house rabbit concerns

Hi, Jerry. Your concerns are very valid. It is difficult to find
something that repels rabbits from cords. They have a strong instinct
to "clear" anything that looks like a vine. This can be at best an
inconvenience for the people and at worst electrocution of the rabbit.
Wires have to either be put out of the rabbit's reach or put inside
something, e.g. PVC or metal tubing, that the rabbit cannot chew
through. We arrange our furniture so that our rabbits can't get to
the cords. We also make barricades out of Neat Ideas Cubes to keep
them off of anything that could cause trouble.

Before getting a rabbit, a good site to check out is www.rabbit.org .
The site has information about rabbit care and housing. I think you
will find the site useful.

Anita, Jessie, and Quark


On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 22:30:52 +0000, Jerry
<Jerry DeleteThis @willow981.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi
>I have a concern. My partner is getting a house rabbit. She has this
>idea that the little guy will live in the log box which is part of the
>fireplace. She used to have house rabbits in the past and knows whereof
>she speaks or so she tells me. I don't have a problem with the rabbit
>living in the log box - we don't use log box and it mostly gets used as
>a newspaper dump. The problem is that it gives the rabbit access to our
>lounge at all times. We have TV and stereo etc. with associated cables
>and I am worried. I know that rabbits will chew most anything and I
>don't want to come down one morning to fried rabbit. Any ideas here
>guys? Can I get some sort of repellent to paint on the cables without
>having to take a jack hammer to the walls in order to bury them?
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

Hi anita

Many thanks for the reply. My partner previously had a brilliant little
guy called Ollie. He would just wander around the house never causing
any damage at all. However he was an old boy. My partner tells me that
when he was a youngster he would chop through cables just by looking at
them or so it seemed. What are Neat Idea Cubes? I'm in the UK here so
I guess this may be a North American thing. A friend of mine who works
for the military told me about this spiral wound plastic stuff that they
use for wrapping cable looms on aircraft so I'm looking into this to see
if it's available here in the UK on the domestic market.

In article <s4la019ahau3bej3anhhhm9btpk7osq5ce DeleteThis @4ax.com>, Anita
<ac DeleteThis @austin.rr.com> writes
>Hi, Jerry. Your concerns are very valid. It is difficult to find
>something that repels rabbits from cords. They have a strong instinct
>to "clear" anything that looks like a vine. This can be at best an
>inconvenience for the people and at worst electrocution of the rabbit.
>Wires have to either be put out of the rabbit's reach or put inside
>something, e.g. PVC or metal tubing, that the rabbit cannot chew
>through. We arrange our furniture so that our rabbits can't get to
>the cords. We also make barricades out of Neat Ideas Cubes to keep
>them off of anything that could cause trouble.
>
>Before getting a rabbit, a good site to check out is www.rabbit.org .
>The site has information about rabbit care and housing. I think you
>will find the site useful.
>
>Anita, Jessie, and Quark
>
>
>On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 22:30:52 +0000, Jerry
><Jerry DeleteThis @willow981.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Hi
>>I have a concern. My partner is getting a house rabbit. She has this
>>idea that the little guy will live in the log box which is part of the
>>fireplace. She used to have house rabbits in the past and knows whereof
>>she speaks or so she tells me. I don't have a problem with the rabbit
>>living in the log box - we don't use log box and it mostly gets used as
>>a newspaper dump. The problem is that it gives the rabbit access to our
>>lounge at all times. We have TV and stereo etc. with associated cables
>>and I am worried. I know that rabbits will chew most anything and I
>>don't want to come down one morning to fried rabbit. Any ideas here
>>guys? Can I get some sort of repellent to paint on the cables without
>>having to take a jack hammer to the walls in order to bury them?
>

--
Jerry
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

With inimitable style, Jerry posted:
.. A
> friend of mine who works for the military told me about this spiral
> wound plastic stuff that they use for wrapping cable looms on
> aircraft so I'm looking into this to see if it's available here in
> the UK on the domestic market.

"Cable wrap" is available through most computer supply companies, Radio
Shack (are they in UK?) and I THINK auto supply houses.

Good luck with your new little fuzzbutt! I'm a houserabbit convert of 4+
years and while I've learned about bunnyproofing the hard way, it's really a
rabbit personality thing what any one rabbit will favor. Cords are virtually
always a concern, but woodwork can be tasty too. I had one rabbit who never
EVER touched a cord, and then one day zap! she chewed a light cord and
almost fried herself (and not just her whiskers as she did!).

Check out www.rabbit.org for all sorts of other info!

Laurie, Rosie & Roger
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

Jerry, the plastic cable wrap is very good for cords. Someone also
mentioned that they had bought some metal wrap. It sounded good, too.

Neat Idea Cubes are 14" x 14" rigid metal squares that are kind of
like liitle pieces of fence. The cubes come with connectors, so you
can use them to build many different things. There are several
different brands, other than the NIC's. They are mainly sold to make
storage structures. They probably have them in England. I keep
extras, because I never know what kind of trouble Jessie and Quark
will get into next. They are also good for making portable exercise
pens and inside hutches.

Hope you can find some of the cable wrap.

