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Need some advice on my indoor rabbits

I’m the lucky Bun-mum of three gorgeous girlies and one recent angel Bun 😔

My three girls live inside, how they came to be indoor bunny’s in the first place was sort of by chance,
I’ll introduce them briefly so you know who were talking about here.
I’ve got Floppsy, Flick and Luna.
I adopted Flop, Flick and they’re brother Thumper a few years ago.
They were given to me as outdoor rabbits and lived in a custom made hutch with a run attached for the first few years.
Unfortunately Flop became sick with E-C and became disabled as a result. So we brought her inside and Flick lives with a Thumper outside till he became poorly and passed away earlier this year.
This was early January and because of the cold I decided to bring Flick inside as well because I didn’t want her outside on her own
The plan had been to bond her with another rabbit to live outside with her but that’s not gone quite to plan, we adopted two more girls but Flick fought with both and unfortunately the other fur we adopted Nunchucks didn’t bind with either of our girls. Luckily a friend was happy to take Nuns, and she is living a lovely life with her 😌

Luna hasn’t bonded with Flick, but seems to like Flop, while Flick has also bonded with Flop, not as well though,
So now I’ve got the dilemma of how to either get them as a trio, or find Flick another friend?

Also I’m having family issues with them being indoor rabbits,
My mum especially dislikes the fact that they are indoors, she calls them dirty and smelly which obviously upsets me quite a lot.

I try to keep them as clean as I can, with regular cleanings out and spot cleaning regularly,
But I think she doesn’t get it.
We have cats and I find the rabbits have a similar type of relationship with me
They will follow me round and interact with me which I really love, but she doesn’t see that, she just sees them as ‘rodents’
And in her mind they shouldn’t be ‘living among us’’

Yet she has a dog and that’s fine?
It’s bizzare really.

I’d really like to keep them indoors, ideally either with a friend for Flick or have them as a trio if they take to each other.
But I’d like them to have almost 24/7 access to the house like the cats do, within reason obviously, and in terms of the cats, I keep them safe.
But I’d like them to live less like penned in petting zoo animals and more like family memebers ☺️
 
Hello and welcome. I am sure that there will be a wealth of advice following your thread from others who also have indoor buns. I'm afraid I cannot really give you any advice on bonding a trio as I've never done it. And you also have the added complexity of a possible quad. I've always been comfortable with two.
Some of the issue here appears to be the reistance of your mother and her interpretation of them as 'rodents' is not particularly helpful. To be precise, rodents genome is actually mice/rats etc, but irrespective of the genome, they are still simbiant beings who deserve care and love.
My two rabbits have lived indoor from the outset - but it was not by choice, more by circumstance. Ideally ww would like them outside but for the time being, they are both indoors.
Rabbits do need quite a bit of space - they need to exercise and explore. And in doing so, they can and do present problems. Their natural instinct takes over and they encounter hazards which we inadvertantly create. Wires are the most obvious - they look like tree roots and to a rabbit, are there to be chewed, so wires of any sort need to be out of reach. Rabbits will find security in small places so they can scramble into small gaps. And they will chew. Furniture, chairs, settees, walls, plaster carpet, lino, the list is endless. So they need toys and safe chew things to keep them entertained.
They need a litter area and rabbits are well known to be able to be toilet trained. In doing so, you can reduce the mess that they can make, although the odd accident will occur. Rabbits like familiarisation - they hate change so wherever they are they need to have some sort of continuity. Their environment shouldn't be too draughty or too hot. Also avoid too much noise. Some owners use large dog crates for a bedding area and there will be some helpful threads on keeping house buns.
They make really good companions and once they are used to the environment, they are really very little bother.
I hope this helps give you some direction but please update when you can - and have a look round some of the other parts of the forum - you may well get some ideas of other indoor set ups.
 
I've heard house rabbits described as 'vegan cats' if that helps? Craig has given some excellent advice :)
 
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