Bunny determined to escape

by Nicky
(Pretoria, South Africa)

Our family have rescued 2 grown rabbits, who I believe to be a male and female. We are housing them in a large guest bathroom until we are able to construct a more suitable home for them. We have a really lovely treed garden and have made numerous attempt to pen them for a while out doors while cleaning the bathroom.

I'm talking about soft lawn, climbing toys, shade, hutch, hay....

Mr Peter Rabbit has no appreciation for my interior decorating abilities and takes about 7 min to jump out of the pen which by the way is a meter high.

The female is very happy to stay put.

Chasing him around the garden is not fun for either of us!

Will he come back if I leave him? Will he be able to out-run the cats?

Very new at this and very grateful for the helpful site.

***** Karen Sez *****
If it isn't up and over, it will be under and out. Dunno the answer to every question but I do know this - the only secure way to keep your rabbit safe is to put wire around all 6 sides of the rabbit's space. See our info on rabbit runs...

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-run.html

Or, you might put a pet halter on it and stake it. This solution carries a number of possible drawbacks, so it would be best to do your cleaning quickly, or check on the rabbit every 15 minutes or so.

Enjoy your rabbits!

Runaway Rabbit

by Kristine
(Oxford, MI)

I have a 5 month old German Angora buck who will not stay in his A frame cage. One of his brothers is with him. He insists on breaking free and going into my garden that I have lined with rabbits hutches along the fence and he hangs out there leaving his brother clueless as to how he got out. When I send my grandson out to try and catch him, the bunny kicks and bites him thus getting away. I'm not sure he is safe on his own as we have a lot of raccoons roaming at night. Any suggestions?

***** Karen Sez *****

Yeah, sounds like a big problem to me. Raccoons would love to sink their teeth into your buck, and will in a heartbeat, if they find him.

Question is: Why does the buck want to escape? I suspect that housing him with another buck is part of the problem. Two brothers in the same cage might be fine at first, while the bucklings are youngsters, but when they mature, they will fight. The escapee may be trying to dodge the wrath of his sibling. Try giving the buck its own space and see if that doesn't reduce its urge to run.

So, does this A-frame cage simply sit on the ground? You might eliminate escape routes by lining the floor of the A-frame with 1x2 or 2x4 livestock wire. Hopefully this will keep the buck's brother in the A-frame, because you will have built another one for the escaping buck.

Good luck going forward!

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