Nervous New Mom

[lovebellabun]

Hey guys and gals, 

I know there are a lot of posts on the same things, but my nerves and patience is getting to me on where to post. I got Bella a little over 2 weeks ago and I have been a nervous wreck. This site is helping a lot. 

Some questions….

She isn’t eating many pellets anymore. Her previous owner gave her only pellets, walmart kind, and no timothy hay. Well the night I got her, I ran and got some toys and treats. I was giving her bits of tomatos that night too. Now, researching I know now I should of done it slower. So now I have 2 kinds of pellets, timothy hay, and some sort of timothy hay and herb mix. I mix a heaping bowl of everything with the main part being timothy hay. I don’t really think she is eating many if any pellets. Is this dangerous? I have gas meds on hand. Her poops look fine. She is drinking. She seems really happy. Just a few territory nips but nothing major. 

When to clip her nails?

Bonding after spaying? I want to get her a rabbit friend. How much of an age difference can there be? I don’t want to attempt before she gets spayed.

So far she seems healthy, I checked her rear, eys, and nose and make sure she is drinking and eating. My only real concern is her not eating the pellets like she used too, and a little less hay as well. 

What’s the best advice for raising a baby/young rabbit? Some hurdles to expect etc?

[jerseygirl]

She may be eating less pellets as she is getting more variety in her diet now.
How old is she? What type of pellet is the second one you introduced.
Is she eating more of the tim hay/herb mix rather then regular hay?

I can see in your avatar pic some bedding in the cage. Is she eating any of that? Some rabbits will do this, rather then eat hay.
Regarding bedding, it’s not really necessary to line the whole cage. Just some of that or other litter in a litterbox and she should toilet in just the one spot. With both bedding and litter, they tend to toilet all over.

[lovebellabun]

She is 3-4 months the guy said. So I was going to wait just a few more weeks for her first visit to the vet. I am working on a new set up for her. That is what she came with it. I will have to check on the new food. It was more expensive and timothy hay based, the other one was alfalfa based.

I will check her food status when I get home. Thank you for you’re reply! I love this site and totally a bun addict now.

[jerseygirl]

I love this site and totally a bun addict now.

Haha, it doesn’t take long!
If you have a vet visit planned, you can probably have her nails trimmed then, but certainly have a go yourself if you feel they need doing. Even if it’s just the tips off to get her used to the process.
Regarding bonding, yes I would wait until she is a little older and spayed. Preferably bring in an already desexed bunny as her potential mate. That will make your life easier.

The wood shavings are pretty typical part of basic habitat kits. Just be careful with soft wood shavings. They can irritate respiratory system. Also, some other risks. 
If they are kiln dried, it would be okay.

[flemishwhite]

Bunnies have a natural inclination for grass…particularly for grasses like oats and timothy.  We are so fortunate to live close to a feed and grain store that sells to horse owners.  We buy oat hay for our bunnies.  We line their litter boxes with oat hay.  Our bunnies are house rabbits and they have three litter boxes in the house.   They do all their peepees and poopies in their litter boxes and just love to chomp on the oat straw and oat kernels in their litter boxes.  We feed them next with green leafy veggies.  Carrot tops, fennel tops, romaine lettuce, cilantro, salad dandelion leaves, parsely, etc.  Actually their tastes vary. Maybe two or three weeks they like carrot tops, and maybe the next two or three weeks they like romaine lettuce, etc.  Like humans they like variety in their food and get tired if you feed them the same old thing.  We get the carrot tops and fennel tops free from the local farmer’s market, they would otherwise just throw these greens away. We buy the romaine lettuce from asian grocery stores and the 99 Cent Grocery Store.  We buy maybe 12 heads of romaine a week!!!.  We have two Flemish Giant rabbits and they really pack it down..big appetites!  All of the above conversation is just to sustain our bunnies.  To really socially relate to them, we feed them treats…banana slices, apple slices, guava slices. They just really love to approach us for their treats. They expect treats every morning and every evening before we all go to bed!…………  And about pellets, they have bowls of pellets they can munch on anytime they want.  However, since we feed our bunnies so richly, I’m a cheap Charlie as regards to pellets.  I try to buy pellets that do not have molasses or sugars added.  My bunnies get enough calories with the food me and my wife feed them.  The calorie reduced pellets are less expensive, but once again I only buy them because they have less calories.

