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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
- This topic has 21sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago by
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Hi everyone! As you can see from the title, I’m not actually so fortunate as to have rabbits in my life already, but I recently determined that I need some companionship in my life and from everything I’ve learned so far via my researches, bunnies seem like pretty much the ideal match for me. I’m searching for a bonded pair (preferably male/female) of young-adult rabbits, of a small/medium breed (I live in an efficiency apartment so space is at a premium and I’ve been researching how to make a multi-level “bunny condo” to provide the most possible space for rabbits while conserving space for my own living needs), spayed/neutered, litter-trained and accustomed to humans. I’m considering a short-haired breed or mix such as the Mini Rex or Dutch; as a first-time bunny owner I think it best to stick to a comparatively easy-to-take-care of breed.
I’m working with Friends of Rabbits, Inc., a rabbit rescue/fostering/adoption service in my area (metropolitan Washington, DC), and have already made the acquaintance of several bunnies through them; this Saturday I’m hoping to meet a bonded M/F pair of Mini Rexes (the description on Petfinder is a bit unclear but I think they’re MR’s or at least a mix) at Friends of Rabbits’ “rabbit of the week” event at a local pet-supply store. From what I know so far they might be a good match for me, but of course the proof is in the pudding – will we like each other when we meet? Stay tuned!
(If that doesn’t pan out, there’s FOR’s big adoption event at a Petco in Northern Virginia the following Saturday!) In the meantime, I’m doing some pretty intense reading in paper and online formats, and so here I am.Aside from bunnies, I’m a bibliophile (which means I’ll have to protect my library from too-eager rabbit teeth!); I collect books on classic film, fashion history and the Edwardian Era, and also have a large library of (mostly classic) movies and TV shows on DVD; I sometimes like to say I won’t watch anything on TV if it was made after 1990
, though that would be a lie (I’m awaiting seasons 1-9 of Murdoch Mysteries in the mail as I type this). I’m also a devotee of alternate-history literature and media, vintage and retro-revival pin-up art and photography, and 3D digital art (Daz Studio), and a desktop PC gamer (mostly strategy, though I’ve been playing Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 for nearly a decade). -
Welcome joea64 !
It’s fantastic that you are going the adoption route of already bonded pair that need a home. You can get straight to the enjoyment part instead of having to have separate habitats, living through bunny puberty, nerves & cost of getting them desexsed and the sometimes lengthy bonding process.I hope the bunny meet-and-greets go well. I don’t know if you are set on mini rexes, but sometimes shelters and rescues mis-label rabbits breeds or just put whatever fits best in the breed field for online listings. So they could be just up-eared rabbits with normal type fur rather then true rex fur.
Still pretty easy care fur though.
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Posted By jerseygirl on 7/05/2017 11:27 PM
Welcome joea64 !
It’s fantastic that you are going the adoption route of already bonded pair that need a home. You can get straight to the enjoyment part instead of having to have separate habitats, living through bunny puberty, nerves & cost of getting them desexsed and the sometimes lengthy bonding process.I hope the bunny meet-and-greets go well. I don’t know if you are set on mini rexes, but sometimes shelters and rescues mis-label rabbits breeds or just put whatever fits best in the breed field for online listings. So they could be just up-eared rabbits with normal type fur rather then true rex fur.
Still pretty easy care fur though.
I’ve actually been bouncing back and forth among several breeds as I’ve been studying up on bunnies these past few weeks. I am pretty set on a small/medium type, small enough to live comfortably in a small apartment but not so tiny as to run into the dental problems (such as malocclusion) that I understand dwarf breeds can have so much trouble with. Susan (Friends of Rabbits head lady) explained to me last weekend at the rabbit Q&A that I want to look for a rabbit that has a pointy muzzle (looks oval from the side view, if you know what I mean) rather than the flat face that dwarf breeds tend to have.
Anyway, I’ve been considering the Dutch and Polish breeds as well as the Mini Rex, since these bunnies are not only suitably small but are also generally of a nice, calm, even temperament compared to other small and dwarf breeds, as I’m given to understand. I was actually even thinking about the Jersey Wooly for a while, and met an adorable pair last Saturday, but they need a lot more grooming than I can realistically spare the time for. The particular pair I’m currently interested in can be seen here at Petfinder:
https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37442862
https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37442806
(Bear in mind the listing is somewhat outdated; the buns are 6-7 months old by now, and their litter training will have been complete as well as their “fixing” and bonding.) Hopefully the Friends of Rabbits folks will be able to bring them to the “meet and greet” in Fairfax on Saturday!
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Posted By Luna on 7/26/2017 1:58 PM
Keep us updated. Don’t forget to bunnyproof your cords! (especially if you want to keep gaming 
)
Oh, I assure you, I have that well in mind. I’m planning to start them out in the most commodious X-pen setup I can get and keep a gimlet eye on them whenever I allow them out of that.
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Update – I’ve made arrangements for a get (better!) acquainted session with Panda, the black-and-white dwarf mommy (1 year old), and her son Fernando, the REW kit (somewhere between 4 and 6 months old, I’ll need to get clarification on that) on Sunday afternoon:
http://www.adoptapet.com/pet/180549…nia-rabbit
http://www.adoptapet.com/pet/182865…nia-rabbit
The other three kits have been adopted already, I understand, so that makes my choices easier (I’m still interested in Renee and Richie, the broken-white-and-tan brother/sister pair, and plan to arrange a similar get-to-know-you-better session with them as well). Panda and Fernando are bonded to each other and they were very nice and friendly when I met them at Petco last month. From her description on Adopt-A-Pet and Petfinder, Panda seems like a real character which is fine with me, I like the spirited type
. I’ve made good progress in getting my apartment fixed up, waiting to buy the bunny condo (see my other thread in Habitats) until I’ve finalized the adoption. -
Posted By Luna on 8/02/2017 12:29 PM
Squee! How exciting! They both look like they have personality.
