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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A I’VE WON MUM OVER…NOW DAD…

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    • bunnygirl
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         So, I won mum over! We were in Better Pets and Gardens, and talking about why I wanted to make his enclosure bigger.

        she kept asking like ‘How would we move it?’ ‘Its not as small as his cage’ and ‘where will it go?’ And so on. I kept reasoning, and we got there. She agreed!!!

        if…..I can win dad over. Here’s the issue, he loves Apollo. Apollo hates him, but still, dad thinks its cute that Apollo lunges and growls when dads hand appears in the cage. Yet when mines in there, he’s all lovey and wanting pets. Anyway, dads very much a ‘my opinion is right.’ Kind of person, and I know that if I bring up the subject of making apollos cage bigger, he’ll flip and probably end up with me in tears coz I just want the best for my baby and I want to provide the proper care for him, and dad saying ‘Well you shouldn’t have got him then if you couldn’t provide the proper care.’ I’m honestly scared to ask him. What if he makes me get rid of my baby boy?!  How do I go about asking him?! 

         

        Im so stuck :'( 

        ~bunnygirl


      • Beka27
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          I am really confused by your post, so you may need to clarify.

          If your dad “loves Apollo”, why wouldn’t he want the best for him?

          You are trying to provide proper care by increasing his living space. Your parents appear to be the obstacles preventing that at this point. So why would you end up in tears?

          Your rabbit is neutered, correct? Has he always been very cage aggressive?


        • Hazel
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            Is he generally against increasing the size of Apollo’s enclosure (if so, what exactly are his concerns?), or do you think he’s just automatically going to be against it because it wasn’t his idea?


          • bunnygirl
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              I don’t know. He’s always like “Aww he’s a cutie!”

              I usually end up in tears because they’re moaning that there’s no room in the family room to make his cage bigger, and when I suggested the front room (IT’S HUGE) they said that coz its carpet they don’t want him in there, I said his enclosure would have a bottom. “Nope, stop pestering, his cage is a fine size or pet stores wouldn’t sell it. If he needs a bigger enclosure, we’ll buy a hutch and put him outside.” I’m so against that. They know that’s a terrible idea in Australia for goodness sake! So I get frustrated. And end up in tears.

              He is just generally against it. ‘What about my carpet…’ ‘Petstores wouldn’t sell it…’ ‘Hes fine how he is…’ And so on.

              I’m at the point where we’ve had this conversation more than once. And it’s ended with me in tears, every time.


            • bunnygirl
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                Beka, yep he’s neutered! Has been for…3 months now. He’s not. It’s just recently he gets grumpy. Like, you reach your hand down a step away from him, or wiggle your fingers and he goes nuts grunting and lunging. Never nipping or biting, just threatening. And he gets upset when I touch his pellet dish, and his baby keys. His litter tray he doesn’t mind, coz he knows he gets fresh hay a few moments later, and he could care less about the water dish too!


              • Beka27
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                  Okay! Thank you for clarifying!

                  His cage aggression may be because of his cage being too small. The smaller the cage, the more the rabbit needs to “protect” or “guard” what is his!

                  Since your mom is in agreement about a larger cage, will she speak with your dad with you?


                • bunnygirl
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                    I’ll ask if she will! She’s helped me with this kind of thing before, where I’ve had to pass things with dad first, so ill ask her! Thank you!


                  • Hazel
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                      Well, if your dad likes to make a game out of getting him to lunge at his hand, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s generally getting more defensive. He’s teaching Apollo to react aggressively.

                      Also, like Beka said, the cage being too small will only make that behavior worse.


                    • bunnygirl
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                        I know but I don’t know what to do!!!! I asked mum if she’d help me convince dad. She said yes, but I need to figure out just WHAT I’m changing his cage to, because it needs to stay in the room and in the same place his current cage is. We can’t NIC grids ANYWHERE, and the space where it has to go is much to small for an x pen of a decent size. And we’ve looked at dog crates. The largest one had a wider floor space, and was high enough to perhaps put a little shelf in for him. I don’t know :'(


                      • bunnygirl
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                          Oh and I told dad he was making Apollo aggressive. He just said “Oh right.” And then the next day carried on, but I’m gonna talk to him about it…


                        • MoveDiagonally
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                            How much floor space is available for him to use as a home base? Maybe we can give you some ideas. Would your parents be willing to order something online?


                          • bunnygirl
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                              About 90cm width by 150cm length! Around there, could be a little bigger or smaller. His current cage is 56cm width by 117cm length.


                            • Beka27
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                                For the standard users, the space she has to work with is about 3 feet by 5 feet.

                                The current cage is: 22 inches by 46 inches, so just less than the minimum 2×4 feet.

                                3 by 5 feet is a respectable size for a rabbit pen. I think you could do a lot with something that size. I’m not sure if a regular dog pen would work because each of those panels are 2 foot panels (about 61 cm) so it wouldn’t maximize the space unless you could make it perfectly square (122 cm by 122 cm).

