Holiday with Rabbits

[Eve84]

Hiya,
Due to COVID- 19 we have cancelled our previous planned summer holiday but booked a new holiday which will be in about 3 weeks. Normally I would like to find a pet owner near by and ask to pet sitter in return while on holiday, but due to COVID - 19 it is all a little different this year.

What do you think of taking your rabbits with you?

The car journey would be 1h and 20 mins but call it 2 hours all together. They would have a smaller cage than usually but access to water and hay constantly and a little hutch with 70cm wide and a little play pen all outside as that’s where they normally are.

It would only be for a week!

Is that too stressful for them?

I could pay a pet sitter but it would cost 200€ if she comes every day :-/.

Thanks for your answers in advance!
Eve

 

[Hermelin]

They will be able to handle it, the ride is not long but it also depends on how used your bunnies are with travelling. I would just say go for it and enjoy your holiday with your bunnies.

My bunnies have no problem going to new places and settle down really fast. But that’s just because they are used with moving around and taking car trips ☺

 

[Blue eyes]

The ride shouldn't be such a big deal. One week is rather short for settling-in time. Since you have multiple rabbits, it could upset their bonds being in new territory.

I've taken bonded pairs on extended trips. Here are a couple of their vacation-time set-ups. One in a hotel. One in a cabin.

 

[zuppa]

Hiya,
Due to COVID- 19 we have cancelled our previous planned summer holiday but booked a new holiday which will be in about 3 weeks. Normally I would like to find a pet owner near by and ask to pet sitter in return while on holiday, but due to COVID - 19 it is all a little different this year.

What do you think of taking your rabbits with you?

The car journey would be 1h and 20 mins but call it 2 hours all together. They would have a smaller cage than usually but access to water and hay constantly and a little hutch with 70cm wide and a little play pen all outside as that’s where they normally are.

It would only be for a week!

Is that too stressful for them?

I could pay a pet sitter but it would cost 200€ if she comes every day :-/.

Thanks for your answers in advance!
Eve

I agree that car ride is only 1h20 so nothing to worry about especially if you have AC or can make a cooler for them and fix their travel cage(s) safely just in case your car stops suddenly so they are safe. Just don't give them a water bottle or bowl during the trip just give them some wet juicy vegetables and they will be fine, lots of hay as well so they could travel in comfort.

As Blue eyes said and from her pics, you still have lots of time you can train them just a couple hours a day make a playpen like in her pics and cover their floor with a blanket and put blankets on pen walls too, and when you are there just use same blankets to recreate what they had at home so their blankets will smell like them and have everything in there from home, toilet, their floor blanket or rug, so they don't have to fight over their new territory, literally just take their territory with you and they will have their own corner with everything from home.

 

[Eve84]

The ride shouldn't be such a big deal. One week is rather short for settling-in time. Since you have multiple rabbits, it could upset their bonds being in new territory.

I've taken bonded pairs on extended trips. Here are a couple of their vacation-time set-ups. One in a hotel. One in a cabin.

Could it also upset their bond if they live in a hutch they are already used to?

 

[Blue eyes]

I know you have a real large enclosed run that has a tube that goes to a smaller wooden hutch. Is it that wooden hutch that you were thinking of disconnecting and taking with you?

 

[Eve84]

I know you have a real large enclosed run that has a tube that goes to a smaller wooden hutch. Is it that wooden hutch that you were thinking of disconnecting and taking with you?

No it wouldn’t be that that’s too big and way too heavy...

I actually bought a new house today but I assumed it was bigger as it actually is :0(.

It said on the package it is 70cm long and also 45 cm wide which is thought is a doable space but that was only the roof .

So the inside measurements are 60cm long and only 35cm wide.... I kinda hope it’s big enough for four rabbits to sleep in....
I thought to take the smaller play pen with too.

We have the chance to use the carport with two walls and a roof and just put this house in the play pen and when we will be at our summer holiday house we can place it all on the grass in the garden or we could potentially use the shed.
The shed is really big I’m just not sure if it will get too hot so we could either let them maybe free run in the shed or just in the play pen. If it is too hot we could take them there at night and if we can let them free roam they would have a big running space too.

