Anyone got experience of house bunnies

[Ohthatiswhy]

Hi we are looking to get a pair of bunnies which will have free run of our house.

We are preparing all of the cables with bunny safe coverings and intend to get a large hutch in the utility for night time/when they want to retreat etc

How did you house train your bunnies and do I need a stair gate to stop them hopping upstairs and potentially falling down them?

Any advice or tips would be very welcome please

Thanks Troysmam I’m eyeing up my furniture to see what’s chewable and there is only one thing that I would be upset about being damaged the rest of it meh!

One more question if anyone wants to answer please: can I get a single rabbit or would it be sad? My house is never empty. Always someone here

I had a male and female bonded pair. Both were neutered, which took care of spraying and nasty behaviours. Litter training was easy after neutering too. Newspaper lined trays in the corners with a bit of timothy grass, because they tend to eat and toilet at the same time.

They do chew things, though. It's a biological necessity because their teeth keep growing throughout life. Leather boots and skirting boards were their favourites.

The only thing I would say about getting two is that a bonded pair will be more interested in each other than you. So you may find yourself watching them more than cuddling them.

If you do get two, get two that are already bonded together from the RSPCA or another rescue. But as a novice rabbit owner, it's best not to try to introduce two stranger bunnies while you're still learning.

Also, as a general rule the larger the rabbit, the friendlier they will be.

who thanks for the general rule I will reconsider size.

I’m excited! More research needed but if and when we rescue bunnies I will post a photo to say thanks to everyone for the advice.

Mine chew absolutely everything. I adore them but honestly I don't want any more. Mine are 5 and 8 and need specific care when we go away and have complex health needs. They can been extremely antisocial especially of they're rescues. Make sure you're prepared for how much work they are and how massive the vets bills can be!

They definitely need to be a pair though.

Thanks This thinking hard before we take the leap.

We rehomed a rabbit a couple of years ago. She was barely handled and would growl if the previous owners went near her. She now runs about the living room, loves a stroke and a cuddle and is a very happy girl. She does however chew our curtains which I feel is fair enough as they are bloody horrible.

Love our house bunny! Litter trained, he had a couple of wee moments as a youngster when exploring but for the past 3 years hasn’t anywhere outside of his cage expect once when he was poorly. He has the roam of the house in the morning and evening (upstairs and downstairs) but is in his cage during the day when we are at work. Hasn’t eaten furniture but has nibbled some wires (ruined a pair of ghds I forgot were still plugged in) and does like to dig the carpet. Occasionally has a nip, but feet only and only if you are in his way! He will jump up on the sofa for the odd cuddle of an evening but only on his terms and jumps off to lay on the floor when he has had enough.

We clean his cage out a couple of times and week and I don’t think he is overly smelly but we don’t use wood chips/sawdust etc which I think is part of the problem. Hay can be a bit smelly sometimes.

They do have little personalities ours is like a cross between a cat and a dog- does what he wants but also gets excited to see you. They love a routine as well!

yousimply lovely photo

bored what do you line hutch with that doesn’t smell?

We only line his litter trays (one in the cage and one in a hidden spot in the living room). We use a mix of “back-2-nature” bedding and “ carefresh” which seems to absorb wee and the smell well!

He has an old hand towel in part of his cage to snuggle up to that gets thrown in the washing machine once a week, but other than that he seems more content with the base of his cage!

Another vote for carefresh. Expensive but it's the best I think.

My first houserabbit went up and down stairs no problem, until my mother banned her from upstairs for pulling too much wallpaper off the walls! My mother often relates the time she'd gone for a nice 'relaxing' bath only to have the cat jump up on the side and walk round (and thus with the danger of falling in) and the rabbit deciding the bath towel would be much better outside the bathroom!

She was housetrained for wees (would go back to her hutch in the garage) but would poo where she liked, usually behind the sofa. The next one I had was amazing and would do most in her tray with some poos under the bed (though, saying that, although she used a normal lap tray fine (though would scatter the litter around) she objected to a cat litter try and pulled it out of the corner to wee on the carpet! She did, luckily, accept a rabbit/ferret corner tray no problem. After she was spayed I tried keeping her in a dog cage for a few days but she insisted on going out and finding her usual litter tray in the lounge despite having one in the dog cage with her in the bedroom.

My two most recent houseguests (they were recuperating) would just wee and poo anywhere. However, they were very ill when they first came into the house and trying to persuade them to only go in the tray was not at the top of my priorities.

I have two very happy house rabbits. They have the entire spare bedroom and mostly consider the landing carpet to be made of lava so no gates required, they don't want to leave their sanctum!

