A rabbit for the BDAY?

Question

My birthday is cuming up soon. (sugust 12) and my parents want to know what I want. I want a rabbit nothing else. And i told them that! We went out looking at cages and stuff for a rabbit but i dont think ill gett it. Anythign i should know about rabbits? I need all the details! please and thank you!<3

Answer 1

Indoors or Outdoors?

Every rabbit owner should know that the safest place for a rabbit to live is indoors. Rabbits should never be kept outdoors! Domestic rabbits are different from their wild relatives—they do not tolerate extreme temperatures well, especially in the hot summer months. Even in a safe enclosure, rabbits are at risk from predators. Merely the sight or sound of a nearby wild animal can cause rabbits so much stress that they can suffer a heart attack and literally die of fear.

Caged or Free to Roam?

Whether you decide to let your rabbit roam free in your entire home or just a limited area, it is important that you make everything rabbit-safe. One little bunny can easily find a whole lot of trouble in an average home. Because rabbits like to chew, make sure that all electrical cords are out of reach and outlets are covered. Chewing through a plugged-in cord can result in severe injury or even death. Their chewing can also result in poisoning if the wrong objects are left in the open or in unlocked low cabinets. Aside from obvious toxins like insecticides, rodenticides, and cleaning supplies, be aware that common plants such as aloe, azalea, Calla lily, Lily of the Valley, philodendron, and assorted plant bulbs can be poisonous to rabbits.

If kept in a cage, rabbits need a lot of room to easily move around. A rabbit&#039;s cage should be a minimum of five times the size of the rabbit. Your rabbit should be able to completely stretch out in his cage and stand up on his hind legs without bumping his head on the top of the cage. Additionally, cages with wire flooring are hard on rabbits&#039; feet, which do not have protective pads like those of dogs and cats. If you place your rabbit in a wire cage, be sure to layer the floor with cardboard or other material. Place a cardboard box or &quot;rabbit condo&quot; in the cage so the bunny has a comfortable place to hide, and respect your animal&#039;s need for quiet time (rabbits usually sleep during the day and night, becoming playful at dawn and dusk).

When rabbits are kept in a cage, they need to be let out for several hours each day for exercise. Aside from running and jumping, rabbits also enjoy exploring their surroundings. This is an ideal time to play and interact with your rabbit. Make sure that he has a safe area to play and explore.

Bunny Bathrooms

Just like cats, rabbits can easily learn to use a litter box. Place a litter box in the cage to encourage this behavior. If your rabbit roams freely through multiple rooms of your home, it&#039;s a good idea to have litter boxes in several places. Many rabbits enjoy spending time relaxing in their litter box, so make sure that it is of ample size. For bedding (litter), stay away from wood shavings, especially cedar and pine, which may cause liver damage or trigger allergic reactions in rabbits. Also avoid clumping or dusty kitty litters, which can cause serious health problems if eaten. Instead, stick with organic litters made of paper, wood pulp, or citrus. Newspaper can work too, but may not be as absorbent. Be sure to put fresh hay in the litter box daily, as many rabbits like to have a snack while sitting in their litter box.

A Balanced Diet-

Rabbits have complex digestive systems, so it&#039;s very important that they receive a proper diet. Many health problems in rabbits are caused by foods that are incompatible with their digestive physiology. A basic rabbit diet should consist of the following foods:

Hay-

Rabbits need hay—specifically, Timothy grass hay. Rabbits should have access to a constant supply of this hay, which aids their digestive systems and provides the necessary fiber to help prevent health problems such as hair balls, diarrhea, and obesity. Alfalfa hay, on the other hand, should only be given to adult rabbits in very limited quantities, if at all, because it&#039;s high in protein, calcium, and calories.

Vegetables-

In addition to hay, the basic diet of an adult rabbit should consist of leafy, dark green vegetables such as romaine and leaf lettuces, parsley, cilantro, collard greens, arugula, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, and others. Variety is important, so feed your rabbit three different vegetables at a time. When introducing new veggies to a rabbit&#039;s diet, try just one at a time and keep quantities limited.

