeder I visited last week had lightweight metal hutches with runs, including a BIG size, didj't ask for the price of that, but the normal single size were $80, which I thought was good. I'll find out more for you.
Hugz to the buns.
Anna
 
thanks for that. My dad is a handy and has all the gear to make things:) And yip, indoors and outdoor housing is what I`m looking at. I`m not sure if I will use treated timber as thats toxic. But will seal and paint the outside of the outside house. Maybe a dog kennel altered with a home made run.

still bunny mad!

bronie
 
Oooh, lucky to have a handy dad. My hubby is v handy with electricals and fixing the computer etc but is not a builder! Re the treated timber. I agonised over that too, wasn't sure what to do, as I know it's toxic. In the end I decided to go with it (as that's what the majority of outdoor hutches are made of anyhow) and I just provide safe pieces of wood for chewing for the pigs. They have never attempted to chew any part of their house. I also instructed the carpenter to line the hutch fully with the ply so that there are no edges of framing timber for them to grip with their teeth. Any exposed framing such as on the lift-front doors, are bevelled down on an angle, again so there is no grip for teeth. The hutch has two meshed open fronts so the ventilation is good and the sleeping compartments are within, and are little unterated pine boxes (nail boxes). In winter I cover one side of the unit. Anyhow, I'll post a pic up on my site. I think it's fine for outdoors, but not indoors as there is no ventilation indoors.
 
Kiwibunny - did you manage to post the pics of your gp hutch - it sounds great and now I have taken on an extra gp I will need to sort him out with a more permanent home and maybe a friend once he is better. A raised hutch would be a great solution so the rabbits can have the shed floor and the guineas some wall space.
 
O1! Wake up Bronie!! Wheee! Jackpot! Bronie (Bunnymad) and I have been trying for ages to pin a breed possibility on my Tweed and her Shadow. Bugzee is a wild bun but Shadow and Tweed are different to Bugzee in lots of ways. So maybe they could be something like Rex/N'land? I'll post those pics up of my hutch right now.
Anna
 
Thats what I was thinking. :!:

I`m off to go and put that to "them".

I`m having some fun on what breed Shadow is here in new zealand. As I do have a wild cotton tail (a rescued bun) they are saying Shadow is also a cotton tail.

smallbrownfrog, would you mind if I direct some ppl your pic of burnie? As I`m wondering what breed along with kiwibunny`s tweed.
 
they really do look like bernie! Tweed even has the redish colouration on her neck, behind her ears! maybe that's distinctive to agouti colour, like the silver fox colour has the uplighted effect?

yours look like rex x something else to me. the only netherland characteristics Bernie has is the satin fur, the lack of rex curly whiskers, and smaller ears. your buns look to have propper rex sized ears! they could be crossed with anything!

yes, you can use my pictures, thanx for asking. :)
 
Oh the really raised runs is great I wanted to do that so its easier to clean.

Problem is once you end up with something too big it takes am army to move it round the garden.
 
I've just bought a dog crate for my two house buns.

Its massive!!!!!! About 4x3x3ft. Cost about £50.00 inc postage.

Im intending to build shelves in there etc.

They originaly lived in a Ferplast 120 but with a third bun coming soon I decided they needed something bigger.

Louise
 
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