Quality Time

[JadeIcing]

Ok so another thread starts because of something in a different thread.

So how does quality time work out in my house. With so many animals it of course means a lot of thought.

Here are somethings I factor in...
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1) Does this animal like to be touched or do they prefer more on their own?
2) Is this animal active or is it more likely to lay down somewhere the whole time?
3) Can this animal be left loose on the floor?
4) How long can this animal be left loose before it gets into trouble?

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Now depending that is how their time out/human interaction is fit in.

If I have the day off I will usually let the trio (Connor, Dallas&Chibi). They stay out till Rob gets home, than he plays with them at least an hour.(8-9hours). Than we will let Ringo out for at least an 3 hour alone than we let Apple join him. Than with Apple for 2hours. Than Apple alone for 3hours.

Next day Elvis will come out when we get home. He is out at least east 4hrs than he goes back. Than Wyatt comes out for at least 4hrs.

Teresa is usually out for an hour or so. She is NOT active. She doesn't play. The most active we get her is if we put her on the bed with us. She will play with boxes in her cage.

My other animals are not so social. I will spend a lot of time with them when cleaning cages and tanks. Every other day. I hold Rob cleans. So at least 30mins each.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

Millie is in the house with us for about 4 hours a day. I bring her into the busiest room in our house so she is always around people and she gets some cuddle sessions off me. She likes just hanging about us but isn't overly keen on being fussed by people other than me so that setup works well for her.

 

[irishbunny]

I have alot of animals too. I get up before school and feed the bunnies, cats, dogs and my mother lets out the chucks and ducks and feed them. Then she'll give the bunnies their veg during the day. When I come home, one of the buns plays in my run and the other in my room while I'm doing homework, (rotate everyday) their out for about 3 and a half hours, on the weekends nearly all day. Then I have to feed them and secure them for the night, same for the poultry, the cats sleeps outsides and the dog is in all day chilling, she's walked at the weekends

 

[undergunfire]

My rabbits are so lazy, so they don't spend too awfully much time out of their cages. Marlin has been playing for 4 hours now. I am about to go let Morgan out to play for a few hours, then Brody will get to play for a few hours.

My bunnies only get to play in the bunny room. We have a dog and two kitties who would think the bunnies are toys. Plus, it is much safer in the bunny room for them. When they are let out to play, they will run around and do some binkies and explore for a few minutes, then they normally just go back into their cage and lay down for a while, then come out and do the binkies and stuff for a bit. They aren't overly thrilled with coming out, really. I am hoping to get them a Rabbit Maze for Christmas, so hopefully they occupies them for a while.

Also, Morgan and Brody each have their own 4 NIC by 3 NIC cage, so that is a ton of room for them to excerise in through the day. Marlin has a 2NIC by 3 NIC cage because he is skittish at times and a smaller cage is better for him.


As for the rats, they play outside of their cage for a few hours once a week. Some may think I am being mean, but they are fat & squishy boys who just love to lounge in thier nice comfy cage.


As for quality time with the rats and rabbits, they get pets all the time and I will sit with them each for a while, while they play...but they don't exactly want to be cuddled and given a ton of attention.



Dog and kitties...they get the most attention out of the group because they are always around us and crave the attention.

I do wish I could spend more time with each animal individually, but they all get their lovin's .

 

[mouse_chalk]

I guess we're quite lucky really, being that a) all our buns live together and b) they're all in the living room, which is where we spend most of our time. We also have no other pets (yet, lol!) so all our 'pet time' is devoted to the rabbits, in fact, all the time we're at home is!

Most evenings we're at home (we do go out! Honest!) so we're in the living room, with the bunnies. I guess we do spend a lot of time watching TV or on our laptops, but we also always take time out to sit or lie on the floor and play with the bunnies. They like to climb on us, and Barney always comes over for pets. We also get him up on the sofa to cuddle with us all the time too. I guess that to anyone who notices, I appear to be online pretty much 95% of the time. Well thats because I am, but I'm not always at my computer lol!

Also, I'm at home pretty much all day every day, apart from the rare occasions I go out, so I spend a lot of time with them then. It's so nice to just sit and watch them hop and run around, or sleeping. We've just got one of those exercise mats, the foam pads that interlock together, and I've put it on the floor so that they can binky on that, and not slip on the wooden laminate floor we have down in here! And we've dedicated our whole living room pretty much to a play room for the bunnies. Apart from their 6ft odd cage, 'binky area', we have the maze haven, 3 tunnels, various toys, and cardboad boxes for them to play with.

