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Hi Bunny Lovers!
I brought home a bunny yesterday. He is a little male (about 3 lbs). He’s fully grown and I think is a dwarf hotot. He’s mostly white with black ears, black circles around his eyes, and a stripe of black down his back. He was an abandoned bunny and I took him in after a friend found him. He has been outside for a few weeks (I know this because my friend’s neighbors have seen him running around for that long). I found a few ticks and removed them, and I’ve called a local rabbit vet (I live on Long Island and there’s a nice one right nearby) and they’ve told me as long as he’s eating he’ll be okay. I’ve made us an appointment with that vet for next week so he can get checked up and I can see about having him neutered… I am sure he lived in a house in the past because as soon as I put him in his cage with the bedding down, he peed right away, I think he was holding it until I could show him where it was ok to go… Either that or it was an amazing coincidence, since he’d had multiple opportunities to pee anywhere (including all over me) but he waited until he was on some absorbent bedding. I’ve named him Rocky because he’s a tough little guy!
I’m glad to have found this forum and will post some pictures when I get a chance. Thanks for all the links and FAQ sections here, I am finding it so useful. Plus I think I’ll try making Rocky the ‘jellyfish’ play toy in the toy section!
Best,
JRBunBun
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Thanks again! I don’t have any other pets! I am home from work today with a bit of a stomach bug, so I’m taking the opportunity to bunny-proof as much as I can. Here are some things I’ve noticed about Rocky – and I think they may be odd, but I’ve never had a bunny before so would LOVE any feedback! 1) Rocky would rather drink his water out of a bowl than drink from his water bottle… I let him out of his cage this orning and he went straight to the kitchen where I put hay, food and a bowl of water for when he feels like roaming around. He went straight to the water and started gulping! I had to take it away from him to dump it out and make it fresh… And 2) – This I think is wierd and I’m hoping it’s just a personality trait rather than an actual ailment – He (at the wierdest moments, when he’s up against a wall or in the corner of his cage – He FALLS OVER and sticks his legs out like one of those fainting goats!
(Do a YouTube search for fainting goats, it’s insane) Then he just lays there… I had a heart attack the first time he did this yesterday, I thought he had died! But he is still breating and it’s not like a seizure, it’s more like he just wants to lay down and would rather just fall over than stretch out… Has anybody ever seen this before?Also he is very neat about where he pees but not so much with the poops… But at least they are easy to clean up! I’ll need to do more research on how to get him to litter train… He loves spinach, his timothy hay, and he enjoys carrots and red delicious apple chunks as treats! He’s not so shy today and is freely exploring (but I’m keeping a close eye. He also loves his grass ball.. Ok, that’s probably enough for now!
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Welcome JRBunbun…
OK, I can’t stop laughing at your fainting goats description…
. It’s not as weird as you think. Around here we call it the bunny flop and it can freak you out when you first see it. The rabbits do that and sort of go into a trance like state. Sometimes with eyes open. You’ll be happy to know they do this when feeling relaxed and secure.It’s also quite common for rabbits to prefer a bowl over a sipper bottle. Maybe provide a bowl in his cage along with the bottle.
On the litter training, there’s some info under the heading BUNNY INFO at the top of the page. He’s almost there by the sounds of it. Many leave stray poops and when they run about in new spaces, they leave territory marking poops but that does decrease in time.
Fainting goats………..hahaha!
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Like a fainting… goat? Oh my gosh! That means he’s really, really, really SICK and needs immediate vet attention!
Kidding! Like Jersey said, it’s called a bunny flop. It’s the ultimate in relaxation… Most of us have been frightened when we first saw it b/c it does look like they get ill all of a sudden and just collapse.
If you see him running around the house and he suddenly does a funny twist in the air like he’s kicking his heels to the side, that is called a Binky. It’s their way of having fun and expressing joy!
A great website about bunny behavior and body language is the Language of Lagomorphs. It’s a must-read… very entertaining too!
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Dont feel silly asking questions-we were all there at one point in time and we ALL still ask questions beceause we all still run into new things from time to time. Between this site and http://www.rabbit.org i think we can get all your questions answered.
Your bunny may even make noises too! I have 4 buns and between them all they sometimes grunt, growl, oink, honk, etc. Typically my babies do it just to communicate and may not even mean what you would think it would mean if it was a dog-so keep that in mind. I have a 2lb dwarf who likes to growl all the time and we just crack up at her when she growls because it cracks us up when she does it! Loud noise coming from such a small body. lol The first time she heard herself growl she walked around all day growling at everything-she just liked the fact she could make noise. lol
Personally, I think when a bun is rescued he knows it. My newest bun was thrown out 2 years ago after Easter and the people who rescued him was with the local house rabbit society and he was so sweet to them and it was like he understood they rescued him off the street. He is our best bunny. So lovey dovey with us. Still seems so happy of anything we give him. It is like he sees things differently than our other buns we have had for years. I truely believe he understands. They say bunnies forget things over time and maybe they do on some things but maybe not the big things? I dont know…
Either way…what you did is a huge deal to all of us and you are an angel in our books!
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