Greyson’s house

[Briana C.]

 Well, it’s been a while since i’ve been on here but Jetson never came back. Even though i never found him i’m still devoted to making Greyon’s life the best it can be. I know that you guys mostly have indoor bunnies, but i guess i just wanted to see if i have your approval of his new home. This was my Christmas present, but we are still not finished with it yet.

 

storage for food and bedding

 

this is the bedroom I made the hole in the wall just barely big enough for Greyson to crawl thorough to keep the cold out

 

Now that it is warm, we don’t need it, but we are have a heater light that is used for chicken coops and if it geets cold again we will put it in his bedroom to keep him warm. 

 

Like I said this isn’t the finished product, in the floor of the cage area we are going to install a small door and stair way so i can just open that door and Greyson can go out instead of me having to pick him up. Another addition to the cage will be a top to the play area, it will be two wire screens with wood frames on a henge, so i can remove the top when i would like to join Greyson. For now He is under constant supervision if he is outside, but one day he will be able go outside on his own will (if i first open the door for him) so no bird could prey on him with the top on, and in the bottom of the play area will have wire buried so he couldn’t dig his way out. So that is the plan for now.

I know you guys disagree with out door rabbits but since there is absolutely no way that i can have Greyson inside i’m trying to give him the best possible life that he can have. So do you guys have any input of suggestions? thanks !

[Briana C.]

Oh!! im sorry i didn’t realize the pictures were going to be that big! I also forgot to mention that that pile of logs is going to be removed ASAP so the snakes cant hide in there. We are also going to line the perimeter of the cage with some sort of snake preventitave spray or border.

[Bo Bunny]

Oh wow it looks great (i am fairly new here), as for snakes, though they are an issue it would take a big snake to eat a full grown rabbit. What you want to be careful of is birds of prey, hawks, owls, falcons, etc.
I have a friend that lives in the country and for a ‘snake boarder’ she just cuts the grass often and removes and potential dark hiding spaces or basking spots. You could try using chicken wire or hardware clothe
that is small enough that a growing snake can’t fit through. Now don’t get me wrong, snakes are good at getting to where they want to go, but if you have a big snake and a smalll opening, it’ll likely deture it. Hatchlings
will be able to fit though. (Use to own corn snakes, which as hatchlings are pencil thin and 8 inches long.) You also want to be aware of raccoons. Tricky little critters as well as stray cats and dogs.

Just some things to think about with outdoor habitats.

[Briana C.]

I’ve heard that moth balls deter snakes so i thought about that as an or I’ve heard there was a special spray to keep snakes out too. I never thought of racoons, i think i may need to add an extra latch on the door to get in the fence , all we have now is a simpe hook and hoop to keep the door shut.

[Bo Bunny]

Yeah raccoons are sly little critters. Haven’t heard about moth balls nor of a spray, but I’ll look it up.

I’ve looked up snake traps and they use adhesive, which will pull the scales off a snake when removed. Not fun. I doubt you’d want to hurt one animal just to protect another animal that it probably wouldn’t go after in the first place.
Like I said it takes a big snake to eat a full grown rabbit. I’d imagine your bun would kill a snake that would attempt to go after it. Just because the size difference. Unless it’s a poisionous snake then I’d suggest contacting a wildlife trapper. Also keep in mind if you
have rodent such as mice or rats, that is prim food for snakes.

As for what i said about keeping the area clear, much like any animal they won’t expose themselves unless needed, so if you had a snake that had to travel 6 meters to get to the fence of your pen, he has a chance of being scooped up by
a bird of prey.

EDIT:  To add, I think I mentioned about birds of prey, your open area is a prime target.  For both birds and coons, strays, and snoopy neighbors/mean kids.  

[mocha200]

i love the house!!!! what is the reason you can’t keep him inside?

