Caring for <span title="Rabbits???????????????????">Rabbits??????????????????...</span>

Question

So I've been researching rabbits and I went to the pet store to play with one and I think I'm gonna get a rabbit. I just wanted to ask some people who have had experience with them. I have a few questions

1. Do you find they are more like friend or a pet?

2. Do you have any tips for potty training?

3. What do you feed your rabbit?

4. What should I use as bedding?Can I just shred newspaper?

5. Any tips for cage cleaning?

6. Any other tips?

7. Anything else I should know?

Before you answer I would like to mention I know how much work they are and I'm prepared to do it all. Thank you to anyone who answers!

Answer 1

you pretty much have your answers but ill tell ya i have two flemish giant bunnies, and bigger ones are more docile and usually nicer. PLEASE PLEASE consider adopting before pet store. Fixed rabbits are healthierand nicer and the ones at the shelter are fixed already.

when/if you get a bunny, go to www.bunspace.com and make a profile for him/her. its fun and addicting!!! you also learn alot and you can search for adoptables and vets in your area!!!

  

Answer 2

1. My bunny is my little baby boy, sooo much more than a pet by far.

2. Rabbits will pretty much potty train their selves. They will pick there corner where they pee or p**p and you just have to provide them with a litter box. Occasionally they will p**p outside there box, but you just have to pick it up and show them it goes in the box.

3. Timothy and alfalfa hay and pellets (as a baby).

4. Shredded newspaper will work as long as it&#039;s soy-based ink. Otherwise, they pet store will carry other alternatives that you can try out and pick.

5. Depending on what you use on bedding, usually about once a week. It you give them a litter box, it should be changed every couple of days.

6.  I wouldn&#039;t get a rabbit at a pet store. Bunnies from breeders are much better, and from what I&#039;ve found, cheaper.

7. There&#039;s a bunch of information on the web you can find. I found it was very helpful to read a lot before my bunny came home. Also, try and find a rabbit vet STAT once you get your bunny, it will come in handy.

Always best of luck!

Answer 3

1.I think of my rabbits more of friends

2. See #2 for website on potty training rabbits

3. I feed my rabbit Nutrena Rabbit Pellets

4. I would use pine shavings because they tend to chew up Newspaper

5. See website for info.

6. there is also another website that tells alot of info. too

Hope all this info. helps and congrats on your new bun.

Lisa

Answer 4

I have two rabbits and they are much more like friends than pets! I potty trained both and it only took about a week. It is so simple just put it in their cage and the will start to use it or they will start going to the bathroom in a certain place, which in that case just move the litter box to that place. As for food I use the Purina Show rabbit food it is CHEAP but yet extreamly good for them! I sometimes feed them a little bit of timothy hay or a treat. NEVER feed them lettace!!!!! It clogs up there system and gives them diareia. Trust me it&#039;s happened to one of my rabbits! For bedding I would use some all natural cat litter. Do NOT use newspaper because if they for some odd reson eat it, it can hurt them. Once a month I would bleach your cage if you have a plastic or a cage with a metal tray. I cean my cages once a week. One other thing you sould know is rabbits do not cope well with the heat so you sould bring them into the house where it is cool or put ice bottles to keep them cool. Hope you have a great time with your new bunny! GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Don&#039;t buy from a pet store. They come from breeding mills and are often sick, missexed and too young to be away from mom.

Adopt and save a life http://www.petfinder.com/

http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/index.htm...

Here&#039;s care info http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/r...

Pet store cages and care info are usually all wrong.  

Answer 6

Oh, welcome to the bunny world! I absolutely love bunnies, and I&#039;ve lived with them throughout my life. To start you off with I&#039;ll answer your questions, then I&#039;ll add more info for ya. I hope this helps.

&quot;1. Do you find they are more like friend or a pet?&quot;

Answer. In my own experience I figure my rabbits as both, more so as a friend, which is in most cases awesome!

Bunnies, are always there to play with, and see, you can&#039;t get into stupid fights over nothing with them.