So every day is quality time with the bunnies lol!

 

[Luv-bunniz]

At the moment life is a little something like this:

9AM wake up, tidy room, let CJ out
9:15AM put the hawks out, feed the EE Owl, put ferrets in the bathroom to play about, play with ferrets
10AM clean CJ out and feed hay/veggies
10:10AM find CJ, spend half an hour bribing him from under the sofa
10:45-ishAM, put CJ away, put ferrets in dining room to play about
11AM start school
1AM 10 minute lunch break, feed hawk
3:15PM finnish school work, clean out ferrets, put ferrets away, handle hawk, play with the barn owl, clean out hawk, hose down EE owl aviary
4:30PM let CJ out and play with him for half an hour
5PM feed and water all animals, clean guinea pig litter tray, hold rats
8PM put CJ away, feed CJ pellets and groom him, put rats away
8:20PM bring hawk in
8:40PM take hawk back out and shut up for the night
8:45PM sweep up after CJ, mop floors, wipe down walls where CJ decided to "white wash" it with pee.
9PM *aaaaaaaaanddddd* RELAX! Be happy for another sucessful day without chokeing somebody

Now I do whatever, dinner is sometimes here or is fitted in somewhere beetween 5PM-8PM.

 

[JadeIcing]

 

[Becca]

Oh dear....:?

 

[W5Skittles]

everyday my two come inside before i go to work they get 3-8 hours inside with me only in the winter though in the summer their free range in the garden and i sit outside with them but to be honest since my 2 are bonded they prefere each others company then mine!

back when i had 8 its awful to admit this but it was all about favroutism with 8 you cant spend lots of time with each individual bun so i just spent time with the buns i was bonded closely to

 

[Becca]

I feel really guilty becuase I don't spend enough time on my bunnies, because well I don't have enough time.
Instead of telling you my actual schedual I;m going to tell you my dream schedual.

[In my dream the bunnies would be house bunnies]

Wake Up
Let the bunnies out to roam around their rooms
Have my breakfast
Bunnies breakfast
Clean litter trays
Play and cuddle with each bunny

....
Basically, the dream would me not having to go to school and the bunnies being house buns.

 

[JadeIcing]

I am sure it is easier for those of us with house bunnies. For the most part my life revolves around husband, bunnies, work and family. Which is why if I am going to be inside with family I will bring someone along. Bunnies or dog or bunnies and dogs.

 

[Becca]

JadeIcing wrote:

I am sure it is easier for those of us with house bunnies. For the most part my life revolves around husband, bunnies, work and family. Which is why if I am going to be inside with family I will bring someone along. Bunnies or dog or bunnies and dogs.

Yeah exactly, thats why I want them to be house rabbits.
One day...one day!

 

[W5Skittles]

its also easier when you have your own place because my parents would have never let me bring my buns inside everyday so its all about your curcumstances aswell im sure you try your best though becca and i know from pictures your buns are loved

 

[Becca]

Thanks

 

[SnowyShiloh]

It's pretty easy to spend lots of quality time with my pets, it would be even easier if the bunnies didn't all hate each other! They have to take turns being out of their cages. Our apartment isn't big enough to divide into two play areas, though I suppose I could block off the kitchen and let one bunny play in the kitchen and another in the living room.

My routine is this: Every morning, I uncover the birds and feed and water them, then feed and water all the bunnies, of course taking a few seconds to pet and talk to each one and make sure they seem healthy. Then it's off to work! Pretty much as soon as I get home, one of the bunnies is let out to play. If it's Skyler, a barrier is put around Rory's cage so they can't reach each other, and another barrier is put in front of the entry to the kitchen because Phoebe Mae's cage is in the kitchen and she wouldn't take kindly to having Sky visit her. If it's Phoebe Mae's turn out, the kitchen barrier is taken down but the one around Rory's cage is left up and the bedroom door is closed (Sky doesn't bother going in there). If it's Rory's turn, the bedroom door is left closed and both barriers are taken down because he hates linoleum and would never go in the kitchen to bother Phoebe, even though he hates her and wants to eat her.