[Deleted User]

No spray or gadget will be able to protect your rabbit in this open run. I see that Jetson was never found and I highly recommend bonding Greyson again to another altered rabbit. It is very harsh for a rabbit to live outdoors
in the first place but to live outdoors alone even more so.
Please change the open area by adding a cover to it, as well as heavy, weather-resistant tunnels and hidey-spots to dive under. At night your rabbit must be locked up securely because of weasels. They are skilled rabbit killers
and will climb and chew through any wire to
find your rabbit and strangle him. Seriously, your set-up is not safe at this point, the one side of his hutch must also be closed where the fixed knot fencing is. In your wooded area your rabbit is a target on a platter.
I would also clad the hutch with sheet metal,
as many predators, again such as weasels, can chew through thick wood to get rabbit dinner.

[Deleted User]

Briana, I remember now you had a hard time with your parents about how close Greyson’s pen could be to the house etc. Has he been neutered now? It really reduces the odor. Maybe you could bring him inside for the night time at least, even into your garage if you have one.
In the meantime, can you line the wire grid with hay or put down cardboard for him so he is off the wire in his hutch? I can see you wanted to build a nice mansion for him, the little bunny-shaped entrance is so cute but the safety must be upgraded.

[jerseygirl]

The little rabbit shape doorway is cute! Your plans for the run sound good. Glad to hear you are there with him when he’s in that area currently. As Petzy mentioned, adding some things like hidey tunnels in the run area will improve it. Now and for later when it has a top. It’s like a bolt-hole for rabbits when they get a scare. They can run there and hide until they feel safe again to venture out.

I’m sorry to hear you never found Jetson.

[Karla]

Nice garden you have there! That looks amazing!

I agree with Petzy that it still needs some adjustments and that you really should consider bonding him to a friend so he is not completely alone out there.
Especially if he has seen his friend be taken by a predator or something like that.

Also, it is not nice for bunnies to walk on wire grids, so maybe you can cover it with linoleum or something else that is easy to clean.
Just so he doesn’t get “sore hocks”.

Until he can get into the run himself perpaps provide him with some more toys, like a digging box, some twigs et.c because it doesn’t look
like he has that many things to do to keep himself entertained otherwise. But it is a great idea with access to the run, I think!

[Deleted User]

Realistically, if Jetson’s running away didn’t change your parents’ mind, I am pretty sure Greyson is not going to become an indoor bunny, especially where you’ve spent time and money on building this setup.
Let’s focus on making his habitat securer. I see his ‘bedroom’ is all wood, but very small for him to be locked in it during the night as I had suggested. You could put wood and some kind of siding all around
his hutch area to weasel-proof it. There can be no gaps as weasels can make themselves very slim and flat. I would replace the grid bottom with wood also for security, comfort and for shelter from cold. What is
the climate like where you live?

[Briana C.]

I’m a little confused about the wire bottom, all the hutches i’ve ever seen have had a wire bottom, im not saying you are wrong, i’ve just never seen anything different. The climate where i live has pretty intense summers, any suggestions ? The winters are not bad at all, especially if i have his little heater and my parents will let him stay in the garage on cold nights. But the cold has never bothered Greyson he seems quite happy in cold weather. It’s perfect right now great springy weather we haven’t had a hot day yet so i think there is time to fix it for summer weather. The nice thing about the wood bed room is it tends to keep cool in the heat and warm in the cold. Oh and there aren’t any weasels or minks in my area, . I definitely agree about his run being empty i will be sure to pick up some toys, any suggestions? Greyson is quite “mature” or serious he has never shown an interest in any sort of toys or playthings. His favorite thing to do is dig i watch him, when i allow him to be alone and we get things ready and there is a wire top there will also have a buride wire so he cant tunnel out either.

i didnt understand what you were saying here

“the one side of his hutch must also be closed where the fixed knot fencing is.”

[jerseygirl]

Suggestions: Maybe some safe chew wood in his run if he’s not really into toys. That’d keep him busy. Also, short lengths of tunnel (above ground ) Something like large polypipe or a clay pipe if you can get some. You could even just do a inverted V type tunnel. Like a tent shape but open each side.

