Three weeks is likely a bit early to go fully free-range.  You want to slowly increase his area of freedom or you might have issues with losing his littertraining.  Start by adding a room or so at a time, and be careful with your bunyproofing.

Welcome here!

I would actually wait a bit longer for 24/7 free range. Being home for only 3 weeks is not a long time. It usually takes at least that long or longer (up to 6 months or so) for a rabbit to start to feel comfortable with their new surroundings. When they become comfortable, that is when some of the undesirable behaviors may show themselves (like chewing or digging your nice carpeting. LOL!) It’s fine for him to be allowed out all day if the room is bunny-proofed and he is well-behaved and littertrained, but I still recommend bunnies are closed up somewhere at night, for their safety. Wendy and others have buns that are free range all the time, but personally, I like knowing where my buns are at night. In case of a fire or another emergency, I could scoop them up quickly and evacuate.

When you are confident that he’s not going to get into any trouble, you could try having that room available to him all the time, but I’d keep the condo in place so he has a safe “bunny only” area to retreat to.

One reason to wait a bit is make sure he understand that “HIS” territory is his condo and the rest of the place is a neutral place that is shared by humans and so he would be less likely to mark there. One thing that can happen is if you allow too much freedom too quickly, they will claim the larger area, and he may slowly begin to mark it up.

Welcome! Brilliant Condo! I’d ditto waiting just a touch longer That’s fantastic your considering free-range, definitely gives them more freedom and playtime-I like having one of my pairs free range-although our set up will change a bit when we move soon!

OK, so.. i have 2 unspayed female rabbits (about 4 months old). I’ve had them about 2 weeks.

I’ve been letting them run around a medium-sized bedroom (where their NIC condo is located) during the day. They’re about 75-80% with their litterbox. I’d like them to be 95%!! They were a steady 75-80% for the past week, but just today they suddenly plummeted to around 50%

From what I understand here.. is what I’m doing wrong? I’m gone a good bit of the day, and I feel bad leaving them in their condo for that length of time. The condo size is 2 wide x 3 long x 2 high NIC squares, with 2 levels. But even though these holland lops are pretty small, I still feel bad leaving them in there overnight and then until 5pm, when I get home. I don’t have the time to let them run around in the morning before I leave.

Any advice? Should I just limit them to their cage with a few hours playitme until they’re spayed at 6 months? Also, did you notice a significant difference in litterbox habits after your bun was fixed? I’m hoping to see improvement with only a few cocopuffs here and there. Getting out the vacuum every day really sucks.

Algie – That is a great looking condo! I would also recommend just waiting a little bit before allowing complete free range. I think that giving your bun plenty of time out is a great idea, but you do want to make sure that the bunny understands that the condo is his home, or else you might run into an issue with your bunny peeing/pooping all over the place in order to mark your entire room as “his” ! Maybe you could leave him alone in the room for short periods of time to see if he ventures out of the condo for a bit, but it will probably take him awhile to get used to you and his surroundings and be ready to roam around. Don’t feel bad, he will come out to play when he is ready! I would definitely keep both the top and bottom floors, my bunny’s seem to have location mood swings, they will pick a favorite place in their condos and it stays their favorite place for months, and then all of a sudden it changes.

Felmotes – I think you probably need to take the path that Algie is taking, when bunnies are allowed complete free roam they often start “marking” all over the place. Then, once they mark a spot sometimes they also start using that location as a litterbox. You’ll probably need to just let your bunnies out of their cage for play time when you get home in the evening for a few weeks. I understand how you feel, my bunnies also have to stay in their condos all night and all day until I get home, but once you are home you can provide them plenty of time to run around. Probably 90% of the time you are gone they are sleeping anyways! Then, you can slowly move forward with transitioning your bunnies to free range by giving them increased amounts of free range space. I let mine out for almost 4 hours every night, and they usually run/play for an hour, and then just loaf on the carpet the rest of the time!

Felmotes: is there any way you could increase the size of the condo? For two buns, 2 feet by 3 feet is rather small and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with them in that tiny area all day and night either. Even increasing the length by just a couple grids would make a huge difference.

due to space contraints, i really can’t make the condo any bigger. it’s not exactly 2×3 feet.. the squares are each 14″ so it’s 28″ x 42″

i can probably swing making it HIGHER.. which would mean a third floor. right now it’s 2 floors.. the 2nd floor is almost a full floor.. so it’s 2 levels of 28″ x 42″….

you really think that’s too small for 2 very small buns?

i should make that 3rd floor…………

Posted By MooBunnay on 03/24/2009 08:19 PM

Felmotes – I think you probably need to take the path that Algie is taking, when bunnies are allowed complete free roam they often start “marking” all over the place. Then, once they mark a spot sometimes they also start using that location as a litterbox. You’ll probably need to just let your bunnies out of their cage for play time when you get home in the evening for a few weeks. I understand how you feel, my bunnies also have to stay in their condos all night and all day until I get home, but once you are home you can provide them plenty of time to run around. Probably 90% of the time you are gone they are sleeping anyways! Then, you can slowly move forward with transitioning your bunnies to free range by giving them increased amounts of free range space. I let mine out for almost 4 hours every night, and they usually run/play for an hour, and then just loaf on the carpet the rest of the time!

thank you for the advice. i’ve been doing this for a few days now, and they seem okay with it. the time spent out of the cage is more “intense” with running around and binkying.. and the time spent inside the cage is mostly sleeping/eating or chewing on toys. they were pretty good today in their 4 hours out… they used the litterbox about 90%

As my four-month old mini rex, Remy, became free range, I put a few litterboxes around the room to make sure he had one nearby for emergencies. I found that he was able to hold it in more and more as he got older, and now he only really uses the litterbox in his cage. After a while we locked him up only at night. Now, we never lock him up and he even sleeps in bed with us at night. I often wake up to him licking my feet! Can you think of a better way to wake up?

Basically, it’s a gradual process, and I’m sure every bunny is different. Be prepared to find a few destroyed things as you keep him out more and more, even though he hasn’t done it yet. The more comfortable and happy he becomes with his new freedom the more feisty and courageous he will be! But how can you be mad at such a cute face?

It’s the smallest size I’d recommend (a bit smaller actually: 2×4 feet is the smallest I recommend) for one bunny. It’s good you have an additional level that’s the same dimensions. Another story would be a good idea if you could do it. Remember they are only 4 months so their weight may double by the time they are one.

my eventual hope is to convert the tiny guest bedroom into a bunny room. they’d be free-range on the 2nd floor and locked in that room at night or when i have to be out of the house. but it’s currently filled with a queen-sized bed and a big double-dresser.. so no room for big bunny cage yet. i won’t have the time to bring the furniture to a friend until May when i’m done with my law classes.

there’s just currently no room anywhere else in the house for a cage even 2 14″ squares by 3 squares.. unless it’s in my bedroom. so that’s where they are for now! and unfortunately it cant get any bigger or wider just yet..

they seem alright with it for now. i understand they’ll get bigger though and it won’t be appropriate anymore.