Indoor rabbits?

[Rebecka]

So.. not too long ago I saw a video of a woman spinning directly off the rabbit! This of course got me thinking about how one would coax a bunny to do just happily lay in my lap while I spun, how I would keep it clean enough to spin directly from it. I have never liked the whole bunny cage idea and I have heard they can be litter box trained. So, I ask this.. does anyone keep rabbits in the house and are they litter trained. Would they use the same litter as my cats or do they need a dedicated box? What about nibbling on cords and the like? Wow..that was a whole lotta asking "this" I warned you I had been thinking !

 

[sweetcorn]

My mother and her 2 sisters had indoor rabbits as kids . Mind you , they did not have run of the whole house , but were contained in a breezeway type area. They also raised meat rabbits but their house rabbits, mom said , were trained to " go " on tinfoil laid down for them on a liner . Apparently they like the shininess of it and will go there. Never asked if it took a lot training to accomplish that but thats what they used. Apparently house rabbits are possible.

 

[sweetcorn]

If you want, I can ask her for more details next time I call her....

 

[Lady Henevere]

I have a litter box-trained house rabbit. They do chew on cords and carpet and couches, so be careful. Mine is currently in a sectioned-off portion of a room on a natural rug (jute, maybe?) that she can chew to her heart's desire. She has a 2-level cat condo, which she also chews on (and hops up on -- surprisingly, rabbits enjoy being up high). She uses a litter box with carefresh bedding. Rabbits tend to back up into a corner to pee, so you may want to find a covered cat box or something with two high sides. I would be careful mixing a rabbit with young cats -- rabbits that are scratched or bitten by cats are very susceptible to infection and abscess, and an abscess on a rabbit is very hard to cure. I would think that older cats would be less likely to pounce for fun, so they may be safer. The House Rabbit Society has a lot of information: http://www.rabbit.org/

Good luck! Don't forget to post pics if you get one.

Edited to add: The rabbit is moving outside soon. I think being outdoors goes better with a rabbit's nature, and DH is sick of the hair in the house.

 

[Rebecka]

Sweetcorn, that would be wonderful. I am of course looking at the woolier of options and of course I know nothing at all about keeping rabbits other than my grandmother had one running around her house with 3 cats for the duration of my knowledge of her. She is no longer around to ask.

 

[tortoise]

Rebecka, It's common to be able to train rabbits to pee in a litter box, but not poop in a litter box. I have a sweet doe that is like that.

I have angoras for their wool. I would NOT have them in the house. About a month before they are ready to pluck, they start shedding wool that gets EVERYWHERE.

My rabbits are out in a shed and the wool is all over the grass and I can see it floating in the air in the house!

To keep it clean enough to spin, I'd suggest a French Angora. They have more guard hairs which means a lower maintenance coat. However, it also means that the wool must be hand plucked to ensure that you're not spinning the guard hair. They need to be combed daily, of course.

They yield 6 - 8 oz per year. So if you want to make something, you need to mix the angora with another wool. That will make it much easier to spin as well.

Where are you located? I have a litter that will be ready-to-go in a couple weeks. They are purebred, pedigreed French Angoras. There is one mis-mark in the litter that is almost completely white. the ears are slightly pointed, there is a little shading around his/her eyes, and there is a little dark spot on her/his chin. I expect the eyes will not be red. I was going to raise it for meat... but if someone wants a wooler I'd prefer that!

Pictures, info here: http://www.penelopesrabbitry.blogspot.com

Sorry for the shameless plug.

 

[big brown horse]

I adopted a lop eared neutered bunny from the SPCA about 4 years ago. "Benjamin" was the best indoor bunny in the whole entire world!

He lived upstairs in my urban city home for 2 years cage free. For some reason, he never went downstairs, ever. We kept a litter pan in the master bathroom for him. He never had an accident. We had wood floors, so carpet wasn't an issue. He liked to "dig" on the bathroom mats, but didn't damage them.

When we moved up here, I built him an outdoor run with access to the backyard. He hopped around the backyard for the next 2 years of his life before he died of old age.

Hey tortoise, do you think perhaps it is a girl bunny thing? I got Benjamin a little doe for a pal and she never learned how to be litter box trained. :/ That is the whole reason why I moved the bunnies outside.

 

[tortoise]

I don't know if it is a girl thing. I've read a lot about it. I put a corner litter box in with any rabbit that seems to use a corner or specific spot in the pan.

The doe that is semi-litter-trained poops where she eats.

I have had rabbits in the house. After one chewed my favorite wicker basket overnight, I put them in ex-pens. I did have them lose (no carpet!) but the hair was everywhere! I think I had 9 house-bunnies then.

But my SO is totally against rabbits in the house - we already have enough rabbit hair floating around here! Plus wer have carpet and furniture.

My house was toddler-proof, cat-proof, rabbit-proof, chicken-proof, and goat-proof. It was mostly empty. I miss that sometimes.

 

[big brown horse]

Floating rabbit hair!!

Yeah, Benjamin's fur was everywhere! It seemed as though he shed all year round, same as the St. Bernards. Tumbleweeds of hair and fur were swept up daily year round. But, man, I still loved that rabbit!!

His litter pan was really a big, long plastic storage bin/tote that was filled with pine shavings. I put his food and water on one end and he used the other end as his litter box. The doe never could figure it out. She pooped and peed EVERYWHERE! It was like a rabbit poop/pee bomb went off! Thank goodness for tiled bathrooom floors!

Benjamin was Felix and his doe (Sasha) was Oscar from "The Odd Couple".

 

[buckeye lady]

www.rabbit.org

Everything you need to know about house rabbits is on this website.

They need a litter box with pelletized wood. (Stove pellets/Horse bedding pellets)
They find electrical cords delicious. You can but cord covers at the home improvement store. They are made of plastic flexible pipe and are split down the side to insert the cord.

Bunnys keep themselves very clean. House buns are great pets.