I don’t have any outdoor play area, but the window thing you’re describing is made for cats I think. You could probably find one ready-made.

I have this at my parents’ place for when the bunnies need bunny sitting – it is from ZooPlus.com

It is actually quite big. My parents only used it for one day…apparently, they hadn’t bothered, so they just let the bunnies out in the garden and then tried to block off the exits with chairs.

 It comes with a cover, so that you can cover one part of the pen to avoid rain and provide the bunnies with some shade.

We bought this as well for our own old  fenced garden

Needless to say, that it was way too small and we hardly ever used it. Instead they were let loose in the whole garden.

We are moving soon to a house with garden and here the bunnies will have free access to the whole garden. The garden will be fenced and that is it. No other rabbit-proofing.

Mine aren’t diggers, so I am not so worried about this. If you have a bunny that loves digging, of course you need to consider ways to prevent the bunny from ending up in a neighbour garden one day.

I’d be very very careful with letting the buns outside. Between Predators and pesticides and such in the grass, poisonous plants, and insects and such, its just too dangerous if unsupervised and not bunny proofed. It would be safer with an enclosed area with a roof, so birds cant get them, and cats and raccoons and such can’t either. My beloved Neko kitty was killed last summer by raccoons.. so a bun would be nothing to them.

Please be very very careful!

Otherwise, what about building some type of voliere like this:

I thought about getting something like this as well and then next to the terrace, perhaps making the terrace so that the bunnies can spend time there as well.

I realised I had no reason to be so cautious after reading up on wild rabbits in my area. Only foxes take wild rabbits here, so I have no worries. But you might live in an area where things are different.

Posted By Monkeybun on 02/16/2010 12:54 AM
I’d be very very careful with letting the buns outside. Between Predators and pesticides and such in the grass, poisonous plants, and insects and such, its just too dangerous if unsupervised and not bunny proofed. It would be safer with an enclosed area with a roof, so birds cant get them, and cats and raccoons and such can’t either. My beloved Neko kitty was killed last summer by raccoons.. so a bun would be nothing to them.

Please be very very careful!

Of course, it is very different from area to area, and if you live in an area with animals like racoons, you should research a bit on this – eg. can they dig their way into the pen et.c? Where do you live, Bren? You could get some advice from others in your area about which predators you should worry about.
 

I’d never worry about cats. But that is because I have a cat. I know from many people who have rabbits outside in the garden, that they get on fine with neighbour cats that pass by, and if anyone should worry, it should be the cats.

Regarding pesticides in the garden…well, we only use organic here. I’d never in a billion years use poison in my garden which is bad for insects, the underground water, the plants et.c. I’d say, this is something people can control themselves. Poisonous plants- well, yes, that depends on the area again and what you actually have in your garden. I’d never plant anything poisonous myself. I noticed with my bunnies that they actually avoided some plants and never ever tried to chew on them.

Karla, you’re right, obviously you can control what you do in your back yard, but the warning about pesticides and poisonous plants I think was more for common areas… Monkey and I both live in apartments currently, so you never know what the management does or what the other residents do.

Posted By Barbie on 02/16/2010 06:30 AM
Karla, you’re right, obviously you can control what you do in your back yard, but the warning about pesticides and poisonous plants I think was more for common areas… Monkey and I both live in apartments currently, so you never know what the management does or what the other residents do.

It wasn’t meant for MonkeyBun as such although I quoted her  And you’re right. It is important to be aware of such things. And especially in a common area like you say.

Another thing which is important to be aware of is actually that if you user a lawn mower on gas, it could drip gas on the grass and the rabbit might accidently eat it. That’s what I have always been told although I’d think that no bunny or any other being would actually eat something that smells of gas. But nevertheless, we use an old lawn mower just because of this

Well, it really depends on the area where you live…a pen without a bottom would be fine here, as we have no actual predators to worry about bunny-wise. And I realise this makes it quite easy compared to you guys who seemed to have quite a few predators.

Could you not make some kind of voliere like the one I posted? It has a bottom, I think. Just create a grid bottom about 30 cm below the ground so your bunny can have some fun digging – if he is a digger, that is. Sounds like something your hubby could easily build

Why can’t your buns be on the ground? Pesticides?

Even if your rabbit digs, you can get some kind of mesh floor and attach to the bottom of the pen – this will allow grass to come up through the holes, but will not allow the bunny to dig out. But if you’re supervising 100% of the time the bunny is outside, I don’t think a floor would be necessary – they can’t dig *that* fast.

this upcoming summer my dad said he would build some sort of out door pen for my buns. i have no idea what sort of plants are poisonous or not and i am almost positive when we build it my dad would not put a floor in it. what sort of thing should i build? btw i live in wisconsin. and what plants are poisonous?

There are tons of plants that are poisonous to bunnies… one thing you have to remember, especially where there are predators, is that a bunny can die from pure fright, just by having predators nearby. Its happened before, will happen again. Please be very very careful if putting your bunnies outside. I can’t stress it enough.

