How much do you spend on your bunny(ies)?

[avarismom1]

In a week?  Or and month?

Certainly when I first ogt them it was a lot  - building the NIC cage, neutering them, toys, litterboxes, all the basic start up stuff.

But now that they are set up it’s not much at all.  HOWEVER, I am a chef in a restuarant where everything is fresh and made from scratch – adn the prep cook is very anal.  I get 1-2 HUGE bags of greens a day and plenty of extra’s too – like beet and carrot tops, snap peas, green beans, brussel sprouts etc.  We also grow our own herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, blackberries and peaches.

I  get bales of timothy hay for $7.

I could not imagine if I had to buy them all their veggies and buy the small bags of hay that they have at the pet store what these 2 would cost me!

So what do you guys think you spend on your bunnies food and care?  And do you think it’s a lot?

[Monkeybun]

For 4 buns,I spend $30ish a month on hay, about $20 a week on veggies now. Plus a bag of pellets every few months. And treats vary My buns do cost alot, but less than kids would

[Tate]

I always leave about $100/month specifically for them. $20 goes towards insurance. Their pellets are expensive (3lbs for $10) but they go through about 1/2 a month. I’m going to switch brands I think, but not for a few weeks. Hay really depends… I found 10lbs of Oxbow oat hay for $20 but they don’t like it much. I usually get different kinds of APD and occasionally I’ll get the BB bales because they love those! I think just the fact that I give them different types of hay is expensive. I have like 4 different hays right now. Lol.
Veggies are really expensive but partly because I eat the same veggies. Lol. I could easily spend $30/week on veggies JUST for them though. I’ve started cutting back though so between the 3 of us, it’s about $50/week and I eat the majority.
But yeah, I would say they are expensive. It’s all in the food! Litter is cheap and easy. Going on two months of the same bag of carefresh. I ran out of woodstove pellets though. :/

[Stickerbunny]

A lot.

I don’t keep an actual total, but estimate would be:

$30 a month in veggies
$7.50 a month in litter
$30 a month in toys
$24 a month in hay
$5 a month in pellets

So, about $96 a month. Not to mention vet bills, which after not even a year have been a few hundred (spays and neuters make that pricey though). And house repairs, bunny proofing.

[avarismom1]

Man I really don’t know how I would afford all their veggies if I didn’t get them for free. I think once we were slow nad no one had to cut lettuce so I bought them dandelion greens and red leaf lettuce – and I was so ticked that I had too BUY them veggies hahaha.

Also my neighbors bring me their veggies if they are bought too much or are going away.

[Beka27]

Veggies are the most costly of anything. I use woodstove pellets (about 50 bucks a year) and the big 50lb Oxbow boxes of hay (so probably only about 5-10 bucks a month divided out). For veggies, I spend anywhere from $15-25 a week. It depends what’s on sale and if anything is “in season”. I’m spending so much less than I was a few years back, so for that I’m grateful!

[KatnipCrzy]

Litter- Wood Stove Pellets, Hay (bale from my boarding barn that lasts 4-6 months) and even the Oxbow Pellets that I buy in a 20lb bag but the bunnies only get 1 T to Cotton and 1/4 cup to Griff and Schroeder to share a day- Those are very nominal expenses.

So really the most expensive thing would have to be greens.  I evaluate what is on sale/what looks good/and quantity.  Most of the time our grocery store the bundles of Turnip, Collard and Mustard greens are HUGE and are about 1.29 to 1.69.  So I select what looks the best of those and is the biggest bundle.  We almost always buy a 6pk of Romaine Hearts- but we also use those for salad for ourselves and this can last 2 weeks in addition to all other greens/veggies.  I do look to see if anyone has torn the tops off their organic carrots and left them there- if so I add those to one of my bags and take them home for free.  I eat radishes myself- but I select the best tops- and then feed the tops and root tips to the bunnies.

I don’t have a green thumb- but I do have rose bushes and a catnip mini field (grows outa control like a weed once it gets started) that the bunnies get part of their salads from.

