First Time House Bunnies!

[Beapig]

Hi everyone, long time, no post :wave:

So...we are moving! To a very rural village. There's plenty of space for my bunnies to be outdoors in the long run if we feel that's a better option, but initially at least, they will have to be house rabbits, as any outdoor accommodation will need to be extremely fox proof and will take a while to plan. I love the idea of them being inside, and would be happy for this to be permanent if it's right for them.

We have a spare reception room in the new house, it measures 3.29 x 3.48 metres. This will be their room, with free roaming downstairs most of the time as we both work from home and our office will also be downstairs.

It's a lovely room with two windows, so lots of natural light. We'll be bringing their Manor Pet Housing litter trays, hidey-houses and Omlet tunnels with us to set up in the room for enrichment. I was thinking that maybe a dig box would be nice too.

They both love to graze, so replicating that is going to be tricky. But there will lots of bunny safe plants to forage right outside our door at least.

There's already carpet down in the room, which we don't mind getting wrecked - I'm assuming carpet is okay to use as the main flooring, as long as they don't eat it?

I'm worried that the move is going to be quite scary for them as it's a couple of hours drive from where we are now, so I'm thinking of buying a larger carrier which they can travel in together? They're sisters and have a really strong bond.

If anyone else has any advice about having house bunnies for the first time, I'd really appreciate it, thank you!

 

[Motty]

When we undertook a 3.5 hour journey with the buns, we put them in separate carry cases, but positioned them with the carry cases door to door, this way they could see and smell each other, but were not able to get at each other.
When we arrived at the new house, getting the rabbit accommodation set up was the absolute number one task
Richard

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

 

[joey&boo]

Exciting times ahead Beapig. I think you'll like having house bunnies. My buns have got on fine with carpet but theres a couple of things to be aware of. When they dig it up on the edges theres those really sharp carpet tacks. I've not known any injuries but worry about them anyway. Also carpets are not ideal if your bun has sore hocks, especially if they have high nylon content, wool would be good I think. That said I've carpets upstairs & (fingers crossed) both Eddy (who zoomies a lot) & Boo (arthritic) have no hock issues so far. Many of my house bunnies over the years hated lino & laminate flooring

I don't know about a larger carrier tbh. They'll probably hunch up tightly at one end anyway?

Hope all goes well

 

[Shimmer]

If I transport rabbits, they always go in separate carriers with plenty of hay to cushion them if they get thrown around at all, and some fresh greens for water / moisture. Water in bowls or bottles will just spill and get messy. Smaller carriers are a lot easier to manage and are safer in the car. They will be fine for a couple of hours or so.

 

[Beapig]

Thank you everyone for all of the tips!

It's good to know that I'm just being a worrier with the carriers - I already have two regular sized carriers for the girls, so will use those and have them face each other so hopefully they both feel a bit less scared.

Thanks J&B for the heads up about carpets, that is really good to know. In the past when we've had to bring them in for dental recovery etc, they have both hated walking on hard floor and I've had to put towels or blankets down, which is why I wonder if they'll prefer the feeling of carpet. If not then we can always rip it out anyway. It's old and not very pretty, so I won't be precious about it either way :lol: