# Free Roaming Experiences



## Butterscotch (Jun 7, 2020)

Hello all! 

I've had my bonded pair of rabbits for a year now. They are spayed and neutered and I'm very confident all hormonal issues are gone and they are litter box trained. I would like to begin the process of bunny proofing my home and I'm looking for experiences from those of you who free roam your bunnies. What are some good, bad, funny or scary situations that your buns have gotten into? I'm hoping to discover things I've missed while beginning to bunny proof my home. I've got the obvious things like power cords and cleaning products taken care of but what are some surprising situations that your rabbits have gotten into that you never thought about until it happened?

Thank you for any stories you share!


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## Hermelin (Jun 7, 2020)

My bunnies have been getting locked in the trash, running out from the front door, jumping out from the window, eating wires, destroyed a few shoes, getting stuck up on the bookshelf, stealing food from the plates, eating plants and so on. Nearly weakly I’m stumbling on my bunnies and not figurering out where they are when they go missing 

So never lift your feet while walking around in the house when you have free roaming bunnies. Everyone that visits my home know to not lift their feet, so they will only shove the bunnies if they are in the way and always look on the floor if you are going to put stuff down, taking a step and so on.

I have too many rooms to look for a bunny and a few places I can’t look under or behind. They get under more things than you can think of and jump up on things. Just today one of my bunnies got stuck behind his cage, I thought I had bunny proofed it. Turn out he still managed to sneak behind but couldn’t get out. The bunny cage have wires behind it but the rest of the room don’t have any wires.

So it’s quite a lot of things to think about


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## Apollo’s Slave (Jun 7, 2020)

I’ve got one free roamed rabbit. I would like to say that I bunny proofed quite well, but accidents still happened, especially in the first few months. My rabbit is freeroamed in my bedroom (mainly) and gets run around time in my garden and the second floor of our house. In addition to the stories below, he’s chewed many wires, even ones I thought he couldn’t get to.

*Good that came out of free roaming:*
I got closer to my rabbit. We got a strong bond and I can spend a lot of time with him. I’ve found out what scares him and what makes him excited. What his favourite treats are. His favourite place to lay down.While these may not be any different from non free roamed rabbits, this is just my experience.

*Bad that came out of free roaming:* 
I’ve realised that my rabbit is trouble! He had an annoying habit of digging the carpet (it’s subsided now that I’ve given him other things to dig). He managed to open my desk draw to get into all of my rabbit supplies that I had (toys, pellets, a brand new brush - all ruined). It was a work in progress but I ended up moving the supplies onto a storage thing.

*Funny thay came out of free roaming:* 
I found out that my rabbit is a total brat (in a good way and I love him for it). 
Example: I was eating a banana while doing my school work at my desk, and Apollo runs up to me. I give him a bite of the banana and he runs away to eat it. I finish the banana at the same time he finishes his piece and he runs back to me for more. I guess he realised that I ate it because he thumped with all of his might, it was so loud that my mum ran upstairs and thought that something had collapsed. And many other things of the sort.

*Scary that came from free roaming:* 
My younger stepsister was eating a biscuit or something like that, in my room. Which she isn’t allowed to do anyway. A large piece of whatever she was eating dropped and she left it. Apollo, being Apollo, ran and grabbed it when she had left the room. I’m not too sure exactly what happened because I wasn’t in the room. My other stepsister didn’t see the biscuit until Apollo had it and she was scared to take it from him, by the time I got upstairs, he had eaten most of it. I didn’t know what to do, so I stayed awake all night and made sure he was eating. Luckily he was fine.
Young kids can be a little careless with things but this situation that I had was totally preventable. Since then, food has not been allowed in my room (unless I’m eating it ).


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## Butterscotch (Jun 7, 2020)

Thank you for the stories! I hadn't thought about having to watch where I step or keeping my food away from my rabbits. I've been known to leave a dirty dish out once in a while and I shouldn't do that if the rabbits can get to it and lick it. Thanks again!


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## Blue eyes (Jun 7, 2020)

Here's a cute link that may let you know some of the mischief they can get into.








30 Mischievous Bunnies Who Have No Regrets About Taking Over Your House


The Dodo serves up emotionally and visually compelling, highly sharable animal-related stories and videos to help make caring about animals a viral cause.




www.thedodo.com





When you start free-roaming, remember that it is important to start small and only gradually increase the space. It should take some time to go to full roam. This prevents territorial disputes (with bonded buns), potty accidents, etc. Expand the space in increments over several weeks.


