Ideas for building an environment.

[macgilli]

Good Day All,

I'm looking to acquire a rabbit (Or Pair thereof) again, as I had to re home both of mine several years ago due to a rather rapid (I don't think they would have liked 6 days in a car (Averaging 13-17 hours a day), and at least two new environments within 10 days, in winter.) cross country move. Needless to say, they had much more fun at their new home. (My family has a large hobby (In the sense that we keep horses.) farm, and they well had the run of a barn to themselves, and made a lot of friends, oddly enough with chickens.)

Now, it's still early days yet for me. I'm just curious as to some housing questions that I had / have.

One big thing is of course, ideally if I acquire another rabbit (or rabbits). I would move rather quickly to a free range environment within my apartment.

Full disclosure : Nothing space wise, or idea wise is off limits to me.
A few facts : I really am a ways away from this. (3-6 months.) The ideal would be to get one, or two at around 8 weeks old to ensure maximum amounts of training and acclimatization. I'm also not 1000% certain on this.


1. Initial Cage size. Ideally, I'm looking at around 38x38 space for the rabbit, probably initially single level using NIC construction, with a second level and ramps going in. Possibly even third level. Possibly with a small house in there. With of course a litter box and considerable amounts of enrichment. I believe that after the first few days, time in the cage should be limited to no more than 16 hours per day (Something tells me a lot less than this, however this should be a maximum (The endgame is to have them mostly free range). Obviously this may be expanded. Note: Depending on what happens, I may adjust this to be an area 2-4x larger.

2. Has anyone actually built a burrow for their rabbit? I was thinking about this earlier. As I'm somewhat of a creative type, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about this. I believe, that I could build a burrow of around 60x50x 40, possibly within or a large part of their cage. This is separate of course from a digging box. I am wondering if this is a: 1. Horrible idea, 2. Bad idea, 3. Unusual or 4. Interesting idea.

I ask simply because I think it would be an interesting experiment, and interesting way of enhancing their well being. Obviously, it would take a considerable amount of time effort and energy. I have some rough ideas on how to proceed. Ideally by building a large wood "box" , with a bit of a "mud room" around it. However, I have no idea of what sort of soil, or unintended consequences there are.

3. House proofing. My last two rabbits, were quite precocious. They also were escape fanatics. I once had to start stripping the furniture out of a room to find one of them. Now, my apartment has quite a substantial amount of electronics. Much more so than the average house. It also has weird electrics where a lot of cables are run.

It also has a tonne of bookshelves. As the whole place looks like it was built out of tetris. (Seriously, I'm good at fitting in a lot of things.) I am worried about rabbit proofing. One, due to the weird arrangement inside, both by design, and by furniture, I will have to rabbit proof a considerable amount more. I can put together visualizations if that helps...... My question then becomes, is it better to do this entirely in advance. Via fitting out the entire apartment at one time. In order to prevent disruption and disturbing said rabbit. Or should I be able to do it room by room.

Ideally my strategy would be as follows:
- Build Rabbit initial cage.
- Run NIC along all walls and access points to prevent access to behind bookshelves, desks, and some cables. (Most cables are actually run across the ceiling. There is only one cable run that is along the floor and it is behind furniture.
- Box off, either by wood, or hard shell plastic, all outlets and cables connecting outlets. (A second layer of defence.)


With that being said, should I focus on one area at a time, or do it all in advance?

Books and stuff, easy to relocate upward.


Hardwood floors : The entirely of the apartment is hardwood floor. I am wondering, should I :

-Put rugs and mats down for the whole apartment, including under furniture?
- Put rugs and mats down for the whole apartment, not including under furniture?
- Put rugs and mats down to provide an area for said rabbit to run around, yet focus on not matting areas near outlets and such?


Anyways, some initial ramblings from me. Just curious as to some initial ideas.

 

[Blue eyes]

Your thoughts sound like they run similar to mine. I would like to offer my suggestions based on my experiences. (My early rabbit days also saw many of our books become casualties of bunny teeth!)