Fruits and Treats

While hay and vegetables are the basis of a healthy diet, rabbits also enjoy treats. Cartoons and other fictional portrayals of rabbits would lead us to believe that carrots are the basis of a healthy rabbit diet. Many rabbits enjoy carrots, but they are a starchy vegetable and should only be given sparingly as a treat. Other treats your rabbit might enjoy are apples (without stems or seeds), blueberries, papaya, strawberries, pears, peaches, plums, or melon. Extra-sugary fruits like bananas, grapes, and raisins are good too, but should be given on a more limited basis.

Foods to Avoid

With such sensitive digestive systems, there are a number of foods that rabbits should avoid eating. These include iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, beans, peas, potatoes, beets, onions, rhubarb, bamboo, seeds, grains, and many others. Also, don&#039;t feed your rabbit chocolate, candy, anything moldy, or most human foods. If you are not sure about a certain food, ask your rabbit&#039;s veterinarian.

Water

Rabbits should always have an ample supply of fresh water available. Be sure to change your rabbit&#039;s water at least once each day. Water can be kept in a sipper bottle or bowl. If you use a sipper bottle, watch new rabbits to make sure they know how to use the bottles, and clean bottles daily so the tubes don&#039;t get clogged. If you use a bowl, make sure that the bowl is heavy enough to avoid tipping and spilling.

Chewing is part of a rabbit&#039;s natural behavior, but it doesn&#039;t have to be destructive. To keep rabbits active and amused, you may want to put untreated wood blocks or cardboard in their cages (Be sure to remove any staples or tape from cardboard first!). Bowls, balls, and rings made of willow wood are big hits with many rabbits and can be purchased online or in specialty stores. You can also use paper-towel rolls, toilet-paper rolls, and other chewable cardboard materials that can be tossed in the trash once they&#039;ve served their purpose. Avoid objects with sharp edges, loose parts, or soft rubber that rabbits could chew into pieces and swallow.

Handle With Care

Rabbits are fragile animals who must be handled carefully. Their bones are so delicate that the muscles in their powerful hind legs can easily overcome the strength of their skeletons. As a result, if not properly restrained, struggling rabbits can break their own spines.

To pick up your rabbit, place one hand underneath the front of the rabbit and the other hand underneath his back side, lifting him carefully with both hands and bringing him against your body. Never let a rabbit&#039;s body hang free, never lift by the stomach, and never pick a rabbit up by his ears.

Don&#039;t forget that rabbits are prey animals and many will not enjoy being picked up. Be sure to go slowly with your rabbit and practice. Let your rabbit get accustomed to being handled.

Rabbits groom each other around the eyes, ears, top of the nose, top of the head, and down the back, so they&#039;ll enjoy it if you pet them on their heads. Like any animal, each rabbit will have an individual preference about where he likes to be touched. Rabbits lack the ability to vomit or cough up hairballs like cats, so try to remove loose fur when you have the opportunity to do so. Simply petting or brushing your rabbit for a few minutes each day should remove most of the excess fur. Some rabbit breeds, such as angoras, have extra grooming needs because of their distinctive coats.

Look at the video on the page VERY IMPORTANT!

Answer 2

Rabbits are JUST like cats.....

Lots of attention...

Romaine Lettuce...

Pellets...

Nail clippers

BIG ENOUGH cage...

Hutch...

Leash

a good bedding

toys for when its in its cage, they get bored easily. \

\

Look it up.. im sure theres more

Answer 3

There is good care info here

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/r...

Answer 4

well for food pellates might not be good for ur rabbit. they tend to have ingrediants that are bad for them. get a rabbit from a breeder, but not a seriouse breeder. the less rabbits a breeder has the more chance that the breeder plays w/ the rabbits so they will be more friendly. some rabbits can be litter trained so get a litter box and fill it w/ hay. if it doesnt uses the littler pan then put some of its p**p in it (oviously w/ a scooper) so it knows what to do. rabbits need as much exersize as dogs do so u need to take it out side w/ a harness and let it run around.

Answer 5

Oh my Goodness! These are my favorate questions EVER to answer!!! I&#039;d love to help! xD

Firstly, I should introduce myself!

I&#039;m Bunnie, got thet nickname for the love of bunnies!

I&#039;ve owned rabbits all my life, so I&#039;ll be more than happy to help you with this.

Lets start with the supplies you&#039;ll need for an indoor rabbit

A small cage, which you can make, if your interested making a cage, email me for more info, it&#039;s [e-mail]

If you don&#039;t fee llike going through the hassle of making a cage, you can buy one, they go from free up to fifty dollars

I suggest finding one, that opens from the top{If you can find a cheap one} Or just has a large side door, also you&#039;ll want to make sure the litter pan can slide easily in and out.