Next expense would probably be treat hay.  Because I feed the same square bale of horse hay for 4-6 months- I like to give them other hay options- so I usually have a bag/bale of the BB wheat or oat and they get a handful of that.  I also had a 50lb bag of timothy pellet hay that I bought for my horse- so I give the bunnies 1/2 cup now and then- just for a variety of hay and textures to keep hay consumption as high as possible.

Next I guess toys- play houses.  My bunnies are past the peeing on their cardboard stuff- so the maze tunnel has lasted forever!  And I buy them willow balls and stuff a couple of Craisins into them thru the little holes.  I also use clean packing paper- usually from BB box I think and tear off a bid piece and wad it up and layer a couple of Craisins  and Oxbow treats so they can smell the goodies but have to work for them.  I am lucky that my grandparents farm has an orchard of apple trees and my Mom NEVER uses chemicals- so we when we visit her we raid her apple trees and she does not care.  In fact her orchard looks better and is easier to mow with the trimming we have done (we only use live branches to dry) but we do take care of the dead stuff in exchange for her.

For actual treat expenses- I buy the Oxbow treats, Craisins, Welchs dried fruit, and I also have a dehydrator that I can use for Papaya, apple, rasp, bluberries, whatever.  But if you are going to use a dehydrator it is most cost effective electricity wise to do a couple of trays at a time.

[Stickerbunny]

All of you guys who have buns that accept wood stove pellets make me jealous, Powder thinks they stink so refuses to touch his litter box with them in it. lol

[KatnipCrzy]

stickerbunny- have you tried adding something safe and aromatic to the WSP to increase the possibility of acceptance? dried herbs? hay on top? Or do you think it could be texture?

[Tate]

Velvateen hates the WSP, so I hide them under Carefresh! His feet are sensitive and he gets sore hocks easily. Powder might be the same way. Combining the two really does cut down on cost.

[bwild]

These are just an estimate for monthly cost, but here they are:

 

Litter: $15 (I buy swheat scoop which is kind of expensive, but the fragrance-free, no special odor control is a little cheaper)

 

Pellets: $10 (I get the Oxbow  Bene Terra Organic Pellets, mainly because so far that’s the only thing I’ve found that Penelope will eat that’s good for her lol)

 

Vegetables: $35-$50 (Everything I get Penelope is organic, but still decently priced. I have to feed her more veggies than most because she barely eats any pellets!)

 

Hay: $20-$30 (I like Penelope to have a good variety but she can eat the crap out of some regular Timothy though!)

 

Then I don’t even want to talk about the vet bills I’ve had to pay/still paying!  All I can say is she better be glad I love her!!

[Stickerbunny]

He won’t use his litter box if hay is in it, he refuses to mess his food. But it’s certainly the smell, he kept staring at me with the ears flat against his head when I tried them. He would mess just outside his litter box, refused to go in. I tried newspaper over the top, which is the litter he used when I got him, but he still wouldn’t touch it. So I took it all out of the box, replaced the original litter and tried that. Nope, still had a slight smell. I had to scrub it down with vinegar to remove the scent. He was still too upset though to use it. So on the third day of not using the litter box I figured out what was still upsetting him – the bag was in the room and he could still smell it, so I moved the bag onto the whole other side of the house and instantly he was in his box and all happy again. I stopped playing around with the wood pellets and told him I got the hint. lol

He’s a weird bunny about smells – he won’t eat herbs if they have a strong scent, won’t even go near his greens if I put the wrong herb in there. I got romaine that had a robust smell to it, he acted like I was trying to get him to eat poison.

I use Yesterday’s News for him, he doesn’t mind the pelleted litters as long as they don’t smell, at all. $15.99 for 30lbs is more expensive though, but it keeps him happy. And keeps me from scrubbing the hard wood floors all day.

[Monkeybun]

I forgot about litter. I use carefresh, so thats $20 a week, easy.

