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Rabbit room or moving them outside?

Sarah298

Young Bun
Hi after a bit of advice.. (Sorry I feel like that's all I do on this website!)

We currently own our house but due to my partners job, later this year we will be moving into rented housing. We have 2 rabbits and 2 guinea pigs, all of who live indoors - the guinea pigs have a custom built cage/ run in the front room and the rabbits have the run of the house. Speaking to my partner briefly today, he wasn't happy with the idea of having the rabbits living inside because of any damage they might cause etc. I have been trying to think of alternative accommodation for them when we move. We were told the house we move into is more than likely to have 3 bedrooms so I had a thought of either having a rabbit and guinea pig room just for them with some sort of waterproof matting down to protect the carpet or moving them outside (I don't want to do this..) and into a shed. Some of you might remember me asking because about adding a dog to the mix... this is partly why I don't want to move them all outside as my partner might then get the idea (Again!) of getting a dog. We will be in this house for roughly a year and then moving on again (Military) so need something that would be easy enough to put into new houses afterwards and ideally does no damage to the house.

Basically, can I have peoples' opinions on what you would do in this situation and/ or any room proofing tips or opinions on sheds with a run/ aviary attached.

Thaanks :)
 
Personally I think that the best option would be to give them a whole room, perhaps with carpet/rubber matting/vinyl to protect the exisiting carpet and fenced off sections to protect skirting boards? I've not done it myself but there must be others who have similar setups. I'm planning to do something similar when we (conversely) switch from renting to buying so I would be interested to hear what others suggest! I love the indoor enclosures that Manor pet housing do but that is a pricier option and wouldn't give them as much room potentially.
 
If I were you I would lay down ply board and non slip vynil on top of the carpet to bunnyproof it, and keep them indoors. A shed and aviary run could be nice for them(depending on their personality) but depends on the time of year you move, if they are indoor bunnies you can't move them out in cold weather as they won't have a winter coat :thumb:
 
Thanks guys :)
I think we will be moving July/ August time, however I really don't think I could bring myself to move them outside. I've seen some pictures of sheds with runs and think they look pretty good but I guess moving every couple of years it might not be the best option to have them outside. Good idea about the plyboard and then something over the top. Also the younger rabbit now chews the walls :)shock:) so I think he is worried about that sort of damage but sounds like we can protect it all and then just stick a baby gate in the door to keep them contained etc
 
Hi Sarah :wave:

We have both, a pair and a trio outside and a single (recently bereaved)rabbit inside, two dogs and we live in military sfa.

The inside bun is a relatively new addition, she has full run of my daughters bedroom, fortunately she has a cabin bed with a desk underneath as sometimes rabbits will wee on beds. We got a large sheet of Lino for £30 I think it's 3mx2m and covers 3 1/4 of the room, great, BUT it moves and drives me nuts. We have secured it under furniture but it still gradually goes lumpy and bumpy. We have fenced around the edges with a rabbit playpen opened out, but she chews the Lino and I've noticed some damage to the skirting board. Prior to getting the Lino we trusted her and she has ripped up a small area of carpet which we will get charged for, even though the carpets had stains and burns marks when we moved in.

Our house is a three bed and tiny, so giving a room over to rabbits (well its still my daughters room lol) means we have less places to store things. Also it all looks a bit messy and hay gets traipsed round the whole house, but you maybe find this already lol.

Outside we have a shed which we luckily got for free and a 12x6 run joined to a playhouse. So its daunting thinking about moving it all in the future. We laid a patio area ourselves with slabs from ebay and the run sits on top, but it was a massive job and will obviously have to be returned to normal when we move. We had to go for slabs as they used to try and dig out. It does look great though and they have loads of space. Luckily the garden is much bigger than the house. It sounds like you haven't had a house allocated yet so won't know the size of the garden.

Lastly the dogs. When we moved here we decided to devote the entire garden to the rabbits. Previously we had divided the garden into sections. So now they don't go out there at all and instead we take them right 5 or 6 walks a day. Obviously this wouldn't be practical for everyone, but luckily I'm around most of the time and also we divide them up between all of us.

Any questions feel free to ask x
 
Hi Sarah :wave:

We have both, a pair and a trio outside and a single (recently bereaved)rabbit inside, two dogs and we live in military sfa.