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## Butterscotch (Jun 7, 2020)

Blue eyes said:


> Here's a cute link that may let you know some of the mischief they can get into.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I never thought about territorial disputes. Thank you for mentioning that!


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## JBun (Jun 7, 2020)

Be especially diligent about protecting electrical wires. A while back a member on here had a rabbit that chewed an unprotected electrical cord without them realizing, and it started a fire. Luckily they found it right away and were able to put it out.


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## Mehidk (Jun 8, 2020)

I free roam only when I'm home and when I'm in the room. If I don't, she'll hop on my bed and pee if I've pissed her off which happens on days when I have to cut her nails lol. Also make sure ALL wires are either hidden or protected. 

Pros to free roaming: 
I love watching her do zoomies and binkies. It also gives her a chance to stretch out because rabbits should be getting at least a few hours to exercise. While I'm at work, she's in her hutch (which she can still comfortably lay in), but I still feel bad that she's in there for hours at a time. I just recently ordered a larger X-Pen so that way she can still roam around to a certain extent for while I'm at work and then free roam when I get back home.

You get more opportunities to bond with your rabbit. I love being able to sit there and just hang out and Trixie will come around to me and head bump me to pet her. She'll nestle herself into her loaf position and start her teeth chatter/purring. 

Escape stories:
There was a time that I had opened my bedroom door and walked to the other room to put something away and she had snuck out into the adjacent bathroom door. When I walked back into my room, I didn't see her but figured she was in her hidey tunnel. As I lay down, I'm realizing it's _too _quiet in my room so I started looking for her and she was nowhere to be found. I said "Trixie come!" multiple times and I started hearing the wooden floors in the hallway scrape. I open the door and sure enough, she stood there, coming to me when she heard me say "come!" and when I told her to go "inside", she hopped back into the room like nothing happened lol. 

Another time was when I went out to the kitchen to prep her dinner and I guess I didn't shut the door all the way and she went into the living room. I walked back into my room and sure enough she wasn't there. I said her name and my mom ends up responding in the living room "she's out here!". I walked back out and she was on the couch with my mom, being curious and seeing what my mom was doing. What's funny is my mom is more afraid of the rabbit than the rabbit is of her.


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## osgoodmg (Jun 9, 2020)

We realized we need a feeding station on each floor and a litter box on 2 of the 3 floors. 
Artie started chewing the basement couch so I put an old cotton sheet on for him to safely chew.
Books have to stay off the floor or put into a vinyl bag. If we just put them in an opened tub, he'll jump up and chew away.
He has manged to climb onto the lid of the old hot tub in the basement then was too scared to jump down. We couldn't find him for about 5 hours as he was quietly huddled as high as he could get into a dark corner. This was scary for us as well.


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## Oreo and bella (Jun 9, 2020)

Mm not to sure of this is 100 per cent free roam but I did have my two rabbits together there both girls and sister and they started fighting there two years old previous owner had one spayed because the vet advised them that one would be enough which is wrong anyway I had to become a DIY person never did it before managed to make both rabbits separate pen there in the spare room so door was shut every morning got up I see both bunnies In the morning I could find one of them one of themmmanaged to pull the mesh up and escaped her pen lol she wasn't happy when got her back in I had to sort it out and re do it shows you learn things every day am still In a prosscess to make them both lot more bigger


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## Butterscotch (Jun 18, 2020)

Thank you everyone for your stories! I appreciate all the feedback. I think I'm going to start small by allowing them access to half of my living room at first. I'll see how they do there first.


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## Mehidk (Jun 18, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> Thank you everyone for your stories! I appreciate all the feedback. I think I'm going to start small by allowing them access to half of my living room at first. I'll see how they do there first.


That's perfect because that's the preferred method anyways. Sometimes when you give a rabbit *too* much space in the beginning, it can be overwhelming and sometimes they'll even forget their litter habits and you'll have to start all over with training again.

Just last week, I got the larger X-Pen so now I use the smaller x-pen to cover up the corner where my router/wires are so she has no access to it and the larger x-pen surrounds her hutch. Her hutch now stays open 24-7 so she can run around freely to the extent of the pen while I'm at work. Then when I come home, I just open one side of the x-pen so she can free roam the remainder of my room when I'm home. I can tell that she's much happier now because of the extra zoomies she's been doing at 4am  .