&quot;2. Do you have any tips for potty training?&quot;

Answer. Oh heck yes. That&#039;s my favorite experience of training a bunny, is the potty training. My 5 week old was trained in 5 days how to completely use the litter box.

What you should do, is put some of his/ her droppings in the box, then put the box in a corner where they go most. Whenever they go potty elsewhere, say&quot;No&quot; And then put him/ her into the litter box.

When he/she goes in the box, and only the box, praise, with either a cheerio, or a small piece of strawberry.

Whenever he/she starts to pee on the floor, pick him/ her rub right away, and put in box.

&quot;3. What do you feed your rabbit?&quot;

Answer. It depends on what breed you own, but no matter what breed you need to feed pellets, and Timothy hay. Dwarfs, and Minis, shouldn&#039;t have veggies, but other bunnies can.

This is the amount of pellets I feed per weight.

I&#039;m just gonna start you off with the whole basic process, from getting, to selling.

.

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 cuddely

*Friendly and curoius

*Loving

*Small pet, pretty easy to keep

*Fairly cheap

*Many different breeds to chosoe from

1/4 Cup- 2-4 pounds

1/2 Cup- 5-7 pounds

1 Cup- 8-10 Pounds

1 1/2 cup- 10-12 Pounds

2 Cups -13+

&quot;4. What should I use as bedding?Can I just shred newspaper?&quot;

Answer. Yeah, you ca use newspaper shavings ,thats great, but I like to use pine shavings, you can also use, sand, cat litter, Pien shavings, newspaper shavings, or Critter Bedding.

Just don&#039;t use Ceder Shavings.

&quot;5. Any tips for cage cleaning?&quot;

Answer. I clean my hutch once a week, I empty all the bedding, and add fresh stuff, and if it smells I spray with airsole, or Pinesole

To clea nthe cage I empty the litter pan, and scrub down the wire flooring with soap and water, then rinse.

I then add fresh litter, or potty stuff to the tray.

**As water bottles, and dishes go, I rinse out the water bottle with warm water, and then I refill with cold water, every few mornings, I add some dish soap and shake well, then rinse well.

As for food dishes, I wash once or twice a week, with dish soap, and water.

&quot;6. Any other tips?&quot;

Answer. Yup, I&#039;ll add it in at the bottom of these answers, this is a step by step process, that I use, it&#039;s very informative and detailed.

Answer 7

1.Yes , many rabbits have different personalities so it depends how much it acts

2. When you notice that it has ehm... done its business pick it up (the rabbit) and put it where it should ehm... do its business and when it does do it where it should give it a treat and it should get the hang of it

3.Vegtables, pellettes, fresh grass, hay etc.

4.Sawdust (can buy at local pet store) hay. Yes when i have ran out of sawdust i have put shredded newpaper in but my rabbits prefer sawdust.

5. Depends on type of hutch. (when buying a cage/hutch think of how easy it would be to clean out. Sometimes when it gets really smelly i pour some boiling water over the bottom of the hutch (obviously when rabbit is not in the hutch and i all ways wait untill it has cooled down before putting it back in) then dry it well.

6.Always ask about any health problems such as teeth, eyes, ears etc that the rabbit or its parents have or had before buying the rabbit as these are common genetic defects rabbits can get passed onto though generations.

7. Buy a book about having a pet rabbit this goes into much more detail.

Thanks hope i helped :D

Rach

x*x  

Answer 8

hi there! rabbits are hard work but 1 or 2 is fine. they are a great pet. potty training is easy just put the litter tray in and hope they ues it and if they dont just move it till the place they are doing it. use a cat litter tray its cheaper does the same job! dont put newspaper in with them as the ink from the paper will have them black! spray a pet disinfectant in the cage once aweek will be fine but clean the litter tray and spray it everyday!  go for a small bread of rabbit and a doe as a buck  is very smelly and sprays pee everywhere and buy it from a breeder they are cheaper and you will know when it was born and try to buy 1 when they are young about 8 - 10 weeks old and then u know wat u r buying rabbit from a breeder should be no morethan £15 and thats a full bread one!!!

hope this helps