Worked Case: Free-Roaming House Rabbits in a Smart Apartment

This lesson works through one design project from intake to review, the way an experienced habitat designer would approach it. Watch the order of thinking: the animals first, hazards second, layout third and technology last, with a plan for what happens when something fails.

The brief

A client lives in a two-room apartment and now works from home. She keeps two adult neutered rabbits, a bonded pair, in a large indoor pen in the living room. She wants to open the pen and let them roam the living room during the day. She also wants a camera so she can watch them from the bedroom she uses as an office, an automatic feeder "so I don't have to think about feeding", and she already runs a robot vacuum every afternoon.

The rabbits are healthy and were checked by a vet who sees rabbits at their last annual visit. They are litter trained in the pen.

Working through it

Step 1: start from the rabbits

Using the questions from lesson 2, the designer lists what matters to these animals:

• Prey animals. They need hides they can fully enter, with room for both rabbits together, and ideally two entrances so one rabbit is never cornered. Open floor with no cover will make them nervous.
• Natural behaviors. Hopping and running, standing upright, digging and chewing. Chewing is constant and not selective.
• Diet. Hay or grass makes up most of a rabbit's diet and must be available at all times; a small measured portion of pellets and fresh greens complete it.
• Senses and climate. A wide field of view, sensitivity to sudden movement and noise, and vulnerability to heat.

Step 2: walk the room at rabbit height

The designer kneels on the floor and looks along it. The findings:

1. Cables. A television, a lamp and phone chargers have cables along the floor and behind the sofa. For a chewing rabbit, a live cable is an electrocution risk. Every cable in reach must be moved out of reach or enclosed in chew-proof protection.
2. Plants. Two houseplants sit on the floor. Each must be checked against a reliable list of plants toxic to rabbits, and moved out of reach whatever the answer, since the rabbits will eat them.
3. Gaps. A space behind the refrigerator in the open kitchen area and the underside of a reclining chair are places a rabbit could get stuck. Both need blocking.
4. Floors. Smooth laminate across most of the room. Rabbits slip on smooth surfaces, so non-slip rugs are needed along their main routes.
5. Chewable furniture. Wooden table legs and a rug edge will be chewed. Protect what matters and give better alternatives.

Step 3: plan the layout

The pen does not disappear. Its door stays open and it becomes the rabbits' base camp: their hide, the litter tray with a hay rack beside it (rabbits often eat while they use the tray), water and the pellet bowl. A familiar base gives them somewhere safe to retreat to in a larger space.

Around it, the designer adds a second hide on the far side of the room, a digging box, a few safe chew items, and a low platform to hop onto. The kitchen area is closed off with a gate, because it holds the refrigerator gap, cooking heat and cleaning products.

Step 4: choose technology that fits

Now, and only now, the devices:

• Camera. A good fit. It lets the client check on the rabbits from her office without disturbing them. Mount it so it covers the base camp and the main floor.
• Automatic feeder. Useful only for the measured pellet portion at set times. It cannot replace hay, which stays in racks the rabbits can always reach and is topped up by a person every day. The feeder does not remove the need to see each day that both rabbits are eating and producing normal droppings.
• Robot vacuum. A large moving object is alarming for prey animals, and its brushes can catch loose cables and bedding. Schedule it only when the rabbits are closed in the pen, or run it in another room.
• Temperature sensor with alerts. Added by the designer, because rabbits cope poorly with heat and the living room gets afternoon sun. Blinds and a cool retreat out of the sun come first; the sensor warns if they are not enough.

Step 5: plan for failure

The feeder might jam, the camera might lose Wi-Fi, the sensor battery might run down. The plan says what happens in each case: the client checks the rabbits in person morning and evening whatever the devices report, keeps spare batteries, and knows that a rabbit that stops eating or passing droppings needs a vet the same day.

The review

The client introduces the new space over several days, starting with short supervised sessions. The designer asks her to note where the rabbits spend their time, whether both use the litter tray, and whether anything gets chewed. They check in after three weeks and adjust: often a hide moves, or a route needs another rug.

For more on choosing devices, read pet technology that helps. The next lesson looks at safety and scope in more depth.