[TriBun]

Avarismom, you are SO lucky you get veggies and greens for free. I’m still at the testing phase for my buns to see what they’ll eat and I can’t stand it when I buy a bag of something and they refuse to eat it.

As for how much I spend…… TO MUCH. Lol. I guess some girls buy shoes, I buy willow balls . I spend over $100 a month. Last week I spent $450. Ahhh! But that did include a spay

[SugarbearNPepper]

Too much is right! For my three buns I spend:

Veggies- about $25-30/week
Litter- I usually buy maybe 4 bags of the Carefresh at once. I found a webite that sells the Carefresh White 50-liter for $12.99 and Carefresh Natural 60-liter for $11.99 but they do charge for shipping. They charged me $19 for shipping. I use the white for the little one just because it’s easier for me to make sure he’s pooping and peeing ok. I changed to the Natural color litter for my other 2 since I do have to change their litter box out everyday and it’s a little cheaper and a litter more quantity-wise. So I’d say the 4-bags would last about 3 months. So the total for that would be about $23.00/month
Pellets- 10lbs Oxbow for $15.00 will last about 2 months.
Alfalfa 5lbs – $19.00 will last about 1 month
Timothy or Orchard 40oz – $9.00 about 3 weeks

Total for the month would be about $160. And this is not including vet visits or random toys I get for them..

[LoveChaCha]

Veggies – $3.00 a week
Litter – $25 for 5 bags of wood stove pellets (I bought these bags last fall and I’ve only gone through 2 so far LOL)
Hay – $30 – since Chacha has very picky tastes and requires me to buy online. I buy 5 lb each of timothy gold and orchard. It lasts about 3 months or so.
Pellets – $10 every 5 months or so. She doesn’t get much pellets.
Toys – Vary. About $20 or so. I’ve been making homemade toys.
Vet care – general check up is $35.

[Joyfull_music]

My sisters boyfriend works at Tractor Supply Co, so he gets a discount and I get her bedding that way. We are going to try switching her to equine fresh, which he can get a huge bag (maybe 30 lbs?) for about $5.

Hay I need to start finding and buying in bales. Right now I buy the biggest bag of hay I find, so about $8-ish a month. Depending.

Pellets, one bag of Zupreem lasts us around a month, so about another $8 a month.

Romaine I get at costco, about $3-something for a bag of 6 giant romaine hearts. I also got a huge pack of organic baby spinach for another $3-something there today. You can buy herbs by the bunch around here for usually a dollar or less. I try to give her a variety of 2 – 3 types of greens a week. So greens aren’t usually that much for me.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I don’t really keep a bunny budget. In fact, I don’t wanna know how much I spend on my buns!  They get the best quality of everything. Usually in the summer my veg costs are cheaper because I have a garden but this year my garden drowned in all the rain we had and nothing is growing. My 3 buns eat almost a whole Romaine a day.

Let’s just say that it costs more to feed my 3 rabbits per month than it does to feed my 900 lb horse.

[Beka27]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 09/02/2011 04:55 AM

Let’s just say that it costs more to feed my 3 rabbits per month than it does to feed my 900 lb horse.

Child whines to mom:  ”I wanna bunnyyyyyyyy!”

Mom says: “Uh… how about I buy you a horse instead, MUCH cheaper to feed!”

 

[Elrohwen]

My biggest expense is veggies. I would say we spend about $15 on their veggies per week, though it’s hard to say exactly because we buy a lot of produce for ourselves and I’ve never broken it out.

Otherwise, not too much. I buy a 50lb box of hay maybe twice a year for $65 (will move to hay bought from a farmer when it runs out, which will be very cheap).

I rarely buy pellets since they don’t get much, so I don’t really pay much attention to that.

Once a year we’ll buy maybe 7-10 bags of wood stove pellets at $5 per bag to last us the whole year.

That’s about it. Oh, and they get a new Maze Haven once or twice a year, plus I’ll buy parts to replace what they destroy (since they usually destroy the floor and leave the sides alone).

