Do you think bell collars are bad for a bun?

[Happy Fluffy]

Is there any other alternatives to collar? I need a bell on my rabbits so that when it run around in the house, I know where it is and won’t accidentally brush against him

 

[Blue eyes]

Best to start a new thread for this question rather than posting on a (over) 10 year old thread.

 

[Diane R]

Yes, there is an alternative, always be aware of where your bunny is.

 

[Catlyn]

Having bells jiggle around a rabbit's neck is never a good idea. The rabbit may try to pull it off, get stuck with it, or get stressed as the bell jingles and the rabbit couldn't groom its neck either. Just be aware of whre they are and what they do at all times....

 

[Liung]

10/10 would recommend microchipping. It’s safe, easy, cheap, and forever. But as mentioned... it only works if someone thinks to scan for it.

Whenever I bring Delilah outside I always put her in a Y front harness that has a name tag with my phone number, as well as a tag indicating that she is microchipped. I’m not a fan of the H style harnesses marketed for small animals, the idea of tension being put on their neck is not good to me. The Y style harness distributes tension across their chest—and, I can pull her dewlap up through it, and then her own fluff blocks her from being able to chew on the straps!

When I was younger and a lot more thoughtless and ignorant, I got my buns stylish leather buckled collars! I sat with them to supervise, and while they hated the collars as they do all things I put on them, and tried to chew at them, all seemed well. After a couple hours they even seemed to settle down and stop caring.

Hah, no. I went looking for Lahi when I realized I hadn’t seen him in a while, and found him hiding in one of the boxes. He seemed okay. Eventually I noticed ... he wasn’t okay. In the process of tucking his chin down to chew on the collar, he’d gnawed it down thin enough that it slipped behind his teeth, where it promptly became stuck, held in his mouth like a horse’s bridle bit. His head was trapped with his chin against his chest, and had been that way for god knows how long before I’d noticed.

I totally understand the “I wanna have them wear cute things” but there’s options that are less dangerous. Lahi actually had to wear tiny shirts to prevent Delilah from plucking him bald, which was HELLA cute. It took a lot of trial and error to find out which shirts would fit a rabbit, and stay on comfortably, but I figured it out and after checking with my vet to make sure it wouldn’t cut off his circulation or anything bad, Lahi accumulated quite the collection of tiny pet shirts. It’s nearly impossible to find shirts too small for a 4 lb dwarf rabbit (though it did happen once—who the hell has a dog smaller than my 4lb dwarf rabbit, seriously?!), and if they were too big or didn’t fit well he would easily wiggle out of them. A bit of supervision was necessary at first for any new shirt, but once I knew what style had the right design to fit, it was easy to find new ones.




I definitely wouldn’t recommend having your rabbit wear shirts full time like Lahi did if they don’t need to, but for occasional periods and photo opportunities I can assure you that it’s safe within reason.

 

[Leo the Lop]

Yes, there is an alternative, always be aware of where your bunny is.

Lol. Impossible if your bunny is free-range.

 

[Leo the Lop]

Having bells jiggle around a rabbit's neck is never a good idea. The rabbit may try to pull it off, get stuck with it, or get stressed as the bell jingles and the rabbit couldn't groom its neck either. Just be aware of whre they are and what they do at all times....

This isn’t practical! Who can follow their bunny around all day?

 

[Mariam+Theo]

This isn’t practical! Who can follow their bunny around all day?

You wouldn't have to follow it around all day. Just be aware of where it is, as Catlyn said. When you take a step back look on the ground so that you don't accidentally step on it. Or you could block off areas where you can't see it. You could make it where it can only go in your living room, and not allow it in your kitchen. It will be easier to keep an eye on if you give it less room to roam.

 

[Preitler]

First thing to learn when you've got a free roam house bunny is a zombies shuffling gait, just check that you don't have paranoid preppers as neighbours

One get's used to bunnys around, although I do find it comfortable that mine are rather large.
Since my buck had sore hocks I covered the 2 rooms where they spend most of their time - kitchen and living room - with rugs and cardboard - you can hear them pretty well on cardboard. At doors they are not allowed to cross there are knee high pieces of fence or pallet. I'm sure mine wouldn't appreciate a collar.

