how much “out of cage time”?

[piperknitsRN]

I’m just curious–how much free range time do people give their bunnies?  Mine is getting about 2-4 hours a day (depending on her level of naughtiness–any incorrigible behavior means back to the X pen in the kitchen) but I suspect that will decrease in the fall when I go back to school.  Sometimes my bunny Olive likes to loaf around when she’s out of her pen, any way, and inside the X pen she is usually found in her cardboard hidey-hole or else in her litterbox.  She does binky, run around and attempt to prune my carpet whilst out and about.  My bunny is always supervised when she has “out of cage” time, because she’s still a baby bunny and I’ve had a bunny before… I know what they can get up to in the blink of an eye.” src=”http://rabbitsonline.net/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif” />

[Malp_15]

Mine ranges from 2-20 hours a day, it all depends on how much time I have. If I’m home tait is usually out

[LoveChaCha]

All day and night, lol.

I trust my rabbit and I slowly worked up to it. When I moved into an apartment with my dad, I would keep Chacha in her condo when I slept at night. Now, I just keep her out all day and night. She roams my room when I’m at home/not asleep or at work.

Before I allowed my bunny to be completely free range, she was getting 3 hours a day out. She is a great girl and is a lazy bum during teh day

[Eva_M]

Eva is outside every day for almost 2 hours in the morning (time it takes me to walk the dog and prepare everyone for school/work) and when I come home all afternoon and evening – about 7 hours. On weekends she doesn’t even see the pen Until recently I would let her stay out all night but she had some “issues” with the dog (tried to kick her out of her bed) so I had to put the bun back into her pen if I want any sleep time. I hope we will go back to our old habits soon.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I try to give my buns at least 2 hours of out time every day. This is difficult and I wish they could have more time but I have 3 unbonded bunnies. They have to share Momma and their out time. I usually let them out in the a.m. and the evening since they sleep in the afternoon.

[Elrohwen]

During the week mine are usually out from 6-10, so 4 hours, unless we stay out late with friends or something (which happens a couple times a month) and then they can’t come out until we get home. They usually stay asleep until at least 8:00 though, even though their cage is open and I try to play with them. I think they wished we stayed up much later.

Their pen is also open for about an hour every morning, but they spend most of that eating their breakfast and only a little time out exploring.

[piperknitsRN]

You are lucky, LCC!  I have a bunny who I can mostly trust but who has developed a taste for carpet.  So I have to watch her and put her back in her X pen when she gets naughty.  I would love to have her free range around the living room and hallway, but it just isn’t possible yet.  Then again, she’s pretty good, so maybe someday…

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I read in a rabbit magazine once they said to have at least 3 hours a day of outside play time. My rabbits to get 3 hours everyday of outside play time. I let my 1 rabbit out of her cage at night right before bed. I have found that if i don’t do that she will be keeping me up all night and mommy gets no sleep.

[tobyluv]

My two rabbits are never caged. At night, when we are sleeping, we block off part of the house, and I always try to keep them out of the bedroom that is my home office, with all the computer wires, printer wires, etc., but otherwise they have free rein of the house. They also love spending time on the screen porch.

[piperknitsRN]

Tobyluv:  You must have extremely well behaved rabbits!  I used to do this with Flip flop, but not until she was about a year or two old, and even then, not all the time.  I would love to be able to trust my rabbit to have free range of the house, as I really think it’s better for them in the long run, but she’s approaching adolescence and discovering the joys of carpet pruning and other household delicacies, so I’m going to have to wait before I can give her more free time unsupervised. 

[Stickerbunny]

My buns are never in a cage – but I do keep them apart as they are not bonded. My female gets the kitchen/laundry room all to herself. My male gets the rest of the house (2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, bathroom). The girl has a taste for carpet but she’s getting better about it, the male never bothers anything… not even the computer wires. At night my male gets put into the bedroom / bathroom area and locked in. The girl gets to come run around the living room every few days (when I have time to clean the carpets, since she makes a mess marking since it smells like Powder) while Powder takes his afternoon nap.