[Cheyann]

I use hardwood stove pellets for litter and I get 50 pound bales of hay for $3. They only get 1.5 tablespoons of pellets per rabbit every day. I make most of their toys. Veggies are what costs the most. I do get freebies sometimes (my mom is a couponer) and druing the summer I get cheap veggeis from the farmers market. At grocery stores I will ask if I can take radish tops, corn silks and things like that (they usually let me take them). I spend maybe $35 a month on 2 rabbits which could be cheaper but I like to give them lots of veggies.

[BinkyBunny]

The rest of my expenses are very similar to everyone elses. Though I spend the most on greens $20 – 25 week. And that’s me going to a market that is rather inexpensive. If I hit the regular grocery story, that price can increase. But that is because I choose a mostly veggie and hay diet.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Child whines to mom: “I wanna bunnyyyyyyyy!”

Mom says: “Uh… how about I buy you a horse instead, MUCH cheaper to feed!”

hehe

It would be much cheaper to feed my buns if they would eat the $2.00 hay bales that Win eats but they are much too picky (and it’s actually nice Timmy hay that Win eats). I pay $30.00 for a bag of hay that equals less than a bale and my 3 eat a lot of hay.

[longhairmike]

I found it easier to just give them their own credit cards…

[Joyfull_music]

I love Costco. If any of you have a Costco or Sams club you can get to, give it a try. We mostly get cleaning supplies, and non-perishables. But picking up a pound of baby spinach, and a 2-3 pound bag of romaine hears for $3-something each. That will hold the bunny and us over for a good week. Not to mention the good deal on fruit, which I pack into work lunchboxes. My family (me and hubby + a roommate) go through about 2 huge hands of bananas a week. I would hate to be buying those full price at a grocery store.

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By longhairmike on 09/03/2011 06:36 PM
I found it easier to just give them their own credit cards…

HAHA!   My husband and I keep telling Vivian and  P-kitty (our cat), that it’s time for them to get out there and get a job and stop free-loading. 

They don’t listen. 

[Beka27]

Posted By BB on 09/03/2011 11:22 PM

Posted By longhairmike on 09/03/2011 06:36 PM
I found it easier to just give them their own credit cards…

HAHA!   My husband and I keep telling Vivian and  P-kitty (our cat), that it’s time for them to get out there and get a job and stop free-loading. 

They don’t listen. 

LMAO @ Longhairmike!  

And BB:  is “P-kitty” a play on “P-diddy”? 

[Jessica Rabbit]

TOO MUCH! Haha… I don’t really keep track. We pick up veggies when we’re out shopping -usually based best quality for the best price, sometimes the veggies or herbs the buns get will vary based on what we’ll be eating. Hay/pellets/bedding are often purchased at the same time as kitty supplies (food, litter) and what we buy usually lasts a month, cost is about $80-100/month depending on where we purchase things. Tractor Supply Co is a godsend!

[Deleted User]

I spend(well my dad spends) $7 to $8 on my rabbit, I only have one.
$2.50 on pellets.
$2.00 on hay
$2.00 on litter(huge bag)
A few dollars on vegetables(He likes hay more)
Treat vary!
My bun doesn’t cost us to much, but we spent a lot in the beginning!

[LittlePuffyTail]

HAHA! My husband and I keep telling Vivian and P-kitty (our cat), that it’s time for them to get out there and get a job and stop free-loading.

They don’t listen.

I tell that to my crew all the time too. My bunnies think money grows on trees.

[RabbitPam]

P-Kitty needs to start her own website and store.

Longhairmike, that’s something I would say.
Has anyone linked to Beka’s/BB’s info. from the Home Page about Costs of a Bunny? I say Beka because she put together a lot of that info. once and BB put it into it’s own section, last year I think. Anyway, it’s very good for preparing for your diva’s lifestyle.

Can’t do it myself now. Not on my own computer.

[Beka27]

Good idea Pam… here’s the page: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/CostofHavingaBunny/tabid/145/Default.aspx

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