Camping house buns and a new baby.

[Muse]

Hi!  I have just had a new bun come into my care, 12 week old female, hardly been handled.  Unfortunately this has coincided with my moving back into the family home, which is not ‘pet friendly’.  My brother is highly allergic.  Consequently, my bonded pair (spayed female, 2yrs and intact male, 1yr) have had to adjust to being outside buns.  My father turned my old cubby into a ‘bun house’, complete with head high balcony (great for bunny level contact!), but it’s hardly ideal.  The new girl (Coco) is currently living in a very small outside hutch.  My intention is to bond them as a trio – after neuters and spays.

Ok, so thats your background info!  Coco is very skittish, and due to the outdoor lifestyle I can’t allow her to set the human/bun bonding rules.  At the moment I have been bringing her inside with me at night time to sit on my lap whilst I watch TV or similar.  Whilst she hates being picked up, she doesn’t mind being made a fuss over once she’s settled on my lap.  She has started grooming herself, licking my pants and jumper and 2 nights ago did a flop on my lap.  This is good progress right?  And does anyone have any advice?

The living situation is relatively temporary, but at the same time, it’ll probably be about a year before I move out again.  Am I going to have to re-toilet train?  My boy (Duke) has gone mental and is pooing EVERYWHERE – which I know is mostly due to the move and the fact that he’s still very much a male.  And will his poor toilet habits break my girl (Aurora) out of her training?  Should I bother attempting toilet training with Coco?

Thanks guys!  I know this is a house rabbit forum, but my buns really are house buns on an extended camping trip.  Any advice or anything would be fantastic.  I love them to pieces, but sometimes circumstances are just out of our control.  I’m doing everything I can think of!

[bradforde]

you can just put litter boxes in their hutches, so their litter training won’t go out the window. anything that you can do to make the hutch more like they are inside (mini-air conditioning/fan/carpet) would probably help with the stress of being outside.

i would say also that the more time you can spend with them, the better your relationship will hold up. also, if you can let them out everyday to get plenty of exercise (inside or outside – as long as it’s not too hot), that would probably make them very happy!

[Muse]

Thanks! Their original cage is inside the ‘house’, complete with litter tray, and I’ll definately get a fan in summer. I’ve been hand feeding them their greens etc, and I’m going to put a seat for me inside the house, so we can still continue with our games. They get run times, but the run is actually smaller then their house! It’s more of a ‘grass’ time. We have no fences. I’m not able to bring them inside to play at the moment, though I think I might be able to sneak them in one at a time eventually.

[Author]

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