Cage vs. Free Range

[TaraBunny]

Tarantino’s story is in the rescue section…

Right now Tarantino is in a little animal carrier, it’s big enough for her to move around and what not, but I don’t want her moving too much with her injury.  We are going to build her an outside hutch, but I want her inside close to me most of the time.  Then of course at night she’ll be in the house.  I was just wondering what you guys do with bunny’s in the house?

We do have two dogs, though they don’t worry me about anything.  I can let my rat run around and they just follow behind him, sniffing.  I do know and understand there can always be accidents, but I’m not worried about anyone eating anyone else.  She won’t have free run of the house all the time, so when she’s not outside and she’s not running around what do you suggest?

I was thinking maybe a baby crib, put her in there with some toys.  The kitten is infatuated with her, she’s never seen anything smaller than she is.  I’m not worried about the kitten either, but again I don’t want something to happen as soon as I walk out of the room sort of thing.  Do any of you have pets that your buns interact with?

[MooBunnay]

 I would definitely suggest an exercise pen, there are a bunch of photo examples in the “Cool Habitats” section, here is the link, and here is the address in case that link doesn’t work: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/CoolHabitats/tabid/71/Default.aspx

Exercise pens are my favorite because you can re-position them, move them around, change their shape, and can be expanded to give your bunny plenty of room to run around.

I only have rabbits, but I think an important thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of differences in behaviors and mentalities between “predator” type animals like dogs, and “prey” type animals like rabbits.  For example, dogs are usually pretty outgoing and much more comfortable playing with humans, whereas bunnies usually like to interact with humans on their own terms, and can sometimes be shy.  Also, keep in mind that rabbits frighten much more easily than dogs, so I would recommend supervising your interactions between the dogs and rabbits just until your rabbit understands that the dogs are friendly and not try to eat her

Exercise is very important for bunnies, so making sure your rabbit has plenty of space to play and run around is very important.  Also,  I wouldn’t recommend using the outdoor hutch only in limited amounts when you are outside with your bunny.  There are several reasons.  One is that bunnies can overheat very easily outdoors, also, bunnies get abcesses very easily and so you do not want them to get bitten by any insects because it could cause pretty serious illness or injuries.  Also, since bunnies can frighten to death, if a cat or a dog were to get in your yard and bark at the bunny or try to get in the hutch it could frighten the bunny very seriously.

Let us know what other questions you have!

[Beka27]

Xpens are my favorite bunny enclosure. They are lightweight and can be easily lifted to clean under around and behind the bunny area. Storage is very simple as they can fold accordion-style in about 2 seconds flat. It’s a substantial investment up front (about 75 dollars for a 36 inch tall walk-thru xpen at petsmart) but they can be used over and over and over again for multiple rabbits, or other pets, for years.

[KatnipCrzy]

I have dogs, cats and parrots in addition to the rabbits.  My dogs and cats get along fine with the bunnies- they are really only “together” (physically able to touch each other) though when we are home.  Our bunnies live in a pen in our family room which gets a good amount of traffic- since that is where the computer is and the patio door to let the dogs outside.  The bunnies are happy and comfortable in their pen and like to have a secure place that is “theirs”.  We do let them out- especially at night when we are watching TV- and they interact with the dogs, cats- run and zoom all over, etc.

My dogs are both Australian Shepherds, and do have a high herding instinct- but are also very smart dogs and they KNOW that the bunnies belong in the house and they have never tried to harm them.   But I feel better know they are safe when I am not home or not around to watch them- the dogs could accidentally step on them (bunnies have fragile backs) or the cats could go into play mode- and want to bite/kick play with the bunnies- which is not good for the bunnies- bunnies are prone to getting abscesses especially from puncture wounds- even minor wounds from cat claws or teeth.

It sounds as though your dogs know to be gentle- so you should be fine with supervised time outs- or even convert one room to a bunny room.  My bunnies DO need time away from our dogs because they love to eat the bunny poo- and they even will stick their noses under the bunnies to check for more poo.  And they have gotten into the bunny litterbox once- and ate a ton of hay and poo and then barfed it back up (that was disgusting).  And they will eat bunny food (pellets) too if given the opportunity.

So bunnies can be happy house bunnies even if they are not always free run.  Though I have to admit if I had a more controllable space like an apartment and no other pets that accidents could happen with- I would want my bunny to be free run all the time.

 

[princessangrypeppers]

Is there a reason you can’t keep the rabbit indoors all the time? I think it’d be a lot easier for you and Tara if she lived exclusively indoors. Especially for her, since it’s starting to get really hot, and bunnies don’t do well in hot weather.

[KweenElmer]

Our Puck is pretty much free range. We found that when he was caged most of the time he would be a lot less social. He came to know as the ones who would shove him back in his box. So, we keep him out as much as possible. We have a dog too, and they cohabit quite well together…well, mostly Jalebi just annoys Puck because she wants to play games that bunnies do not play (usually it’s him doing the growling, not the dog). It’s pretty ideal actually. We’re all a lot happier becuase we get to spend more time together and also get to choose when we have alone time.

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