MB, I agree! I’m pretty sure Otto will never go outside, even if we have a house. I’m just too nervous about the possibilities.

my parents are probably going to make me put him out side

It is a lot of extra work to set up your house rabbit for a safe outdoor experience; but it is worth it.

All creatures benefit from real fresh air and real sunshine. Rabbits need sunshine to metabolize calcium correctly which plays a role in the prevention of dental disease so common in domestic rabbits.

In order to make your rabbit’s outdoor space safe, you need to know your area well and your rabbit’s habits, too. If you have an excavator type bunny like my Mops he will dig out of an enclosure if it has no flooring. Some areas are bad for parasites so you will need to use insect screening around the enclosure. There has to be shade available and protection from predator birds, coyotes, foxes, cats, dogs….. The most difficult threat to protect rabbits from are weasels. If you have those where you live, don’t ever think your rabbit is safe: weasels will chew through rabbit wire, wood and some plastics. They will climb up, jump over and squeeze through many obstacles and once they get to a bunny — it is over.  Weasels however tend to hunt at night so you can control the hour your rabbit is outside and supervise these times.

Winter time is actually easier to set up unless you live in an area where it gets too cold to be outside. Rabbits don’t tolerate dampness or draft well.

I have a yard that I am itching to use for my rabbits but I always decide against it because of my wildlife situation. I had coyotes come into my yard for my dog when she was a little puppy, and an eagle tried to take my rabbit Lint. My rabbits spend time on my patio where Mops can’t dig out and my lagophile dog scares off birds etc. My rabbits have to go back inside before mosquitoes come swarming in the late afternoon because I can’t screen in my entire patio effectively.  My neighbors’ hutch bunny was left outside all summer last year and he lost most of his fur due to mosquitoes.

Also, if rabbits have access to fresh grass they may require flea prevention meds (Advantage kitten).

i use a harnes and a leash and let my buns run around, once you harness and leash train them you really dont have much to worry about i always have the top of one of the cages out there so if they feel threatened they can just hop in there and besides their never out without me,

sometimes i just let hershey out to run around with out anything thought because our backyard is fenced in (with wood fence not chainlink) so she cant get out and its obviouse she prefers that, she does more binkies without the harness than with it,.

I wanted to add that some apartment buildings actually have nice patio opportunities for rabbits where you only need to worry about birds and insects as they are already built off-ground. Plus, it is easy to supervise a rabbit on a cozy patio.

Heh not my apartment building Petzy… had a raccoon climb right upa tree and hop onto our balcony the other day. My buns are staying inside! *glares at the scary outside thing*

that’s why the supervision is so important. I didn’t mean to just put a bunny on any balcony. You would have to fence it in completely.

you might find this artcle interesting:

Dr Cathy Chan (Singapore House Rabbit Society) actually recommends 4 hours of outdoor exposure for rabbits.

http://www.hrss.net/aar/health/health_dentaldisease.html

Thanks for your inputs and the link, Petzy. I really agree with you. Molly and Karl (Jack hasn’t been outside yet) love being outdoors – they do binkies constantly and then they just sit and sniff the air. It is impossible to get Karl inside again. It is so obvious that they love it.

We do have a poisonious hedge – privet – which I was really worried about and I was like a hawk watching them when we were out. None of them bothered to chew it though (and I’m telling you there were eating almost anything else in the garden, except for the Amarylis which is actually poisonous as well), so I am quite confident that bunnies still know what it is good for them and not. Poisonious plants tend to taste and smell differently. But not all bunnies may have that instinct in them though, so I am not saying: relax and don’t worry.

I can tell that we have a really unique situation with none of the hazards you guys have to deal with, but I still think that if you supervise your bunny while it is out in a pen (like the first one I posted) for a couple of hours every day, your bunny will be happy. And apparently, also getting a health injection at the same time.

mocha200 – here is a list of poisonous plants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants
Its aimed at humans though. This one is for rabbits: http://www.allearssac.org/poison.html

Before I had my deck fenced in, I only had Lint. I used to put him in my yard for a couple of hours with the dogs watching him. He was inside an NIC tunnel, camouflaged with grass to hide him. The predator birds here are large and I am pretty sure they could pick up an entire NIC structure.

I don’t put Lint in my yard anymore, it was reallly stressful for me. I tried to do yard work at the same time but I was too worried about him.

I have had my deck  fenced in for over a year and it has worked really well as long as someone is watching them, again, because of the birds here. I had to staple the wire to the bottom of the patio boards really well and before I put Neigey outside this summer I am going to redo that bottom part since he is so small. Rabbits can squeeze under things so easily. A small bunny like Monkey for example would be much harder to set up a fence for.

–I do love that aviary Karla! Again, never leave a rabbit outside unattended, though…

This is my apartment patio. The patios here are nice because they are completely enclosed. I bought some blinds to cover the openeing (even though I am not supposed to but I do anyway, stupid complex) But here is my patio set-up, it measures about 12.5ft x 5.5ft. The bunnies love it out there. They love the cool fresh air.

mac, your patio is like a room…Very cool. Even the door looks like an indoor entrance. That’s such a good idea to get those blinds.

karla how much do you think that kind of pen you posted of that screened in area would cost to make?

