Monty's Human
Alpha Buck
I hope this is the right section! Apologies if not 
(apologies also for all the questions - I feel like a very bad bunny owner )
My question is just about leaving Monty alone for short periods when we're out of the flat. To begin with, we always put him away if neither of us was here, but we've slowly learnt to trust him if we're just popping across to the shops and will only be gone 10 minutes. Would it be ok to leave him unattended for any longer than that? I'm really worried he'll injure himself while I'm gone, but it means locking him away in his hutch more than I would like. Some background:
* I work from home, so there's somebody here seven days a week, and he always gets at least a few hours out of his hutch. But I go out for approx. an hour and a half twice a week, and once every couple of months or so we'll have visitors and both be going out for the afternoon. At these times he's put in his hutch. Also for the odd eg longer shopping trip of an afternoon or what have you. We have to put him away for a few hours in the evening to let the hamster have a run around, and we leave him in his hutch then over night - so he's usually in for about 10 hours at a time overnight. Obviously if we could safely leave him out, he would still need to go away for 2-3 hours while the hamster plays, but otherwise there's nothing to stop him being out all the time except concerns about safety.
*We are a one-storey flat, and basically, there's a door which effectively separates the flat into two, so that Monty can be kept in one section, or let into both. The back of the flat (bathroom, study, bedroom) is fairly well Monty-proofed, but not entirely. In particular, although we have wrapped up all of the wires in the study in wire protectors, he still has access to the electrical socket where they plug in, and also to the back of the computer, where the ends of the wires are still visible. To his credit, he's shown little inclination to chew them, but I only leave him unattended at the back when the computer is switched off at the wall. Will switching it off be enough to prevent any (rabbit) damage should he chew through anything? His favourite spot in the whole flat is under the bed, so I like to let him out back when I can - he also has a bowl of water and a cardboard box filled with hay in the study, so access to water, food and a secondary litter tray at the back of the flat. If we could leave him unattended in the whole flat, I think that would be ideal, but it isn't as thoroughly Monty-proofed as the front of the flat; it would be possible to confine him to just the front of the flat when he's alone:
*The front of the flat (living room, kitchen) is (almost) definitely Monty-proofed. He's never been into the kitchen, so I've never tested whether the Monty-proofing has worked, but I can't see any way he could harm himself - unless he gets behind the freezer/washing machine to the wires, but I'm fairly certain he can't. The living room was, we thought, Monty-proofed, but about a month ago there was an Incident, and it's that which has made me think we won't be able to leave him unattended. He managed to choke himself climbing back into his hutch (he decided to go under the door, rather than round it, the door caught on his shoulders and ended up trapping him between door and door-frame and choking him). Thankfully, I was in the room at the time and sprang to the rescue, but this is why I prefer to put him in his hutch. The only way of fully Monty-proofing the living room, it seems, is to close his hutch when we aren't around - not the end of the world, he has a litter tray full of hay, there's a water bottle attached to a table leg and he can hide under the sofa, which is completely dark - but obviously denying him access to his hutch isn't ideal. Otherwise, we're confident the room is as safe as can be for a bunny.
I hate him having to be in his hutch so much (his hutch is slightly smaller than the recommended size - we could only fit in one that was five foot long, and I think the rec is six? It is min. size for height/width, though, so he has just about enough room, and is able to stretch out fully, hop, and stand up in the centre of the hutch. Having the rest of the flat to run around in also means he has more than the rec. space for outside the hutch, which I hope compensates in part.). But after the choking incident, I'd rather put him away then leave him unattended alone/at night and have something happen. What's best to do?
(I should probably also say that we've been trying to teach him "home!" but he steadfastly refuses any inducement to go back to his hutch during the day, so we end up carrying him, which he hates, so generally going back in is a stressful experience for him. He's ok in the evenings - he seems to have learnt to recognise the noise of the hamster waking up, and will hop back in quite cheerfully and flump down on the second storey so we can shut him up).
