I'm getting two bunnies soon. Any Help?

1. Read Read Read. Here are some suggestions.

2. Rabbits are very noisy at night a bedroom might not be a good plan.

3. Have them fixed.

4. Surf Fluther

4. I adopted a pair of females who get along. Not all do. Read books and read web sites about the issue.

On this question I asked before I adopted I got some great advice from @seekingwolf:

I’ve had rabbits for a long while…I even bred them too.

While they don’t need a HUGE area to run around in all the time, I would give them at least a couple of hours several times a week to hop around. It’s not good to keep them “penned up”

Some tips:
1) I don’t suggest feeding a rabbit lots of lettuce. Too much gives them the squirts.

2) Don’t put fabric in their cage…they can chew off the fabric strands, swallow them and die.

3) Bunnies can’t barf. That’s why one must be VERY careful what you feed them.

4) Keep them away from berries (in my experience, they’re bad) rotten fruits/veggies, and unknown plants (could be poisonous)

5.) Make sure they have fresh water available all of the time

6.) Brush them and cut their nails!

7.) GET THEM FIXED/NEUTERED. My first litter was begotten by accident…there were 8 of ‘em!

8.) Don’t startle them or let them go close to cats/dogs. Rabbits are easily scared and are susceptible to sickness, which can kill them. :(

9.) Best foods: water, pellets, hay (not too dusty/old), some alfalfa (when in season), portions of carrots, apples, etc. I once had a bloodthirsty rabbit who loved steak (she ate it when it fell off the grill) I don’t suggest feeding it to a rabbit.

10.) The more time you spend petting your rabbit and basically being near it, it will become more docile.

@mbubbles Welcome to Fluther!

What books have you read already about bunny care?

You’ll also be getting 3 bunnies soon. And 4. And 17.

Buy carrots. They go great with rabbit.

Keep them outside. Secure your garden and let them run free to come and go as they please. Rabbits can become the most domestic pets, no so different to dogs really.

@Bobbydavid While I agree with you that rabbits make awesome pets in my area my rabbits would not last one night in the yard. Snakes, owls, coyotes, hawks and raccoons will kill them not to mention domestic dogs.

I keep mine in a cage in my studio and during the day they have a secure covered hutch they stay in outside for air. I always bring them in when it gets chilly or light fades.

Wanted to also add that you should not believe anyone who tells you the sex of your rabbits aside of a Vet. Determining the sex of a rabbit is extremely difficult. Get them fixed even if you think they are the same sex.

Rabbits poop a lot. And they are masters of getting out of cages so make sure they are secure.

So you’re getting 200 bunnies soon? Congratulations.

Bunnies are very territorial, yet they are very sociable. They don’t like to live alone, so it’s good you’re getting two. However, they can be difficult to indentify male/female, so I hope you don’t get one of each. If you introduce one bunny to another, they may fight if you put the second one into the cage that the first one has already made into home. It sounds like you are getting them at the same time, so this may not be an issue, but if they don’t already know each other, they may fight for dominance.

Bunnies stink, especially males. You’ll need to clean their cage often, or keep them outside. Males will spray urine on the walls of a glass cage, or through a wire cage.

We have one rabbit. He’s a wonderful little guy, and pretty spoiled. Rabbits really should not be caged all the time. The rabbit book we have suggests they have three hours a day to run around. They are very active and need things to chew on, so keeping a cage in a bedroom could get annoying. The water bottles make a lot of noise when they drink from them.

One thing to know about rabbits is that their urine stinks. A lot. They pee a lot, and poop almost constantly. The cage will need to be cleaned daily, the rabbits will need to be brushed and have their nails trimmed. If you let them out to run around, you have to make sure there aren’t wires they can chew on. You might also want to call around and make sure there’s a vet in your area that will treat rabbits. We got a male because none of the vets around here would spay a female—it’s riskier I guess than nuetering a male. Our rabbit got sick once, and I had to call a few vets before I could find one that would treat him.

Our rabbit is litter trained, which makes keeping his cage clean and smelling fresh soooooo much easier. Rabbits won’t naturally use a litter box, but they do naturally go in the same spot each time. The trick is to get the rabbit to always go in the litter box. It takes patience and persistence. Buy a book about rabbits and follow the steps it lists to litter train your bunnies. It took about a month and a half for our rabbit to start using the litter box all the time, but now that he does I just change the litter every couple of days and it doesn’t smell. Before that, I had to scoop out the soiled bedding daily because it’s such a strong, nasty smell.

We have a big hutch that we keep indoors. The hutches are expensive new, but I found ours on craigslist for $25. He’s also used to going outside on a harness or in his “playpen,” and when the weather is bad we let him run around in the hallway. I put up a baby gate to keep him there, because the rest of the house has wood floors that make him slip around and he doesn’t like that.

We feed our rabbit timothy hat and rabbit food. He gets as much hay as he’ll eat, and about a handful of the rabbit food. He also likes fresh veggies and fruit, and for a treat now and then I give him a couple of Cheerios. Rabbits don’t need tons of food, but they do need lots to chew on. Good luck!

be vewy vewy quiet.

We had a bunny for awhile. One thing I learned is that their waste is very good fertilizer, once you let it ‘age.’ I would dump the used bunny litter in an area of the yard that I planned to use as a garden the next year, and it had the properties of making for very fertile soil. My peppers and tomatoes grew to awesome proportions, thanks to my bunny poop compost.

The best thing to do is read up on them, books or online. Get the facts on how to care for them, and decide if it’s the right pet for you.