Also..remember that when you are feeding your bunnies, you need to feed them with things that wear down their teeth! Their teeth are always growing.  If their teeth get too long, they will have trouble eating …which leads to GI Statis.. a life threatening dental problem.  Eating hay is a good experience to keep your bunny’s teeth worn down.  You need to have your bunnies seen by a vet every 6 months (my opinion) to check, among other things, their teeth.

[lovebellabun]

I have been using aspen but I am going to read in to this.

[lovebellabun]

Thanks so much for the info! I never thought to check with farmers markets. 

[tobyluv]

 Welcome to Binky Bunny!

Aspen shavings are fine. Pine and cedar shavings are the ones that shouldn’t be used. As jerseygirl said, if there are shavings all over the bottom of the cage, the rabbit will likely go to the bathroom all over. If that is a typical pet store cage, it is likely not big enough and there may not be room to fit in a litter box. You may not be completely successful in litter box training a rabbit that hasn’t been spayed or neutered anyway.

She probably isn’t eating as many pellets because she liked the taste of the alfalfa based ones better. Rabbits don’t need a lot of pellets, but they do contain vitamins and minerals that are beneficial. Hopefully, she is eating some pellets. Rabbits can get a lot of the vitamins they need from greens and veggies, but they need a wide variety of greens daily to make up those vitamins, and you can’t start overloading a rabbit with greens. The greens should be started very slowly, with one new green or veggie a week. The BUNNY INFO link at the top of the page has very helpful info on diet and on other basic care aspects.

Besides timothy hay, you could try some orchard grass. Many rabbits prefer that hay because it is a little sweeter, and a little softer than timothy. Some rabbits like harder, stalkier hay like first cutting timothy, but others like softer second cutting of timothy. American Pet Diner Timothy Gold is a second cutting of timothy that my bunnies love and I know other bunnies that love it too. You can find that at Petco or at several online sites. I get mine from drsfostersmith.com. The Binky Bunny store is one of the online places to get it.

[lovebellabun]

oh I am definitely working on a new rab savvy enviroment. I think the mix I got her has orchard in it. That is why I got it. It doesn’t have corn and nuts etc, just herbs and stuff. So I figured seeing what she liked will help with what I can get fresh.

question about the greens…..before I knew better I have been giving her a bunch of different kinds. Like a salad mix, no iceberg, and not any of the carrots in it. So I got the gas meds. She hasn’t seem to need them but I did try to give her some when I was going to be gone a little longer. She absolutely doesn’t want me near her mouth. So I mushed it in with a tiny piece of strawberry.

[Aki]

OK, so your first post mentions tomatoes. Tomatoes aren’t really a recommended vegetable for rabbits.
I also advise against giving any kinds of meds to a rabbit when they don’t need them. Introducing vegetables slowly is just a precaution in cause your rabbit was fed incorrectly as a baby (as seems to be the case here). If you go too fast, the rabbit can have a bout of diarrhea – if that occurs, you just stop the greens for a few days and reintroduce them one piece at a time. I understand why you are nervous, I was the same when I first got Aki but as long as the rabbit is eating and pooping there is generally no need to panic ^^. I suggest you start with chicory as it is well tolerated by rabbits in general.

Rabbits diet isn’t very complicated : they eat their own body in hay (timothy, orchard, second crop…); about 8% of their weight in vegetables with 2/3 of leafy greens (after you introduced every vegetable one by one) ; very few pellets as a complement (about 5 to 10g for my 1,2 kg rabbit). That’s all. You can give a piece of fruit as a treat once in a while or a safe tree branch (like hazelnut tree or apple tree) to keep her occupied.

If you haven’t yet, I suggest you read this website (they have a good list of vegetables and explanations about everything) :
http://rabbit.org/category/care/diet/

As for a second rabbit, I think your plan is good : you wait about 4 months to get your rabbit spayed (that will leave you the time to get the hang of this ‘rabbit care business’ as bonding can be stressful in its own rights), then you get her a bunny friend. The best would be to get a neutered boy as male / female is the best pairing and that, this way, you won’t have to keep the rabbits separated until the new friend is neutered and the hormones disappear (if you get a baby, you’ll have to wait 3 to 4 months before putting him with your girl – you should never put an intact rabbit with another rabbit, even if the other is desexed). The age difference doesn’t really matter – I had a pairing close in age for years and the rabbits from my current pair is almost 4 years apart and both worked great.

[lovebellabun]

thank you so much! Well thankfully I didn’t give her more tomatos. I saw it online when I started my research. I haven’t seen it since so I stopped. Thursday will be 3 weeks I have had her. Poops are still normal but a lot. She started running circles around me this morning over and over again.

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