(apologies also for all the questions - I feel like a very bad bunny owner )My question is just about leaving Monty alone for short periods when we're out of the flat. To begin with, we always put him away if neither of us was here, but we've slowly learnt to trust him if we're just popping across to the shops and will only be gone 10 minutes. Would it be ok to leave him unattended for any longer than that? I'm really worried he'll injure himself while I'm gone, but it means locking him away in his hutch more than I would like. Some background:
* I work from home, so there's somebody here seven days a week, and he always gets at least a few hours out of his hutch. But I go out for approx. an hour and a half twice a week, and once every couple of months or so we'll have visitors and both be going out for the afternoon. At these times he's put in his hutch. Also for the odd eg longer shopping trip of an afternoon or what have you. We have to put him away for a few hours in the evening to let the hamster have a run around, and we leave him in his hutch then over night - so he's usually in for about 10 hours at a time overnight. Obviously if we could safely leave him out, he would still need to go away for 2-3 hours while the hamster plays, but otherwise there's nothing to stop him being out all the time except concerns about safety.
*We are a one-storey flat, and basically, there's a door which effectively separates the flat into two, so that Monty can be kept in one section, or let into both. The back of the flat (bathroom, study, bedroom) is fairly well Monty-proofed, but not entirely. In particular, although we have wrapped up all of the wires in the study in wire protectors, he still has access to the electrical socket where they plug in, and also to the back of the computer, where the ends of the wires are still visible. To his credit, he's shown little inclination to chew them, but I only leave him unattended at the back when the computer is switched off at the wall. Will switching it off be enough to prevent any (rabbit) damage should he chew through anything? His favourite spot in the whole flat is under the bed, so I like to let him out back when I can - he also has a bowl of water and a cardboard box filled with hay in the study, so access to water, food and a secondary litter tray at the back of the flat. If we could leave him unattended in the whole flat, I think that would be ideal, but it isn't as thoroughly Monty-proofed as the front of the flat; it would be possible to confine him to just the front of the flat when he's alone:
*The front of the flat (living room, kitchen) is (almost) definitely Monty-proofed. He's never been into the kitchen, so I've never tested whether the Monty-proofing has worked, but I can't see any way he could harm himself - unless he gets behind the freezer/washing machine to the wires, but I'm fairly certain he can't. The living room was, we thought, Monty-proofed, but about a month ago there was an Incident, and it's that which has made me think we won't be able to leave him unattended. He managed to choke himself climbing back into his hutch (he decided to go under the door, rather than round it, the door caught on his shoulders and ended up trapping him between door and door-frame and choking him). Thankfully, I was in the room at the time and sprang to the rescue, but this is why I prefer to put him in his hutch. The only way of fully Monty-proofing the living room, it seems, is to close his hutch when we aren't around - not the end of the world, he has a litter tray full of hay, there's a water bottle attached to a table leg and he can hide under the sofa, which is completely dark - but obviously denying him access to his hutch isn't ideal. Otherwise, we're confident the room is as safe as can be for a bunny.
I hate him having to be in his hutch so much (his hutch is slightly smaller than the recommended size - we could only fit in one that was five foot long, and I think the rec is six? It is min. size for height/width, though, so he has just about enough room, and is able to stretch out fully, hop, and stand up in the centre of the hutch. Having the rest of the flat to run around in also means he has more than the rec. space for outside the hutch, which I hope compensates in part.). But after the choking incident, I'd rather put him away then leave him unattended alone/at night and have something happen. What's best to do?
(I should probably also say that we've been trying to teach him "home!" but he steadfastly refuses any inducement to go back to his hutch during the day, so we end up carrying him, which he hates, so generally going back in is a stressful experience for him. He's ok in the evenings - he seems to have learnt to recognise the noise of the hamster waking up, and will hop back in quite cheerfully and flump down on the second storey so we can shut him up).