                                Where have you guys looked for NIC grids? Have you looked at online retailers?


                              • Beka27
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                                  This dog crate is an x-large and has dimensions pretty close to your max available space: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Triple-door-Suitcase-Style-Folding/dp/B001QXHHRE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1366197133&sr=8-5&keywords=dog+crates+for+large+dogs

                                  A crate is not usually my first choice but this might be the way to go…


                                • bunnygirl
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                                    Beka, what if I overlapped pen grids slightly with zip ties? Would that work?

                                    I’ve looked in all the hardwear and general home stores, we asked too. They either looked at me like I was crazy or explained that I’d have to order with a bar code, or they don’t stock the grids anymore. It’s really expensive to order grids online, like $20 for the grids, then $80 to ship! It was terrible! I did find one site with decent prices. Then found that they didn’t ship to Australia. It so sucks! I’ve seen some crates of a decent size that would work, but they’re not much bigger than his current cage. this is why I’m stuck!


                                  • Beka27
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                                      The crate link I posted is a good amount bigger than what he’s in now. You’d have to get an x-large dog crate. It’s very high too so you could do an additional shelf.

                                      You can’t really overlap the pen grids because they’re all attached with metal clips to each other. You could take the clips off, but you would be jeopardizing the structural integrity that makes dog x-pens such a perfect rabbit habitat.


                                    • Hazel
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                                        Posted By bunnygirl on 04/16/2013 06:38 PM
                                        Oh and I told dad he was making Apollo aggressive. He just said “Oh right.” And then the next day carried on, but I’m gonna talk to him about it…

                                        Just remind him every single time he does it. He will get tired of it. If not, I guess Apollo will eventually nip him, maybe then he’ll get the message. Of course you should put a stop to it before it comes to that, if you can.


                                      • bunnygirl
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                                          Okay, I’m going to take the dog crate idea I think. I’ll go to the pet stores and get some good ideas for size, but I cannot see them being able to refuse, since its pretty much a bigger cage. Ill see what I can do!

                                          Hazel, yes, I keep begging for Apollo to just turn around and stop threatening and just nip him, but then again, I’d rather not push my bun that far! He seems to be stopping winding him up just now!


                                        • MoveDiagonally
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                                            Overlapping a puppy pen is a possibility.

                                            If you got a 4′ X 4′ (122cm X 122cm) pen and the panels are 2′ (61cm) each, 8 panels total. You could take it apart so you had 2 sets of 4 panels and zip tie the ends so that they overlap. Making a 3′ x 4′ (91cm x 122cm) pen.

                                            Like this:
                                             photo Overlapped_zpsea8a7eb4.jpg

                                            EDIT: I wrote this before I saw that you were going to go with the dog crate. Good Luck!


                                          • Beka27
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                                              Yeah, MoveDiagonally, that’s an option. I’m hesitant taking pens apart because it’s hard to get them reconnected when circumstances change, but your idea is good because she wouldn’t be removing all the panels, just splitting it in half.

                                              Could you do what MoveDiagonally suggested instead of the dog crate?


                                            • bunnygirl
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                                                I could see! I’ll speak to mum later. She always comes into my room before I go to sleep and we just chat about…anything pretty much. I had in mind what MoveDiagonally said, so ill speak to mum about it, and also suggest the dog crate idea. They might go for the crate more, since its a cage and mums stressing about him being able to jump out of a pen, I keep telling her that we can put a top on it, but we’ll see. Also, when I explained about making a bottom, she said she didn’t want all that extra wood in the room. Other options for a floor? Apollo isn’t a chewer!


                                              • Beka27
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                                                  Aw, it sounds like you two have a good relationship! That’s awesome!

                                                  If they’d be more comfortable with a fully enclosed space, than I agree that a crate may be best. Not sure if you have other pets, but an enclosed crate is a good idea to protect the bunny from cats or dogs trying to get in there too. Make sure to get the absolute biggest one you can fit. You don’t want to have to get a new one later on down the line.

                                                  Keep us posted!


                                                • colleenbunny
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                                                  • bunnygirl
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                                                      I spoke to her, and she was like “Hmm okay they sound like good ideas! I’ll talk to dad and we’ll have a think about it okay?”

                                                      woohoo!! We don’t have any other pets, at all, so I can’t see why a pen would be an issue :3 I’m really happy that I’m finally getting somewhere!


                                                    • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                        I find that Mom’s are usually the easiest to win over….Dad’s like to be difficult. But Dad’s also often like the family pets more than they are willing to admit.

                                                        Best of luck getting what you want.


                                                      • bunnygirl
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                                                          Haha yes, LPT, I agree! Mums very open that she loves Apollo. I can see it in dads eyes he adores Apollo, he just won’t admit it

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                                                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A I’VE WON MUM OVER…NOW DAD…