Trying to free roam my bunny

Out of this world bunnies · Mar 13, 2019

So my bunny Nebula is my inside rabbit (1 of 4 rabbits) i want to free roam her in my room! but i need to figure out how to bunny proof currently i have: cut cardboard and put it around the rim of my bed so she can't go under it, i also put cardboard over an area with alot of cords and am trying to block of my dresser to keep her from going under it, and i hid all my shoes. i am worried about her peeing cause she doesn't poop anywhere but her litterbox, but she does have little pee accidents and i am worried about her peeing on my bed. Also she is not spayed and i don't plan to spay her.

Hermelin · Mar 13, 2019

Peeing in the bed aren’t that fun, but having a litter box on the bed will hinder the rabbit from peeing on the bed.

At least that’s worked for all my rabbits, but you can also teach them to not peeing on the bed. It will take a lot of time. Having blankets protecting the bed will also help, that have their smell on.

Best it’s to have more than one litter box spread out in the room. When one of my bun often had accident I had 3 litter boxes in the apartment. During that time I lived in a small student apartment so only one room with bath room and kitchen.

It truly helped and now I only have 2 litter boxes in the house (moved to back to my parents house). Which my rabbits know where they are. One in different sides of the house.

Even my outdoors rabbits know where the litter boxes are when they get inside and running. So having more than one litter box helps in the beginning until they learn where to run.

Blue eyes · Mar 14, 2019

Be aware that cardboard is often a wonderful chew toy for rabbits. She may decide to chew it for fun and then end up chewing her way through to the areas you are trying to keep her from.

Pieces of wood or some bricks are other options. Some have used grids (from cube shelves) to block off areas too.

If she has pee accidents inside her current cage (?) then she likely will continue that habit regardless of how many litterboxes you have. If she is good with her litter box while she is inside her cage, then she can continue that when roaming free IF her roaming area is expanded slowly.

I'll expand on that thought if it is the case that she only has potty accidents outside her cage.

Kristen13 · Mar 14, 2019

My male rabbit has free roam of my bedroom, it was a struggle at first. I used puppy pads as well as an extra litter box, he was great with using his litter box but it was like he felt the need to mark his new huge space. He did calm down after a couple weeks and was back to using the litter box. As for blocking things off, depending on the height one thing that worked great for me with shorter gaps was pool noodles. I used old towels to wrap around them and would shove them in the gaps under dressers and bookcases. Just have to watch for signs ofcheating,that's why I wrapped them in towels so they couldnt eat that foam material.

Out of this world bunnies · Mar 16, 2019

Blue eyes said:
Be aware that cardboard is often a wonderful chew toy for rabbits. She may decide to chew it for fun and then end up chewing her way through to the areas you are trying to keep her from.

Pieces of wood or some bricks are other options. Some have used grids (from cube shelves) to block off areas too.

If she has pee accidents inside her current cage (?) then she likely will continue that habit regardless of how many litterboxes you have. If she is good with her litter box while she is inside her cage, then she can continue that when roaming free IF her roaming area is expanded slowly.

I'll expand on that thought if it is the case that she only has potty accidents outside her cage.

she only has accidents outside her cage, inside she is perfect and only uses her box

Blue eyes · Mar 16, 2019

Out of this world bunnies said:
she only has accidents outside her cage, inside she is perfect and only uses her box

It is often the case that a rabbit that is having potty accidents outside the cage, is doing so because she was given too much free space too soon. There is a way to avoid this problem, however it will be more difficult now that she has already had accidents. Unfortunately, once they have peed where they should not, the odor still remains. We can clean it as best we can but if there is any odor (that she can smell, even if we can't) then she is likely to potty there again. They prefer to potty where they smell it.

So, step one would be to completely eliminate any residual odor of the places she has had accidents. If it was on carpet, you may have to purchase one of the cleaners with enzymes to remove pet odors.

Next would be to start over again. Confine her for a couple days in her cage. Then set up an ex-pen around the cage to allow her to roam in the limited area around her cage but assuring that she has easy access back to her cage. If she goes several days without potty accidents, only then can her space be expanded. Only expand her roaming space slowly and only if she continues to go without accidents. This is the way to train her to always return to her box as needed.

Kale Passfield · Mar 19, 2019

Will be a harder task due to you wont spay her. Just make the spots odorless and pickup the pee with toilet paper. Put the pee soaked tp in her litterbox