 

[Catlyn]

I find it easy to track my bunny, he's a big boy about 10 pounds, he goes nowhere expect our living room even when we're not in the same room as he is. And when he decides to hop o and dig at my blanket, bed or whatever is on that spot(his fave, it seems) he usually stays there. We have to shoo him to the floor so we wouldn't have all and any blanket, sheet or duvet full of bunny bite marks or occasional pee squirts. The latter, fortunatrly hasn't hsppened lately. He is a couch potato anyway so he will spend most of his free-roam time in or under his cage, or on the floor in a cool corner. We don't have to block off anything.
See? Being aware of your rabbits' usual whereabouts helps both of you. Thanks to that, i won't have to do the zombie shuffle gait although i often feel like a dead-brainer.

 

[Leo the Lop]

I’m not worried about stepping on Polish, I’m aware of him in that sense. And I wouldn’t put a collar on him after reading this thread so I’m not arguing for that. But it would nice if there was an easier way to find my 2-pound polish when I need to put him up for the night.

 

[Diane R]

Lol. Impossible if your bunny is free-range.

Of course it's possible. I have lived with free roaming bunnies for 25 years.

 

[Hermelin]

I’m not worried about stepping on Polish, I’m aware of him in that sense. And I wouldn’t put a collar on him after reading this thread so I’m not arguing for that. But it would nice if there was an easier way to find my 2-pound polish when I need to put him up for the night.

Myself just call my bunnies name and give the command ”jump into the cage” and for Odin, I just open the cookie jar and he comes running then give the commando. So really easy to find them and get them to the cage.

If they don’t come they are stuck in a room, a cabinet or sleeping. That’s when I will try to find them or lure them with treats. No one come for the treats they are stuck, that’s when I look in all places they can get locked into.

 

[Leo the Lop]

Of course it's possible. I have lived with free roaming bunnies for 25 years.

And you’ve always known exactly where they are every second?

 

[Leo the Lop]

Myself just call my bunnies name and give the command ”jump into the cage” and for Odin, I just open the cookie jar and he comes running then give the commando. So really easy to find them and get them to the cage.

If they don’t come they are stuck in a room, a cabinet or sleeping. That’s when I will try to find them or lure them with treats. No one come for the treats they are stuck, that’s when I look in all places they can get locked into.

Wow that’s really cool, Polish is only 5 months old and I’ve only had him for two, he doesn’t know his name yet. How long does it generally take to learn their name?

 

[Hermelin]

Wow that’s really cool, Polish is only 5 months old and I’ve only had him for two, he doesn’t know his name yet. How long does it generally take to learn their name?

Odin learned the commando after one week up to a month, while my other bunnies just picked it up later on. Didn’t teach them, I just taught them to come when called. Quite easy learning bunnies that are food motivated. There are a few videos on youtube how to teach your bunnies tricks. Some take it up faster than others for example Toste the master of running away picked up spin in one day and coming being called in 3 days. I had him run into the forest a few times but when I called him, he came running towards me [emoji5]


The easier tricks are: come when being called, spin, stand, jump up and down, also the cage command. I also learned Odin stop, so he will stay still a short time, which truly helped a lot so he stopped getting doors closed on him and he won’t run out the door.

I always use the pellets ratio as treats when I train my bunnies.

When you train a bunny you do the same way as you do with dogs and cats, best it’s with a clicker. But you have to also respect they are bunnies with quirky personalities.

 

[Donna Standar]

I think bell collars are very unsafe. They could choke on that bell, or get the collar hooked on something and choke to death.
I don't even put collars on my dogs. I've seen dogs get hung, when unsupervised .

 

[Liung]

Lol Delilah is deaf so will learn her name precisely never. But she has a sixth sense for when the food bin or the fridge is opened, so that’s as good as calling her name—she ZOOMS over.

Lahi, though... his favourite thing was to find shadowy corners to hide in so he could poke your ankle when you least expected it. We also made a GRAVE mistake in our choice of carpet runner... he was stealthy to begin with, he didn’t need the help!!

There are TWO bunnies in this picture. Find Lahi!


Neither of them would step on hardwood or tile if given the choice, so keeping them out of places we didn’t want them to be was as easy as only laying down carpet where they were allowed to go.

 

[Blue eyes]

But it would nice if there was an easier way to find my 2-pound polish when I need to put him up for the night.

Mine aren't as trained as Hermelin's, but I do put them up each night by making noise with the pellet container. They get their daily pellets before bed so it makes it easier for me to lock them up for the night.

I start by refilling their hay and then jiggle that pellet container. They learn those sounds and know what is coming.

 

[Shubox]

It's not worth it especially if it's just to be cute. Rabbits are easily injured, and the collar can snag on something, or they can hurt themselves trying to get it off.