I had pet rabbit growing up. My mother did all the caring, cleaning and feeding for it, so I know if we ever got a rabbit I’d need to do a lot of research. We kept ours in an indoor cage, and had an outdoor hutch as well. But, she roamed the house any time we were home (we had a dog as well, and always wanted to supervise.)

The House Rabbit Handbook is very helpful. You will want to skip the part about having your rabbits loose in the house (what with the dogs and cats), but the rest of it is very helpful.

Be prepared for the HUGE amount of poop that comes with rabbits, and the smell. Yuck. Get them both spayed/neutered so they don’t have babies or fight, and buy a cage big enough for both of them. If it’s not big enough for them to run and jump, it is WAY too small. I used to have 2 bunnies… they did not live in a cage and had free reign over my apartment. Rabbits can be litter boxed trained quite easily w/ a corner litter box. They chew base boards though.

You can try to potty train them if you keep them in the house, use a newspaper. We started to do that when we first got our rabbit and it was working. But we had to move and then the bunny had to become an outdoor bunny in a cage. Depending on the color of the bunny and where you live, you need shade during the ‘heat’ and a ‘shelter’ outside for winter.

Our bunny loves to eat carrots, different types of lettuce, although you aren’t suppose to give them too much on certain ones too often. That is why you need to check out sites online. I had one that had a list of all the foods you could and could NOT or shouldn’t give to bunnies and I believe it was from a bunny society of sorts. Bunnies love sweets so be sparing with such things as apples and fruits. My bunny also will eat parsley and basil along with his pellets and I buy a bag of ‘hay/alfalfa mix from the pet store an give to him when I can’t get fresh cut grass that doesn’t have ‘spray poison’ on it. They love to have toys also and do a lot of chewing so be careful on what toys you choose to give them. A good site will give you all this info.

If you think they may have to become an outdoor bunny in a cage, don’t even get one. That is a cruel way to keep them.

I had a friend with two male rabbits in a one cage. They fought and bloodied each other continually.

@BBSDT, I agree with you but I am not the primary owner of the property and all I can do is feed the bunny and try to pay attention to him. My b.f. found him from where he works, someone moved out of their apt and just left the bunny go. So he brought it home.

The problem is he has the mentality that his dad does ’ the old fashion way of taking care of animals’ just feed an water is all they need! That is NOT true!

I am unable to get any place unless one of them takes me so it has to be ‘their approval’ so I have to ‘deal with the issue daily’ and believe me I DON“T LIKE IT! Take care of pets, means more than food an water in my book!

They are a responsibility just like a child, and if you don’t have that attitude you should never get a pet no matter what it is!

@lollipop I’m glad you agree. The only suggestion I’d make is be sure to have a bottom in their cage that doesn’t hurt their feet…. many rabbits in raised cages end up with disformed feet :(

@AstroChuck oh dear

@BBSDTfamily, we use Grassy Mats in our rabbit’s hutch. I don’t like the raised bottom on the hutch because it looks so uncomfortable. One side of the hutch has a wooden bottom, and we line that with bedding. The mats are great, and they last quite a while even with all the chewing. The website I linked to above has some great rabbit toys and treats, too!

@missAusten great idea on grassy mats. I buy the timothy hay by the bale and line the bottom of the outdoor play hutch with it.

When I am painting I let them hop about in a “bunny proofed” area of the studio. They are great companions. Even better than the mouse who was my studio buddy for the last two years. Don’t get me wrong- Harry was cool and when he passed away I was bummed out. It is just that the rabbits are so laid back and content.

If they end up with pancakes on their head, make sure you get a picture.

So cute—and they eat their own shit:

Night droppings: (cecotrophs) These are small soft fecal pellets resembling a cluster of grapes. Rabbits will ingest the cecotrophs directly from the anus. These are usually produced 4–5 hours after a meal. The cecotrophs are softer than regular pellets with a stronger odor and should not be confused with actual diarrhea. Cecotrophs are a necessary part of your rabbit’s diet. They contain vitamins and proteins essential to your rabbit’s health.

Quoted from: adoptarabbit.

They like to burrow, crawl under things, hide themselves, and feel enclosed like they’re under ground, so give them a nice big cage (for 2 bunnies together, I’d suggest about 3×3 x 4) and then put lots of fun stuff in there from the bunny and kitty aisles of the pet store.

They also like to nibble a lot because their teeth never stop growing so cardboard and an all-natural straw welcome mat are good choices.

My biggest suggestion though, is go to www.bunnybuddies.org, and read EVERYTHING on the entire website BEFORE you make your final decision to adopt. Rabbits are not toys, and they are not playthings. They are living breathing creatures, and they deserve the care and respect of mature, responsible people who are prepared for them, so please know what you’re getting into.

Bunnies:
pee, lots and lots of stinky pee
poop, lots and lots of pellet poops
chewing- they chew everything
speed- they’re fast when they want to run out of the room, the house, they yard, down the sidewalk/street, etc
noisey- they burrow, hit the water bottle like crazy, scratch at everything
sleep- they don’t sleep when you want to

cute
soft
cuddly
affectionate, kind of
great pets for the hyper focused, homebound person with no social life who can become the bunnie’s willing, loving, providing slave
*they taste great if all else fails

Yes, @hungryhungryhortence, they do taste great. Having them as pets failed for me. Now, I raise them for their meat alone. I like them much better on my plate.

@ru2bz46: my Nonnie just informed me the freezer is empty, bunnies would look awful nice stacked up in there.

@hungryhungryhortence At last count, there are about 40 baby bunnies hopping around. Some are just a week old, so the number may change. Apparently, the new buck is holding his own. ;-)