[Silly Sungura]

Four or five hours usually. It depends on my plans for the day, but she rarely gets less than four and never less than three. I’d let her have more time out if I didn’t have to divide my attention between her and my “velcro” dog. Even if I didn’t have the dog, I’d never be comfortable leaving my bun unsupervised and free to run through my entire house. She’s just too small and it’d be asking for trouble. There’s no way I could bunny-proof it all sufficiently.

[Zap]

My rabbit is out all night (6-8 hours) and any time during the day that I’m home (in summer that’s most of the day since I work from home). You don’t want your rabbit to have free roam while you are asleep unless his/her area is bunnyproofed, though!

[Cheyann]

Minnie can come out of the pen whenever she wants but I have it set up so Maddie cant (shes old and having problems so she needs to be penned)

[zpipes]

Bunny gets anywhere from NONE to 5+ lol. Usually during the week its a couple hours a night after work when I get home. Weekends usually more. But yes, there are times that I get home too late and just don’t have the time or energy to let him run about. So, unfortunately he has to spend 1 night a week staying in his cage. :o( But I can tell it doesnt affect his attitude much, he is still a very happy rabbit when it comes to playtime. I will also lay down on the floor with him for a while, he likes to show his affection and ‘groom’ me. lol.

[TaraMichele]

 Cady and Sophie have free reign of my bedroom 24/7 where their cage is, but mainly used for drinking and pottying, they havent ventured to the rest of the house mostly because its all hard wood floors and they seem pretty content taking over my room. but my boyfriend did a great job bunny proofing!

[LoveChaCha]

Free range is definitely not for everybunny! I hope that you can figure out something with bunny

[Elrohwen]

If we only had Otto he would be free range at this point. He’s terrified of slippery floors, so it’s very easy to keep him confined to only the rooms and areas he’s allowed to go in. He never jumps over the bunny proofing and has perfect litter habits. He doesn’t chew either and rarely jumps on the furniture.

Hannah is another story! When she’s bored she will absolutely jump over the bunny proofing and get into things she shouldn’t be in. She usually doesn’t chew, but a few moments of boredom and there’s a big chunk missing from the drywall on the corner. I just don’t trust her alone for more than a hour or so.

[Ande]

If I get up early enough, Ralphie is out for about 20 minutes in the mornings while I get ready for work, then about 20 minutes at lunch if I’ve gone home at lunchtime, and then for 4-6 hours each evening. On the weekends, he’s allowed out all day and evening.
When he’s had enough out time, he hops back in his pen himself.

[piperknitsRN]

I’ve just figured out the secret to getting Olive to go back in the cage by herself (always on her own schedule of course).  By putting a towel down between the linoleum in the kitchen leading up to her cage, she can now go and out by free choice.  I left a smaller litter box outside in the living rom for when she’s free range but I haven’t (so far) had any litter accidents).  She seems to prefer the big one as it has her food pellets in it, but she’ll use either.  Yesterday she got an entire day out of her cage as I’d finally gotten the wire cover I needed to bunny proof the living room and bedroom (she doesn’t really go in the bedroom, but just in case she sneaks in there, I wanted my bases covered).  The one place she isn’t allowed is the computer room, so we always keep the door closed to that room (thank God rabbits don’t have opposable thumbs). 

I’ve only had her for two weeks but she’s grown a lot and I’m excited to take her to the vet to see how much she weighs and how well she’s doing.  She seems to be fine, sneezes occasionally but I haven’t noted any discharge or wheezing.  I think she’ll be just fine.  

[brittbritt]

Mine are free range in over half our house. Gabby built up our trust and slowly she was allowed over half the house to be in at all times. When we adopted Thumper he did well like Gabby so they both free range together.

[eva]

I let my rabbit Otto run around all day in my room. I tried putting her in at night but I felt too bad because its not a very big cage.
When I’m in the living room she is allowed to wander between my room and where I am.
Shes really good about her litterbox and dosent chew on anything she isnt supposed to.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, Eva. We ask that members not reply to old threats . This one is from 2011. It just causes confusion. Feel free to start a new thread.

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