Going FREE RANGE!

[Fluffykins]

Hi everyone

I hardly get any time on here anymore, I miss everyone!

So we’ve very recently had some work done to our house which is now complete..Yay! I’ve had fluffykins in his condo (with run attached) all this time but now things have finally settled down I feel comfortable transitioning to free range.

I’ve started off with only bunny proofing the sitting room. This means the door to this room is always shut! Due to lack of space, we eat, work and play in the sitting room – thank God it’s large enough for all that.

I’ve blocked off the floor lamp, the hoover cords area, the desk area, and around the tv a bit with large grids – 3ftx3ft I think. (I still have some exposed wires going from the games unit to the tv… need to get cord protectors for those).

The fluffball easily jumps onto the reading chair, sofa and coffee table.. the only one we dissuade is the coffee table. He likes to leave little pellets on the sofa but thankfully nothing else. He’s not neutered (7 months now) and unless we get crazy hormonal behaviour I won’t look to neuter. I can handle sweeping up pellets, won’t be able to handle wee spraying.

Anyway, so far, we’re doing ok. I have two young kids so other then constantly reminding them to close the door behind them and not slam it open; it’s going relatively pain free.

Are there any tips you can share with me? I plan to go very slow, currently have him out when we are here to supervise. I’ll slowly transition to keeping him out overnight, then for short journeys then fully out 24/7.

I doubt he’ll have access to any of the other rooms as the kids have too much junk (ha) laying around!

Oh we have had a few near misses where he’s hopped up silently behind us and one of us has nearly stepped on him! Any tips for that? What do we think about something like a cat collar with bells but for rabbits?

(My fluffykins is used to being on his harness).

Thanks all!

Ps I forgot to mention he still has his base but plenty of his own toys placed around the room. I’ve got bridges and straw mats under the table and chairs, tunnels going along the edge of the walls and chew toys hanging off most of the grids I’ve got blocking places off. He will bite at the carpet in places the kids have previously dropped a food or drink item (and I guess he can still get a good sniff of it). Not sure what to do about that other then having random concrete blocks all over the floor…

[Q8bunny]

Woohoo! Welcome to the club, Fluffykins bun!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hi there!
my bridge rabbit used to have a cat collar with a bell and it worked very well
she didn’t mind, it wasn’t dangerous in my flat and I always knew where she was
I tried it on my current bun (no scrummy pun intended) and she chewed it off straight away
I tried again and she chewed it again so I didn’t bother with it again.
You have to be careful that he’s not going to snag it or get it stuck anywhere of course
There is no other solution really. I think we have all nearly trodden on all of the animals, cats dogs or rabbits….
Well apart from No shoes! Only socks or bare feet helps as you feel their presence earlier and cause less injury if you do step in a paw.

Piccie please

[Fluffykins]

Thanks Q8!

Hi Vienna! Thanks for that, I might try a bell collar on him; he’s so calm with the harness I feel like it would be ok. Looking around here I don’t see anywhere he could snag it on, most walls and furniture are blocked off with the grids!

I can’t say it’s done much for the decor haha but for him to have this freedom – totally worth the ugly look!

I plan to have him free range under supervision only for at least the next month (although so far I’ve had “sessions” ie when I’m cooking in the kitchen and the rest of the family are in the bedroom, or when I’m doing chores elsewhere and he’s all alone in the sitting room for a hour or so at a time) so might try and purchase the collar this week and use it while he’s under supervision period.

Open to any other hints, tips and ideas!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Just a thing about the harness, alot of bunny savvies don’t like harnesses (nor do I, now).
As you know a bunny can accelerate very fast and/or binky and / or panic by kicking their back legs out.
Their back legs are so strong and their spinal column is so exceedingly weak that your bun could injure himself very badly (we’re talking broken spines !!) so harnesses on leads really aren’t recommended for bunnies. You do see them in jumping events with them on but I know that the owners like to take them off afterwards.
Just saying – your choice, but be very careful

[Fluffykins]

Hi Vienna

Thanks for the reminder, always appreciated!

I only ever had him on the harness indoors (wouldn’t ever use it outdoors) and it was so he could run around the whole house before I had rabbit proofed.