The more you can prepare ahead of time as far as arranging your home, the better. Rabbits are definitely creatures of habit and they will know when something has been moved or re-arranged. The other reason is that it is always far easier to keep a rabbit out of an off-limits area if he has never had access to it. Once bunny has had access to a certain area, then he knows the space exists and he will likely try to get back to it. Going backwards and trying to prevent bunny from going where he has already been is usually an uphill battle.

This is why it best to get as much bunny-proofing done before a bunny ever is brought home. Of course there will always be an adjustment period where bunny may test boundaries. But during this time, he should be monitored and potential weaknesses in bunny-proofing can be adjusted as needed.

Hardwood floors can be a problem - especially for some bunnies. As long as your rabbit has a sufficient carpeted space for ample binkying and running (and a path from cage to said carpet) then all is good.

I did not create a 'burrow" per say, but I did build a rabbit cage out of an old oven cabinet. Are you meaning a dirt burrow? Not sure about that either way. I do know that house bunnies seem to adjust quite well to an indoor environment and seem to find favored resting/lounging areas within the home. Mine are only closed in their cage at bedtime (around midnight til morning). The rest of the time they are out free (whether we are home or not). One cannot do this until all bunny proofing has been thoroughly tested! They readily hop back in their cage at night since that is when they get their daily portion of pellets. (They always have hay available and get daily greens too.)

I will, however, heartily disagree with the idea of getting a bunny (or two) at 8 weeks of age. I realize this may sound backwards because people assume that training and acclimation are best done as young as possible. This is actually not true for rabbits. Rabbits that happen to litter train when young, often forget that training once hormones kick in. The truth is that fixed rabbits train easiest.

The other common myth is that lots of early handling makes for a friendly rabbit. This is also false. An article in the 2014 Rabbits USA magazine explained this too. A rabbit's innate personality is not going to be altered by early handling. The exception may be that individual rabbits that are naturally shy may actually become even more withdrawn from too much early handling. (There was also a breeder here on RO who attested to this also. I can't remember who it was though.) So not only are young rabbits less trainable, their temperaments are not more pliable either.

Those facts aside, the other issue with getting two young rabbits is that there is a very real risk that the two won't ultimately bond (once hormones activate and they've been fixed, healed, and gone through a bonding process). Countless times have we seen this scenario played out here on RO.

Rabbit personalities aren't really apparent until after they've been fixed (or become adults). Fixed rabbits are also most trainable. So, for all of these reasons, I would highly suggest going through a rabbit rescue since their rabbits are already fixed. You then get the privilege of choosing based on actual personality (and a rabbit that seems to like you too). They also have already fixed and bonded pairs if you would like two rabbits.

Well, you asked a long question and got a long answer in response!

Some other questions you have may be answered at my rabbit care site here.

 

[macgilli]

Blue Eyes,

I appreciate the answer and the feedback.

Right now, I'm hoping I can even do this. I may have to adopt very soon a lifestyle that isn't conducive to rabbits. I wouldn't want a repeat of my last 24 months of work. (Travel for 3-6 weeks at short notice repeatedly.) Outside of that, or a possible relocation transcontinental or intercontinental relocation. So I am naturally holding off until that firms up. (I'm not daft enough to think that I can not show up at home for 40 days. (Yes, that happened, that was -fun-, not..) and be able to care for rabbits. (I understand the emotional and environmental problems that occur.))

Assuming that it is possible, e.g. if the above doesn't happen. I don't want to make the mistakes that I made last time. It was a great learning experience. As well as before I dump a lot of money, and more importantly, time (I estimate it will take about 24 hours of effort to refit my apartment completely). (Money's money, time is much more valuable) into refitting an apartment out and finding out it doesn't work or they are unsuitable to the environment (As a species not an individual ). Ultimately I want to give any rabbit, or rabbits the best possible environment. Although, I think that rabbit proofing would also be a great chance to repaint this place.......I've only been putting that off for 3 years.

