Exercising Questions about Holland lops

[ChristineG23]

So I looked up online how long you should exercise your bunny a day and it says 3 hours. How do people that have to work/go to school manage that everyday? Is there some tools that you bought to help yourself out? Is 3 hours a day wrong? Give me all of the information you know! Thank u!!

 

[A & B]

3 hours is a very small time to have playtime outside of the cage. Most sources say something like 8-9 hours. That just means the cage is open for that amount of time, so they can explore/run/binky. If they don't get time outside of the cage, their joints can get stiff, leading to problems like arthritis. I have two not bonded bunnies, but they both get 12 hours of playtime. My male was free roam before I adopted my female and they will go back to being free roam when they're bonded. Plus, the more hours of time a rabbit spends outside the cage, the stronger bond you two will have.

 

[Blue eyes]

3 hours is actually a bare minimum -- unless the cage itself is about 30 sq ft. The reason for the 3 hours is that rabbits can be finicky. Say I decide to let my bunny run around from 5 pm to 8 pm. The problem is that if he doesn't happen to be in the mood to explore at that time, then he will just remain lounging for the 3 hours. That's the potential problem with the "3-hour rule."

Rabbits won't behave like dogs that are eager to play whenever we give them attention. They beat to their own drum.

This is where the balance comes between cage-size and roaming time. Those that are able to free-roam their rabbit can have a small cage since the cage door is open all the time. But if one is hard-pressed to provide well more than 3 hours per day, then it would be best to provide a roomy permanent space. An exercise pen (or two) can be an ideal solution for this situation.

Just bear in mind that a standard exercise pen -- if it is set up in a square, it only provides 16 sq ft. But if a 2nd pen is used OR the pen is set up to make use of an existing wall, it can provide more space.

Here are a couple examples of an exercise pen providing permanent space for a rabbit (they always have access to the full pen and can be let out for even more exploring time).

 

[Hermelin]

I just let my bunnies have the chance to run around in a pen or free roaming the hours they need.

The outdoor bunnies get access to a run one get 10 hours and the other one get 5 hours.

They have toys in the pen and sometimes I stuff toys with food/ hay so they have to work. Often my outdoor bunnies will dig and chew the toys spread around.

So if you have a bunny that love digging, you can make a digging box for your bunny.

The indoor bunny free roams, he will run around the house and play when he feel like it. Often 3 times everyday he run like crazy and binkys.

I lock him into the cage during the night. He have 16 hours outside cage and spends around 6 hours in the cage.

The exercise time it’s the times outside the cage should at least be 4 hours. So they can play and run around. Bunnies are most active early morning and sometime during the night.