New Bun, New Housing Challenge!

[Hoolia]

My friend who gave my Muffin offered to give me another of her rabbits since her family is moving and they won’t be able to bring the rabbits. I’m also moving after my foster bunnies go home. My plan is to bring the new rabbit home after I move so there’s as little relocating for her as possible, she has a family to foster the bunnies if her circumstances change and she has to leave earlier.
Anyway I’ll have to think of a gameplan for where she’ll live! I flood my friend with questions about this precious little princess constantly so I can be prepared for her arrival. What I know so far:
- Not spayed
- spent her entire life outdoors
- shy
- a jumper and escape artist, so high sided run or covered run is a MUST
- digger (outdoors confirmed, indoors unknown)

As for where I’m moving:
I’ll have one bedroom for all three rabbits. One of the rabbits she already knows, but that may not matter, doesn’t sound like she’s very tolerant of other rabbits. There are 3 dogs; 2 of which are obnoxiously terrified of rabbits. Open closet design where my rabbits previously had their litter box and food station when I lived there before.
I’m thinking of getting closed cages this time around for the rabbits’ safety. Mine have always been free-roam but that was when we had two dogs who didn’t care about the rabbits in the slightest, like wouldnt even acknowledge them. Safest course of action seems to be getting them proper cages, maybe repurposed wire dog kennels, and keeping the door shut when I’m not home.
Now here’s where I could use opinions:
Do I get separate runs for new girl and my bonded pair? Or do I just alternate playtimes? My hope would be that the new rabbit will get used to seeing, smelling, and sharing toys with the bonded pair, and they’d get used to her by just alternating let-outs. But I’d also risk llllloooots of urine marking on the carpet around either cage. The cons of having two play runs would be that navigating my bedroom would get too difficult especially since one run would have to be covered to keep new girl from escaping.
plan would eventually be to try to bond her into the trio after she’s spayed. If it’s not meant to be though, I’d have to find an efficient way to keep them all separated until I get my own place again.

 

[FuzzyBunny ph]

I would suggest alternate playtimes until you can get her fixed and properly bonded with the others. I will also help with the urine spraying

I have a trio as well and before I got my youngest fixed, he was in a different enclosure but still next to the pen of my pair. Then every weekend, I would switch their enclosure for them to get used to each others scent

 

[John Wick]

A lot of things come to mind when I hear people describe rabbits as "escape artists". One thing is energy, and I imagine that needing to alternate a run with your bonded pair means the new rabbit will get less time to exercise. If this rabbit is on the more energetic side and needs the space to expend it and engage with a larger environment, I would recommend a separate run for both to maximize her larger roam time.

 

[Hoolia]

A lot of things come to mind when I hear people describe rabbits as "escape artists". One thing is energy, and I imagine that needing to alternate a run with your bonded pair means the new rabbit will get less time to exercise. If this rabbit is on the more energetic side and needs the space to expend it and engage with a larger environment, I would recommend a separate run for both to maximize her larger roam time.

This is very possibly the case! She, like the other rabbit i got from this friend, has spent the majority of her life in a cage with supervised yard playtime. My bonded pair is a little lower energy (with Muffin being practically no energy). So here’s a spitball idea: what if I start with alternating playtime, giving her more time out to work off that pent up energy she’s probably got, get a feel for her energy levels indoors and if she needs to have more constant access to exercise, I’ll set up a covered run outside her cage until she’s ready to bond?