Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Painting and bunnies

Viewing 13 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Ali925
      Participant
      544 posts Send Private Message

        I will be painting a few rooms adjacent to my bunny room this weekend and was wondering if I need to be concerned about the bunnies?  I’ll be using low voc paint and the windows will be open all day, but we’ll need to close them overnight.  Do I need to move them?  I try not to disturb them if I don’t have to because as we all know, bunnies are happiest in their homes…  Thanks!  


      • LBJ10
        Moderator
        16869 posts Send Private Message

          I would be cautious. What does the label say about ventilation requirements? We had a problem with Wooly when my husband was gluing PVC pipes together in the basement. The rabbits are upstairs, but the fumes managed to make their way upstairs. Wooly was “high” from the fumes and it scared me half to death. We had to take him outside to air him out and eventually the effects wore off.


        • Ali925
          Participant
          544 posts Send Private Message

            Oh wow, really? Now I’m very worried.. We do have a lot of windows though. The label just says adequate ventilation..but like I said it’s low voc so it should be less harmful.. I don’t know if their room will ever get painted! We’re in a new home with no paint yet except for the nursery..and we’re going on three years living here! thanks for your input!


          • Deleted User
            Participant
            22064 posts Send Private Message

              I’d never heard the term Low Voc before so just went to do some reading on it. For anyone else puzzling over the term checkout: http://www.sustainable-buildings.org/wiki/index.php/Low_VOC_Paints

              Having read that I’d say with open windows and if possible an early start I’d think you should be okay. Can you keep the door to the rabbits’ room closed? If not maybe hang a blanket and a painter’s sheet (plastic) over the doorway, you’d be amazed how much a layer offabric can cut fumes. And if at all possible I would suggest keeping the window in the actual rabbits room open, even if only a crack while the painting is in progress and through the night after painting, just as a precaution. But while I fully sympathize with LBJ’s anxiety after her horrible experience I really don’t think you can compare the two substances and with care and caution things should be okay.

              If you have one (or better yet more then one) fans can be helpful in keeping fumes away from a room too.


            • LittlePuffyTail
              Moderator
              18092 posts Send Private Message

                I think most paint nowadays is more low-fume than years ago. I used to always tack up a thick blanket over the rabbit room (there’s no door) when I was painting but the other day, I painted my kitchen and hallway, with the hall being right off the rabbit room and I didn’t do that. The smell of the paint was pretty minor and I had all the windows open.


              • Sarita
                Participant
                18851 posts Send Private Message

                  I recently had my guest room with low VOC and my rabbits who were right next to it were perfectly fine. Just kept the door closed. My painter used Sherwin Williams which is mighty pricey but it’s good stuff. They have low and no VOC.


                • Ali925
                  Participant
                  544 posts Send Private Message

                    Okay thanks everyone for taking the time to reply! I feel a little more at ease now. I apologize for not explaining the “voc” thing, it’s common language to me since I’m in painting mode and I assumed it was a familiar term. My house is a very open plan in parts… So I can’t really close a door to the room. The bunnies are in my so-called “morning room”, it’s off my kitchen just through an archway. The rooms we’re painting are kitchen, dining room and family room, all of which are very open to each other, no doors. We have a lot of windows, as well as ceiling fans in the bunny room and family room, so we’ll have them going all day. I just don’t like leaving windows open at night, but we’ll plan to crack a few in the bunny room if it seems like the fumes are still strong by the time we’re going to bed. We plan to start early in the morning and finish by afternoon so I’m hopeful it won’t be too bad. Thanks again everyone.


                  • Nelli
                    Participant
                    72 posts Send Private Message

                      We painted a couple of rooms just a while ago, one of which was the bunny room. We didn’t move the bunnies, we just kept the windows and door open for good ventilation. Everything went well. They were not high or anything, just happy to escape from their cage setup in the middle of the night and with me trying to get them back in when they’d rather explore the messy room with all the furniture out of place… (Our cage setup is meant to be against the wall, so my hubby forgot that and left the back of the cage kind of open…) I tell you I wasn’t too happy, haha.


                    • LBJ10
                      Moderator
                      16869 posts Send Private Message

                        I didn’t mean to freak anyone out. I just think it’s worth being cautious. Never did I think the fumes from this adhesive would make it upstairs and be concentrated enough to cause a problem. I still feel horrible about it. We should have done more, but opening the windows was about all we could do. Well, aside from placing the rabbits outside. Hehe, Wooly ended up outside anyways since that was the only way to air him out.