You mean the aviary (thanks Petzy for correcting me. No such thing as a voliere in English )? I really don’t think it will cost much (approximately $800, just a guess) and if you are handy, it could be set up in two days. I took the picture off a website for a cat shelter. 

Since your dad wants the bunnies to be full-time outdoor bunnies make sure they have a house of some kind they can get into, eg. something like this that you can lock up at night if you have any of those big predators as well – you can get them with windows and you can put a cat flap in the door (one of those that can be locked):

At times my boyfriend insists that the bunnies move outdoors during summertime as well, and if that is the case, I’ll be getting a house like that.  It has a great size so you can be in there as well, and it has plenty of space for storage of hay and room for the bunnies.

I was looking on this site for Sunny. Thought this could help.

http://www.zooplus.com/shop/rodents/cages/pens_fencing/pens_with_racks/151344

I reallyyyy want this for Sunny in the summer.

Zooplus has lots of stuff and is very cheap. Highly recommendable.

This is very nice for a daytime exercise run. However, where I marked with red you would want to block it if you have a smaller-sized rabbit. A bunny like Monkey or Neigey would escape under the shed. These guys in the picture are big!

they wouldn’t be outside all the time just like a few hours a day

oh and i could only spend like $100 so i am thinking i would make it four feet tall and 8 feet by 8 feet wide and then make a door and i probably would not put a ceiling in so i would make a little three sided shelter thing for shade.

Unless you are out there the entire time, put a ceiling on it. Too many predatory birds and things like raccoons in the states.

If it is just for a couple of hours a day where you might be supervising then the aviary might be a bit overboard, yes You know you could buy something like this as a cheap cover just in case there are huge birds where you live:

It’s a protective cat net. Quite cheap.

mocha, in your photo album I can see you already have a small fenced run that you use for your rabbits. Why do you need another set-up?

i was thinking maybe a tarp.

That would be great too ’cause it would provide shade at the same time.

mocha, I am assuming $100 is your bunny budget, correct me if I am wrong. I was asking about the fenced area you already have because I think you’d be better off using the $100 you have to save up for Lulu’s spay.

you mean build an outside pen instead of spaying her?

No, she means using the existing run for them instead of building another for when you let them out, and still spaying her.

 Use the $100 you have toward Lulu’s spay.

*thanks Monkey.. that’s what I meant…

yeah i would save up another hundred dollars for the pen. my mom raised my allowance for doing extra chores so now i get 10 dollars instead of 6!!!!!!!! i just found out that its going to be a total of $222 dollars i have $200 right now. and i am getting her spayed in april.

i mean $222 for the spay

It sounds like you are really planning ahead for your rabbits, mocha, I think that’s great!

Another insect concern besides fleas & ticks is cuterebra. Cuterebra are large flies whose larvae (small worms) infest the skin of small animals, then burrow their way out. The adult lays eggs on ground cover, where small animals then come in contact with them. Google it for some gross pictures. I found my Sassy bunny outside (obviously someone’s abandoned pet — very tame, though scared). After we had her for about a week (we reported her to the Humane Society & tried to find her owners, with no luck), we noticed a spot on her chest that was swelling, and appeared to have something hard sticking out of it. I thought maybe she had been impaled by a twig in the wild, or it was a scab over some other infected wound. We took her to the vet, who had to excise the cuterebra (don’t ever try to squeeze or pluck them out, as the bug’s “juices” may be toxic to the bunny tissue, or part of a dead bug might get stuck & infected), and she was on antibiotics for a while to prevent infection.

If you’ve ever seen a wild bunny with what looks like tumors on it, it’s probably a cuterebra starting to burrow out. Sometimes there’s no infection, and after it burrows out, the bunny heals just fine. Sometimes it gets infected & things don’t turn out so well. Or it could burrow into a place that impedes normal bunny functioning. Before we noticed Sassy’s chest lump, we noticed she was favoring her front paw, because moving that leg hurt her “chest lump.” Imagine a bunny trying to hop if they actually had one of those things on their foot!

Anyway, just a heads-up about something else to watch out for.

You can get Advantage in the right dosage from your vet. It is recommended to use Advantage if your rabbits are on fresh grass, even in a screened area. If you screen around the enclosure, make it so the rabbits cannot get to the screen and bite holes in it. A screen will keep large flies, like the rodent bots mnrabbit mentioned, out.

Posted By Bren on 02/10/2010 04:33 PM

 I wanted to build a giant playground (enclosed of course) but then found out all the bad things out there for buns.  It was suggested it would be ok as long as there as a floor in it.  We spend alot of time outdoors in nice weather and I am thinkging about building something for Willie to be out with us as well or jsut to get some fresh air. Take pictures if you can and post

I took a picture of what I was talking about earlier. The bottom of any fence is what you have to keep snug; even with flooring. I just redid mine the other day.

I just let my bunny run around (he doesn’t run away and he comes when he’s called) supervised of course.

What is your outside enclosure like, MissyDressage?

me and my dad built a outside playpen out of his old out door hutch and some wire! its hard to explain i will get pics soon!!!!