These cages are available at Pet stores, Online, Breeders and many other places, try garage sale shopping for some. I got 11 for free last year.

The next thing you&#039;ll want to get is a 25-50 Pound bag of rabbit food, this is sold by breeders, from feedstores, or from pet shops, I suggest buying from a feedstore.

i can&#039;t rember what brand I used, but it comes in a green bag, and has a kid playing with a bunny on the front,

This fit my rabbits quite well.

Next you&#039;ll want to buy at least two food dishes, I&#039;ve found ceramic is the best, because they don&#039;t tip, or move easy, however they do break, if dropped.

You have a choice of a water Bottle, or a water dish, for your bun. I perferr water bottles, but I would keep both on hand, buy several water bottles, and another couple of ceramic dishes, to hold water, or fruit/ Veggies.

The next thing you&#039;ll want for an indoor bunny, is a litter pan, I&#039;ve found, that my rabbits chew on plastic litter pans, but they usually do the trick, for litter training. If you would like some tips on litter training email me anytime! Again, it&#039;s [e-mail]

Your also going to want to buy bedding, I&#039;ve found that wood shavings work best, however, they don&#039;t work well in a cage, unless it&#039;s for the litter pan, but if you chose a hutch, you should buy a large bag of wood shavings.

Something else, that you should give your hunnybun, is lots of Timothy hay, breeders sell this, along with feed stores, and petstores. I would buy this from a feedstore also.

Your rabbits teeth can overgrow, VERY easily, so a piece of wood, should always be available for them to chew on, you can buy them, flavored, or you can just find normal wood, available at petstores, or in your back yard, depending where you live, if you decide to find wood from your back yard, make sure it&#039;s smooth, and doesn&#039;t have bark on it, I&#039;ve learned, my rabbits would not chew on it, if it had any bark.

Since bunnies, are very curoius, they love to nibble, and chew on stuff, this may include, Electrical wires, Clothes, Fingers, Hair, Wires of their cage, and as I mentioned earlier, their litter box, if it&#039;s plastic.

To avoid, your bunny from becoming ill, or dead, you should make sure that he:

Never eats plastic

All electrical cords are out of his reach

Keep an eye on him, when he&#039;s on a table/Ledge

Check his Food/Water Daily, keep water full at all times!

Also, check his, Teeth to be, clean, the top, overlapping the bottom slightly, check his eyes, to be Clear, and clean, not distant. Check his nose to be clean. Check his Feet, make sure, none are matted, or have sores.

Check his gentile areas, make sure, nothing looks wrong there.

Clip his nails regularily, I trim just a few millimeters away from the pink part. Check to see, that he hops normally, and seems interested in food.

So heres a list so far of what an inside bunny needs

*Wire Cage

*Wood Block

*Litter Pan

*Food

*Timothy Hay

*Food dishes

*Water Bottle/ Dish

*Bedding, or cat litter

*Optional--Toys, you can buy a ball with a bell in the middle, or other rabbit toys, available at petstores, these keep them well entertained, and happy.

Now for outdoor bunnies.

Rabbits can start to smell, if they don&#039;t have a nice clean cage, and no one wants that, sometimes parents, just get sick of the smell, and say&quot;Get, that thing out of here&quot;

If this were to be your case, you should purchase a wooden hutch, the hutch should have:

* wire flooring, big enough for the droppings to fall through

*Metal or shingled roof

*A cubby, made of all wood, to get out from wind and rain, along with the heat

*A roll up canvas to cover the cage, at night or i nthe winter, is optional

*A closed in fencing surrounding the hutch, is optional, but I suggest it, so your bunny gets lots of exercise, and fresh grass

If your rabbit is to stay outside, in the winter, I strongly suggest, filling that cubby up with hay, and wood shavings he can burro into.

During the summer, a layer 2-3 inches thick, of wood shavings should be in his cubby, but when it gets cold, be sure to fill it up!

Also, during the winter, water freezes, especially when it&#039;s in a bottle, Think about moving his food and water into the cubby during the winter, or getting a heating lamp for the hutch, but be sure, the cord isn&#039;t where he can get to it!

