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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A am I planning right for my new bunny?

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    • gallavich
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        hello!! I am currently a minor. I will be moving after I graduate to a new city into a house much bigger than the one I have now. to make everything even more exciting: my father has agreed to let me get a pet rabbit!!!

        I have always wanted a rabbit since I was about 12 years old. I knew then that I was a little too young to keep one if I was going to be taking care of it all by myself. now, since I will be commuting to college and will have more free time when I’m not studying, I thought it would be a good time to keep a little furry friend. I have been doing extensive research on rabbits for the past few days

        first, I am planning on building my own rabbit condo to put in my room. length of it would be 4ft, width 3ft in, and height 4ft. should this be big enough for my rabbit to stay in, including his litter box, hay rack, toys etc? I was also planning on making different levels as well.

        he won’t be stuck in there all day, of course. I will let him get some exercise around my room when I am home. I will be putting an x pen around my bed so he does not go under it. I will be bunny proofing my whole room. should he be able to get playtime outside of my room as well? the thing is, right outside of my bedroom is the hallway, and there are balconies on both sides. if I wanted to take him outside of my room for playtime, I’d have to take him to the basement or another carpeted area within my new home. any thoughts or ideas on this?

        as far as which breed of rabbit I want, I’m not quite sure yet. they all seem so adorable to me. I am afraid of keeping a lop though, because I know they tend to overheat more than other rabbit breeds. 

        I should mention I also have an 8 year old Yorkshire terrier. when I bring the rabbit home, I will have my mom holding my yorkie back with his leash on and I will be holding my rabbit. I hope the first meeting goes well. my dog definitely has a different personality than most dogs – he is afraid of all dogs, even the ones his size and smaller. I’ve never seen him try to chase any small animals while he was outside in the backyard (chasing rats was what his breed was bred for). I feel as if I know him well enough that keeping a rabbit shouldn’t be a problem for him. however if it does turn into one I plan on keeping a dog gate in front of the entrance of my room at all times. 

        I am also not sure of whether or not I want to buy or adopt. I want my bunny to be about a month old from the time I bring him home. I realize the only place you can find a month old rabbit is the pet store. I’d love if my rabbit was already neutered, however if I want a rabbit one month old, there is no way he can already be neutered. of course, I will be keeping an eye on local shelters for any bunny that catches my eye.

        if I end up bringing a bunny home that is less than 6 months old, what exactly should be his diet? I’ve seen Timothy hay and pellets to younger bunnies and alfalfa to older ones, and vice versa. I also know that veggies are important. when should I introduce those to my rabbit? I plan on giving him kale, cilantro, romaine lettuce, and spinach. is that a good variety? also, are fruits okay to be given as treats? I’d feed him either bananas, kiwis, or pineapples once a day.

        is there anything I’m missing? any planning that I should alter? any suggestions on breed, cage, diet, playtime and playtime location, etc? I want to be fully prepared before I bring him home sometime in the beginning of august thank you for taking time to read this!!!!

        *LBJ here! I removed your age.


      • vanessa
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          1 month is waaayyyyyyy too young. Dont’ get a bunny that uis younger than 2 months. They neeeeeeed to be with their mum’s untill 2 months. Anyoen selling a 4 week old bunny is irresponsible and wreckless.
          I encourage you to adopt. SO many bunnies get turned over because they become inconvenient, children get bored with them, they are more work than their owners realised, you will be helping a bunny in need by adopting. Don’t wory about the age. The age you get a bunny at – doesn’t impact how it bonds with you. I’ve adopted a senior, I’ve had bunnies from babies, a variety of ages. Their ages didn’t impact how they bonded with me Quite honestly – the oldest bun bonded the best with me. One of my other buns only bonded with me at 2 years. The other pair have yet to bond with me.
          Your condo sounds fine. I have a lop – he doens’t overheat. As long as you don’t keep them outside 🙂 I wou;dn’t worry about the breed either ifyou are adopting.
          I keep a baby gate between the main part of my house, and the hallway/bedrooms, so my dogs can’t get to my bunnies. You dont’ know how the yorkie will react untill you try the meet. If the yorkie barks at the bunny, bunny will get frightened. Try to keep them separate. Especially while the bunny is still new. Let the bunny have some time to get used to it’s new suroundings.

          Less than 9 months = unlimited pellets and timothy hay. Then start rationing according to your rabit’s goal weight.

