How to Free-roam Your Rabbit Indoors

 

 

                                              
 

 

Historically, rabbits have been used as source of meat and fur, as well as in animal testing; they have been kept in small cages with minimum freedom. This is not surprising considering their capability to reproduce quickly and cheaply, as well as their docile nature. Over the years, rabbits have developed in popularity as pets (often kept outside or in tiny cages indoors), but recently, more and more people are starting to realize that bunnies actually make great indoor house pets and are as good companions as dogs or cats.

I have a free-roam house rabbit named Cinnamon Bun. She's a spayed 3-year old bunny, very bossy and nosy, and hates to be picked up. Please read my post "How My Rabbit Became Free-roam" if you're interested in knowing how Cinnamon Bun became a free-roam bunny. I personally feel that having a free-range house rabbit is like having a house cat (even though I've never owned a cat). A lot of people think rabbits are more like Guinea pigs or hamsters that can be kept in cages and are happy with minimal human interaction and care. This misconception often leads people to abandon their rabbits because they figured out that bunnies are more work than they had imagined or because their children get bored of them. It's hard for rabbits to express themselves when they're kept in tiny cages or left alone bored.

When rabbits get a lot of human interaction and have plenty of room to enjoy themselves, you can really see their personalities shine alongside their natural rabbit behavior. In nature, rabbits live in groups called colonies and are generally very social animals. This is why it's important that they get a lot of human interaction or have a bonded bunny partner for their mental health. Also, there are certain behaviors happy bunnies exhibit, like binky; zoomies; flop; and teeth chattering (similar to purring in cats). Binky and zoomies especially require a large open area to perform.

Floppy Cinnamon Bun

 

How to Free-roam a Rabbit

There are some crucial things you need to do before and while free-roaming your bunny to help prevent destruction and to minimize your stress. 

Rabbit Proof Everything

When I started free-roaming Cinnamon Bun, she caused a lot of destruction in the house. She chewed my clothes and my chargers, marked on everything including me (before she got spayed), chewed and dug on the couch, etc.. For electric cords, you can use cord protectors, hide them, or just keep them out of reach. Basically, you have to keep anything you don't want to get damaged out of your rabbit's reach. Don't leave your clothes, bags, shoes, or anything on the floor. I guarantee that they will end up with many little holes. Cinnamon Bun has actually helped me keep my house neater because I am now forced to put everything away. I recommend a video "HOW TO BUNNY PROOF YOUR HOME" by Lennon The Bunny for rabbit proof information.

Even with rabbit proofing, you will probably end up with some damage. My slippers are chewed and the bed sheets and blankets have a lot of little holes. I probably won't allow Cinnamon Bun on the bed when we move to a new house because I want to keep the new sheets nice and she'll have plenty of room to play elsewhere even if she can't play on the bed.

Avoid Baby Rabbits

Cinnamon Bun is 3-years old and still likes to damage things but it was far worse when she was a baby bunny. She has calmed down a lot and her marking behavior eventually disappeared after her spay surgery. I know that baby bunnies are the cutest things in the world, but I don't recommend free-roaming an unfixed baby rabbit because it just increases stress and work. It's better to wait until when your rabbit is fixed, or better yet, adopt a rabbit/rabbits from a shelter because they're usually already fixed and litter trained. Please read my post "Why You Should Reconsider Getting a Baby Rabbit" to read more about my struggles with baby Cinnamon Bun. 

Litter Box Training

Rabbits can be easily litter box trained because they naturally like to go in the same spot. I read somewhere that there's a toilet room in rabbit warrens in the wild. It's probably easier if you litter train your rabbit before he/she becomes completely free-roam to minimize cleaning. For litter box training information, I recommend watching "HOW TO LITTER TRAIN A RABBIT" by 101 Rabbits on YouTube.

Keep Them Busy; Give Them Projects

Just like bored children or dogs, bored rabbits are more likely to cause troubles There are many rabbit toys you can buy or DIY to keep your bunny busy. Cinnamon Bun doesn't really use chew toys unless there's food involved, so I often stuff toys like willow balls with treats. It's important to give them something they can chew otherwise they'll find something of yours to chew. I don't think Cinnamon Bun is a heavy chewer because she doesn't chew furniture or baseboards, but I read that some rabbits do. In that case, you should consider getting furniture that's not made of wood or install baseboard covers. 

Cinnamon Bun loves fabric, such as clothes, blankets, and sheets. I give her some blankets and towels to play with and she seems to really enjoy them; here's a YouTube video of Cinnamon Bun playing with her blankies. Also, she finds some projects and works on them over a period of time. For example, she has a Oxbow Timothy Bungalow she's been working on chewing up for about half year now (very messy!). It's not big enough for her to fit inside and she didn't show any interest when it was placed in the living room, but once I moved it to the bedroom, she started working on it. It's the second one now and it's more than half gone so I will probably get a third one sometime soon. Another current project is digging on a fleece pet carrier mat in her carrier. She's torn a hole in it and is taking the filling out so I put it in a pillow case and put a towel on top of it. I don't know why but she loves to dig in there. 

Rabbit teeth grow continuously and it's important for them to keep their teeth trimmed by chewing on things to prevent overgrown teeth. I think giving a rabbit plenty of hay and encouraging them to eat a lot of it helps reduce chewing activity. It's also good for their digestion. There's something about hay freshly out of a bag/bin that entices Cinnamon Bun and she always comes running for it. For that reason, I give her hay twice or three times a day freshly out of the hay bin and it encourages her to eat more hay as well as gives her extra excitement. 

Cinnamon Bun eating hay

Thank you for reading my Cinnamon Bun blog and I hope you find this post helpful or interesting.

Check out Cinnamon Bun's YouTube channel for cute bunny videos.