Bunny-sitting

[amarygma]

Hello all,

This post doesn’t really pigeonhole into any specific forum that I can tell, forgive me if it’s miscategorized. 

Some friend of ours are building a new house, and so while they are living with a friend my husband and I are watching their rabbit, Ghost. He has been here about a week. Looking on Wikipedia, I’d say he’s an American Albino. He’s a few years old, and neutered.

I had a grey Mini Holland Lop as a kid in the early 90s. Looking back I’d say I took adequate care of her. This was before you could Google everything and get loads of information on how to really provide stellar care. My parents had not kept rabbits, so my resources were that I had some rabbit books and a good heart. She lived in a hutch (4x3x3ft) my dad built in our living room. I had her for about 7 or 8 years, but she grew kind of wild and aggressive for the second half of that. I didn’t hear of litter-training a rabbit for years to come. Her food was rabbit pellets from the feed mill and those little green balls made by Hartz (she loved those things) along with some fresh veggie treats. She had toys and attention. I took her outside on a leash in summer, and she got out of cage time in winter as well. She was not spayed as we had no males, but I realize now that may have contributed to her aggression. 

So, I’d rate it as adequate. Enough food, reasonably-sized clean, bright, warm space, excercise, toys, fresh water.

Ghost is clearly reaping the rewards of the advances in Google-able standards of care. I believe he is neutered (I’m not going to look real hard), he is litter-trained, he is very tame, he eats timothy hay with only a little grain, and his cage most closely resembles this. (It’s a little longer though). He also has toys and a fluffy bed. He has his own bedroom in our house currently.

I found this forum as I was searching for whether or not I could give a few of my alfalfa cubes from my horse to him as a treat (I won’t). He’s not mine, so I’m not looking to change his housing, remodel his diet, or train him to do anything particular. So, on to my questions:

1) Is there a good list somewhere of foods that are unsafe to feed to rabbits? For example parrots cannot have avocado or apple seeds. I don’t need to know not to feed him Oreos or anything like that, just the surprising things.

2) What does one get a rabbit for Christmas? 

3) If he’s litter trained, and I have his carrier nearby with his mini-litterbox, will he pee on the carpet? I’ve only been letting him out on an uncarpeted area. This might be too individual of a question to ask, but in general how good are they about that? I’m not worried about his cocoa puffs.

Thanks all! 

-Robyn

[Bunbun101]

1.) I use this list http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?176719-Safe-foods-and-unsafe-foods-for-rabbits

2.) You could get your rabbit anything that is safe for them. I got my rabbit a little cat tunnel from fleet farm. The binkybunny store has toys and treats that would be good gifts for a bunny!

3.) if he is good about using his litter box he probably won’t go on the carpet but when you put a rabbit from a small area to a big area, they sometimes forget. When my rabbit is out she only poops. She is not very well litter trained but she doesn’t pee outside of the cage.

[Little Lion Head]

1) I think most people think that rabbits should eat endless carrots, but really they should be a tiny treat given sparingly. Rabbits should eat hay, pellets, and fresh veggies…really nothing else except for treats.

2) It kind of depends on the rabbit. If he likes to play, he might just be happy with some empty toilet paper rolls to throw around. Or I agree with Bunbun–bunnies love tunnels and safe places to hide.

3) Agree w/ Bunbun again–introduce him to more space very slowly or he may lose any potty training skills he has already. I think if hes going to pee anywhere, it won’t matter to him if its carpet or cloth or hard floor (that’s how it is for Pumpkin anyway) but I know some buns on here only pee on soft things.

How cool of you to bun-sit!! Maybe you’ll get hooked again and want one of your own

[amarygma]

Thanks for the link, and thanks for the replies! I think I’ll keep him to uncarpeted areas for his run around time, although he’s clearly more into snuggling than exercise.

I’ll have to check out the store.

[amarygma]

Thought I’d post a picture of Ghost enjoying a pedicure. Not too different from a parrot, just quieter.

[Little Lion Head]

Cute! I wish Pumpkin would “enjoy” a pedicure!

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