Bunny Proofing
What is bunny proofing?
Bunny proofing is, simply put, making a certain room or area in your house safe for your rabbit to hop around in without having to worry what he's getting into or if he could get himself hurt or into trouble.
What are some things to look out for when bunny proofing?
When you're bunny-proofing a room, you want to make sure that there is nothing in the room that could be hazardous or unsafe for your rabbit. Bunny-proofing should also protect furniture and other items in your house that you don't want your rabbit chewing on. These things include:
- Electrical cords: Rabbits will chew on bascially anything, especially cords. This could cause damage to your rabbit and to your chargers, plug-ins, etc. A rabbit cold easily be electricuted if he makes contact with an exposed wire that is in use and he could be killed in an instant.
- Carpets: Some rabbits (not all) like to chew on fabrics such as carpets, rugs, or blankets. If your rabbit gets into this habbit, you may want to relocate your rabbit's bunny-safe area. Injesting too much fabric or carpet can seriously damage your rabbit's intenstines, so you always want to be careful if you do have your rabbit on a carpet or rug that he likes to chew on.
- Wooden furniture: As mentioned before, rabbits will chew on anything and everything they can get to. It's important to protect the legs of wooden furniture from your rabbit's chewing habbits.
- Wood Trim: Some rabbits won't acknowledge the trim near the flooring in your house, but if your rabbit starts to chew on it, you will want to take procautions to protect the trim in your house.
So, how to I go about protecting my belongings and my furry friend?
Electrical cords: The best way to protect your pet and your electronics is by buying plastic cord covers. These are the perfect way to discourage your rabbit from chewing on your cords. If you're going to bunny-proof one thing in your house, it should be electric cords!! If you don't know that chewing would be a huge problem, at least getting cords out of your rabbit's reach should be an order.
Carpets: You can protect your carpets and your rabbit from chewing on the carpet by covering it with vinyl carpet runners. If these are going to be in your rabbit's play area, make sure that they have grips on the top (as shown) so that your rabbit can run on it without slipping and hurting himself.
Wood furniture: You can protect your furniture legs by putting thick cardboard or clear plastic around the legs to keep your rabbit from chewing on your tables and chairs.
Wood trim and wall protection: clear plastic panels can be inserted into walls and near wood trim to protect wallpaper, paint, and wooden trim from chewing.