Ariel the Dutch

[Dutch]

 

Earlier this year I hosted my daughter’s third birthday party in our home.  It was right around Easter, so we went with a bunny theme – my husband dressed up as the Easter bunny, party favors went out in plastic eggs, and we had an all bunny petting zoo with 25 rabbits of different sizes, ages, and breeds.  It was so much fun!  Ever since then, my little girl has been asking me for a pet rabbit.  I secretly wanted one too, but our house was already beginning to resemble a zoo (2 big dogs, 2 cats, and 3 fish tanks), and I just didn’t think it was the best time to add another furry member to our family.

 

So, fast forward 6 months.  I took my daughter to her swim lesson, and we happened to arrive half an hour early.  To kill some time, we decided to go roam around the pet store next door.  We’ve done this from time to time, and they always have bunnies that we pet and hold, but this time was different.  There were two little Dutch bunnies in the rabbit pen that hopped right up to our hands and licked our fingers!  They actually WANTED to be picked up and cuddled.  I’ve never seen anything like it before!  However, I still wasn’t sure about bringing a rabbit into our home, and I really didn’t want to purchase a bunny from a pet store since I had a really bad experience with a sick rabbit from a pet store when I was a little girl.  We put the bunnies back and went to swim lessons.  I just knew these sweet little ones would be adopted quickly.  A week later – same scenario – early for swim lessons, and went to the pet store to kill time.  One of the sweet bunnies was still there.  That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  It was time.  So the next day, we decided to pull the trigger and brought our baby home.  My daughter named her Ariel. 

 

We put together a very large dog crate (42 x 28 x 30) with a litter box, a few toys, food crock, hay rack, water bottle, timothy nest and mat, and a recycled cardboard box that she loves to jump in and out of.  Her cage is in our office/playroom, and she gets a lot of time to explore as she pleases.  Much to my surprise, she was almost 100% litter trained after only a few days.  She’s incredibly brave and enjoys chasing our cat.  She has also discovered that she can get a running start on the carpet, jump up and launch herself onto the wood floor, and go sliding across the room, then run back to the carpet and repeat.  It’s incredibly entertaining.  We are so happy that we decided to bring her into our family.  I do have a couple questions: 

 

1.       Can anyone guess how old she might be?  The pet store had no clue.

2.       How do I encourage her to not sleep in her litter box?  Even though I clean it every day, She still ends up sleeping on her poop.  It’s solid, so it doesn’t make a mess, but it’s not ideal.  I thought about adding bedding to the cardboard box, but I don’t want her to think it’s another litter box.  Any suggestions?

Here she is discovering the cat in her cage, and then proceeding to chase the cat out of the cage:

 

 

 

Thanks everyone!

[bunnluff]

I wouldn’t worry about the litter box sleeping so much. Mine did this when they were younger. If you provide a box turned on its side with one side open, she might take shelter in there and sleep. Rabbits like little, confined spaces to feel safe and protected like they are in the wild in their burrows. Once I provided some sort of shelter for my bunnies, they preferred to sleep in there.
Btw she’s just so cute and what a great name!

[Kbana]

Welcome!! Congrats on being a bun family. They are really the best as I am quickly discovering myself. Looks like you have a great set up for her. I can’t tell you how old she is but I would bring her in for a new bun wellness check with your rabbit savvy vet. They might be able to help you. I got my bun from a pet store too and knew he needed to see a vet. The vet told me that it is not an exact science but she guessed my guy was about 4 months at the time. As far as the litter box, many buns like sleeping in the box. No way to really deter that from happening, it is pretty natural. Just make sure to clean it often and put a new layer of hay on top a few time a day. I also pick out poops with a paper towel when I can as the scoops don’t work so well for that. Many buns hang out in their box so putting hay in their box that they can eat at the same time is wise. To us it doesn’t make the most sense but that is bunny logic.

[Kbana]

I forgot to add that using a really absorbent litter like Yesterday’s News is helpful in keeping your bun clean when they hang out in their box.

[Dutch]

Thanks guys! We have a timothy hay bungalow and a repurposed carboard box for her to sleep in, but she prefers to sleep out in the open air – in her litter box… C’est la vie. 🙂

We were using carefresh colors in the litter box (my daughter picked it out because it was pink), but when I went to Amazon to purchase more carefresh, I noticed some reviews mentioned that carefresh might be contributing to bunny respiratory issues. We will be going to Petco for some Yesterday’s News this evening. I’d prefer to not take any chances.

As for the name, my little girl is on a Disney kick. She named the our second cat Rapunzel, and now we have Ariel the Little Mer-bunny.

[Hazel]

Welcome!

Another good choice for litter are wood stove pellets, or horse stall pellets (same thing). With wood stove pellets you have have to make sure it’s free of accelerants. A 40 lbs bag will cost $5- $7. We get ours from Tractor supply (horse stall pellets). There’s no cheaper litter and it works great! We use it for our cat’s litter box, as well.

[Author]

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