How Safe Is It To Have A Free Roaming Bunny?

[AJ]

 

My seven month old fuzzy lop Jett, is a (mostly) well behaved, happy- go -lucky bunny.

He has a nice pen, with cool tiles, toys, hay and pellets galore!  I spoil him rotten.

My question is how safe is it to let Jett be a free roaming rabbit? He does not like being locked up in his pen, and always finds a way out. The cords are covered, and kept away; he has chew toys, and uses his litter box. Is it safe to let him be free roaming?  I hate to lock him up when he hates it so.

When I am home, he is out of his cage, and loves to just chill in the bathroom, or under the bed, or on my lap.  I would like to hope that letting him be free roaming would be make him more happy.

[BinkyBunny]

It really depends on the bunny and the home. Some bunnies are much more apt to get into trouble — sneak behind appliances and places you never thought of, while others are more chill and stick to a particular exploration path. My first bunny was a free roaming bunny and he did great. In Jack’s younger years, I couldn’t fully trust him as he would be really good while I was there, but if I was gone for more than a few hours, I would find him up on the couch – either peeing or chewing on the couch cushions. However, a few years later, he had mellowed out and if I wasn’t dealing with other bunnies too, I think he would have been fine.

In the last few years, I would have both he and Vivian (and when Rucy was alive) fully free roaming 24/7 if we didn’t have a cat that I don’t trust alone with them. Right now they have the bunny room during the day, and they are allowed to free roam from about 11pm until about 8am. We close off our bedroom and hallway and allow the cat to be in there with us at night separated away from the rest of the house and the bunnies. When Jack was not ill, he and Vivian would play alot at night and especially around 5am — you could hear them running around like crazy. (And of course, they just chilled then all day as if they were some big lazy lumps — when in fact they just partied all night. LOL).

As long as you have all your bases covered as far as house proofing (OH, and keep the toilet seat down – my bunny Rucy jumped in the toilet one time because she liked to sit on the toilet seat. She was able to jump right out, but I would be afraid if someone’s bunny couldn’t).

Sometimes a more curious active bunny can get into trouble while you are gone and so you just want to be really aware of all of the trouble-making opportunities and then do what you can to prevent them. You can also block off certain rooms that you don’t want to take chances on just yet.

[Dee]

Oh wow, BB- I have always worried about the open toilet lid- esp. cuz my husband leaves the seat up too >.< . Now I have proof that toilet mishaps can occur! I'm going to yell at Rick as soon as I finish posting :p .

Adrienne, both my bunnies have free range of the downstairs of our house except for our bedroom, which is such a mess they would never be found in there. I blocked off the stairs with a big piece of tile board (for walls). And I’ve covered all the electrical cords, plus secured any objects that could fall on bunnies, spaces they could get stuck in, and removed any rugs they particularly like to eat. They chew on wood furniture, their favorite being antiques, so I avoid putting anything really nice in their domain. My main concern is them eating something that causes a blockage- they do tend to chew on things. And I worry about someone dropping something on the floor, such as jewelry (BunBun loves rubber bracelets), food, etc. Plus anyone leaving their shoes/jacket/pocketbook within chewing distance can pretty much kiss that item goodbye. Oh yeah- we have to be very careful about not leaving the front doors open. I have teenagers and I’m always reminding them to close the doors after their friends. I’m not worried about what they will all do alone in the house if I’m not home- I’m worried about them letting the bunnies out- lol.
But it’s worth it to me to be able to come home and find them sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for me, or to watch them sunbath or binky in the hallway. It’s just a lot to think about, and at times it would be nice to have a cage to put them for safe keeping- like when we’re bringing in a big piece of furniture, or doing home improvement projects- BunBun loves to help. Because of this, I would advise keeping the cage set up for Jett. You could start with letting him run free all the time when you’re home. That way you can see if he gets into trouble, and fix the “danger area”. Then, once you know everything is bunny proofed as much as possible, start leaving him out for longer lengths of time. He will probably still enjoy going back to his cage if he gets stressed, though- it’s most likely his safe haven. All bunnies, even free range ones, need places to hide. Mine have cardboard boxes- and I just got a Binky Bunny Maze- it came in today and I’m so excited to set it up. I’m forcing myself to clean the house first though- ugh.

[Stickerbunny]

My bun is free roam and he’s fine – the bedroom/his room/bathroom are bunny proofed and he gets locked into those three rooms when I am out or asleep. Just be careful of wires and the like. I don’t like letting my bun near the computers when I am not around to supervise, wires blocked off or no.

[LoveChaCha]

It depends on the age of the rabbit, and also how their personality is.

Chacha has chilled out since she turned 1. She acts the same way as a lazy cat. She doesn’t binky anymore (but I know she is happy). She has full roam of the living room/hall way when my dad and I are not at home. She is only in her condo when I go to bed at night. The living room is rabbit proofed, and all that she seems to do during the day time is sleep and sleep, eat and poop

[Huckleberry]

Mine is mostly free roam. We have 2 bedrooms but dont use the 2nd so that is her room. It doesn’t have any cords and the only thing she can get hurt on would be the carpet if she chose to dig it up and eat it. She does fine though for the 12-20 hours a day she is able to be in the rest of the house. She gets into things and gets in trouble when she is hungry but behaves the rest of the time.
Until you have watched him for a long time, I wouldn’t leave him alone around the house. And remember, you can never over bunny-proof. They look for things to get into!!!

[Author]

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