The inside bun is a relatively new addition, she has full run of my daughters bedroom, fortunately she has a cabin bed with a desk underneath as sometimes rabbits will wee on beds. We got a large sheet of Lino for £30 I think it's 3mx2m and covers 3 1/4 of the room, great, BUT it moves and drives me nuts. We have secured it under furniture but it still gradually goes lumpy and bumpy. We have fenced around the edges with a rabbit playpen opened out, but she chews the Lino and I've noticed some damage to the skirting board. Prior to getting the Lino we trusted her and she has ripped up a small area of carpet which we will get charged for, even though the carpets had stains and burns marks when we moved in.

Our house is a three bed and tiny, so giving a room over to rabbits (well its still my daughters room lol) means we have less places to store things. Also it all looks a bit messy and hay gets traipsed round the whole house, but you maybe find this already lol.

Outside we have a shed which we luckily got for free and a 12x6 run joined to a playhouse. So its daunting thinking about moving it all in the future. We laid a patio area ourselves with slabs from ebay and the run sits on top, but it was a massive job and will obviously have to be returned to normal when we move. We had to go for slabs as they used to try and dig out. It does look great though and they have loads of space. Luckily the garden is much bigger than the house. It sounds like you haven't had a house allocated yet so won't know the size of the garden.

Lastly the dogs. When we moved here we decided to devote the entire garden to the rabbits. Previously we had divided the garden into sections. So now they don't go out there at all and instead we take them right 5 or 6 walks a day. Obviously this wouldn't be practical for everyone, but luckily I'm around most of the time and also we divide them up between all of us.

Any questions feel free to ask x

Hi :)

That's great to hear from someone in the same situation really! My partner phoned today and asked what sort of accommodation is available and he was told it's all 3 beds. However, I've joined a facebook page for the area to get a bit of an idea of the place and they are saying 2 bed flats or 4 bed houses so the housing issue might be sorted easily! I like the idea of the paving slabs though as our 2 love digging and can't imagine it would go down to well handing back a house with a load of holes in the garden!

I know exactly what you mean about getting charged for things.. our friends recently moved out and they got charged for such silly things, even dust under wires on the skirting boards. I think that's why my partner is so paranoid about them living inside. Has anyone been round to inspect your house and if so said anything about your rabbit inside at all?

x
 
Our buns live indoors, we have joined a couple of puppy pens together to make 60sqft of space for them with vinyl underneath.
Despite one of ours being a very determined chewer this has stopped damage to the walls and skirting, the vinyl has suffered a tiny amount
This particular room is almost totally given over to the buns,
Good luck with whatever you decide to do
 
I'd be tempted to keep them inside, for their great company & because that is what they are used to. Decent outdoor accommodation is pretty expensive so I'd invest that in good protective stuff you can take with you fairly easily when you go. I got my buns some grass effect lino recently which I reckon would look really good in a bunny room.

I've had house bunnies (always completely free range) for about 23 years & they have been so varied in their destruction it amazes me. My current trio are really good at not chewing. Having lived with bunnies so long rabbit proofing a room is second nature to us.

I've lived in three rented houses since. The bunnies left little marks in each but I was able to put most of them right with a little DIY ;) I had problems getting my last deposit back (it had to go to adjudication through Deposit Protection Scheme) but their issue was more about house spiders than house bunnies !

I think it all boils down to how how much your rabbits are in to interior design:lol:
 
Hi :)

That's great to hear from someone in the same situation really! My partner phoned today and asked what sort of accommodation is available and he was told it's all 3 beds. However, I've joined a facebook page for the area to get a bit of an idea of the place and they are saying 2 bed flats or 4 bed houses so the housing issue might be sorted easily! I like the idea of the paving slabs though as our 2 love digging and can't imagine it would go down to well handing back a house with a load of holes in the garden!

I know exactly what you mean about getting charged for things.. our friends recently moved out and they got charged for such silly things, even dust under wires on the skirting boards. I think that's why my partner is so paranoid about them living inside. Has anyone been round to inspect your house and if so said anything about your rabbit inside at all?

x

No, fortunately we've never had anyone come round to inspect and I've lived in different sfa for 10 years plus (not had rabbits as long as that though). It probably wouldn't go down too well if they did but we will obviously patch everything up when we leave and these carpets are due for replacement. It sounds like your friends ones were very thorough, we found loads of dirt and issues when we moved in here.

Long term the plan is to move her outside, as I don't think she's that suited to being a house bun. But we are waiting for the warmer weather. We are constantly worried about what she's getting up to in the room, she's very mischievous.

Good luck whatever you decide x
 
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Thanks for the suggestions :). I put the ideas forward to my other half and he agreed the plyboard, mats... etc idea was good so they will be staying indoors :D
 
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