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Gus & Belle

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Joined
May 28, 2020
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Location
Australia
I was wondering how many people house there rabbits outdoors or somewhere similar? Right now my two buns are living in there 4 metre run/hutch which is currently in the garage. They are going to be moved outside once it gets to spring (this is what my parents have decidedšŸ˜§). We will bring them inside when it gets to hot as we are in Australia so our summers are pretty sunny. We have a neighbor's cat that tends to come through our garden a lot and sometimes there are foxes out on the park near my house. We can block off the fence the cat uses but it can still possibly get in the garden.The hutch has been designed so nothing can get in and they can't see the predators ( in the unlikely chance that they do come). They will have flysreen over the hutch and run to keep the mossies out and rain covers for winter. I was just wondering if this was an ok set up and if any outdoor rabbit owners had any tips. Thank you in advance!
 
I had to keep my first bunno outside half of his lifetime for my parents' reasons (even when it was hot) so i know your situation of bunnos outdoors but i cannot give you any more advice than what has been given because i managed to sway my parents' minds and for half his remaining life my first bun, and for the rest of his life my current bun can stay indoors in better conditions.
My tip for you is to make sure that they're comfy and safe there, and that they could spend enough time with you too! Number one tip would still be: try to change your parents' minds by confronting/solving the reasons why they won't let the buns live indoors.
In my case it was so simple-i just had to show them that my bunno can use the litterbox better than dogs ever could! (And yes i also did minor bunno proofing) (Not saying that dogs can't be loo loo trained.) (Meaning extremely tidy/loyal to the litter spot)
 
Thanks Catlyn, I would love to keep them indoors but I have two indoor cats and are not good with other animals/scents. One of them after smelling the blankets from the rabbit run excessively rubbed her face everywhere on the blankets and slept in the bucket where the blankets were for the rest of the day. So she's very overprotective. My parents also bought a really expensive outdoor hutch for them so don't think they would be to happy to sell that....
I'll try anyway and see what happens thanks for the help!
 
I was wondering how many people house there rabbits outdoors or somewhere similar? Right now my two buns are living in there 4 metre run/hutch which is currently in the garage. They are going to be moved outside once it gets to spring (this is what my parents have decidedšŸ˜§). We will bring them inside when it gets to hot as we are in Australia so our summers are pretty sunny. We have a neighbor's cat that tends to come through our garden a lot and sometimes there are foxes out on the park near my house. We can block off the fence the cat uses but it can still possibly get in the garden.The hutch has been designed so nothing can get in and they can't see the predators ( in the unlikely chance that they do come). They will have flysreen over the hutch and run to keep the mossies out and rain covers for winter. I was just wondering if this was an ok set up and if any outdoor rabbit owners had any tips. Thank you in advance!
Hey there fellow Aussie bun!!!

I have three mini lops, and, while we are in the process of bonding at the minute, once my three are bonded, they will be moving into a four metre long hutch and run. The hutch is outside, and my male lop was living in it for about 6 months, before he was moved out last week to be bonded.

We too have lots of neighbours cats around, aswell as foxes, that we often see on our roundabout. I just lock my bunnies upstairs overnight, so that they cant be scared by anything, or see anything thats outside.

I'm not sure where you are located in Aus, but where I am it gets very hot in summer and cool in winter. I just give my buns an ice block in summertime, and extra blankets in winter. Hopefully this will help you!!!
 
Thanks Catlyn, I would love to keep them indoors but I have two indoor cats and are not good with other animals/scents. One of them after smelling the blankets from the rabbit run excessively rubbed her face everywhere on the blankets and slept in the bucket where the blankets were for the rest of the day. So she's very overprotective. My parents also bought a really expensive outdoor hutch for them so don't think they would be to happy to sell that....
I'll try anyway and see what happens thanks for the help!
Maybe you could talk to your parents about bun-and-cat-proofing one of the rooms in your house, maybe your bedroom or something? That way you can have your buns and cats inside together!

And i'm pretty sure that if you try hard enough, your parents will be willing to sell back/reuse the hutch somehow. Just curious though, can you share the link to the hutch or something?

My dad too bought these net grid sheets and other stuff to make Musti's crate when he lived outside (crate is 60*90*60cm and total cost was something 58ā‚¬ including the 12ā‚¬ metal snippers) that our budget rings the bell of "lil' bit expensive but better than in shops".
When he moved indoors, that crate just became his home base.
 
Thanks Aspen'sbuns for the help! Since it's been pretty cold we put a hot water bottle under the hutch floor to act as a heating for them when it gets to chilly. I haven't spent a summer with my bunnies yet so we will be using the iceblock trick and moving them inside when it is an especially warm day. It's nice to meet a fellow Aussie bun owner!
 
Thanks Catlyn fingers crossed that it all works out so they can be out of the elements, we will see how it works out and I will try and prepare for both scenarios just in case.
 
I haven't spent a summer with my bunnies yet so we will be using the iceblock trick and moving them inside when it is an especially warm day.

Just bear in mind that heatstroke is a danger once it gets close to 29C. Over 35C is quite dangerous for them. An iceblock may certainly help, just know that some rabbits aren't smart enough to go near it when it's hot. (Had a friend whose rabbit refused to go near the ice no matter how hot it got.)
 
Just bear in mind that heatstroke is a danger once it gets close to 29C. Over 35C is quite dangerous for them. An iceblock may certainly help, just know that some rabbits aren't smart enough to go near it when it's hot. (Had a friend whose rabbit refused to go near the ice no matter how hot it got.)
We must our bunnies ears in summer time with a water bottle, that always seems to help :)
 
Thanks for the concern Blue eyes. I mentioned before that we would move them inside when it is to hot. The air conditioner would be on to keep them cool and the iceblock would just be there to give them the choice if they want it.
 
Thanks I wish it could be bigger... We let them run around in my garage blocking everything bad off to give them a run around and we also take them outside in their run to give them more space.
 
The run is 3 metres and the hutch is 1 metre so it's 4 metres in total. Just thought I would mention it! šŸ˜
 

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