Those with free ranging bunnies....

[undergunfire]

How do you have their potty and food area set up? Do you have pictures?

Morgan has been loose from his cage in the bunny room for about 2 weeks. I think putting him back in his cage at this point would be pretty mean...he would hate me .

I am just trying to envision how to keep his hay/potty area clean...but I am not coming up with anything creative. I just don't want him to miss his potty box and pee on the carpet accidentally...or get his hay everywhere.

 

[kherrmann3]

When Toby was free-run, his litter box and food were right outside of his cage (we would cage him at night so we didn't have to worry about him nibbling on stuff that he wasn't supposed to). We would leave one litter box in his cage, and another one was in the other corner of the room (where he liked to pee the most). It was a simple set up, but it worked. Since he was only allowed in our bedroom (main bedroom), he didn't have the whole apartment to frolic in. It was easy in a small(er) area.

 

[Jerry in So IL]

My Flemish Giant is "free ranged" to the point of only having an exlarge litter pan (18'x24" and 6" tall!). Our home is pretty much bunny proof.....lost two sets of computer speakers and one mouse before I got it right! We live on a split level and she does very well on both levels even at a young age of 4 months.

I had a dwarf cross that was free roamed as well. She didn't come up stairs til about a year old. Then she mastered the stairs quickly. She slept in her cage at night.

Jerry

 

[Spring]

Pebbles was free range in my room mostly, but she would come out to wander upstairs when I felt like following her.. but she mostly stayed in my room.

I set up her food and litter box area just at the end of my bed in the corner by the closet, and it worked wonderfully! She's always had awesome litter habbits, so would always go there.. no messes in the 6 months or so she was in my room.

 

[12354somebunny]

My bunnies have their litter boxes with wire mesh, to keep the food & litter away from each other. I hook their water & pellet bowls to the wire mesh. That's about it they're free range in my living room. They have a large cardboard box to sleep in but a lot of times, they just sleep wherever they please.

 

[peppa and georgie]

Somebunny they look gorgeous and the trays look really great, i am quite jealous of how well you have done that xxx lol I too love to hear more about everyone with free range buns, xxx

 

[undergunfire]

Thanks, you guys! I am thinking I might lay down another carpet under where Morgan's litter box and food will be, to prevent mess on the room carpet. We rent and the carpets look brand new...so I don't want to have them get ruined.

I just thought of something though...where to put Morgs when the other 2 bunnies come out to play or the rats? Hrrrm...I don't want to have to keep his cage if I don't have to, I am trying to eliminate it so that there is more room in the room. I suppose I can figure something out.

I am a bit scared to bust down his cage. I have a feeling that once I do...he will chew on the wood work and then I will need to cage him.

 

[kherrmann3]

undergunfire wrote:

I am a bit scared to bust down his cage. I have a feeling that once I do...he will chew on the wood work and then I will need to cage him.

That is why I still had a cage for Toby. He would nibble on the underside of our mattress when we were sleeping. We would just put a ramp on his cage so he could come and go during the day, but shut him in at night. I will admit, it was a small cage, but it worked for overnight prevention of nibbling. Plus, he was only in it at night. I'd normally let him out around 5:00AM, and he would be put back in around 9:00PM.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Dotty is free-range in our bedroom completely, and in the hallway/bathroom/Steve's office when we're home (don't to risk either her coming downstairs or Snowy going up to meet each other lol!). We use a dog stairgate across our bedroom door to divide the 2 which means she's not 'shut away' so much when it is closed.

She doesn't have a cage, just a litter tray, with her water bowl and food bowls next to it in the corner by my chest of drawers. She mostly sleeps under the bed on runner mats we laid under there for comfort/traction and her toys just get spread all about our bedroom for us to trip up on LOL! She's very well litter trained except for a few stray poos every now and again but they're easily cleaned up.

I did have a picture somewhere but I can't find it now! :?

 

[mouse_chalk]

undergunfire wrote:

Thanks, you guys! I am thinking I might lay down another carpet under where Morgan's litter box and food will be, to prevent mess on the room carpet. We rent and the carpets look brand new...so I don't want to have them get ruined.

We do that too- we have an old mat that goes under the litter tray and bowls, to catch any misses from the litter tray, and any spills from her water bowl, and we just wash it every now and then and interchange it with an old towel. Works really well!

As for when the others are out, could you move Morgan then to a different room- like the hallway or something? Or could you maybe use his cage grids to make a pen to cordon off the room when the others are out?

 

[peppa and georgie]

Well i accidentally left the rabbits out all night last night as i put them away fell asleep on the sofa and woke up really groggy to up to bed and i can remember thinking i must do the rabbits. In the morning they were out and i realised as i had already put them away and closed the door, i must have opened it again before going to bed thinking i was closing it in my half asleep way lol xx
Anyway all was well no mess and two happy surprised looking bunnies, infact they were very friendlyxx lol
So question is do i now leave them out and see how it goes?
I seem to have taken the step without planning to. I thought i could leave their cage open and see how things go for a couple of days and if well then dismantle cage??????