One house-rabbit author (I forget which one) writes in her book about how one of her buns liked to thump just to raise hell, when she would thump right back at him by whapping her sofa, he’d thump back at her and they’d get into a thump-a-thon and have maximum fun. I wonder if little miss Panda is that kind of rabbit.
Fernando looks much the gentler sort; if I didn’t get him mixed up with his identical-twin sister Blanca (now adopted, I understand), he took a real shine to me at Petco last month, kissing my hand and all. -
!!!!!!!!!!I went into Petco for a get-acquainted session with the two Polish (I think, and their fosterer agrees with me) buns Panda and her boy Fernando, and I came out with a signed and sealed adoption contract for two new fluffbabies to take into my home and my life!
LOTS of pictures. Hope to put up some soon, once they get to Dropbox from my iPhone. It’s Fernando who’s the affectionate, grooming one, confirmed, and he groomed me on both my leg and arm today. It seems he’s really taken with me.
Panda was a bit more reserved, being the grande dame type – as a big Edwardian Era fan, I’m thinking about giving them new names after a pair of the period’s better-known figures, and there are a lot of aristocratic ladies from that period whose names would fit lady miss Panda just fine. She’ll warm up to me in due course, without doubt, once she gets to know me; I basically let both of them explore me at their own pace and by the time the session was over Panda was snuggling up to me though she was still a little skittish about being petted (Fernando exhibited no such reluctance). I’m going to go ahead and order the bunny condo tonight, and send in the adoption fee to Friends of Rabbits this week, as well as start laying in supplies (hay, sturdy un-tippable bowls, timothy pellets, etc.; Pet Supplies Plus, a regional petstore chain that FoR works closely with, just opened a store in my town very recently). I’m planning to get the bun-buns established in their new digs no later than the end of the month and hopefully a lot sooner than that.
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Posted By Luna on 8/06/2017 6:05 PM
Congrats! Hopefully you’ll be able to take them home before the end of the month – that would be a long time to be anxiously awaiting their arrival.
I know it, I don’t want to wait that long either!!!
I paid the adoption fee this morning and I’m planning to order the bunny condo today, and start shopping for bunny gear this weekend. The builder needs time to assemble the parts and then 4 days to ship via UPS, so probably early next week when I get the box. I’m aiming for bringing the buns home next weekend if all goes well. (fingers crossed)I uploaded the pictures from Sunday to Dropbox this morning, so I’ll try to post a few soon.
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And here, at last, are the pictures I promised from Sunday’s get-acquainted session that turned into an adoption! The broken-black-and-white is Panda; the ruby-eyed white is her son Fernando. The images are quite big, so I decided to give you a thumbnailed gallery! You can see Fernando grooming my leg in the next-to-last photograph.
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Posted By Luna on 8/08/2017 6:08 PM
Squee! Those faces! I know they’re mom and son, and they look like they get along great, but are they both fixed? Since you adopted them, I’m assuming the adoption place already had them spayed/neutered?
But of course!
My new fluffy friends have been properly fixed, housetrained, vetted, bonded to at least one friend (or, in this case, parent/child) where appropriate and (obviously!!!) socialized to humans. Friends of Rabbits always has spay/neuter done on the bunnies they rescue and provide sanctuary for when the time is right for the operation to be done safely. The adoption fee (for bonded pairs such as this, $125; singles go for $75) helps cover the cost of the procedure as well as other necessary veterinary services (hmmm, I wonder if this could be counted as a charitable deduction on next year’s taxes, since they’re a 501(c)(3)…) -
P.S. Panda and Fernando, in two pics, are enjoying the solution to my minor quandary about treats; Oxbow Simple Rewards, apple/banana flavor. I’d been puzzling about the matter of treats since I’m not myself much of a fruit-eater and I didn’t want to have anything I bought for them that I didn’t eat myself go to waste. Enter these timothy-hay-based cookies.
Their foster mom brought a bag to help grease the introduction wheels, and both bunnies eagerly accepted them from my fingers. AND the Binky Bunny store sells ’em too! -
Posted By Q8bunny on 8/09/2017 12:34 AM
Those are awesome treats! We call them cookies in our house. lol Choo loves them.I’m so happy your well thought out bunny search yielded such great results. Your two new furbabies are gorgeous!
One of the solo pics of Fernando is particularly hilarious in this context. He’s literally walking right over the package of cookies, blithely ignoring the delights within.
You can see they quickly got quite comfortable with me as I sat there in the playpen and let them explore, petting them every so often. Panda is the more reserved and cautious of the two (which I expected for a bun that’s only met me once before, and that when she was safely sitting in her litterbox between two of her kits at a big adoption event last month) compared to Fernando, who was extraordinarily affectionate (if I haven’t mentioned it before, their foster mom said she’d never seen a bunny groom a potential adopter before); she had a habit of dancing quickly away when I reached out for her, but she was, as you can see, comfortable with snuggling between my legs while her son groomed her or lying at my side. -
Posted By Q8bunny on 8/09/2017 5:48 AM
Wait a minute… so THAT’s where all my missing time went??! And here I was, blaming it on alien abductions.
As an old-time (as in 1990’s version, though I just got the more recent version off Steam during their summer sale last month) X-Com player, I suggest it could be…both!!!
@jerseygirl: I haven’t brought them home just yet (still working on getting the bunny condo and other gear), but I expect quite the little time sink. Fortunately, I’m good at multitasking.
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