Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 8/21/2017 9:30 AM

My husband and I had ours housed in an xpen when we brought them home, and we left it open and gave them the option to come out and explore. Bombur, was an eager beaver and hopped on the couch and on my chest. Asriel stayed in the pen in his litter box.

Check my “They’re home!” thread in Lounge and you’ll see a picture of their setup taken minutes before they were brought home. The X-pen isn’t up yet, but you can see the rug (a natural-fiber sisal from IKEA) that they’ll be playing on, along with their tunnel (a cardboard concrete form from Lowes), their “outside” hidey box (an old beer carton I got at the local beer-and-wine store) and the stool that I’ll be using when sitting with them (my knees aren’t so good anymore ). The X-pen will be hooked up to the condo to keep the buns from wandering out. TBH I’m actually wondering now if I shouldn’t have set it up from the start that way, but oh well; they’ll be coming out to have fun this evening.

Posted By BunNoob<3 on 8/21/2017 11:39 AM

I think they should be fine to start having floor sessions. I let my bunny settle in for 3 days before I just let him have range of the room. But he was 8 weeks old, terrified, and didn’t have a friend like P&F do! Since they have each other, I imagine they will be over the stress of a new place pretty quickly! It’s also helpful because you’ve spent time with them before they came home, whereas in my situation Quincy had never even seen me!

Rando question: do you think about your bunnies all day while you’re at work? I do! If my husband is home when I’m not, he’s always stuck answering me what they are doing every few hours XD

Oh Lord, yes! I’m torn between dewy-eyed adoration of P&F in the pictures I took yesterday  and stark terror for their safety while I’m thirty miles away at work . I suspect every new bun parent must have gone through the same thing during their first few days; I consciously know they’re fine because I double-checked the condo doors, filled the water dish with fresh H2O and stuffed their hay rack and litterbox with fresh hay, but I won’t be completely easy until I get home and see them bouncing up and down impatient to be let out. I’m actually vaguely even tempted to spring for a webcam on top of all the other $$$$$$$ I’ve spent these last couple of weeks just so I can keep an eye on them no matter where I am…

With my luck, though, it’s all going to end this evening in my shoveling the day’s poop and discarded hay out of the lower deck while P&F play sidewalk superintendent in the X-pen and cast covetous eyes at all the delicious-looking chewables beyond the X-pen bars, Fernando sizing up potential jump points…

Posted By ThorBunny on 8/21/2017 12:04 PM

I think it depends on how brave and outgoing they are! We let Thor roam around the kitchen after only a few hours in her hutch after bringing her home. Never had any problems with litter training. But that was because she had already made it pretty clear she was an independent sassy lady who needed her space For Boo, we let him have 24 hrs in a restricted space before letting him into a larger room.

@BunNoob – I definitely think about them all day when I’m at work. I got a pet cam to keep an eye on them

*snort* I think Fernando needs to have someone sit down with him and explain that rabbits are supposed to be timid, nervous creatures.  Saturday morning while I was visiting the buns at their foster home, he repeatedly – and I mean at least two, maybe three times – leapt up onto a chair piled high with cushions, at least a good 2 feet from the floor by my estimate, to get at treat jars that I had stacked to try to avert temptation. (Small hope!) And like I reported in the Lounge this morning (with pictures), he’s decided that the top of one of the hidey boxes on the upper deck is one of his favorite spots, and while Panda was retreating to her upper-deck corner when I moved the condo around to get at the hay rack, Fernando continued to eat his morning pellets with perfect aplomb, no doubt wondering why his mother was panicking.  I was told that he was active and curious, but didn’t expect him to be a lagomorph daredevil!

Heh. Maybe I will end up getting a webcam/”pet cam” just to get some peace of mind so I can concentrate on my work!

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/21/2017 1:16 PM

Assuming the pen is attached to the cage you can just set it up asap and see if they decide to investigate.

It’s not at the moment, but it’ll only take a couple of minutes to do so when I get home, I have the clips to do it with.

Posted By sarahthegemini on 8/21/2017 2:45 PM

Awesome. I think if you put a little hidey box in the pen they might be more eager to come out and play. It took my two about a week to come out but that was because they forgot they were rabbits and had the ability to jump out of a little door way so I had to make a ramp for them lol. As soon as I put the ramp down Buttercup jumped out immediately. Peanut took another couple of days

Done and done. I not only have a hidey box ready, large enough for both buns to shelter in (see picture 1 in my Lounge thread) but also a cardboard tunnel (actually an 8″ concrete form that I got from Lowes the previous weekend). I’ve been interested to note that P&F have apparently taken pretty enthusiastically to the condo’s upper deck, both as a place to sun themselves and since there are two small hidey boxes up there.

Panda and Fernando are having their very first evening play session right now. I set up the X-pen, attached it to the cage, put in the hidey box and tunnel, and after the buns had finished their salad, opened up the door, and off they went! They’ve been hopping around and through the box and tunnel and in and out of the condo for about half an hour now and seem to be having themselves a high old time. I’m watching them, enjoying their antics and making sure they don’t get in trouble. I may go inside the X-pen in a little while to do a bit of bonding with them, basically just sit with them and let them explore around me.

P.S.They came through their first day alone together in our home with flying colors.  They didn’t get in any sort of jam or mischief (apart from one of the upper-deck hidey boxes being knocked around); in fact, they were relaxing in their litterbox and it took them a moment to realize I’d come home. Hmmmm…I think I’ll have to do litter-box maintenance tomorrow evening.