Rabbits kept indoors

Nala

Does anyone have an indoor bunny? Do they adapt well to living indoors? I had rabbits from the age of 4 to 17 and they both dies of old age(6-8 yrs) after living outdoors all their lives.Was thinkin of getting a new bunny (pref a lop) and keeping it indoors.Do they smell? (These things aren't as noticeable outdoors!)

Draupnir

Well, in one line, they stink real bad, **** a lot and generally shouldnt be kept indoors. Get a hamster or rat. Dont smell too bad, dont eat too much, can be trained easily, especially rats.

hadook

You can litter train a bunny & keep it indoors. The manager of my local pet shop has a wonderful house bunny. She puts a litter tray in her cage & cleans it out every 2nd day. You will need to give the bunny loads of free roaming time too.

Rats smell more, they dont have bowel control so cant be litter trained & pee a lot.

vibe666

rabbits can be trained to use a litter tray as easily as a cat, and their turds smell less too, so go for it.

Kalikat

We had a Norwegian Dwarf rabbit who had to be kept indoors after he had to have his eye removed after a cat attack. Woe betide any cats who came near him after that - rabbits can be suprisingly aggressive when they want to be!

He adapted perfectly, and seemed to much prefer being indoors - he had supervised runs outside in the garden, he came when he was called, and was perfectly house-trained (he just went in his hutch). In fact, he turned into quite the lap bunny, and would either sit on our laps or on our shoulders (he liked nestling in my mum's long hair). We used to giggle that he was a dog in a previous life. I miss my cute, piratical bunny.

Our man in Havana

Personally I feel that a bunny smells a damn site less than ratties - as I breed & keep rats, mice, guinea pigs, hamsters & mice along with other critters I would say a rabbit is on par with the smell of a hamster they make GREAT house pets & are easily litter trained - my new bunny Ebony a stunning black lion head is kept inside have had him over a week & I have yet to notice any odour.

That is my humble opinion.

watty

Guinea pigs are a bit smaller than Rabits and have much more personality and much less smell. They can be trained where to wee, but arn't too particular where they drop the black jelly beans. (Which don't smell).

They, and rabbits need a lot of space though.

We have 8 now. (One died recently, though nursed extensively indoors).

Really Rabbits (and Piggies) prefer outdoors with wire "ark" (like small chicken ark) to move around the grass.

Our piggies love all weather except wind. They love the snow on rare occasions we get it! Popcorning with joy.

Rabbits and Guinea pigs etc will eat your phone, network, Tv, satellite and mains flexes given any chance.

LoneGunM@n

I kept my 2 bunnies in the house until they were about a year old, but had to move them down to the shed because they were tearing the place apart.

My mam was going mad 'cause they kept tearing lumps out of her sofa and new wallpaper

I house trained them within a month so that they'd only use the hutch for doing their business. They [well the 1 that's still alive] still use the enclosed part of the hutch for going to the loo (7 years later)!!

They are great pets, but need a lot of handling, 'cause they can be a moody animal & will snap at you if they aren't used to being handled often!

*plus, mine lived for Digestive Biscuits and After Eight Mints :rolleyes:

Nala

what's a lionhead? My last rabbit was a Himalayan, absolutely gorgeous breed, has the markings of a Siamese cat and a snow-white body with pink eyes, although only a small breed she feared no cat!!! She was only £5 in a small petshop in Dublin.The price of rabbits these days...$30!!! And hamsters are usually at least €15!!! Maybe I'm getting off-topic...

She looked like this one.I'd love another Himalayan.

Gillie

I miss my wabbit!
She lived for about 5 years.
(Out doors!)
Great pets tho!

Maeve

I've got a dwarf rabbit living indoors at the moment in a cage. Had her 3 weeks now and I notice that her nails are getting pretty long. I think if keeping inside it is only fair to get some sort of a run for the rabbit in the garden .. can't just leave it in a cage all day .. and also can't leave it munching your house away either.

I change the cage every 3-4 days and have yet to notice a pong .. even though she does c*a* all over place.

M

P.S
You'd want to see the skids this rabbit does on lino (not the raisin kind). Its really funny. She charges up behind her cage at rapid speed and then stops all of a sudden and skids across the lino!!

Verdammt

All this talk of rabbits is making me a bit sentimental. My lovely Netherland White was murdered by my next door neighbour about 10 years ago because he was jealous of it.

Completly fu*ked up my childhood.

Gillie

Did you murder him back!
I would have!:mad:

Our man in Havana

Hi I don't have a piccy of my beautiful Ebony yet so I found this link with pictures of lionheads - they are soooooooooo cute!! Ebony looks very much like the rabbit called Ashley (mine is way cuter tho!)

Cute bunny pictures

Enjoy

Draupnir

That is a rather beautiful animal I must say, where would one lay there hands on a lionhead rabbit?

dudara

My god, are they rabbits or feather dusters!!

Do they take much care in terms of grooming etc when they have such long fur?

Our man in Havana

Ebony was bought as a pressie for me but I believe he was got at The Orchard in Celbridge.

As for care yes the mane needs to be kept tangle free - needs brushing occasionally about once a week. Other than that they are the same as any other bunny.