Flemish Giants- food, housing questions!

[BigJudeBunny]

Hi!

I’m new to the site, but I would like to know if anyone else has or has had in the past Flemish Giant rabbits? I’ve had my flemish giant for a little over a week now. She is 3-4 months old and has a very nice temperament so far, though she is still a wee bit shy. Anyhow, she is on pellets right now- anything else anyone could recommend me providing for her at this age? She is about 7 pounds right now and I want to make sure I am giving her all the nutrients she needs to grow to an appropriate size for her breed. I have owned rabbits before but never this breed. My last rabbit was a holland lop So significantly smaller! She is staying in a large dog kennel at night (temporarily) and spending her days running around on my deck. Today I am building her outdoor run- it’s actually a dog run so it’s 5 feet wide by 15 feet long and 6 feet high with a chain link top on it. I have put an insulated dog house in the run for her to chill in but she will be an indoor rabbit, but spending quite a bit of her day outside. I am also putting chicken wire down on the ground to prevent digging (is there something better I could use, or will the chicken wire suffice?). Thanks everyone! I’ll have to put some pictures up of her new habitat- if I succeed in putting it together that is

[Mocha]

You should also be feeding alfalfa hay, along with alfalfa pellets. At about 7 months of age, you can introduce vegetables.
The chicken wire will cause her to have sore hocks, as with any other type of wire. Is she digging on carpet or blankets or what? You can put linoleum on top (if she doesn’t eat it), or you could put hay on top.

[BigJudeBunny]

Hi and thanks for your reply,

She isn’t digging in the house or anything but for her outdoor play area, I want to make sure she can’t be digging in the dirt anywhere. That was what the chicken wire was going to be for. It would be lying flat on the ground (The ground is dirt and grass) so will that still be hurting her feet? If it does, I could consider putting straw in as bedding on top of the wire. Thanks again!

[RabbitPam]

I’m afraid chicken wire, or any wire, is going to be bad for a bunny’s feet. You can try a material called coroplast if you don’t mind covering the grass and dirt completely. You also could set down some large seagrass mattes, or even a small area rug. But if there’s straw, she’ll just dig through it to the dirt easily.

[MoveDiagonally]

I mentioned this on your other post but I’ll repeat it here since it seems more appropriate.

Can you bury the wire? It would keep him in but not cause any foot issues.

[BigJudeBunny]

Thank-you everyone for your replies! I have decided to go ahead and bury the wire today. She’s inspected every inch of her new area and I think she’s decided that there aren’t any areas big enough to escape from! I gave her some carrot yesterday, but I read now in one of the replies that you should hold off on vegetables until 7 months. What is the reason for that, I’m wondering? I give her pellets, fresh water, and timothy hay to munch on. She doesn’t seem to interested in the hay- but I’ll keep trying. Thanks again for all your help!!!

[BigJudeBunny]

here are some pics of her run

[Mocha]

She’s only 4 months old,so you should be feeding her alfalfa hay (she’s not overweight right?). You can switch to timothy, orchard, oat, or other grass hays when she is about 7 month’s old.

[Megabunny]

OMG! Those ears are tooooo much! What a lucky bunny! I can’t seem to load not he pics on my iPad but I can see a bit in your avatar. It looks like it may be difficult to keep clean right now, but if you get her spayed (highly recommended) then litter trained, it should be a breeze

[Author]

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