          Before taking your bunny out for play, get her/him litter trained. That shodul happen quite easily. You may have litter accidents untill the bunny is spayed, maybe not. I had a 4 month old bunny that was perfectly litter trained – always. I have another bunny that to this day uses a “litter area” around her litter box.


        • Paige
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            Hi! Congrats on being able to a bunny! They are great pets.
            My lop does not get overheated as well and he is a fuzzy lop so he has lots more hair. He does get very warm though so i moisten his outer ears a little to keep his temperature down.
            If you live in a hot climate lops would not be ideal but if you have ac you should be fine.
            You should introduce veggies at 3 months old starting with a small piece of something easy to digest like romaine
            Personally i think treats shouldnt be given till your bunny has an established amount of pellets and veggies to avoid any stomach aches
            For hay i agree with vanessa, you can feed alfalfa but it is easier to give your bunny the hay that he will be eating as an adult whether it is timothy or orchard or something else
            You should feed alfalfa pellets to bunnies under 6 months
            Lastly if you can, let your bun run around your whole house( the safe areas ) it would be very beneficial, just know that stairs are dangerous!


          • sarahthegemini
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              Rabbits shouldn’t even be away from their mother til 8 weeks so you can’t get a one month old. And your hutch sounds quite small. Can’t you let him/her free roam your room? Are you planning on getting him/her a friend once he’s been neutered?


            • gallavich
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                Posted By vanessa on 4/17/2017 9:42 PM

                1 month is waaayyyyyyy too young. Dont’ get a bunny that uis younger than 2 months. They neeeeeeed to be with their mum’s untill 2 months. Anyoen selling a 4 week old bunny is irresponsible and wreckless.
                I encourage you to adopt. SO many bunnies get turned over because they become inconvenient, children get bored with them, they are more work than their owners realised, you will be helping a bunny in need by adopting. Don’t wory about the age. The age you get a bunny at – doesn’t impact how it bonds with you. I’ve adopted a senior, I’ve had bunnies from babies, a variety of ages. Their ages didn’t impact how they bonded with me Quite honestly – the oldest bun bonded the best with me. One of my other buns only bonded with me at 2 years. The other pair have yet to bond with me.
                Your condo sounds fine. I have a lop – he doens’t overheat. As long as you don’t keep them outside 🙂 I wou;dn’t worry about the breed either ifyou are adopting.
                I keep a baby gate between the main part of my house, and the hallway/bedrooms, so my dogs can’t get to my bunnies. You dont’ know how the yorkie will react untill you try the meet. If the yorkie barks at the bunny, bunny will get frightened. Try to keep them separate. Especially while the bunny is still new. Let the bunny have some time to get used to it’s new suroundings.

                Less than 9 months = unlimited pellets and timothy hay. Then start rationing according to your rabit’s goal weight.

                Before taking your bunny out for play, get her/him litter trained. That shodul happen quite easily. You may have litter accidents untill the bunny is spayed, maybe not. I had a 4 month old bunny that was perfectly litter trained – always. I have another bunny that to this day uses a “litter area” around her litter box.

                I was kind of surprised to see a one month old rabbit in a pet store with all of its siblings with it too. however I will try my best to find a bunny that is under 1 year old from an adoption center. I know now that it doesn’t matter the age of the bunny, but taking care of a little furry friend from baby to how old he lives to be sounds super ideal to me .

                even if the meeting between my yorkie and bunny goes alright, I wanted to keep a gate up anyway – I can’t trust my dog. sometimes he’s sweet, and sometimes he’s sour.

                question about litter training and different types of poop: which poop am I supposed to pick up and which am I supposed to leave for the rabbit to digest? how often will the rabbit poop the one he ingests?

                thank you for your response!!


              • gallavich
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                  Posted By Paige on 4/17/2017 10:06 PM

                  Hi! Congrats on being able to a bunny! They are great pets.
                  My lop does not get overheated as well and he is a fuzzy lop so he has lots more hair. He does get very warm though so i moisten his outer ears a little to keep his temperature down.
                  If you live in a hot climate lops would not be ideal but if you have ac you should be fine.
                  You should introduce veggies at 3 months old starting with a small piece of something easy to digest like romaine
                  Personally i think treats shouldnt be given till your bunny has an established amount of pellets and veggies to avoid any stomach aches
                  For hay i agree with vanessa, you can feed alfalfa but it is easier to give your bunny the hay that he will be eating as an adult whether it is timothy or orchard or something else
                  You should feed alfalfa pellets to bunnies under 6 months
                  Lastly if you can, let your bun run around your whole house( the safe areas ) it would be very beneficial, just know that stairs are dangerous!

                  ahhhhh!!! thank you so much!! I’m super excited, I can’t contain myself.  I bet my parents are so annoyed with me talking about rabbits all the time.

