In door bunny questions.

[Baby-Daisy]

well me and my parent made the final deciding that my bunny can be a indoor bunny, we are fixing to buy a cage.

I would like my bunny to be able to run around the house freely, but I have stairs, and a railing that has about 6 inches between the floor and the railing. I dont want her to fall. So should I just keep her in my room and the hallway? What can I do?

[Snowytoshi]

Your rabbit may take a while to adjust to stairs, but our’s just run up and down them as they please. They were scared at first, but now they’re fine If you can bunny proof all areas she will be going into, then there is no reason not to have her be free range.

[Isabelle]

Definately bunny proof all rooms that your bunny will be in. Dutchess took to stairs pretty quickly, she started them in our house at about 4 months old, and now will leap up three or four at a time. We also have a railing from one staircase that peeks through to another, and Dutchess has jumped through them a few times, but never gotten hurt. She is generally pretty careful on the steps. A good idea for you to start might be to limit her access to the house in the beginning, so she won’t be overwhelmed and can slowly claim each room. I recommend adding a few litterboxes around, Dutchess has one on each level in addition to her cage one, as well as an open water bottle (and various dishes here and there on the floor for her all important treats! ). If you are really concerned with the railing, you might find some way of adding a little bumper guard or decorative piece that is high enough to discourage any curiosity of climbing through. If your bunny can comfortably jump six inches and take stairs she shouldn’t have a problem with the railing.

[tanlover14]

You can definitely have her as a free-range bunny as long as all the rooms are bunny-proofed or your parents won’t be too happy after she chews up some wires!

I would start her out in only one room and slowly give her more room as she becomes litter-trained. Starting with a smaller area with help with the litter training habits and help her grasp the concept quicker than if you give her the whole house to walk around in from the beginning. As she masters one area open up another one.

[RabbitPam]

tanlover & isabelle – well said!

(snowy, I want to see pix of bunnies running on stairs )

[peppypoo]

Great advice so far from everyone. I definitely encourage you to start one room at a time, and expanding her area as long her behavior is good.

[BinkyBunny]

I double ditto tanlover’s advice. You definitely need to watch her behavior for both chewing and litter training issues. (especially if she is not spayed). Too much freedom too soon can cause all kinds of trouble. So best to start with a pen, and let her understand where HER homebase is and where her litter box is, and then slowly allow freedom. You have to watch carefully that she doesn’t jump up on furniture and pee there, find new spots that you didn’t think of that she can get into or cause trouble. Get plants off the floor etc. Check out the House Proofing tips in the Bunny Info section.

Some of my bunnies could never be free range just because of their curiosity and destruction tendencies, while others, I had to worry about less. And even then, sometimes they can discover something new to get into trouble with, after years of easy behavior. Vivian never liked going into our bedroom — it’s mostly all wood and she prefers at least some throw rugs to romp to and from on. But just yesterday as she did her nightly romp, I saw her run from the bunny room and pause at the fork — Bathroom, bedroom, hallway to living room. She normally scampers to the hallway, but this time, she looked and looked and decided to explore and she went under our bed and started chewing on our cloth storage bins. So now I have to keep the bedroom door closed.

Don’t get me wrong though. I LOVE having her in the house with us as part of our family. I love to see her romp around and enjoy exploring and our attention. I would not have it any other way. It’s just you have to always keep an eye or ear open for what’s going on with your bunny and not all bunnies are meant to be free-range 24/7. As long as they have a large habitat and are allowed to get out and explore and exercise outside of their pen and cage, then they can have a wonderful full life even if they are not free range all the time.

[Baby-Daisy]

and about the spray bottle thing, I feel kinda bad about doing that, but I want to teach her right from wrong. Is there anyother thing I can use.

[tanlover14]

My advice is definitely don’t use the spray-bottle for any litter-related habits. I never tried it but one of my buns got really upset about us being upset that he wasn’t using his litter box and it caused quite a strain of our relationship. Another reason POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT is the best kind! I’m not sure how far into litter-box training advice you’ve gotten as I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of it on this forum with your name but if she peeds, wipe it up with a paper towel and place it in her litter box and thoroughly clean the area of any smell of her. Bunnies also usually “pick” a place they like to urinate so sometimes you have to be willing to move the box to the place she urinates most frequently. And prepare for some accidents with her! Especially since she’s not spayed litter-training can be more difficult.

If you don’t want to spray her with the water bottle, then I would suggest just using things that she CAN play with to distract her. The water bottle sometimes works and sometimes doesnt. We originally used it for my buns bad habit of chewing on the carpet but when we introduced the towel (instead of spraying we would say NO really loud and then give them the towel to dig into) we really didn’t need it much longer. After a few times they realized they could dig on the towel not the floor. Some bunnies will actually start to see the water bottle as a game. One of my boys gets all excited and if you spray him with it, he’ll go binkying across the floor like it’s a game. Lol. Not the effect you want.

[tanlover14]

I know you said your bunny likes to chew — I just recently got a $10 toy from PetSmart that is a little hidey house made completely of sticks. My buns have been going absolutely bonkers chewing on it. I’ll find the link. I’m sure you can find them at other pet stores also if you don’t have a PetSmart.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3598009&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

[Sarita]

I agree, spray bottle – bad idea. Tanlover is right – it’s positive reinforcement and routine and PATIENCE.

[Baby-Daisy]

The nearest pet smart is 2 hours away, but next time I head out there I will look for one. Thanks! And thanks everyone for the great advice.:-)

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