Cleaning:

You should clean your rabbits cage, every couple of weeks, it should be scrubbed with soap and water, and disinfectiant, while doing this you can also look for rusty wire, you can simply spray on some aluminum spray paint, which may help prevent rust. Litter pans, and litter trays should be emptied and sanitized every couple of days, fresh litter should be added to them after they have been washed, and dried.

As for cleaning hutches, you should clean the cubby out every week or so, all year round, and in the Spring, should scrub down, and disenfect the hutch.

Soiled Straw, or bedding should always be removed, to prevent germs from circulating.

To clean your rabbit, you need to buy a soap, especialyl for rabbits, even baby soap, is too harsh on their skin, and can cause irritation.

Fill shallow sink, with lukewarm water, not too hot, to burn your bun, and not cold enough to make him shiver.

Next you can add some soap into the water, then place your bunny in

Then put soap on your bunny, and get everywhere, except his face, try to never get your bunnie&#039;s face wet

Rub soap the opisite way of the hairline, then the correct way

Then rinse your bunny with warm water, make sure, all the soap is off, or it may cause irritation.

Now, you can towel dry him till he&#039;s damp, then you can blow dry him on low, but hold your hand at his level, with the blow dryer running, for 15-20 seconds, make sure it&#039;s not too hot.

This sounds a lot eaisier than it really is, cause rabbits tend to fuss, when their wet, they squirm, and squeal, don&#039;t let him kick though, cause he could rip a tendon, or pull a muscle and injure himself.

Choosing the rabbit

Rabbits usually like to be with another rabbit, so consider buying a pair, just make sure, their either Altered, or you get two females, two males tend to fight, and if you get an unaltered male and female, you will end up, with TONS of babies!

Females can live in the same hutch, but you should buy a cage for each one, seeing cages are generally smaller than hutches.

When you purchase your rabbit, I reccomend buying from a breeder, you should pay no more than $45 For her.

I also, reccomend fostering, or even adopting from a shelter,

Shelter benefits are as follows

*You can learn more, while only having a temporary rabbit

*They come altered

*You don&#039;t have to pay

*Usually shelters provide cruicial items, Cage, WAter, Food, Ect..

The only Con I see to fostering is

You can have the bunny taken away at any time..However, you can foster as many as you like!

But if you were to decide, you rather not foster, you want your own rabbit, I advise you to not purchase fro ma petshop, petstores usually have bad breeding genetics, and overcharge you for a sick, or unhealthy rabbit.

If you were to buy from a breeder you should ask the following questions, along with toher questions you think of.

*How long have you been breeding for?

*What breed do you favor for a pet?

*How would you describe your living conditions for your rabbits?

*If I purchase a rabbit from you, will you garuntee it Healthy to the best of your knowledge?

Don&#039;t be shy to ask questions, your purchasing a lifetime companion, so make sure their healthy look for

Straight ears

Straight Feet/ Legs

Normal hopping

Curosity

Clean Eyes,Ears, Mouth, Nose, Teeth, Feet

Also ask the breeder to pick up and hold the rabbit for you, then pet, and hold the rabbit for yourself.

Breeds I reccomend are

*Holland Lop Which I give a 4/5 * rating

Hollands are usually very friendly, and mild, good kids rabbits

They come in Solid Colors, and broken patterns, usually of brown/ White, or Black/White

*Dwarf rabbits, which I give a 3/5 Rating

Netherlands stay tiny, so theyl ook like babies, and are so adorable all their life! There are several types of Dwarf rabbits,

I like the Netherland, and the Hotot.

*Dutch rabbits, I would give a 3/5 Star rating

Their very friendly, and common, so you could find a cheap one, easily. My dutch was so sweet, he used to l**k me.

The thing about dutches, is they only have one pattern, but they come in several different colors.

*Mini Rex, I would give the mini rex a 3/5 star rating also, their cute, soft and cuddely, they have velvet feeling fur.

You should google and research more about these breeds, I can tell you all the info you want on them.

As for Gender, The male rabbits, tend to spray, and smell worse than females, however those little girlies have their days, just like us.

It&#039;s really up to you.

Cons to rabbits

*If kept in doors, the odor

*Constant need to have a clean cage

*Semi-Difficult to litter train

*Need both Affection, and time alone

Pros

*Cute and cuddel