Free Roaming help

[Clover&Hopper]

Hello!

I have a 7 month old lionhead buck named Clover. I have had one other bunny besides him, he recently passed and so of course after being sucked into rabbits, I adopted Clover.

I decided that I really wanted to let Clover out free roaming my bedroom 24/7. I still live with my family, and for the foreseeable future, I don’t see that changing. Meaning he is confined to my bedroom.

First few days were great! He was using his litter pan with little to no accidents and wasn’t getting into trouble. It has been a little over a week of him free roaming, and the chaos has started.

He learned he can easily jump 3.5 feet onto my bed. I was quite impressed since he is only about 2-2.5lbs and maybe a foot in length. It was not an issue at first and I didn’t mind him coming to cuddle with me at night. But tonight he decided he was going to adventure a bit too far. He jumped on each of my nightstands on either side of my bed, knocking off my clock and some other items (breaking some ) I keep on my nightstands. Luckily I have a camera in my room so I was able to catch him doing it and able to stop him before he broke too much stuff.

I had to make the tough decision to put him in a cage for the time being. And unfortunately it isn’t the biggest cage, given it is so late at night. While I really didn’t want to cage him, I had to. Not only for his safety, but for my rooms safety .
It makes me feel very guilty especially him sitting at the door looking at me with his cute eyes.

My question is, how did any of you get past this? Did you have to result to locking them up? What rabbit proofing ideas did any of you have for the bed situation? I have thick covers on cords and gates around the parts he can’t go to, but there’s no way for me to stop him (or to my knowledge) from getting him to stop jumping on my bed and causing chaos.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[Blue eyes]

You may want to consider caging him just for nighttime. Perhaps consider using an ex-pen or similar to block off a corner of your room to provide some reasonable space for him for just the nighttime (or when you aren't home). If it's only being used at nighttime, it doesn't have to be excessively large, just comfortably so.

As for jumping on your bed, that's a tough one. If he only has been doing this while you're sleeping, then hopefully you can stop him from turning it into habit by confining him at night. If he's doing it in the daytime, that may be hard to stop. You can put a plastic tablecloth over your bed to discourage him from deciding to potty on it (that's often what happens when bunnies get used to hopping on a bed). Some people have tried laying foamboard posters or coroplast on top of their bed to discourage bed jumping.

 

[Clover&Hopper]

You may want to consider caging him just for nighttime. Perhaps consider using an ex-pen or similar to block off a corner of your room to provide some reasonable space for him for just the nighttime (or when you aren't home). If it's only being used at nighttime, it doesn't have to be excessively large, just comfortably so.

As for jumping on your bed, that's a tough one. If he only has been doing this while you're sleeping, then hopefully you can stop him from turning it into habit by confining him at night. If he's doing it in the daytime, that may be hard to stop. You can put a plastic tablecloth over your bed to discourage him from deciding to potty on it (that's often what happens when bunnies get used to hopping on a bed). Some people have tried laying foamboard posters or coroplast on top of their bed to discourage bed jumping.

Thank you for some advice!

Unfortunately, he has been doing it through the day too. I have been home most days, so I’ve been able to watch him and say “No Clover” and he has been responding pretty well to that…for now lol. Anytime he manages to get on my bed I immediately take him off. I think he’s slowly getting the idea he isn’t allowed on the bed.

As for the xpen/cage situation, I have started caging him at night. Around 11PM he is put away til about 8AM. So far that has been working. Do you think that is too much time to be locked up?

Luckily I was able to go get a large dog cage and it has been working. I am not sure what the dimensions are, but it’s enough he can hop around and it fits his litter pan, water dish and pellet dish.

Thank you!

 

[Blue eyes]

That time in the cage will be just fine.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have 2 that aren't bonded, so one is out from 11am till 11pm and the other is out from night to midmorning. That gives them plenty of time--of course, they have their own room. Before we moved we had them out in the family room with us and they each got 4 hours out. We also have 2 9' playpens so they could be out more--at one point we had 17 non-bonded rescues with 4 out in separate areas at a time.

 

[skipidragon]

Hello!

I have a 7 month old lionhead buck named Clover. I have had one other bunny besides him, he recently passed and so of course after being sucked into rabbits, I adopted Clover.

I decided that I really wanted to let Clover out free roaming my bedroom 24/7. I still live with my family, and for the foreseeable future, I don’t see that changing. Meaning he is confined to my bedroom.

First few days were great! He was using his litter pan with little to no accidents and wasn’t getting into trouble. It has been a little over a week of him free roaming, and the chaos has started.

He learned he can easily jump 3.5 feet onto my bed. I was quite impressed since he is only about 2-2.5lbs and maybe a foot in length. It was not an issue at first and I didn’t mind him coming to cuddle with me at night. But tonight he decided he was going to adventure a bit too far. He jumped on each of my nightstands on either side of my bed, knocking off my clock and some other items (breaking some ☹) I keep on my nightstands. Luckily I have a camera in my room so I was able to catch him doing it and able to stop him before he broke too much stuff.

I had to make the tough decision to put him in a cage for the time being. And unfortunately it isn’t the biggest cage, given it is so late at night. While I really didn’t want to cage him, I had to. Not only for his safety, but for my rooms safety .
It makes me feel very guilty especially him sitting at the door looking at me with his cute eyes.

My question is, how did any of you get past this? Did you have to result to locking them up? What rabbit proofing ideas did any of you have for the bed situation? I have thick covers on cords and gates around the parts he can’t go to, but there’s no way for me to stop him (or to my knowledge) from getting him to stop jumping on my bed and causing chaos.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

I learned to either put things over 6 feet high or put them away, in a drawer, plastic box, closet. It keeps me lots tidier. It's everything your mom told you to do and now you have 'Fang' to help you. Buns are up at night. I don't feel that caging her is the best, but try to get the biggest one you can.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I also boxed in all wires and cables.