Vacationing with Buns

[Miles and Me]

 I visit my grandparents with my boyfriend, brother, and parents every summer.  They live in a three-story house on Long Beach Island in New Jersey.  It’s lovely, and sometimes we stay for two weeks!  This year, my boyfriend could only get 5 days off from work and I’ve been unsure about what to do with Miles, so we’re both only going for 5 days.  At this point I’m leaning towards bringing him along.  My family loves him, even the g-parents who’ve only seen pictures and videos.  Bringing enough supplies, taking care of him, and making sure he’s comfortable when we’re there isn’t a problem, but I’m worried about the actual trip and new environment.

The car ride varies between 4-6 hours, depending on traffic going through NYC/NJ.  I have no problem cranking the AC the whole way, and I’ve already considered buying a ton of ice packs and freezing 2-liter bottles of water and stashing everything in a cooler so he can always have a fresh one during the trip.  I guess I’m just worried that he’ll get really stressed out… My dog will be coming and that might make him feel more at home, but the dog has nothing to do with Miles unless he happens to be fast asleep when he gets hopped on or taste-tested, so I don’t know. (Miles always nibbles at his nails for some reason)  

The other consideration is I’m on the lookout for a bonding partner for him and I’m not sure if the timing of finding another bunny will coincide with the trip.  If that’s the case… A 4-hour car ride is so intensely stressful that they’ll be bonded by the time we get there… Right? 

 

If anyone has had any experience with something like this I’d be really interested in hearing … anything!  Advice, stories, caveats, whatever!

[Elrohwen]

Has he taken any car trips before? I think the first step is to drive him around for an hour or so and see how he acts. I’ve taken Otto on 8 hour road trips before and when he arrives he hops out like he was never in the car, happy as a clam. Hannah does get stressed, but after some time to settle down in the new place she’s ok. There are some bunnies that get very stressed out about things like this though, so it would be a good idea to take a test run, but I think you probably won’t have any problem.

[mia]

Both of mine gets extremely stressed just sitting in the carrier. I let them ride shotgun in the carrier and make sure to turn the radio off. If possible, you can also try taking a few stops but leave them in the car (with windows open and enough cooling). I noticed when the car stops moving for a while (15-30mins), they can become more relaxed and sometimes this effect lasts after the car starts moving again.

[Eepster]

Do you have good options if you leave him home? A bunny knowledgeable pet sitter or kennel?

Where are you coming from?  Could you avoid driving through NYC and come down along 287 then switch to the GSP along 80?  It would probably increase you milage, but it is a smoother quieter road and less stressful.

[Miles and Me]

The longest trips we’ve taken so far have been about 45 minutes to and from the vet. If I get a response from the rabbit rescue I got a response from about a potential girlfriend for Mr. Miles then we’ll be taking an hour trip this weekend, or in the near future. He really doesn’t seem to mind the car. He usually hops right into the carrier at home, flops over in the carrier in the car or sits and falls asleep, and acts normal when he comes out. Sometimes he’s a little sleepy and will just lay down and catch some z’s afterwards, but not before using his litterbox, getting a drink, and eating. I’m supposed to house sit with my boyfriend next weekend. Its his sister’s house and its 2 hours away from me, so I could potentially bring Miles there for a longer test run.

I wonder if it would be easier for him to take a long trip if he had a friend with him, but who knows how long bonding would take if I ended up bringing this little dwarf doe home this weekend. The rescue also does rabbit sitting, but its an hour away off of I-91, and I take I-84 when I’m headed to NJ. I’m coming from way up north in Connecticut, right next to the Mass border where there’s a notch in the top of the state. It’s possible for me to do about 100 different routes (and that’s only a slight exaggeration!). I could go over the Tappan Zee, which adds time and miles but usually means less traffic, or I could take any variety of routes through NYC. Thanks to Google’s traffic map, I should be able to avoid anything too serious.

[Elrohwen]

From his behavior in the carrier I’m sure he’ll be just fine! I don’t think a friend would make it easier either – Otto is less comfortable traveling now that he has Hannah because she’s always freaked out. When he was alone he was calmer.

I live in CT too and I know what you mean about a million routes! We drove to DC last month and my friend sat in the backseat with his iPhone just figuring out exactly which route we should take to avoid all of the horrible traffic.

Good luck with your trip. Miles sounds like a perfect candidate for taking with you on vacation and I think you should go for it! I’ve never regretted taking Otto anywhere with me.

[Miles and Me]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but he does have a friend now! I adopted Winnie today and she is super, super tense. He’s still happy and carefree but she was rescued from a livestock auction and was probably used for breeding before that so I can understand her being stressed. Unless she becomes really comfortable really fast I don’t want to stress her out with the trip… I would love to bring them both but I think I’d rather leave them both home with someone watching them.

The other thing that’s making me hesitant now is I talked to my Dad before I knew I’d be bringing Winnie home, and he said that Miles would probably have to stay in his cage the whole time. They have a lot of tile floors and I would probably be able to section off some play space for him, but my Dad is right. Besides, it’s only going to be like 5 days. I’ve gone away for the weekend a bunch of times and Miles is always happy to see me and never shuns me for leaving him… And now he has another bunny to hang out with!

I’m disappointed but I don’t think the timing is right on this one

[Miles and Me]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but he does have a friend now! I adopted Winnie today and she is super, super tense. He’s still happy and carefree but she was rescued from a livestock auction and was probably used for breeding before that so I can understand her being stressed. Unless she becomes really comfortable really fast I don’t want to stress her out with the trip… I would love to bring them both but I think I’d rather leave them both home with someone watching them.

The other thing that’s making me hesitant now is I talked to my Dad before I knew I’d be bringing Winnie home, and he said that Miles would probably have to stay in his cage the whole time. They have a lot of tile floors and I would probably be able to section off some play space for him, but my Dad is right. Besides, it’s only going to be like 5 days. I’ve gone away for the weekend a bunch of times and Miles is always happy to see me and never shuns me for leaving him… And now he has another bunny to hang out with!

I’m disappointed but I don’t think the timing is right on this one

[KatnipCrzy]

I agree with leaving them home- I think it would be stressful to the new bunny to go on the trip. Plus I can’t imagine having to pack enough for 2 bunnies that are being kept separate. I think chilling at home and getting used to each others scent is a good way to start the bonding process. Congrats on the new bunny- have you posted pics yet???

[Miles and Me]

I posted pics in the Bonding forum! The thread I started is called Miles & Winnie’s Bonding Diary or something to that effect

[Elrohwen]

Definitely sounds like leaving them home is the best decision. Congrats on your new bun! I’m going to run over to the bonding forum right now.

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