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## Cloverhouse (Jun 24, 2020)

I could write a novel about adventures with house bunnies. I've had them for decades, back before it was cool and before the house rabbit society and girls on YouTube were here to tell me everything I was doing was wrong. 

It's good to understand basic bunny psychology. They are prey animals. They need clear running areas and they will chew anything that sticks out in these areas. Wild rabbits tend to live in areas will tall grass and they maintain clear tunnels to run from predators. Anything that grows in those paths through the grass must be removed. This is why rabbit chew cords. They treat them the same way they would treat a vine growing in their path. They cannot help but follow instinct. Old houses with outlets in the floor boards are problematic they put cords right in the bunny's path. Newer houses tend to have the outlets higher up, makes keeping cords out of sight line easier.

Bunnies also chew and chin mark things that stick out. The edges of furniture, book spines, etc. They also burrow and like to eat their way into the backs of couches etc. 

One way to combat that is to buy long boxes and keep the couches away from the walls, with the box tunnels behind it. For smaller breeds corrugated plastic drain pipes make excellent tunnels. 

The thing to remember is that you can't easily train a rabbit out of most behaviors, because as prey animals those are life-saving behaviors and deeply ingrained. So it's best to plan ahead and think like a rabbit. 

Chewing and digging and creating pathways are what they do. Throw a stick, small box or blanket in one of their pathways and it will occupy them as they work to remove it. They like lots of cubbies to hide in, and many rabbits also like climbing into things so they can scan the area. 

I create bunny castles out of boxes for them to climb on and play in. 

Years ago when my daughter was small we made a dollhouse and her bunny moved right in. Lol.

If you need to redirect a rabbits attention, a can with some pebbles or coins in it is helpful. Shake it, the noise will startle them and they will stop what they are doing for a minute so you can step in. They like to chew things that contain salt or minerals. Shoes, sometimes wall board, anything that's been outside and has dirt on it, and sadly some types of paint. 
Giving them a salt/ mineral block can help, but I find it necessary to keep shoes out of sight. 

Some bunnies like to pee on upholstered furniture. I have never found a way to break them of this habit if they are one of those. In that case I use the shake can every time I see them jump on the couch or chair, or use a long length of crumpled paper on the couch when not in use. Some rabbits see the paper and think it's a barrier, and some don't like the sound it makes when they jump on it. It's simple but has been surprisingly effective.

Mostly I just accept that life with rabbits means a hole in the back of the couch, chewed corners and hay on the floor. I find the trade off more than worth it.


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## TreasuredFriend (Jun 25, 2020)

Interesting.


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## Blue eyes (Jun 25, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> Thank you everyone for your stories! I appreciate all the feedback. I think I'm going to start small by allowing them access to half of my living room at first. I'll see how they do there first.


Since there have been a number of questions recently about free-roaming, I've completed a new page on my website that is a free-roaming how-to. If interested check here:








Free Roaming how-to


Free roaming a pet rabbit is happily becoming a growing trend. However suddenly giving a rabbit full free roam is not the way to go. This is not only frightening to the rabbit, but it will actually...



rabbitsindoors.weebly.com


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## Lenka (Jul 3, 2020)

You can check out Lennon the bunny. The lady has got many good tips. I always watch her videos. Lennon The Bunny


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## Butterscotch (Jul 3, 2020)

Blue eyes said:


> Since there have been a number of questions recently about free-roaming, I've completed a new page on my website that is a free-roaming how-to. If interested check here:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You have a great website, Blue Eyes, thank you! The free roaming tutorial was very helpful and your bunnies are SO CUTE! I'm amazed that they don't chew on that lovely black table.


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## Butterscotch (Jul 3, 2020)

Lenka said:


> You can check out Lennon the bunny. The lady has got many good tips. I always watch her videos. Lennon The Bunny


Yeah, she's kind of the reason I decided to get rabbits. She made it look so easy!


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## Lenka (Jul 3, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> Yeah, she's kind of the reason I decided to get rabbits. She made it look so easy!


She was the reason why I got rabbit too!


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## Butterscotch (Jul 3, 2020)

I think I'm going to have some issues with my tiny doe. At one year old, she's just over 2 pounds. She has always been my troublemaker. She's the climber, the chewer, the fearless adventurer. I have 29" tall ferret play pens for them now but I need to buy taller play pens that they can't jump or climb over. I think my doe might be able to get her head through the bars of the taller play pens. I don't want to buy them and find out the hard way that she can injure herself this way. Look at how small she is! They are both dwarves.


