How can I let my bunny outside?

May 14, 2012 8:28 AM

Our rabbit always wiggles out of those rabbit harnesses, but she really wants to go outside into the garden. We live in a downtown area so she has to be contained somehow. Any ideas?

We have a pet rabbit which we got when she was tiny, from a farmer who raised rabbits for meat. So this is not exactly a domesticated bunny. She wants to go outside, and she won't wear a harness. When we put her in the harness, not only does she wiggle out of it, but she turns flips and thrashes around and it's clearly not what she wants to tolerate. But we'd love to let her outside.

We're renting our place, and the garden is quite big, so we can't exactly build a fence. She sees the cat go outside and wants to be let out, too. We would love to let her dig in the soil and be in the sun.

Has anyone had this problem before? And solved it? Thanks!

posted by Clotilde to pets & animals (15 answers total)

Depending on her jumping ability, you could get a collapsible play-yard like this. You may need to fill in the gaps between the panels before you put her in it, depending on her size.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:35 AM on May 14, 2012

Yeah, that might work - we could perhaps put something over top, like netting...
posted by Clotilde at 8:37 AM on May 14, 2012

Would she be able to dig out under the sides quickly enough that leaving her unattended would be inadvisable? Maybe you could bunny-proof it with some buried chicken wire?
posted by elizardbits at 8:40 AM on May 14, 2012

Build a mini-yard in an old red wagon. Fill it with dirt, plant some parsley and other rabbit-friendly herbs, some grass. Then you can let the bunny "outside" to whatever part of the yard you are hanging out, plus take it for a walk!
posted by mikepop at 8:46 AM on May 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Elizardbits: We share the backyard with other people, actually, so we couldn't erect a permanent structure. I don't know how quickly she'd dig under the panels because I've never witnessed her in soil before.
posted by Clotilde at 8:46 AM on May 14, 2012

I am not your bunny, but I am an ex-bunny owner. I agree that if you decide to put her in a temporary run you should either be willing to supervise her or bury a good foot or two of chicken wire under/around the structure, just in case. She might be okay for an hour or two at a time, but if she wants to get out, she will find a way (and if she's anything like my old partly-feral rabbits, boy howdy will she want to).

Maybe you could look into throwing together a run with some cheap chicken wire and wood? Just make it a big box and put wire on the floor. It doesn't have to be closely fitted, just enough to dissuade her from digging to freedom, so the grass will come through enough to be nibbled/rolled around in. Or you could take a look at those portable urban chicken coops.
posted by fight or flight at 9:00 AM on May 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

We used a collapsible metal play yard for our bunny (similar to this), but I wouldn't leave her unattended.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 9:00 AM on May 14, 2012

Yeah, another rabbit owner here, she will probably dig if you just put her in a playyard and let me tell you, getting a rabbit out of a 15-20-foot-long hole that is the circumference of a rabbit is NOT FUN. If it were me? I would say, "Sorry my dear little bunny, but you're staying inside!"
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:02 AM on May 14, 2012

This company is in the UK, but you could take a look at the pictures on their website for run ideas. If she's going to be in it a lot, you could put in a little hutch or a shady corner for her to hang out in.
posted by fight or flight at 9:07 AM on May 14, 2012

we couldn't erect a permanent structure

Technically it would be a below-ground structure, though. The main issue would be having some kind of above ground visible flags to keep people from using any penetrative lawn care tools, I guess? You'd have to pace out an area slightly larger than the bunny playpen, use a vertical digger tool to dig a narrow 1-2 foot deep channel roughly the same shape as the playpen, and jam some chicken wire in it such that no wire protrudes above the channel. Pack loose soil back in around the wire, put in some little flag-type things so everyone knows where it is, place the playpen within the flagged area, and it's BUNNY FIESTA TIME.

Cunning bunnies will still be able to escape from this, given enough time.

(NB my only knowledge of this comes from helping next door stoner neighbors bunny proof their, uh, "medicinal herb garden" while attempting to not draw any actual notice to the garden.)
posted by elizardbits at 9:34 AM on May 14, 2012

(obvsly find out beforehand where any buried utility lines may be.)
posted by elizardbits at 9:37 AM on May 14, 2012

I would build her a container garden that I could put a cover on once she was in, so that there's greenery and dirt and all that fun stuff, but safely encapsulated in a large-ish container I could move around...maybe even put it on wheels and/or have it in two parts.

Safe critter habitats always spawn the inventor bug.
posted by batmonkey at 9:58 AM on May 14, 2012

Our 14-year old bunny died this year, but while he was alive he loved his outside "play run" that was really just an old wire dog crate that we placed out in the yard. The bars were far enough apart that he could dig and eat the grass that came up but he couldn't escape. We just moved it once the grass started getting short or the holes got unsightly.
posted by shesaysgo at 3:36 PM on May 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Don't leave your bunny outside without supervision. There are all sorts of creatures who would help bunny escape or inflict serious damage: cats, raccoons, random children, wandering dogs.

The metal play pen works really well. It's perfect for supervised playtime but seriously, cats are super fast and the result can be gruesome.
posted by barnone at 10:38 PM on May 14, 2012

cats, raccoons, random children, wandering dogs

Not to mention birds of prey, so keep whatever enclosure you go with covered (which I neglected to mention in the design of my bunny-wagon).
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on May 15, 2012