New owner, new enclosure for our rabbit!

[OneTwoThree]

haha made me LOL.

Could very well be that he's grooming you, you can train him to not by gently pushing his head away and give him grooms instead (pet his head) and/or make a high pitch yelping sound that lets him know it hurts because you don't have all that fur to protect you

 

[eclairemom]

Love nips. :biggrin: He is adorable

 

[Ted]

Potty training is going down well, only two nuggets of poo outside of the tray when I got up to feed him this morning!

So I politely picked them up and threw them in his litter, much to his surprise; he watched me, sniffed, walked over to his tray, looked at me... probably thought "OK then, you weirdo" and just slumped back down in his casual way.

I know it's been less than 24 hours but I might introduce some hay in another corner later today, just to see how he takes to it.

If he starts peeing there too, I'll clean him out and remove it. Then give him a few more days of bare cage.

I really want to get this down before I let him lose in his run because replacing the cardboard everyday will become costly and tedious!

 

[Pipp]

Our library of bunny homes isn't up to date, but here's a few ideas. The pet store cages are the worst possible housing for the rabbits. They feel safe with traction underfoot (vinyl, wood, carpet, rock mats or a combo), a hiding box and something solid overhead for at least part of the home. They hate being picked up from above, they think hands are the same as hawks, so the top-opening versions are especially horrible. Shelves are best for exercise, ramps aren't really needed, they need to jump. The best traction should be where they launch themselves or in front of their hiding boxes. (Cardboard boxes are great, they love to chew it).

Check out the Creative Bunrooms Facebook page (

Creative Bunrooms) and for building bunny condos from NIC panels, check out http://www.rabbitcondo.com, esp. the pic of the condo raffled off by the VRRA, it's a great one.

Meanwhile, here's some random pics...

 

[Pipp]

 

[mdith4him]

Pipp, is that YOUR bunny "cage"??? It's awesome!!! I kinda wanna live in that...

 

[mdith4him]

Double post--sorry!

 

[Ted]

eclairemom wrote:

Love nips. :biggrin: He is adorable

Love nips? He took a love s*** on me last night!

Sat on my lap having a sniff around, next thing I know he's backed on to me and departed with his body weight in poo and good splash of warm pee!

... much to the girlfriend's amusement, I might add.

 

[Ted]

Pipp wrote:

Our library of bunny homes isn't up to date, but here's a few ideas. The pet store cages are the worst possible housing for the rabbits. They feel safe with traction underfoot (vinyl, wood, carpet, rock mats or a combo), a hiding box and something solid overhead for at least part of the home. They hate being picked up from above, they think hands are the same as hawks, so the top-opening versions are especially horrible. Shelves are best for exercise, ramps aren't really needed, they need to jump. The best traction should be where they launch themselves or in front of their hiding boxes. (Cardboard boxes are great, they love to chew it).

Check out the Creative Bunrooms Facebook page (

Creative Bunrooms) and for building bunny condos from NIC panels, check out http://www.rabbitcondo.com, esp. the pic of the condo raffled off by the VRRA, it's a great one.

Meanwhile, here's some random pics...

Thanks for the advice.

I purchased some green floor tiles (1200mm by 1800mm) which are soft, child friendly and none toxic.

I might leave the 'pet shop' cage in one corner of his new run just so he has a home to return to at night and for (hopefully) peeing and pooing, a cage within a run.

We might continue to feed him in there too, not sure about that yet.

 

[mdith4him]

We left our bun's cage in his new NIC cage and available for him to play/sleep/poop/eat in and he used it quite a bit. We just left the gate on it open all the time so he could come and go as he pleased. He actually still spent most of the day sleeping in there.

Our new bunny poops and pees on our laps, too. She's getting better, but I had several PJ pants that had to go straight into the washer!

 

[Ted]

Well here is the new run with soft tile flooring and surround, with sprinkle toys.

Once I'm confident of his potty training I'll give him a box near his cage he can climb on ... the first box in the kitchen ended up a poo and pee wagon.

Do you think the 'fencing' is high enough? I'm not confident leaving him alone because I'm worried he'll get brave and at some point try and jump it. However, to me it looks too high for that as it's over his head even when he's on tiptoes?

 

[eclairemom]

Nice bunny run:biggrin:

 

[OneTwoThree]

I'd watch him while you're home, some buns (my Samson) don't have an interest in escaping, while others (Lady...) will try no matter what you do

 

[buster2369]

Your bunny is adorable! :biggrin:

If your nervous about him escaping you can always put a sheet on top of the exercise pen. It gives the illusion of a roof and they won't try to escape. That's what I do and it has worked so far

 

[BertNErnie]

hey there and welcome, your bunny is adorable looks just like my bertie!

 

[lapaki]

Ted wrote:

Do you think the 'fencing' is high enough? I'm not confident leaving him alone because I'm worried he'll get brave and at some point try and jump it. However, to me it looks too high for that as it's over his head even when he's on tiptoes?

That does not look high enough to me. I'd recommend 36 inch (91cm) as a minimum height. Some bunns aren't jumpers and will stay in a shorter pen, but the ones that are jumpers can really fly. My little 2kg bunn, Zoom-zoom can clear a 30 inch (76cm) pen easily

If you can't find an affordable X-pen in your area, check with Amazon. I got mine from them for almost half what local stores were selling them for (w/free shipping). Took a quick peek @ amazon.co.uk and found this (click).

The wire cube panels are easy to build with and pretty affordable. 3 panels high would be 42 inches (107cm).

Cage wire is another option which can be found at most hardware stores and is pretty cheap. Cage wire has 1x1 inch (2.5x2.5 cm) openings.

There are also various garden/fence wire meshes available, but many have openings that are too large for rabbits.

Cage/Garden/Fence wire is pretty floppy on its own and will need some kind of support frame. This is why I like X-Pens. They are self standing, and can easily be reconfigured or even taken outside for a little outdoor play time.

If you like the pen you have and just want more height, you could extend it with cube panels for cage wire.