Anita, Jessie, and Quark


On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 00:07:44 +0000, Jerry
<Jerry RemoveThis @willow981.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi anita
>
>Many thanks for the reply. My partner previously had a brilliant little
>guy called Ollie. He would just wander around the house never causing
>any damage at all. However he was an old boy. My partner tells me that
>when he was a youngster he would chop through cables just by looking at
>them or so it seemed. What are Neat Idea Cubes? I'm in the UK here ...
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

Hi Jerry, I live in the U.K. too and have two rabbits who have now been
brought into the house. The stuff you need to cover the cables can be
bought at Wickes or B & Q, or you know the JML adverts (sorry to anyone
reading this from the U.S. cos they wont know what the hell i'm going on
about!) one of their adverts has a cable tidy that you can put lots of
wires inside and sort of "zip" them up. Woolworths/Big W (Americans will
know that one at least) and Poundstretcher sell them.
Also you probably know they can be litter trained, so they will only poo
and wee in one place, but in the first few weeks you will have to teach
the bunny how to do this, heres how:- When bunny is out, if he/she poos
pick it up and put it where you want him/her to poo (I've got a cat litter
tray with newpaper and shavings in) and if they do a wee, get a bit of
kitchen roll, mop up as much as you can onto it, and put that in the
litter tray as well, they will follow the smell and being the clever
little things they are will soon learn where they can or cant wee. Clean
and spray the area they have weed on with rabbit friendly discinfectant,
cos otherwise it will smell of wee wee and they will think its ok to keep
weeing in that spot.
As for the cage, mine are in a 5ft long hamster type cage.
If you have any more queries about where you can buy stuff in the u.k. let
me know
Dollymarie
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

hi jerry, first off - welcome; second -- kudos to you for having the sense
to look into this BEFORE it's a major problem.

i believe you can buy neat idea cubes in the UK. i remember someone here
mentioning it so if you do a google search for the name and add the word UK,
you should find out where to purchase them.

yes, split cable is excellent to wrap around your wires. HOWEVER, you MUST
be sure to wrap every bit of the cord or your bun will find a way to chew
it. i've actually got mine wrapped twice. the first set of cable is wraped
with duct tape and the second covering is wraped with electrical tape. this
has kept all of my rabbits from chewing them. one rabbit, morgan, had the
misfortune to get a serious shock about two or three years ago and we were
very lucky there was no damage to her. that was when it was only wraped
with ONE covering of cable. you must check it periodically too.

don't know where you plan on getting your bun from but have you looked into
shelters for adopting? here in the US, we can adopt from the local house
rabbit society chapters and the rabbit is already spayed or neutered. you
might want to look into that as well.

hope you decide to stay here a while. if you have any other questions or
concerns, just say so.

mickey, morgan, thumper & dipper


"Jerry" <Jerry.DeleteThis@willow981.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:rsUSs7AQ$VBCFwNm@willow981.freeserve.co.uk...
> Hi anita
>
> Many thanks for the reply. My partner previously had a brilliant little
> guy called Ollie. He would just wander around the house never causing
> any damage at all. However he was an old boy. My partner tells me that
> when he was a youngster he would chop through cables just by looking at
> them or so it seemed. What are Neat Idea Cubes? I'm in the UK here so
> I guess this may be a North American thing. A friend of mine who works
> for the military told me about this spiral wound plastic stuff that they
> use for wrapping cable looms on aircraft so I'm looking into this to see
> if it's available here in the UK on the domestic market.
>
> In article <s4la019ahau3bej3anhhhm9btpk7osq5ce.DeleteThis@4ax.com>, Anita
> <ac.DeleteThis@austin.rr.com> writes
> >Hi, Jerry. Your concerns are very valid. It is difficult to find
> >something that repels rabbits from cords. They have a strong instinct
> >to "clear" anything that looks like a vine. This can be at best an
> >inconvenience for the people and at worst electrocution of the rabbit.
> >Wires have to either be put out of the rabbit's reach or put inside
> >something, e.g. PVC or metal tubing, that the rabbit cannot chew
> >through. We arrange our furniture so that our rabbits can't get to
> >the cords. We also make barricades out of Neat Ideas Cubes to keep
> >them off of anything that could cause trouble.
> >
> >Before getting a rabbit, a good site to check out is www.rabbit.org .
> >The site has information about rabbit care and housing. I think you
> >will find the site useful.
> >
> >Anita, Jessie, and Quark
> >
> >
> >On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 22:30:52 +0000, Jerry
> ><Jerry.DeleteThis@willow981.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >>Hi
> >>I have a concern. My partner is getting a house rabbit. She has this
> >>idea that the little guy will live in the log box which is part of the
> >>fireplace. She used to have house rabbits in the past and knows whereof
> >>she speaks or so she tells me. I don't have a problem with the rabbit
> >>living in the log box - we don't use log box and it mostly gets used as
> >>a newspaper dump. The problem is that it gives the rabbit access to our
> >>lounge at all times. We have TV and stereo etc. with associated cables
> >>and I am worried. I know that rabbits will chew most anything and I
> >>don't want to come down one morning to fried rabbit. Any ideas here
> >>guys? Can I get some sort of repellent to paint on the cables without
> >>having to take a jack hammer to the walls in order to bury them?
> >
>
> --
> Jerry
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns 

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005, Anita wrote:
> Jerry, the plastic cable wrap is very good for cords. Someone also
> mentioned that they had bought some metal wrap. It sounded good, too.

That's what works around here.

One point on cost:
- Buying the cable wrap from a local Radio Shack or other electronics store is
often more expensive than buying the same from an AUTO PARTS store.... (At
least around here it is).
 >> Stay informed about: house rabbit concerns