Hutch Bunny to House Bunny?

[Leukay]

 Hey guys, new member here. I’m thinking of taking in a 3 year old rabbit from someone who is giving it away. This will be my first rabbit in a few years and my first full house rabbit. I am wondering if a 3 year old un-neutered male will have any behavioral issues going from living in an outdoor hutch to living in my room. I’m also hoping that I won’t have to neuter him, depending on his behavior. Thanks for your input!

[bunnnnnnie!]

First of all.. welcome!

Sounds like this bunny would be very lucky to get you as an owner!  I’m sure he’ll be much happier as a house rabbit.  You’ll just want to make sure to offer him a bunny proof enclosure (xpens are great, or NIC cube condos).  Linoleum makes good flooring for a bunny who hasn’t been litter trained, easy to clean up accidents as they’re learning.  You’ll want to get a litterbox that’s deep enough the bunny can’t get his butt over it, and only put bedding in the box.  Make sure there’s hay in the box too, as buns like to eat where they go.

Other than that, there really shouldn’t be any special considerations for the bun.  Let us know if you go get him, we’ll want pics!

[Leukay]

 Great! I’ve just finished bunny proofing (hopefully) my room, got a good litterbox, now I just need to find some of those NIC Cubes and some food and litter and I should be set! When I bring him home I’ll be sure to post in the introduction thread with some pictures. Thanks again for your help!

[bunnnnnnie!]

I get NIC cubes at Kmart, if you have one in your area.    For food, Oxbow Bunny Basics T or Kaytee Timothy Complete are two good brands.  Be sure to get some of the bun’s old food so you can wean him slowly over the span of a month onto the new food.  As for litter, some popular options are wood pellets (for wood stoves, found in hardware stores, or horse bedding, found at farm stores), Carefresh is another good choice, or Yesterdays news, a paper based cat litter.

[Leukay]

 Thanks for your tips! Man those wood stove pellets are a deal, I got a 40 lb bag for $5! I couldn’t seem to find those NIC Cubes anywhere, I checked Staples, WalMart and Lowes, and none of them seemed to have them. My room is quite small so I was thinking of giving him free run of my room, but it’s all carpeted so that makes me a little worried with him being un-neutered and all. I’m supposed to be picking him up tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I can get this all figured out before then! 

[peppypoo]

Welcome! Thanks for giving a poor bunny a chance at a new life .

If you can’t find the grids in store, they’re also available from a number of online retailers such as amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-4-Storage-Cubes-White/dp/B000LRGV3W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329963851&sr=8-1

However, I recommend looking into a doggy excercise pen instead; I’ve used both before and I think that overall they make a nicer enclosures and are easier to clean too.

Eventually, it would be great if your bunny could have free run of your room, but it’s not something that I recommend right off the bat. Like you said, there’s a good chance he would make messes on your carpet until his litter training is reliable, and also, some bunnies like to tear up/eat carpet fibers and need to be monitored on carpet. Try to start off with a nice big enclosure (with daily supervised out-of-cage time) and build up freedom from there when you feel comfortable doing so.

Feel free to ask any more questions you might have, and I can’t wait to see pictures!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Sometimes its tough to find the cubes. I definitely don’t see them on websites when I want to compare prices but I have found them at Walmart and home depot. Though according to their sites they don’t carry them. The ones at wal mart-at least in mine, are in the kitchen appliances section…at home depot they are in home organization…so weird spots but once you know where to look you’ll find them.

Can’t wait to hear how it goes and see some pictures!

[KytKattin]

First, good for you taking this bunny in!

Second, if you get an expen (make sure it is metal and for dogs, not the ones for small animals!), you can get a carpet protector like the ones for office chairs to go under it, or just some cheap linoleum from a local store. That way your carpet is protected until he gets better at using the litterbox!

[LittlePuffyTail]

How wonderful that this bunny is going to get to enjoy the indoor life. You got some great advice here already. Looking forward to pictures.

[Leukay]

 Good news! I’ve brought my new buddy Oliver home and he seems to be doing okay. I got some fencing material from TSC to make my own “puppy pen” and he is hiding out in it under my bed. He seems to still be pretty nervous from the move and is still very scared of me and hiding out in a corner of his home. I’m a little worried cause he really hasn’t eaten too much or pottied a lot, but that might be because he is still shocked from the move? Hopefully that’s the case… Anyways, when he warms up to me I will get some pictures of him and officially post in the introductions thread

[bunnyfriend]

Hi welcome

It’s so nice of you to take him in and give him a good home!

It is very common for a rabbit to be stressed in a new environment. Are you feeding him the same pellets that his previous owners fed him? If you know what kind of veggies he has already been given maybe you could try to tempt him with one of those, but I wouldn’t introduce a veggie unless you know that he’s eaten it before until he’s settled in. I wouldn’t worry too much right now, unless this low pooping/eating keeps up for 24 hours.

A good way to get a rabbit to get used to you is to basically ignore them for a while and let interactions be on his terms. Just lay down or sit on the floor and read a book or go on the computer.

[Leukay]

 He’s getting a little more curious about me now, and I woke up to his enclosure full of poop, unfortunately none of it in the litterbox haha. And he’s been eating more too. The owner didn’t really even know exactly what kind of pellets she was giving him and he was only getting regular straw to eat, so I just got regular pellets (because she wouldn’t give me any of his, she was running low) and some timothy hay that he has been enjoying. His poop looks normal and he looks to be doing fine with it so far. If only he’d use that darn litterbox now haha

 

[bunnnnnnie!]

Yay I’m glad he’s doing well!  The litterbox will come in time.

WE NEED PICS!

[Elrohwen]

Congrats on your new bunny and thanks for giving him such a good home!

[Leukay]

Hey everyone thanks for all of your help! I just posted a formal introduction in the appropriate thread with a link to some pictures of my guy. Thanks again for all of the help

[bunnyfriend]

He’ll get the hang of the litter box soon, just stick with it Are the pellets made out of Timothy (rather than Alfalfa)? That is good he is doing well with it, sounds like he’s getting a better diet now.

[Quantum]

And scoop up some of his….um….deposits and put them in the litter box and then clean up the loose ones. That will help give him a cue as to where he’s supposed to go.

[BinkyBunny]

is he peeing in his box?

[Leukay]

 Well I haven’t seen him in the litter box at all, and he poops EVERYWHERE, but since I’ve had him (3 days) I’ve only had to clean 4 pee spots. 2 of them were out of his cage when he was running around chinning everything in my room. I think bunnies pee more than that, so i’m not really sure where he’s doing it haha. Hopefully he is peeing in his box and i’m just not noticing?

[peppypoo]

He’s probably pooping everywhere for now because he’s just moved to a new home…and of course, the first thing a bunny’s got to do is to scent-mark your entire home and declare it to be theirs . After a while, see if you notice him pooping/peeing particularly much in one corner…and that’s where his litter box needs to be. A lot of the time, litter training a bunny isn’t so much teaching them to go in the box as observing where they like to go, and putting a box there.

[peanutsmom]

Yeah, my bunny doesn’t pee that much at all (or seem to). Not sure what the deal is, but it works out for me.

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