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## Lenka (Jul 3, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> I think I'm going to have some issues with my tiny doe. At one year old, she's just over 2 pounds. She has always been my troublemaker. She's the climber, the chewer, the fearless adventurer. I have 29" tall ferret play pens for them now but I need to buy taller play pens that they can't jump or climb over. I think my doe might be able to get her head through the bars of the taller play pens. I don't want to buy them and find out the hard way that she can injure herself this way. Look at how small she is! They are both dwarves.
> 
> View attachment 49155


So pretty!!! They are adorable couple. My bunny was same, very small and naughty. I do believe you will be just fine. Bunny proof your house but don’t rush, take small steps.


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## Blue eyes (Jul 3, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> You have a great website, Blue Eyes, thank you! The free roaming tutorial was very helpful and your bunnies are SO CUTE! I'm amazed that they don't chew on that lovely black table.


Thank you!!

They never seemed interested in that piece of furniture. I have had rabbits go after books that were on lower shelves. 
Even when we moved to a different place, they chose to chew on their bed rather than that piece of furniture.


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## Diane R (Jul 4, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> I think I'm going to have some issues with my tiny doe. At one year old, she's just over 2 pounds. She has always been my troublemaker. She's the climber, the chewer, the fearless adventurer. I have 29" tall ferret play pens for them now but I need to buy taller play pens that they can't jump or climb over. I think my doe might be able to get her head through the bars of the taller play pens. I don't want to buy them and find out the hard way that she can injure herself this way. Look at how small she is! They are both dwarves.
> 
> View attachment 49155


You are right to worry about that. Metal playpens can be very dangerous. You could attach welded mesh with small holes on the bottom part of the pen.


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## CuteBunnyLove (Jul 14, 2020)

Free-roaming is a truly rewarding experience when it comes to rabbits! When my rabbits had become litter trained I let them roam during the day. Ginger (the cheeky rabbit) would've always gotten into trouble. I have to little brothers who would always leave banana skins and things like that behind the sofa. I'd often find her running away with a banana skin or apple. My other rabbit (Bunny) would've found places to hide and would just sleep. Ever since Ginger died Bunny stayed in my room for the nights and its bunny proofed there. 

*Nice Things About Free-Roaming: *
You really get to know your rabbit more. Your bond is stronger and your rabbit is more outgoing. You get to play and cuddle with them. It also gives you a chance to find out their fears for future trips to the vet etc. which is actually comes to hand sometimes. They are less aggressive and healthier as they won't gain weight sitting in a cage. In addition, they also have the space to binky and do zoomies.

*Bad Things About Free-Roaming:*
Rabbits tend to be very destructive. My room is fully bunny proofed but when she goes to other rooms she chews everything. Bunny only goes upstairs, ever since her sister died, for me that means I only had to bunny proof upstairs but it's still not easy. Hay gets everywhere from litterboxes and wires are everywhere in my parents bedroom. Whenever I do let out bunny I have to lift all the wires and put them on the bed otherwise there's trouble. She also digs on my bed leaving lots of hole.

*Scary Things About Free-Roaming:*
I caught Ginger eating a lot of bread that my brothers had left behind the sofa. Bunny also ran outside when the doors were left open. We're lucky I quickly noticed the door was open and saw her under a bush. Bunny also nearly electrocuted herself a lot of times as she enjoys chewing wires. Most of the time they are plugged in and working so she's very lucky

Overall I say it's worth it and an amazing experience!


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## Jaimeh761 (Aug 26, 2020)

Honestly, I'm on the fence about free roaming. My bun has been full free roam during the day and it's been a lot. I'm happy he has the freedom to move and follow our cat around, but now that he's starting to get the hang of jumping on the furniture, we've found poops on the couch, on our desk, and a few in our bed. He is litter box trained. But it's enough we're thinking about reverting back to him having his room and not the whole house. But I'm worried back tracking back to a room may kill his free roam spirit.


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## Butterscotch (Aug 26, 2020)

I


Jaimeh761 said:


> Honestly, I'm on the fence about free roaming. My bun has been full free roam during the day and it's been a lot. I'm happy he has the freedom to move and follow our cat around, but now that he's starting to get the hang of jumping on the furniture, we've found poops on the couch, on our desk, and a few in our bed. He is litter box trained. But it's enough we're thinking about reverting back to him having his room and not the whole house. But I'm worried back tracking back to a room may kill his free roam spirit.