 

[mouse_chalk]

peppa and georgie wrote:

Well i accidentally left the rabbits out all night last night as i put them away fell asleep on the sofa and woke up really groggy to up to bed and i can remember thinking i must do the rabbits. In the morning they were out and i realised as i had already put them away and closed the door, i must have opened it again before going to bed thinking i was closing it in my half asleep way lol xx
Anyway all was well no mess and two happy surprised looking bunnies, infact they were very friendlyxx lol
So question is do i now leave them out and see how it goes?
I seem to have taken the step without planning to. I thought i could leave their cage open and see how things go for a couple of days and if well then dismantle cage??????

Lol! I can just imagine the bunies thinking 'but....mum? Oh well! PAAAARTAY!' No wonder they were happy this morning!

I'd say as long as the area they're in is completely bunny proof and they can't get to wires or any other harm, then I'd go ahead and leave them out another couple of nights and see how they go! Congratulations on accidentally having free-range bunnies!

 

[peppa and georgie]

Thanks Jen, yes that was the first thing i said too.. I told the kids that the bunnies had had a party... we all started singing " get the party started on a saturday night....
he he. Hopefully if it goes well then my living room will look much better and i think the buns will love it lol xx

 

[undergunfire]

mouse_chalk wrote:

undergunfire wrote:

Thanks, you guys! I am thinking I might lay down another carpet under where Morgan's litter box and food will be, to prevent mess on the room carpet. We rent and the carpets look brand new...so I don't want to have them get ruined.

We do that too- we have an old mat that goes under the litter tray and bowls, to catch any misses from the litter tray, and any spills from her water bowl, and we just wash it every now and then and interchange it with an old towel. Works really well!

As for when the others are out, could you move Morgan then to a different room- like the hallway or something? Or could you maybe use his cage grids to make a pen to cordon off the room when the others are out?

Thanks, Jen! I think I am going to go ahead and get another carpet...they are super cheap at Walmart.

Letting the other bunnies play won't be an issue anymore. I remembered that Brody can only play in the main part of the house/hallway because he pees literally 2 seconds after coming out of his cage in the bunny room.....and when Marlin plays, I can just put Morgan in his cage (will help for bonding!).



So, I'll get everything set up this weekend and I will post pictures!

 

[Gordon]

I have Peter and Bugs' original cages set up in our kitchen, and that is where they poop and pee to their hearts' content. I keep water and hay in there too, and the doors are always open, so they just come and go as they please.

They have complete 24/7 run of the house, and have NEVER peed anywhere except in those cages. An occasional poop fart may come flying out when they're somewhere else in the house, but they don't intentionally poop anywhere but in those two cages.

You can see pictures of their setup if you go to my personal homepage, and click on Gordon's bunnies.

 

[Gordon]

undergunfire wrote:

...he will chew on the wood work and then I will need to cage him.

Well, there is certainly a distinct possibility he might chew on your walls' baseboards. The only room I actually had a problem with that, was my bedroom, which they consider their bedroom, too. I ended up covering all the baseboards with hardware cloth. --It's not cloth at all, but a heavy gauge metal mesh material, you can buy in rolls and cut with wire snippers, and then nail into place. --On the other hand, you're trying to prevent any damage at all, and nailing might not be what you want to do, lol.

 

[undergunfire]

I am going to break down Morgan's cage today...as soon as I can get off my lazy butt and do it!

I bought him and Brody new litter boxes at PetSmart with higher sides then the cat boxes at Walmart...so this should hopefully prevent Morgan having an accidental pee over the side.

I'll post pictures later on .

 

[SDShorty]

I LOVE your wire cage thing on top of the litter box! What type of wire is that, where did you get it? I always hate the idea of the buns eating the hay the poop and pee on. I have LARGE litter boxes for them, so I hadn't really found a way to do something like this. I think I might wanna give it a try
somebunny wrote:

My bunnies have their litter boxes with wire mesh, to keep the food & litter away from each other. I hook their water & pellet bowls to the wire mesh. That's about it they're free range in my living room. They have a large cardboard box to sleep in but a lot of times, they just sleep wherever they please.

 

[Nibbles96]

I let my Nibbles out all day and I bring him back to his cage to eat dinner and sleep at night. I recently bought a litter box for him and it looks like he's getting the hang of it. Since mose rabbits love to dig, I put a piece of cardboard under it so I don't have to vaccum everyday. He has a hay thing that attatches to his cage and can easily be taken off, so I take that out and put it near his litter box for the day.