                  I don’t live in a hot climate – however the summers are very hot and the winters are very cold here. my new house will have an AC and a central heating system however. I will keep a thermometer in my room to monitor the temperature. is there an ideal room temperature the bunny should stay in?

                  I would let him run around the house, but the thing is, it is a brand new house my bun will be living in. I’m not quite sure which areas I will be letting him explore other than my room right now. maybe the basement would be alright, and I will be supervising him of course. I cant let him roam the whole house right when I get him though, this is partly because of my dog and partly because my parents want me to keep the bunny mess in my room. however maybe a year into having him I could let him start exploring while my dog is not around.

                  thank you for your response!!!


                • gallavich
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                    Posted By sarahthegemini on 4/18/2017 4:29 AM

                    Rabbits shouldn’t even be away from their mother til 8 weeks so you can’t get a one month old. And your hutch sounds quite small. Can’t you let him/her free roam your room? Are you planning on getting him/her a friend once he’s been neutered?

                    if I were to let him free roam my room, would I still need a cage or hutch? I’m not quite sure if my parents would be fond the idea of him sleeping on my bed with me.

                    as for a friend, I’m not quite sure. I will be home most of the time if I’m not in class. I know its recommended to get your rabbit a friend if you are not home most of the time so that they do not become lonely. would it still be needed to get him a friend if I am home? I don’t think my parents would approve of two bunnies, I only just convinced my dad for one bunny

                    thank you for your response!!


                  • sarahthegemini
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                      Posted By gallavich on 4/18/2017 5:35 PM

                      Posted By sarahthegemini on 4/18/2017 4:29 AM

                      Rabbits shouldn’t even be away from their mother til 8 weeks so you can’t get a one month old. And your hutch sounds quite small. Can’t you let him/her free roam your room? Are you planning on getting him/her a friend once he’s been neutered?

                      if I were to let him free roam my room, would I still need a cage or hutch? I’m not quite sure if my parents would be fond the idea of him sleeping on my bed with me.

                      as for a friend, I’m not quite sure. I will be home most of the time if I’m not in class. I know its recommended to get your rabbit a friend if you are not home most of the time so that they do not become lonely. would it still be needed to get him a friend if I am home? I don’t think my parents would approve of two bunnies, I only just convinced my dad for one bunny

                      thank you for your response!!

                      That’s up to you. You could always get a cage and use it to house his litter box, food and water etc. You’ll need to bunny proof your room tho In terms of having a friend, I think it doesn’t matter how much human interaction they have, they should also have a bunny companion. Bonding can be a stressful experience tho! 


                    • vanessa
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                        Well, getting a friend would depend on your parents. Initially you would have to house them separately. That means double the cages, food bowls, toys, exercise space, litter boxes, litter mess, etc. Then you would need both spayed/neutered, and 4 weeks after that you could begin bonding with is challenging and stressful, for the bunnies and you. So if your parents were ok with that, it could work. They might decide after seeing one bunny that they don’t want you to have a second. But it might be better for you to get used to having your first bun, and the care that is involved, before getting a second. You could also just keep one bun as a single, and give him/her lots of love/attention.

                        I don’t allow my bunnies on the bed or the couch.

                        Many people here have a cage for while they are not home or while they are asleep, and they let their bunnies out for exercise when they are home, and awake. I don’t have cages. My bunnies have the spare room to themselves. I turned it into the bunny room.

                        As for the size of the cage – people here have different sizes. The bun must be able to stand up at adult size, and take at least 8 hops. That’s the British recommendation. So it depends on the adult size of the bunny that you get. Get/make as big of a cage as you can.

                        You’ll need to bunny proof the space that he runs around in. Get electrical chords out of the way. Watch to see what he likes to nibble on, and restrict his access to those things. This could be by using NIC cubes or some other fence to keep him back from chewable items. For example – I use 2×4 lumber around the base of the bunny room so they don’t chew the baseboards. Not all rabbits are destructive – but they are chewers and diggers by nature, and this is something you will have to manage.

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                    Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A am I planning right for my new bunny?