Also, I'm seriously talking of a dirt burrow. I am that outlandish to try. Its just an endeavour that I would want to build in advance of any rabbit coming into my apartment, as I'm sure they don't take the noise of power tools that well. Plus, its one of those things that, would take up a lot of space, and be difficult to remove should it not work, and I don't want to have to admit failure and have to disassemble it. (I can just see having to remove it, it's like my couch, good luck getting that out.) The mess doesn't actually bother me too much. Trust me, some of my hobbies cause much more difficult to clean messes. (Although, that has improved with a lot of practice.)

I shouldn't refer to handling in the sense of picking up and all of that. I mean handling as in presence (Hey look, human is here all the time working on that dammed screen all day and night.) , time (Contact time.), effort (You have to have all toys known to man, and then another set of them.), energy (If I bug him enough, he will pet / groom/ lay with / give me treats / give me amusement / Or annoy him by hiding when its time to leave.).

With my last set, I often had them in my office with me while I worked, or relaxed. Which was I think a good way of spending time with them, as such they acclimated very well. They had been in there since they came home, they only went into their cage at night, and each area had full set of toys, food, litter boxes, and rabbit proofing. (That took me a few attempts to perfect.) Due to the layout and size, they also had lots of spaces to call their own, as well as some hilarious accidents (Thank you for remembering the smell of your mother and family, and place you were born, all over my nice wool jacket and causing me to have it dry cleaned. Mind you, they loved that coat.) and incidents they caused. (Including said time one of them hid behind a bookshelf, and caused me to have to start moving out furniture to find them. The look on their face was worth it though. (You know the look, the "what me, I didn't do anything" look.)

I come from a family that lavishes their pets. From horses, to ducks, to dogs, to cats. So to me, the attention, time, effort and energy I have to give a rabbit or any animals is natural. (My parents take a dog and two cats (One who was a stray they rescued from a job site that they decided was not going to be given up.) to their business, and have forced me to sit in the back as the cat and dog get the front seat.

The whole age, gender, method of acquisition, number is further down the line for me, as I want to make sure the higher stuff is done. Outside of one question, how much more space, would say a large breed, (Flemish Giant?) require than a small breed (Dwarf?). I can bet that the cage size for a large one is a lot more than a small one, I'm assuming double my previous estimate of 38x38 inches. Which is totally doable just requires some more work on the design portion of things.

Now back to the early day questions.

Obviously the largest risks I see in my apartment are as follows.

1. Chewing electrical and other cables.
2. Getting into my scale models and books.
3. Hardwood floors. (No carpet at all.)
4. Air quality.
5. Space
6. Hiding somewhere. Also known as getting behind furniture.
7. Honest to god escape from the apartment onto either the balcony, or the hallway.
8. Gnawing on a plaster wall. (All my walls are plaster and not drywall.....)

For rabbit proofing and risk mitigation purposes, I'm curious as to the thoughts to mitigate these.

My thoughts on them are as follows.

1. Run power bars up to a higher height. (Normally done any ways) and run any electrical off of that. Normally most cables are run across the ceiling, however unlike my future dream house, power outlets are low. Followed by caging or boxing all outlets in some sort of a box, either a custom built wood box, with access door, or alternatively NIC. However due to furniture and stuff, how much of a separation is needed. Cable protectors are an option, as is getting flat headed power adapters so they do not have the pronounced outward problem of regular power cables.

2. Getting into things, I think can be mitigated by moving things off the bottom shelf, and possibly investing in bookshelf doors. (Why I love ikea furniture) to protect said objects. Now, my question to everyone, becomes, has anyone had those doors get opened?

3. Hardwood floors are I believe resolved with mats and carpets. I've played around with the idea of large rugs, and small rugs, depending. Although, I'd love to know if anyone has a way of keeping them fixed in place. I'm not worried about floor scratches. (The floor is already like 40 years old and has not been redone.....)

