Yes, that is what I was thinking – building an enclosure that is completely covered with doors that latch well enough to keep clever raccoons from opening them. (Like with a bike lock.) Are you handy with building or know someone else who is? Maybe something simple like an xpen with a cover on it will do the trick.

Yeah, I think what Pam suggested about the enclosed building/pen area would be a good idea. Check out the 8th picture under Cool Habitats –> Other. It’s really elaborate though, and if you’re trying to move… it might be a bit much. Though you could always take it with you and then use it so Thumper can get some safe play time outside. If you go with the x-pen with a cover idea, just make sure you latch the cover on securly, and that the pen isn’t light enough that a raccoon or something can lift it up and get in from underneath (if you don’t make a bottom for the pen). We used to camp all the time, and raccoons are incredibly. We’ve had many many coolers ransacked by those little buggers. Even if raccoons don’t go after live prey, I’d still try to make the hutch as safe and raccoon-proof as possible. Good luck!

Queen Thumper – what part of the US do you live in? I ask because in the northern parts of the US it will get too cold for that bun to survve the cold harsh winter. Just wondering.

I would worry about the raccoons. When my first bunny was in a hutch a raccoon tried to get her and she was in the house after that.

My concern about the racoons would be the possibility of them frightening the bunny. If your bun is in her cage, but feels threatened by another animal, even if it can’t get in the cage it could do some serious harm, so I’d try to incorporate something into the cage so that she can get somewhere where she has no possibility of that occurring. Also, the other difficulty outside is bugs. I also lived in So. Cal. and had chickens, and our biggest bug problem was flies that would lay eggs in the chicken’s skin…I won’t talk about what happens after that but it was pretty *yuck* -and that is why I didn’t let my buns outside, so something bug safe would also be important. Maybe a mosquito type screen that could prevent bugs from getting in?

Yes, bunnies can get something called fly strike, YUCK, not going there, google.

On another forum I read a post about a homesteader getting a new farm dog & they well lost over 1/2 their warren over night.
The dog did not get into the pen but, the rabbits were so afraid that they broke their own backs in the panic.
Some probably had heart failure too. My neighbors dog seems to do that to wild ones a few times a year. She will chase & they fall over dead with no actual contact.

A competed covered hidy spot would help for the fear thing but bug proofing should also be way up there on the list, & fleas are very very very small.