Bored Bunny

[BunnyHunny17]

Hi y'all! I have a problem.
My 2 year old rabbit Flower is giving us a lot of trouble. We have an enclosure set up inside for her that at night we put a blanket over so she stays in and feels safe. Recently she has decided to get really brave and bring down the blanket and escape from the pen.
We very recently got her spayed as we want her to be a free roam bunny, and I'm worried her hopping the fence will hurt her stitches. She's healing up very well, going to the bathroom normally, and eating, so we're not too worried about that.
I think she may just be bored, but I'm not sure how to help that. We have plenty of toys and chewers for her in her pen. We recently moved and haven't been able to give her as much attention as usual because we're settling into the apartment.

Can anyone give advice on how to maybe keep her entertained? We're buying her a nicer hutch and some of these scratchpost deals:

and we're getting her this hutch:

The hutch generally is for when we're both out of the apartment (which is rare, usually at least one of us is at home and can be with her) and I liked the added space below so that she has more space to stretch out and play when we're away.

 

[Catlyn]

Hey! First of all, how big is her inside enclosure? If it's big enough, then she's not bored, she just wants to move around and exploer your place. Second of all, don't get that hutch if you can. If she keeps tearing down the blanket, it is much cheaper and better to just get a roll of "rodent mesh" and attach it as a roof. My jumpy boy Storm would also tear down his roof blanket at night and scurry out until we gave him a roof he couldn't bust through. That's a pic of his nighttime area when there was no roof:

 

[BunnyHunny17]

Hey! First of all, how big is her inside enclosure? If it's big enough, then she's not bored, she just wants to move around and exploer your place. Second of all, don't get that hutch if you can. If she keeps tearing down the blanket, it is much cheaper and better to just get a roll of "rodent mesh" and attach it as a roof. My jumpy boy Storm would also tear down his roof blanket at night and scurry out until we gave him a roof he couldn't bust through. That's a pic of his nighttime area when there was no roof:View attachment 50005

Her current enclosure is probably 4'x4' we have an xpen in the corner of the living room next to our recliners. We do want to get her a hutch of some sort or her to hide away in (she LOVES chewing cardboard) But I hadn't thought of the mesh top, thank you!

 

[Catlyn]

A hutch wouldn't be good even for a hideout- they tend to be costly and bulky for the space they have. A more fun idea for her would be seagrass, sisal or jute woven mats hideouts. She'll probably destroy tjem but they're safe for her! She might also accept plastic boxes with holes- sturdier equivalents to cb-boxes!

 

[Blue eyes]

I agree that the hutch would be costly and is quite small -- doesn't even meet the minimum. I'd suggest making a cage with the cube grids. All you do is use zip ties to attach them. They can be made to any size or any number of levels.

Here is an example of one I made years ago. I would consider this to be the minimum. It is more than double the size of the wood hutch. (and should cost considerably less)

Here is a link showing how to make these (go with one of the larger ones):
https://www.longislandrabbitrescue.org/NIC-plans.pdfThe tutorial shows wood used for upper levels. I didn't bother with that. I used grids with a support for the upper levels and then just laid carpet on top (works for rabbits that don't eat carpet). For the floor, I just laid down a piece of rolled lino. The cage just sat on top of the lino (make sure the lino edges go just a little beyond the cage wall so bunny can't get to the edges while inside the cage).

 

[BunnyHunny17]

So this is what we decided to get her set up with as her home base!
She's got a large dog crate with a small litterbox and her bed off to the right.

She seems super excited about her new space! She's hopping around a bunch and exploring it all!
We're slowly gonna expand her space once she gets comfortable with her litter boxes and bunnyproof the living room so she can be free roam when we're home

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Ours like cardboard boxes. I take one big box and fit it with 6 more in a 2 story configuration with holes cut from one to the next and a hole in the roof of one on the lower level to the next level and one to the roof. Nikki III just loves getting up on the top so he can see all over the room.