New to rabbits

[Renee]

Hi. My name is Renee and my rabbit’s name is Nibbles. I’ve had lots of pets over my lifetime (cats, dogs, hamsters, a gerbil, a hedgehog, turtles, fish, a bird, a newt, a guinea pig) but never any rabbits.

I’ll try to make a long story short, this is how I ended up with a rabbit. I get wild bunnies in my backyard all the time but they’re never friendly. A few days before Christmas, I noticed a rabbit in my yard that was different. It was bigger and darker in colour, definitely didn’t look like the regular wild rabbits that hang around. I went outside and called to it and it came running right away. It let me pet it and it would eat lettuce out of my hand. I figured it had to be someone’s pet. I searched online lost & found boards, the SPCA site, everywhere I could think of to see if anyone was looking for a rabbit, but there was nothing. 

The rabbit visited between my yard and the yards of the duplex next door over the next few months. It got to the point where it would come running and crawl under the fence to greet me as soon as it heard my back door open and close. I learned what a binky was from reading this forum after I noticed her doing it when she’d see me. I started researching online what to feed it and even bought a big bag of Timothy hay. It was usually outside in my yard to greet me in the morning before I left for work and sometimes waiting for me when I got home, waiting for food. 

I later found out from one of the neighbours, that it belonged to one of the other neighbours and he let it go because he didn’t want it anymore. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I felt bad that it was outside in the middle of winter and somehow managing to survive the cold. I was hoping if I got it’s trust to eventually pick it up, I would keep it and take it inside. Unfortunately that never happened. One day I fed the rabbit before I left for work and I never saw it again. Days went by, then weeks. I had searched online to see if anyone found it, but found nothing.

Then, 7 weeks later I decided to check the SPCA website for some reason. And there she was! I went up there to see her in person and it was definitely her! I was so happy she was okay. She had been there the entire time. I had been keeping track of the days I saw her and the last day I saw her was the day someone picked her up and took her to the SPCA. They also told me she had been found in my neighbourhood, so I knew it was definitely her. That had treated her for fleas as she had been outside for so long with all the wild rabbits. 

I’m so happy to have her back but I have so much to learn about rabbits. This website has been a great source of info. I don’t have kids, but I feel they way I imagine a new parent feels when their first baby does something they aren’t sure is normal or not. Every time my rabbit does or doesn’t do something, I’m checking out this forum to see if it’s normal behaviour lol.

[JackRabbit]

Welcome! Glad she was safe and taken in to the SPCA out of the cold.

This site has great info for a new bunny parent. Read everything you can via the meny button at the top of the page. You can search old posts and ask as many questions as you like. We’re all still learning too (always!) so don’t be afraid to contribute too.

We’d love to hear more about your bunny — cage/xpen setup, etc., and we love bunny pictures (hint hint!).

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