Free Roam and Large Open Enclosures

[Rescuemom]

For those of you who allow your buns to free roam, or have large, open enclosures - any tips on properly bunny proofing(my boy isn't a chewer, but he will nudge and push at sections he thinks he can move out of his way)?

Also, for large open enclosures - what do your set ups look like? Any tips or suggestions?

I had considered making my spare room a bunny room. However, I have since decided to give my bun free roam in my room(for now anyway) - I may still upgrade him to the spare room at some point. My plan was to build a bi-level cage for him. But he's old, he has cataracts, and he's lazy and I decided my best bet would be to just let him have as much time out of cage and to relax and be stress-free as possible. I decided that instead of my flex room(where his cage is usually kept), he could safely free-roam or have an 'open' set up in my bedroom, as my room(my baby's room, and my guest room which will be used for the Christmas holidays by family) are the only pet free rooms(I own three snakes, a cat and two dogs). My room fits the bill best.

I have my bed on a set of drawers which creates a foot and a half crawl space down the center under the bed which I want to somehow block off - any ideas? I did get some NIC cubes... but sadly, their squares are too wide and he could push his head through(is there a way to prevent that??

Really.. I'm looking for any suggestions or even if you could just show/tell me what you did, that would be awesome!

 

[ilovepets]

i would start with keeping any wires out of reach. my rabbit has her own room in the basement and i have some things blocked off with c&c panels (which are the same as the NIC panels). my panels have 9 holes across and work good. the few i have that have 5 holes across, i tied them together to block of the doorway. in my room i have a litterbox and food/water area that has some foam tiles and a towel under it to catch any accidents.



its a little different now, the panels on the bottom of the pic are not there and her litter area is paneled in the back like the in above pic. i have my bed all paneled off so she can't go under it. i also have some different toys and a cardboard box house for her so its neater looking


in her room, i tried paneling off her cage, but now i just let her run loose when i am home and i check on her every once in a while. she has everything she needs and toys and a digging box with rags

 

[Blue eyes]

The NIC cubes vary in grid width. You might need to just get the right ones. They should have 9 openings across a single grid (like the ones in the above pics). I've seen some grids that only have 8 or even just 5. Those aren't going to work. So you could just find the right grids.

Other than that, you may need to get creative. I've used pieces of 2 x 4 wood, foam board (the kind kids use for school projects), paneling, a shelf from a bookcase can also be used.

Another option when bunny proofing is to consider ways to allow access rather than block off. For instance, if you put a piece of thin plywood under the bottom side of your bed mattress, you could just let bunny go under your bed. (The board would prevent him from digging up into the underside of the mattress.) But that depends on your bed set up and situation. It's just a thought to consider that some areas can actually be allowed rather than blocked.

I did this in our family room. The bunnies kept wanting to go behind the couches and would nibble at the couch corners to try to get back there. My solution was to pull the couches further from the wall and just let them go there. Now they don't nibble since they can easily get back there. (You'll also see in photo how I had to block off those baseboards with a piece of pinewood.

 

[BrittsBunny]

My rabbit stays in my room during the day and when I go to bed at night. He has access to pretty much the whole apartment when I'm home and hanging out in the living room/working in the kitchen. I do keep certain doors closed such as the laundry room. He's not much of a chewer either, especially now that he is older...but I do make sure to keep wires out of reach. I also try to minimize crawl spaces. Thankfully he listens when I call his name (he thinks I have food all the time) and he'll come running out of any hiding spot. My bedroom is a bit of a jungle right now because I just moved. He thinks it's great. I have his cage set up in a corner of my room. I try to always think of potential hazards before I leave each day so that I know I did my best to keep my animals and my home safe.