On wire flooring – yes, many outdoor (and some indoor) hutches do have wire flooring. Idea that it’s easy for clean up as they toilet thru the wire rather than put down bedding/litter in a hutch. But if a rabbit it litter trained it’s not necessary. Wire floor are quite bad for their feet. Once they get sores on the hocks it is really hard for them to heal. So if Greyson uses a litter box, you can put something solid over the wire to protect his feet. Or you can cover most of it and leave a little space uncovered.

For hot days, I’m not sure what else you can do but provide frozen ice bottles for him to lie against. You could drape the hutch is some wet hessian so when the breeze passes thru it, it will have a slight cooling effect.

[Briana C.]

He hasn’t ever used a liter box, he goes in one corner of his cage all of the time though, i keep a pan under the cage to dump out daily. Im sure i could get some wood to cover the part of the cage where he doesn’t poop.

[mocha200]

have you tried a litter box in the corner he goes potty in?

[Briana C.]

What is a liter box like, do they make special ones for bunnies?

[jerseygirl]

You can use a regular cat box. You do have to take care what type of litter you use though. Cat clumping style ones are not good for rabbits. If you are interested in trying him with a litterbox, read the binkybunny tips on this. https://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Litter…fault.aspx   Wood on his cage floor sounds good. He might poop on it at first as it new to him. Also leaving the potty corner uncovered would work well, but definately try him with a litter box though. 

[Briana C.]

alright thanks!

[Deleted User]

I didn’t see at first glance that this fencing is on all sides, I just noticed this side. This type of fencing is strong but the gaps are big; it does not keep out small critters such as weasels. Greyson is not safe in his hutch at night with this type of fence.

In your climate, it isn’t the cold then but the bugs and the heat you need to worry about.  You could wrap a small-gauge wire product around the entire hutch, like a stainless steel wire cloth mesh. It would screen out many bugs that can make Greyson ill. The garage is probably best for him at night.

You are right about wire bottom being very common in rabbitries;  being widely used does not mean that they are good for the rabbits, though. People like them because a grid bottom in a hutch makes clean-up easy.

You can make a litterbox for him very simply, you can use any rectangular container that has a low enough edge for him to hop in. In the meantime, while you look around for one, you can even use a cardboard tray, line it with newsprint, Carefresh and hay. He will love it. Try it out. A cardboard tray of course will get soaked over time but you can get them free at the grocery store and give him a new one each week until you get him a nice permanent plastic one.

 

 

[Sarita]

I agree with Petzy – I also have to say that rabbit cut-out does not seem big enough for him to get into – it’s totally unpractical. He needs a larger square opening.

[Andi]

Looks like your new rabbit home is coming along, i think once you get the roof on the pen part, and some extra security it’ll be a good outdoor home.
My reccomendations, from experiance is SMALL wire, tiny gaps. As mentioned weasels are smart and if they can fit there heads through they can get their entire bodies through. I have whittnessed a weasel attack on rabbits at a Shelter i was volunteering with, it was tragic, sad and disgusting Details would be to upsetting, so i will urge smaller wire be used throughout the entire pen. (just place it overtop the current stuff, making double protection from larger animals like coyotes)

Hot weather can kill a bunny, adding frozen water jars (with metal lids) can help keep a bunny cool as will frozen slate stones and/or rocks, but I would suggest if you keep him in the garage during cold days, you may want to do the same on hot days. Heatstroke is a common killer to outdoor rabbits.

As a few people mentioned the wire bottom, this is the way meat rabbits are kept, the reason is breeders of meat rabbits don’t want the rabbits to injest feces as it suposedly can cause issues on the liver which i guess makes rabbit meat less desirable. The wire, as well as other hard surfaces can cause ‘sore hawks’ which is like red sores on there back knees, if they continue on the surface it can become infected, and an outdoor rabbit would be more prone to flystrike (maggots) in the open wounds. if sore hawks are treated quickly, most of the time the fur will grow back, othertimes it is permenent. My Rex bunny has permenent scars from this, he was a hutch bunny for 3.5 years with a wood bottom home. Giveing a soft surface, like a blanket or carpet in there home can also help reduce this.

I think its’ great that you are doing all you can to provide a safe outdoor home for your bunny, it’s not easy when you still live with your parents and depend on them. Good luck with everything

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