I've had some minimal chewing from my new young boy on the skirting boards and the carpet is trashed, mainly by embedded hay, but it was already trashed by the previous house owner's dog so I didn't care. They have fleece blankets laid out across the whole room and litter trays, and vet bed, so it's easy to get rid of the muck. There's minimal smell as well.

The issue I have now is that my pair is made up of a 12 year old widowed little old lady bun and her new 1 year old suitor. They adore each other. HOWEVER there's extra things to consider when a bun becomes senior - she doesn't always make it to the litter tray, she prefers to go on the vet bed so I get through a lot of puppy pads I put underneath. She's also blind and bumps into things, and arthritic so can be knocked over if her husbun is getting overexcited with treats as he's twice her size. She's on daily pain medication, daily bum checks, and now her care is so intense I basically can't go visiting family or go on holiday with out some very carefully thought out plans. She's still a happy little girl though!

My young boy is still getting used to house noises, he spent his first year of life outdoors at a rescue because he's albino and no one wanted him. He woke me up at 5:45 this morning with some mega-thumps because the heating came on and the pipes made clanking noises. He also HATES the sound of the hoover and I'm dreading this weekend as the neighbours set off fireworks last weekend and he turned into a quivering wreck. Little old ladybun doesn't give a damn though.

Basically I think house rabbits are awesome, they smell less than dogs but are more work than cats. They are a lifestyle choice though and aren't for the very house proud as you will find hay in strange places.

Here are my two snuggled up into the smallest little hole together despite all the space in their room. They ADORE their hide box - a box with several exits is "burrow" like for them. They can spend all day asleep in there and if they get scared they bolt into it too.

OH I would also add, in terms of flooring, if you think about non-carpet being easier to clean up, rabbits will think otherwise! They hate slippery flooring, they don't have grip and can slip, fall, and falls can result in injuries if they're really going for it. My little girl would just freeze and refuse to move if she was put down on a slippery floor.

Haha want to hear my rabbit journey?

I am the first to admit I was a shit rabbit owner. I thought ah, cute small fluffy pet. Got him a huge hutch outside. Then get bad and brought him inside. He needed a friend, you must have 2. He turned evil (was just unhappy) chewed everything. Bit me when I stopped stroking him. Raped my chihuahua on the daily. I eventually decided to give him to a crazy rabbit lady who's house garden and life was dedicated to rabbits. Even on the journey he broke free and started chewing my leather car seat on the motorway.

Cute but honestly, i think a dog is easier.

Those of you where rabbit has the run of "kitchen and garden" - do they have a cat flap?

Mine has to be let in and out which is fine the summer but TOO COLD in the winter.

While some people manage to get away with it, it's not recommended to let rabbits have free range of a garden unsupervised - they can get into mischief, escape, or be attacked by predators (which could be anything from cats, to birds of prey, to other humans).

My girl would work extra hard to get through a particular point of plastic fencing, every time she was let out she'd head to the same point to start where she'd left off. They're not daft about these things.

I heard of one poor bun who sadly died when he was spooked by something out in the garden and ran into a fence, breaking his neck :(

If a bun can have free range garden time, it either needs to be supervised or within a secure predator-proofed run (one with a roof!)

My two would be rubbish house bunnies. One always uses the litter tray, but bites everything. The other was placid, but would wee and poo everywhere.

Hello everyone that’s posted today.

I have the makings of mad rabbit woman about me so that’s good (in this context). I’m not keen on the thought of angry rabbits but it seems those that find joy in it have happy bunnies!

Fashion thanks for owning up to be shit! I might think I’m good to go with rabbits but I also thought my newborn child would sleep through the night by 3 months and eat asparagus before I became a parent....

Fashion not the best rabbit experience. I didn’t mean be shit in general. My post read badly

Hahah don't worry about it. I really was shit. I felt terrible for not doing my research 🙈 poor little Pookie was a miserable sod! He's now happy though and we're Facebook friends 👍

Ah I have a single house rabbit, he is litter trained but if he's scared or excited he may wee a little! We use puppy pads for his litter box, hay and paper bedding. I don't notice any smell from him and we change it at least twice a week. He's not a chewer, he won't seek stuff out like our previous rabbit but will chew if in his way. We treat him like a cat, he'll come to us for a cuddle or stroke very much on his terms.

He sleeps in our bed especially in winter which is lovely to know he is happy to be near us. He was a rescue bunny and had a crap start in a tiny hutch.
We had to let him settle in with us on his terms.

If you want to get an enclosure look at manor pet housing they will be able to help you get some great quality equipment for a rabbit

@Bunbunbunny omg that's too cute!