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Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Rufus’ new house – advice please!

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    • Rufus
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        So, despite best intentions, Rufus is not living in the most ideal circumstances right now. He lives in a top-opening outdoor hutch which is indoors – in the sunroom of the house I live in. The sunroom gets quite hot so I have a deal with my housemates that if the temperature will be above 34 degrees C, he can be moved into the kitchen where it is cooler. Rufus has grown bigger than expected, the breeder I bought him from said he was a mini-lop but he’s actually a dwarf lop. He’s still not big though – only 1.8 kg. His current accomodation is ok(ish) size wise, it is 4×2 but the set up makes it seem smaller because of a divider that I can’t remove in the middle. He’s only in there over night and during the day while he’s sleeping but he is starting to show signs of not liking it in there. Another weird thing about Rufus is that he will not go to the bathroom anywhere except inside his cage so even when he’s out running around for most of the day on weekends, I have to take him back to the cage for bathroom breaks. Silly rabbit!

        Anyway, I have to move house in the next month or two and I’ve been thinking about the set up that I want him to have. I already own an x-pen which I currently use to block off all my stuff so he can run free in my room. People have been asking what I want for Christmas and I was thinking about requesting a XXL dog crate. I’ve been looking at some of the dog crate setups people have on here and they seem awesome! My thought was that a crate would be portable but also big enough (especially with a shelf) on it’s own for any short periods and I can hook the x-pen onto the doorway for most of the time. I also thought that the crate might give him more security so he can (hopefully) be trained to use his litterbox in there since I’ve tried everything I can think of in the x-pen with no results. He just holds it in (one time for 9 hours).

        You guys are the housing experts, what do you think about my plans? Any suggestions? Do you think he can be trained to pee somewhere else? Although I don’t know where I’ll be moving, space for Rufus will be a priority. His current cage is quite high off the ground, I thought about cutting the legs off it but thought that might be more trouble than it’s worth. If it had a ramp it would need to be huge.


      • Deleted User
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          Hey Rufus – firstly, wow 34 degrees! It just hit 31 here (Queensland, Thursday 5th) and I just put the air on. I know we have higher humidity, maybe that’s why we feel it more? (or we are just sooks? lol!). But 34! bugga that!
          I am ‘NO’ housing expert – just wanted to let you know that Henry’s house is home made (& atrocious!) but sounds no bigger than yours. I too had the outdoor (but triangle) cage inside and only made my own to fit it better into the end of the dining room space (painted it the same wall colour to help it blend into the walls). Henry being free range, he only goes in there to use it as his toilet, dining room, and bedroom. Otherwise he’s out and about, even if he’s laying outside beside his house. When being free range – does it really matter what size their house is? (I could be wrong?). Just letting you know as much as I adore seeing everyone’s elaborate bunny homes, is it necessary for a free range bunny? If not – don’t feel you have to overdo it.
          PS – one BBer has a cardboard box for her free range boys house…. Just something to think about?


        • Deleted User
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            Sorry Rufus – I just reread (checking for my spelling mistakes – doh!) and I read your post wrong? He is locked in overnight? My apologies – yes, I totally get that you want to make more room for him! What you have described sounds awesome, but as I indicated with my boy I’m in no position to offer any advice. Again sorry – I shouldn’t have stuck my 2 cents in. Please ignore my previous post. All the best Rufus, cheers! (& if it’s hot today – keep cool, ha ha ha…. bloody Australian hot weather).


          • Rufus
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              Thanks Andhenry! When I have my own place (hopefully in the second half of next year) I am definitely hoping to free range Rufus. Unfortunately, until then I have to live in at least one more share house. I wouldn’t ever free range him in a sharehouse because I wouldn’t want someone else to need to worry about keeping everything safe for him (and I probably wouldn’t trust them to!)
              I’m just hoping this set up will be ok for wherever I move to next but also useful for when I have my own place. The dog crate and x-pen seem like they’ll be pretty versatile (I hope). I also want something he can have around forever since he’s so precious about where he goes to the toilet!


            • njbunny
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                I have my 6lb bunny in a XL dog crate (rottweiler / Mastiff size) and so far it is working great. One thing I did want to say to you because you mentioned portability. In the states the crate is too large to go through doorways without folding it up. Since I have zip tied a second level and steps into the crate I am not planning to move it anywhere as I would need to undo a lot of my work in order to collapse it to get it through the doorways in my home. This may not even be an issue for you but just wanted to throw that out there if you are planning to do a 2 level in a dog crate. One person did a second level using chains hung from the top with a wood piece making up the 2nd level floor. That would be easier to deal with if having to take down the crate to move it. Also, not sure how big your bunny is but the crate without the 2nd level was big enough for short periods but not really for long periods of the day. I just have my 6lb bun in there during the night as my daughter insists he sleeps in her room. Since it is 8+ hrs in the crate I decided I needed to give him the steps/2nd level to make more space. The crates are really tall and you have all this wasted vertical space otherwise.


              • Rufus
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                  Thanks for the tips njbunny!
                  You’re right, I will have to make sure that the level I was thinking about can be removed if I need to fold up the crate and move it. I hadn’t thought about that!
                  Definitely planning to have a shelf but also to have the x-pen on all the time.
                  Rufus is just under 4lb so it’s good to hear he should be ok with a shelf in the crate just in case there’s a day when I can’t clip the pen on

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              Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Rufus’ new house – advice please!