                        I’m not sure what low VOC paint is, but if it doesn’t create fumes then it should be alright. I would just make sure there is ventilation just in case.


                      • Ali925
                        Participant
                        544 posts Send Private Message

                          Thank you Nelli, I appreciate you sharing your experience!

                          LBJ – No worries at all. I’m always super cautious when it comes to things like this. My hubby thinks I’m nuts..haha. VOC stands for volatile organic compound..the lower the VOC the safer it is deemed. Paint companies are offering low VOC and no VOC paints as a safer alternative to standard paint. Low VOC for paint means the concentration is <50g/L. Anyhow, everything worked out great, bunnies are fine…just likely a little annoyed with us because they weren't let out of their pens for play for 2 nights!

                          Thanks again everyone!


                        • jerseygirl
                          Moderator
                          22338 posts Send Private Message

                            Hi Ali925! Have you embarked on the painting yet?

                            I’m trying to get motivated to do some at my place. I started to look into whether running an air purifier will help some. A lot of people suggest just closing of portion of house that’s being painted and opening window/door to get rid of most fumes.

                            When I started looking online for ways to help with fumes, I read a suggestion to scatter hay through out the room! Much like using charcoal for absorption, Its pretty worrying if hay as ability to absorb fumes like this.

                            Make me wonder what general household air pollutants end up in hay… I also read house hold air is 5 times more polluted then outside air. I suppose that depends on where one lives. Anyway, I shouldn’t believe everything I read online!


                          • Ali925
                            Participant
                            544 posts Send Private Message

                              Hey jerseygirl! Nice to see so many familiar names still here, I’ve been on hiatus since having two kids in the last few years. Not sure anyone remembers me though. Anyhow, apologies for not getting back to you, I have a hard time finding time for a shower these days let alone responding to messages that aren’t texts and emails I’m back around because I am dealing with stasis in one of my buns.

                              So I haven’t been able to paint yet, like I mentioned the two children (2.5 and 5 months) make it hard to get much accomplished around here so we haven’t moved forward yet. I’ve used Low VOC paint in our whole home and feel comfortable enough with using it with windows open, fans on, etc. My bunnies have already had some exposure because I have a very open family room/kitchen/sun room (where bunnies are), so it was hard to completely avoid it.

                              I will say I agree, don’t believe everything you read online. I fall prey to that a lot when wondering about certain things and although a wealth of knowledge is available it’s dangerous for type A’ers like me

                              When we get to painting my plan is low VOC paint and moving the buns to another room I guess. Although I’m afraid to stress them out by doing so, I don’t see any other option other than painting with them in the room. It’s a pretty big room so I don’t see if being a problem except for the fumes part. I can’t tolerate the fumes myself, although I still paint, but my eyes get so irritated and nose runs etc, so I of course worry about them too. I’m just tired of looking at white walls in that one room!! It’s not like I can shut the door and forget about it. It’s sort of a prime visibility room and leads to our deck so everyone sees it and the bunnies Best of luck with whatever you do!


                            • Ali925
                              Participant
                              544 posts Send Private Message

                                haha I’m realizing now I’m replying to your reply in my old painting and bunnies thread. That’s because I asked this question when we first painted our downstairs So that painting IS complete and I just left the bunnies be, had windows open etc. We did it when it was 50/60 degrees (F) outside so perfect for open windows even if we were a little chilly The bunny room is the one I have left to do at this point!


                              • jerseygirl
                                Moderator
                                22338 posts Send Private Message

                                  Hey jerseygirl! Nice to see so many familiar names still here, I’ve been on hiatus since having two kids in the last few years. Not sure anyone remembers me though.

                                  Of course!

                                  haha I’m realizing now I’m replying to your reply in my old painting and bunnies thread

                                  Oops!! That’s my fault. I think I used search feature and thought this was recent. Im surprised it didnt get locked.

                                  I’ll just be sneaky and put link to the more recent one here.

                                  https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/140189/Default.aspx

                                  Well, you have way more legitimate reasons for not having painted yet. I’ve run out of excuses…The weather has warmed up and it’s the ideal time. Just the motivation/energy is not there.

                              Viewing 13 reply threads
                              • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                              Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Painting and bunnies