Welcome skitza!! We’d love to see pics of your ratties!
I am so glad you are checking out what goes into a having a rabbit before bringing one home. Part of the problem is people get overwhelmed with the cuteness and don’t realize how much work they are. Both a time and financial commitment. They may be rather cheap to get, but they are not necessarily cheap to keep!
So now to answer your questions.
Rabbits do make good pets….for those that are prepared and know what to expect. (looks like that is what you are trying to do right now.
Are they hard to take care of? It depends on what you consider hard. They should have at LEAST three hours out to exercise everyday. They are a “group” animals so they need attention. They can get bored easily and become inactive or destructive, so you have to really be on the ball with figuring out what they need. They are chewers and so you need to do some “Bunny Proofing” to prevent damage to your home.
Check out the “Bunny Proofing” tips under Bunny Info in the top menu bar.
You also have to make sure their diet is right, and watch their health very carefully. They hide illness and so you sort of have to become a poopologist as their poops, the size, how much, etc can indicate health AND illness.
They can be expensive when it comes to vet care – rabbits are considered exotics because they require special care when it comes to antibiotics, anethesia, and other treatments. This does not come cheap as you pay for the vet, no the pet.
do make a big mess if they are let to run around the house for a bit? Baby rabbits and rabbits that are not spayed or neutered can be quite the challenge! However once a bunny is old enough to be spayed/neutered most can be litter-trained. Many still have a habit of marking around their litterbox. Also, if you have other animals in the house, and you happen to have a dominant bunny, you can sometimes deal with territorial marking. Even the best littertrained rabbit may have a few stray dry poops every once in awhile, but dry poopers are easy to clean up.
I always recommend you check out a local rabbit rescue as you they will have bunnies that are already spayed/neutered!
Are bunnies good with rats? I really don’t know much about rats, so someone else may have to chime in here. I know you could not house them together, and I don’t know if either would try to hurt the other.
do they need a large cage? how big? YES! Most cages in pet stores are WAY too small. Check out our Cool Habitats section to get an idea of what consider ideal.
what is a diet that is good for bunnies? A Babies diet is different than an adults – check out the Diet section.
what gender is better temperd? Though there is a general belief that males are more easy going, I really have found it to be a very individual thing. You will also find that smaller rabbits may be a bit more skittish than larger rabbits.
i am wanting to get a dwarf bunny, because they are small: I think that if you do decide to get a rabbit, you should figure out what kind of personality you want, head to a rabbit rescue where the bunnies have developed their personality and try to find a match. Try to erase small, large, female,male, color choices out of your mind and focus on the type of characteristics you want.
Another great site to check out is rabbit.org, especially this article: http://rabbit.org/care/living-with-a-house-rabbit.html