On evenings that I work, at least two bunnies come out to play for several hours each. The next night, whoever didn't get to come out the night before comes out first and then one of the others comes out. On days I don't work, all three bunnies get to come out for sure, for a few hours each. Basically, whenever I'm at home and awake a bunny is out! The birdies come out of their cage and play on their play gym for about 4 hours every night, regardless of whether I work or not.

I'm sure Rory wishes he were still an only bunny since it used to be all about him, all the time. Sorry bud! I think everyone's pretty happy though. I occasionally sit on the floor and play with the bunnies, but for the most part they come to me. All three like to hop up on the couch and bounce around on us and get petted.

 

[mouse_chalk]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Basically, whenever I'm at home and awake a bunny is out!

This is what we do too!

It's a little bit harder now that the pairs are separated again, but it just means that they get less tome out each day. I'd say on average they all used to be out for 12 hours a day (sometimes more, sometimes less) but now it's more like 6 each pair.

If I'm cleaning elsewhere in the house, it's a perfect time to let Barney and Snowy out to play, because they can be trusted on their own lol. If it's Mouse and Chalk, I do let them out but I pop back in the living room every few minutes to check that they're not up to too much mischief lol!

Home time is always bunny time in our house

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Yeah, Jen, if I'm cleaning or doing something upstairs for a while, I'll leave Rory out. He's the most trustworthy! I would never leave Phoebe Mae alone, who knows what would happen! I don't leave Sky alone because as soon as I was gone he'd probably jump on the coffee table and eat the chocolate from the candy dish (boy likes his snacks!).

 

[mouse_chalk]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Yeah, Jen, if I'm cleaning or doing something upstairs for a while, I'll leave Rory out. He's the most trustworthy! I would never leave Phoebe Mae alone, who knows what would happen! I don't leave Sky alone because as soon as I was gone he'd probably jump on the coffee table and eat the chocolate from the candy dish (boy likes his snacks!).

Lol!! Mouse and Chalk are the same! They'd be up on the sofa, eating the blanket, eating my laptop charger, jumping on the TV unit- and we have a new very expensive TV so that's not good! Last night the bucket that we empty litter trays and hay etc into was full and sat by the coffee table waiting to be emptied. Chalk hopped into it, ate all the old hay, and then hopped onto the coffee table. Except she didn't realise I'd polished it that day and she slid right to the other end and off onto the floor lol!! Silly bunny!

 

[Sabine]

My bunnies quality time entirely depends on the weather. It has been very cold and dry all week which meant the buns spent all day outside in various groupings and various runs. because it's so cold i dare not bring them in at night because the temperature difference is huge and we have the fire on at night, On rainy days we give benny, Asha and Lint running time inside. Lint and Asha can be trusted, Benny needs to be trusted(latest damage: computer mouse cable again and curtains) Once heis neutered he can have more freedom outside

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Basically I spend as much time with my rabbits as I possibly can. I am relatively quite busy every day and so I may only spend time with them when I go to feed them and clean cages.

On the weekends or days I have off from school/stay home, I will sometimes bring them up to the house, but I will almost always spend time with them outside, whether they're in their cages or outside exercising. I try and cuddle and hold each one a lot and pet them regularly. When they're out in their ex. pens it can be anywhere from 30 min. to 2 1/2 hours. Sometimes while we clean cages, we'll let sme of the bunnies come out and run around; usually Sippi first, since his cage is on the floor and he doesn't ask he just does what he wants....Then Minnie and maybe some of the other bunnies. Occasionally, we will set up an ex. pen in their while we clean (and the shed must be well clean and organized to fit the x pen in) and we'll switch out bunnies while we clean.

Everyday when it's nice though, the bunnies are outside in their expens while we clean cages. They usually get out there at least 1x a week, but it should be more; we just have awful rainy weather here in Washington

Most of my bunnies will actually come up to me for affection, especially Magic and Bruce when he's in the mood. Magic loves to give kisses, so that's easy and acceptable! Lol. Sippi & Minnie will come to you if they want to know what you're doing and Bruce will come if you have food lol. Lily is a snuggler and I love snuggling her...

I dont spend as much time with them as I should and that's definitley going to change. It usually does change in the Summer and Spring months when the weathers' nicer.


Emily