4. This is a tricky one, as my apartment has no natural airflow. (It's a L Shape really, and a weird one at that.). How important is this going to be, should I build some sort of ventilation system, or attempt to put fans in the dreadfully small windows that I have.

5. Space, I am wondering about how much square footage I will have to lose to a cage, and if I need to go back and redesign the apartment (To free up more space.). Obviously a cage can be any size really. (Just requires me to go back to the drawing board.) This plays in to lighting, as my apartment has few overhead lights, and poor natural lighting. So a lot of lamps are used to solve this. I'm curious as to the importance of natural light on a large scale. (For example, should a cage be held in natural light, or is it a primary consideration.

6. Outside of them eating my scale models, which would make me quite unhappy, or chewing through an expensive cable. This is my biggest, annoyance. Sadly, I cannot remove the crown moulding. (I never understood that stuff really, I prefer things to be square and level. ) Has anyone thought of a system to keep them out. I have shoved NIC sections behind to prevent that, would that be enough? Or should I look at something else.

7. Escape I believe I can mitigate by not running carpet down to the doorway. (Again, with the weird shape of the apartment, it has a hallway that goes forward to the door.) Hopefully that would, if said rabbit is not used to, or not comfortable with hardwood slow down or stop. Luckily there is few hiding places in the hallway and the stairs and elevators are behind doors.

The balcony is a different story however, due to the fact that it is connected to the neighbours and there is an area that would allow a rabbit to pass through. I'm thinking wood board would help if said rabbit did get out to the balcony? Or should I look at trying to block off access entirely?

8. Has anyone had experience with plaster walls and rabbits? I know that they like to chew, and that well plaster isn't a good thing for them logically. There is no holes or anything in the plaster, or loose plaster so I should be okay correct?

Again, I want to make sure I'm ready for this, and of course want to get this done much in advance of making a decision as possible.

I am curious as I find rabbits fascinating, the behavioural implications of early handling. I assumed based on my experience, and logic that earlier would be better. (I managed to train two rabbits from 8 weeks with little issue.) I'd be interested in any materials you have on this. Out of my own curiosity and own desire to learn more. The number of rabbits question, gender, breed (I am partial to Rex / Mini rex and would short list them.), and method are down the road for me, as I'd rabbit proof and build out first, then start looking, assuming I am in a position to actually embark on this project. I like to play error free ball with a lot of things.

The end state, ideally is to have the ability, and reality of 100% cage free, outside of a place for said future rabbit to go. With of course as a few litter boxes as possible.

I'm not afraid of the work involved, I have a lot of "hobbies" and "activities" that are huge amounts of time, effort and resources that are involved. So the idea of working on behaviour and bonding pairs, isn't an actual deal breaker for me. In fact, I relish the challenge and the opportunity. I understand of course the commitment, and the time factor involved and the likelihood of failure of bonding.

Right now I see the project plan to acquire a rabbit falling into the following phases:

1. Determine if possible due to external factors. (Concurrent with number 2 / 3.)
2. Determine if able to actually accommodate a rabbit in present environment.
3. Design and build out said environment and ideally have alternate plans available.

Should those three factors work, then:
4. Decide on quantity, type, gender, age, location, etc.
5. Ensure that all is well, and that it is a good idea.
6. Find rabbits that meet the specification or that "feel" right. (It's always a dice roll right?)
7. Determine a plan to actually acclimate them.
8. Execute said plan.
9. Ensure it works and apply lessons learned.

 

[flemishwhite]

Really great dialog in these three posts!


So many things were discussed. ..but a few stories... Our last bunny slept everynight in our bedroom, an usually under the bed. She was allowed the run of the house when we were at home. When I went to bed, usually at 9:30 PM, she would often accompany me to bed (once she realized I was going to bed). If she didn't, when my wife went to bed later, she would accompany my wife. She didn't have to be herded to the bedroom. She was such a creature of habits. I woke up early..the bunny kept sleeping...she wouldn't wake up until my wife got out of bed.