• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Away with the baby gate?

joey&boo

Wise Old Thumper
The baby gate is at the bottom of the stairs .

Mouse is lounge dwelling & never leaves the room - she never has, even when she was younger, more agile & bonded to other bunnes (who would leave the room)

Upstairs live Joey & Boo - they are free to roam anywhere on that floor & do so now that its carpeted. They have been upstairs for approx 15 months & in that time the only time I found Boo on the stairs was when I had bunny treats in the oven. Joey will do anything to get out of bunny bonding - I'm sure if I put him in the room with Mouse he'd pretend he hadn't seen her & bolt back upstairs to his Boobly bear. The only thing that Boo can't seem to manage since losing her eyesight is the stairs.

Worst case scenario if anybun acted totally out of the ordinary & went downstairs I don't think either Joey or Boo would be a big risk to Mouse (they were previously a trio) but she is flighty & disabled - could hurt herself whilst moving away which is the bigger risk.


Does anybun have any thoughts? Or experiences of rabbits who respect each others boundaries without having PPE in place?
 
I dont think id pesonally risk it. Could you maybe use something that's possible for you to step over, as a type of "small disencouraging" device in case they decide to go take a look? (English isn't working right now).

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
What would be the reason for doing it?

If it's just to facilitate your movement up and down the stairs, I would do it only at times when you could be aware of any out of the ordinary movement between the bunnies.

If it's because you've got a hankering after trying to rebond them, I would do it properly. That way you'd have a better chance of success and a better chance of nothing surprising happening.
 
thanks for your thoughts DP + Omi.

Its not a big hassle having the baby gate there but it just feels redundant - I think both sets of bunnies are happy where they are. Its not that I want them to accidentally bond this way, its just that if they did accidentally meet I wouldn't be worried about them killing each other (when I had Rudey the amount of times I had to turn back over shut gate paranoia was untrue. Joey & Mouse are just not adventurous & I think Boos must be curbed since going blind. Its taken 3 years before Joey started to explore all of upstairs.

It feels similar to if I were to wear gardening gloves everytime I go in J&B's room incase they had a fight
 
I do agree with the small barrier thing; more to put off than prevent. But I also get the 'I don't think they're bothered about each other, other places really', because none of my rabbits have wanted to come out of the house when the barrier's in the way (apart from Lopsy trying to jump on my leg once) even with the door open, and in your case the stairs are the barrier, the gate is the door...?
 
I do agree with the small barrier thing; more to put off than prevent. But I also get the 'I don't think they're bothered about each other, other places really', because none of my rabbits have wanted to come out of the house when the barrier's in the way (apart from Lopsy trying to jump on my leg once) even with the door open, and in your case the stairs are the barrier, the gate is the door...?

I get that.
Do you know I think I'll have to keep it on, its a small inconvenience for peace of mind. Maybe on a par with micochipping house bunnies
 
I do agree with the small barrier thing; more to put off than prevent. But I also get the 'I don't think they're bothered about each other, other places really', because none of my rabbits have wanted to come out of the house when the barrier's in the way (apart from Lopsy trying to jump on my leg once) even with the door open, and in your case the stairs are the barrier, the gate is the door...?

OH always insists our two won't jump out of the shed with the door wide open. I'm always nervous and never try to test the theory. In a similar way, the chickens will not step through any open door into the shed or into the house, presumably because they are usually closed.
 
I would leave it in place because safety first. We must protect Mouseypie at all costs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OH always insists our two won't jump out of the shed with the door wide open. I'm always nervous and never try to test the theory. In a similar way, the chickens will not step through any open door into the shed or into the house, presumably because they are usually closed.
I have to say, for all my talk of Lopsy's lack of forethought, common sense etc., he's always good at portals: any opening that's not normally an opening, he'll wait at it and give it a good going-over before venturing beyond. He came out of the playhouse when I'd left the anti-egress gate open (it's a short jump) and he'll climb along the top of the gate from the windowsill, but he's not gone over it yet... I think everybun except Chibbs has been out of the top of the hutch :lol:
 
Discovered Joey if desperate enough can squeeze his whole body through the baby gate :lol:

I remember the first time I put a baby up on Nutmeg’s enclosure. First thing she did? Waltz straight through the bars!

Then I added mesh panels to the bottom and she managed to jump up on them between the bars again! So I ended up having to mesh the entire thing.
 
LMAO XD Joey :love:

I was petrified Chibbs would be small enough to get through the run/puppy pen bars but she hasn't got more than her muzzle through yet, same as Aboleth and Lopsy :D

Now I've said that I reckon I'll get a message from the OH saying she's done just that because I'm not at home til tomorrow :lol:
 
Took the baby gate off a week ago (the wall is rubbish for screwing in to & came loose regularly). I've only been shutting the living room door (where Mouse lives) at night or when leaving the house. I was pretty convinced Boo wasn't up to higher (or lower) level investigations & that Joey very much lives in the moment & seems uninterested in pushing his physical boundaries.

This morning I fussed Boo who was lying at the top of the stairs as normal, nipped in the bathroom for literally a minute, looked down the stairs & Booble was at the bottom! What a clever girl. I wonder if she has investigated before. How did she know the gate had gone???
 
Clever Boo :love: she probably felt it with her whiskers :love:

:love: she'd have to go downstairs to feel it (or not) with her whiskers though as gate is at the bottom. If she is going to frolic blindly on the stairs I think its better left off.
Lucky I don't get out much
 
Back
Top