Problem is it’s all unknown for now.

They would either way always have their little house with them to feel comfortable.

This house I bought this morning, I build already and also placed it in their big walk in enclosure

I’m just worried that they will be too stressed or will get ill or something

Thanks eve

 

[Eve84]

The play pen is 1.20m x 1.20 m

 

[Blue eyes]

Sounds like quite the hassle.

I would think a regular exercise pen set up indoors might be safer than having them outside in a 'strange' place. Such a pen can be made quite large as shown in one of my photos above.

 

[Eve84]

Sounds like quite the hassle.

I would think a regular exercise pen set up indoors might be safer than having them outside in a 'strange' place. Such a pen can be made quite large as shown in one of my photos above.

The exercise pen would be about the size of your photos above.

I will ask again for a few pictures from the shed of our holiday house. They might end up having even a bigger place to themselves as our walk in enclosure.

But thanks again

 

[Eve84]

We made our decision to take our four rabbits with us! Specially in this ****** Corona time, you never know if you are suddenly stuck somewhere etc. And like you said a 1 h and 20 mins journey isn’t too long. And they are used to be the whole day in our garden lots of times in different spots etc.

I’ll update with how it turned out in a few weeks
Thank you
Eve

 

[Eve84]

I have decided to sell one of their old houses and pay a little extra for one house which is think will be bigger and I won’t place it in the play pen I will sort of build a door and they will have the whole space of 1.20 m by 1.20 m to run.

I will post a pic once it’s build etc.

 

[Catlyn]

How is it going so far?

 

[Eve84]

Hi,
Thanks for asking. I bought a house which has a better size and it arrived today but I haven’t build it yet.

The old house has a size from 62 cm by 35cm and I find the width a bit small specially if one rabbits lies all the way the other ones don’t fit in there too well.

The new house is not much bigger sadly but we also have to think about our space in the car, we also need to take our three kids with . It’s 54cm by 45cm.

Their current space where they sleep at night is 60 by 50 cm so not soo much bigger.

And we would cut a door in the play pen or anyhow fit a door in and they would have an additional space of 1.20 by 1.20m. I also think we can maybe use the shed as a play pen but not permanently as it will probably get too hot during the day.

It’s more of a question how we take them but we already decided that we will take them along.

In the Play pen they would also have another cat litter box and currently it’s very warm in Germany up to 32 degrees so I think they will also be fine sleeping outside if they find the house too small.

I also bought a dark canopy? And some things to tighten it to keep it in place. And we can use it to stop wind during the day/ night, to keep rain away and also as a sun blind too.

I will post some pictures soon.
Eve

 

[Catlyn]

Hey, 32°C? That's really hot. Well, we can't complain either as our temperatures have also revently raged from 27-30°C while in half-shade and hotter than that when in direct sunlight. Temporarily having to stay in a tiny apartment with absolutely no way to cool the rooms is just killing me!

 

[Eve84]

Hi,
I also don’t like temperatures above 26! The last two years we had often 36 degrees which I absolutely can’t stand.

The rabbits were fine actually when it was 30 degrees. I gave them more salads and fennel as normal and they did well.

I always keep them in the shade when the temps get above 20 so they won’t be overheating but our house for example is warmer indoor at this temps than outside.
Eve

 

[Eve84]

The rabbits would also have 24h access to the play pen when we will be on holiday so we won’t lock them in this little house!

 

[Catlyn]

Yeah, that's a good idea! Giving watery salads i mean. Storm, for some reason or another, won't drink from his bowl indoors when he was absolutely using it outdoors. The temps aren't all that differnt either but it's couple degrees coller in than out.

 

[Eve84]

Our rabbits live outdoor during all seasons and have a big walk in enclosure and a little hutch, you can see it on my other thread “ new rabbit owner”

So I finally provisionally build it and got it all together.
It’s tight but probably doable with some extra space every now and then.

What are your thoughts?
Eve

 

[Blue eyes]

Hi,
I also don’t like temperatures above 26! The last two years we had often 36 degrees which I absolutely can’t stand.

I'm sitting outside enjoying the cooler weather here today. It dropped down to 36C! Getting new tires on my car and happy to be outside during our freak "cooler" weather.