I'm still on the fence too. I think my dogs would eat any poops that my buns might leave behind but I'm worried about the buns chewing on things they shouldn't. Unfortunately I live in a small condo so I don't have a spare room for them and they are currently taking up my entire living room. I've got the room surrounded by adjoining play pens but now I can't use my living room at all for anything that requires activity. I can sit on my couch and watch a movie but I can't do a work out video, for example. When I got these rabbits, my plan was always to free roam so I have to figure something out. They will not live their lives in cages, ever. My next plan is to allow them to free roam in my hall way, which is maybe 20 feet long. Imagine the binkies they could do in there! And there would be no danger of them chewing on furniture or electrical cords. I just have to relocate my treadmill.


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## Mehidk (Aug 26, 2020)

Jaimeh761 said:


> Honestly, I'm on the fence about free roaming. My bun has been full free roam during the day and it's been a lot. I'm happy he has the freedom to move and follow our cat around, but now that he's starting to get the hang of jumping on the furniture, we've found poops on the couch, on our desk, and a few in our bed. He is litter box trained. But it's enough we're thinking about reverting back to him having his room and not the whole house. But I'm worried back tracking back to a room may kill his free roam spirit.


You will always find the occasional poops. Their poops will never 100% in their litter box. As long as the pee is in there, they are considered litter trained. The occasional stray poops they leave are possibly because they're marking what belongs to them; in this case, the couch, desk and bed. You can find something to block him from tempting to go up there if you're not a fan of picking up his "gifts" afterwards.


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## osgoodmg (Aug 26, 2020)

Sorry, I'm late to the discussion. Are they neutered/spayed?


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## Jaimeh761 (Aug 26, 2020)

osgoodmg said:


> Sorry, I'm late to the discussion. Are they neutered/spayed?


Scheduled for this coming Tuesday!


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## osgoodmg (Aug 26, 2020)

Great. That will stop the territorial pooing and peeing, although it may take a few months. With Artie it took 3-4 months to completely stop. Definitely worth it!


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## Mehidk (Aug 29, 2020)

osgoodmg said:


> Great. That will stop the territorial pooing and peeing, although it may take a few months. With Artie it took 3-4 months to completely stop. Definitely worth it!


The territorial pooping cannot be guaranteed to stop. It’ll just happen less frequently. My rabbit has been neutered and every now and then I’ll still find a poop here and there.


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## Jaimeh761 (Aug 30, 2020)

Mehidk said:


> The territorial pooping cannot be guaranteed to stop. It’ll just happen less frequently. My rabbit has been neutered and every now and then I’ll still find a poop here and there.


Ah but there is a big difference between the occasional poop here or there versus having to vacuum multiple times per day, having to check your chair for poop before you sit, and your house starting to smell like am onion poop pit! A poop here or there...that I can handle.


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## Jurisfiction (Aug 30, 2020)

My dogs don’t eat rabbit poop. Their poop sometimes, cat poop, but not rabbit poop. I even have put it outside as a fertilizer. Maybe the fact that the rabbit is a vegetarian makes his poop not smell like something they should eat?
And Marlow does the occasional poop elsewhere but most of it is now in the box. The first few days here, he was putting it everywhere , including the box.


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## Butterscotch (Aug 30, 2020)

Jurisfiction said:


> My dogs don’t eat rabbit poop. Their poop sometimes, cat poop, but not rabbit poop. I even have put it outside as a fertilizer. Maybe the fact that the rabbit is a vegetarian makes his poop not smell like something they should eat?
> And Marlow does the occasional poop elsewhere but most of it is now in the box. The first few days here, he was putting it everywhere , including the box.


My dogs love it. Yuck! I wish they didn't because they are tiny Chihuahuas and they can't have the extra calories.


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## Jurisfiction (Aug 30, 2020)

Butterscotch said:


> My dogs love it. Yuck! I wish they didn't because they are tiny Chihuahuas and they can't have the extra calories.



Oh man! Don’t let them tell my dogs they have all these tasty treats around then!


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## Butterscotch (Aug 31, 2020)

Jurisfiction said:


> Oh man! Don’t let them tell my dogs they have all these tasty treats around then!


It'll be our secret!


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