Now I’ve made him free range I doubt I’ll ever have any use for it again, I certainly don’t need it for home use. I am glad I harness trained though as it was a positive bonding thing for us and in our case meant a good run around

[Cloversmom]

Welcome to the free range life! I understand your concern about stepping on bun. When we went totally free range my bun was about 10 weeks old and she’s a Netherland dwarf (crazy I know) and so she was and still is super tiny which i know came with its risks because of her size but by making some adjustments we’ve had a fantastic safe free range experience. I just tried to make myself more alert of my surrounding. I basically had to tell myself that no matter where I was or what I was doing she could be right behind me. Which seems like a pretty big task to constantly be aware but with some practice it just became like second nature to me so I never turn around in hurry or anything like that and I ALWAYS look before I step. The other thing I do especially at night if I get up to use the bathroom is that when I take a step I will only lift my foot a tiny bit off the ground so there’s no way a bunny could fit under it and I slowly move it forward in such a way that if I suddenly felt fur when moving my foot forward I wouldn’t have hurt her because I was moving so slow. I would’ve just bumped her a little with my foot. and I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting under my foot because the space between my foot and the ground is too small for her to fit. I hope that makes sense. And also at night I will announce my presence to her so if she does happen to be flopped right in my path she won’t be spooked. Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Free range makes for a happy bunny

IDK what to tell you about the stepping on them…but I’ll let you know when I figure it out hahah. Ophelia has a bad habit of getting too excited and darting in between feet while you are taking a step…pretty much no way to avoid accidentally hitting her.

And about the décor, I feel you on that one!! We have a great big 50 inch TV and we don’t trust that the walls in our apartment are foundationally adequate for mounting it on the wall, so we have it on this awkward shaped 3 tier tv stand…. all was fine until bun decided she wanted to be free roam of the rest of the house and kept jail breaking out of her room by scaling the baby gates. Now there are random textbooks and bins filling in all the spaces that she could crawl through to get to the glorious wonderland of black, white, red, and yellow cables. I feel so ridiculous when people see it, but whatever. Bun is happy and safe so

[Q8bunny]

I walk like a penguin sice adopting Chewbacca (IE, i shuffle) It prevens accidents

[DanaNM]

Yes to shuffling and not wearing shoes

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Fluffykins]

Hahaha thanks guys.

The only problem is I’m not as much worried about myself and the hubby stepping on him (we are trying to be *super* aware 24/7 whilst awake)! It’s more my other two rugrats!

I have a 3 and 6 year old…

Bunnoob the decor…. ouch!!!

My once prized sofa… I’ve given up trying to save it. Oh well! And watching t.v? Forget that! It’s much nicer staring at the bars currently up in front of the tv so the little bugger can’t get to it to chew it

[Deleted User]

Honestly for me, Ophelia probably wouldn’t even chew the cords but I won’t take that risk of course More than several occasions the hubs has left his PS4 charger or gaming headset charger hanging off the table, just a nab away from Ophelia and she doesn’t touch them. I also leave my vacuum out since I use it so often and don’t feel like digging it out of the closet every time. She’s never messed with it.

I am probably going to be in for a really rude awakening next time around with a different bun. Ophelia really is just always on her best behavior. I’m so lucky <3

[Deleted User]

except for anything rubber.

If it’s rubber she is going to devour it XD

[Wick & Fable]

Just make sure to have a sit down session with the children, maybe with the rabbit present, to show them the appropriate ways to approach and interact with the rabbit in the free roam space; so:

1) Do not stick hands directly in front (blind spot)
2) Do not reach under and lift back legs (teach a proper way to lift and replace if they find the rabbit going somewhere it can’t)
3) How to courteously step around and walk with a rabbit going through your feet
4) How to handle rabbit harassment (have them eat a banana or something and show them good ways to deter the rabbit from interrupting their eating)

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Q8bunny]

“rabbit harassment” ???

[GarfyTheLop]

Rabbit harassment whilst eating is a thing, Wick is right! 

My little guy climbs all over me whilst I’m eating something he likes, sometimes it’s hard to say no 

[Cakie]

I second or third the no shoes inside. Our guy has been mostly free range his whole life, and really the only time there’s an issue is if he suspects there may be treats forthcoming. Then he will happily trip you so you drop whatever he thinks he is getting

[Author]

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