Escape artist – now semi free range

[Catalina]

I went on vacation for a week and just got back yesterday.  My pet sitter said Tansy was a little stinker.  He would escape from his pen and she would find him lounging on the couch with the cat.  Now that I’m back he hasn’t escaped once!  I think he missed me.  We had a nice cuddle last night when I got home.  Although, in just a week he grew a ton!

[Zombie-Sue]

What a cute story! (;

[bunnytowne]

HE was escaping and trying to find you.  

[RabbitPam]

[Catalina]

Well, Tansy has been escaping pretty regularly. If I leave the house he gets out of his x-pen. He lifts it up with his teeth. I’ve tried weighting it down, putting things against it, but he just figures out a way to escape, sooooo he is on a trial semi free range plan. I have the living room doorway and the hallway to the bedrooms/bathrooms blocked off. So he has the dining room and kitchen to run around in – which are both tile floors. I really doun’t want him on my carpeting, because he likes to dig.
So hopefully he will be satisfied with ‘just’ 2 rooms.

[LucyTwoBunz]

We started off with a bedroom, hall & entryway…eventually to the entire house but they mostly stayed in the family room during the days.  Then, Gulliver started peeing outside of his box.  We tried EVERYTHING and learned from this site that sometimes its best to lock them up at night until his habits return back.  We built a NIC cube area with stairs & one other level…2 litter boxes, fleece, etc.  Covers 2/3 of “their bedroom” which is about 10X10′.  Then, in the morning we open their door & they eventually end up in the family room where we have an under-the-bed box for their litter & hay as well as their boxes, tubes, toys, etc.  SUCCESS!  They are pretty tamed now…you turn off the TV in the evening & Gulliver gets up, stretches & slowly lops thru the living room, up the few steps, thru the entry way, down the hall and into their bedroom.  Lainey however, first takes her laps around & behind the couch, over the hearth, behind the chairs, go…go…go…THEN down the hall to their bedroom.  Our bunz won’t go on tile so the kitchen, dining room, bathrooms & 2 of the bedrooms they never approach.  The rest of the house is theirs.  Highly recommend it if it works out and Tansy’s habits remain good.  Lainey is a digger too so she has to be watched if she doesn’t get enough run time to wear her out a bit.  When we know we are going to be elsewhere, we put up a section of our xpen between the family room & living room.  I’m thankful DAILY that Gulliver reacted as he did.  The seem to really like their routines, including feeding time.  Just love my bunz!

[Catalina]

It seems to be working really well with Tansy EXCEPT now my cat is pretty much stuck in the kitchen dining room too, because she can’t jump over the x-pen blocking the hallways. She can still get to her litter box/food/water, but she’s mad that she can’t get to her favorite napping spots.
I think I might have to experiment with a slightly shorter fence thingy. Although, if Catty can jump over it then Tansy probably can too. Hmmmmmm

[LucyTwoBunz]

Our cat Lucy gets attitude about the bunz too.  She acts like she is locked in the living room if we close the room off with xpen grids but can get up on the couch and over the arm to get into the other room, which she does often.  Maybe she just forgets…she’s 15 now!  So happy it’s working out so far – I can’t imagine our bunz being caged up.  However, at night if we leave the nic hatch open, they almost always still stay within the caged area…they seem to really like it.  Now your bun can start trying to break INTO things…gotta bunny proof really well as it is mind blowing the things they can think of to get into or destroy

[jerseygirl]

Now your bun can start trying to break INTO things…gotta bunny proof really well as it is mind blowing the things they can think of to get into or destroy

Yes! Today I was adapting that saying “where there’s a will….”etc. Where there’s a bunny there’s a way.
Catalina, could you put a cat tower each side of the barricade? Or something the cat can scale using it’s claws but rabbits can’t climb up? Mmm…. it will take some thinking I guess.

[kralspace]

They can certainly be little escape artists, that’s for sure.

I have the same problem with the cat/rabbit combination. This may not work for you, but I’ve found I can put a nic barrier that’s 2 grids high across the door and as long as the floor is slick on each side the bunnies won’t jump, but the cats can clear it, even my chunky one. On the doorway where there is wood floors on each side, a one grid high gate works. If they cant get the traction, mine won’t even try.

[Catalina]

Posted By kralspace on 06/15/2010 06:54 AM
They can certainly be little escape artists, that’s for sure.

I have the same problem with the cat/rabbit combination. This may not work for you, but I’ve found I can put a nic barrier that’s 2 grids high across the door and as long as the floor is slick on each side the bunnies won’t jump, but the cats can clear it, even my chunky one. On the doorway where there is wood floors on each side, a one grid high gate works. If they cant get the traction, mine won’t even try.

Thanks for the idea!  Tansy has always been on tile or wood floors, so he isn’t really scared of slipping, but I think I might try some NIC grids. 

How do everyone’s rabbits do with stairs?  Tansy hasn’t ever gone up or down stairs, so I’m not sure if he even knows how to do it.  Hopefully he won’t ever learn!

 

[Lis]

Stormy loves to go up the stairs, but he won’t go down. When I had Little, he could go up and down. I’d try it out, just to see. Maybe he’ll never figure it out. I taught Stormy and Little to go up and down.

[Author]

Messages