You have to be 21 in VA to adopt an animal and show proof that you either own your home or rent from a landlord who allows pets. Most times everyone in the household has to agree to the adoption.

in order to adopt, you have to be a legal adult. i’m pretty sure this applies everywhere. i would really try and get your parents on board with it. as you know, to buy from a breeder and alter yourself is BIG bucks. adoption is the way to go. are you sure this is something you can handle with your rats and two ferrets?

good! and your parents have given you the green light? i’d hate for you to start looking and planning and get denied again.

i dont know if its the same there but here young children doesnt really matter, they tend to not want to give animals who have behavious problems or whatever but generally as long as someone (ie. you) will be looking after it i cant see why they would have a problem!

Hi,
I thought your parents had made a contract with you regarding your ferret and accepting their decision not to have a bunny. It may seem like a long time to you since you last asked, but really it’s only been less than a month or so. I would not even ask. Parents have a way of remembering what’s important to their kids and already know how you feel. Even if you could adopt, it wouldn’t be without their presence and permission, so yes, they would be doing the adopting.

You were going to demonstrate how well you take care of your animals and show them you are responsible. You’re doing that, and maybe that’s why your mother seems to be coming around. But it’s delicate right now and starting up again might blow it for you.
Here’s my idea: don’t say a word until your birthday. If they give you permission it would be in the form of a note or offer to go look for a bunny with you, but wouldn’t come before your birthday. (Unless they offer, then go for it.) If that is your gift, their idea, then go select a bunny with them. If they ask what you want, tell them it’s still a bunny, but give them an alternative gift if they say no.

and along the lines of what Pam said, you are going to love any bunny you get, so searching them out is not necessarily the best idea. you know the shelters in teh area so if they agree, go and pick one from there. spend time with each candidate so you get the bunny that is right for you and not just based on looks.

I can give you a little insight based on what my rescue would do.

A teenager cannot adopt from us, a parent/guardian would adopt.  If a teenager was going to care for the bunny, we would do the adoption with the adult and the teen at the same time, going through all of the care, housing and feeding information with both of you.  The prescreen would be done with the adult, and we’d make sure that the adult is going to be the one responsible for the rabbit no matter what happens.  We have gotten more than one rabbit returned after a teenager moves away to college and the parents do not want the rabbit anymore, so we want to avoid that.  Having a two year old in the house is mostly a non-issue.  Certain rabbits are scared by little kids, so they’d be a poor fit for a household with small kids, but most will do fine.  As part of the adoption process, we’d stress that toddlers should never be with the bunny unsupervised, and how a small child should never pick up a bunny.

Good luck in your search!

Basically an adult has to sign the adoption contract because it is a contract.

I can only speak for the rescue I help at. We look at the overall adoption application to determine if there is anything that would be an outright no or if perhaps the applicant needs some further educating or is good to go. Every applicant is different obviously and every circumstance is different.

Sometimes a rescue may prefer that there not be too many young children in the home for various reasons.

In the end we do make sure that the adult is ultimately responsible as they should be. I agree with Osprey too, I have seen it happen too many times where a teenager gets a pet, goes off to college and is not wanted by the parents.

keep us posted

I’d say the little two year old is a non-issue too; It comes up with cats and dogs, but I don’t think with a rabbit it would be any problem at all!!

Good lucfk *FINGERS CROSSED* keep us posted and Happy Birthday!!

when is your bday?

oh thats kewl, when do u go back to school? i go back to university first week in october

that’s really late here in the US K&D. my college class starts on August 23rd, my son starts school on August 29th… when i was in school we used to start anywhere from August 20th on and we went until the first week of June.

in school we go from about 2nd week of september till mid july, but at college and uni we go from start of october till mid may