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Argh, don’t you hate it when you nearly finish a huge post and then the power goes out…
Oh well, here is the second draft:
I am currently trying to convince Hubby that we should get a new rabbit. Our last bunny sadly died two years ago, and I feel like I’m ready to pick up the bunnyslave duties once again. I would love to have a Flemmie (who wouldn’t
). Hubby said no at first because they are so expensive to keep, but after much nagging and begging he finally gave me a “maybe”. But, he wants to see some numbers first. So now I’m trying to guesstimate how much a Flemmie would cost us per month. I also have some general questions about his care. Maybe there are a few people on this forum that have experience with large bunnies and can give me some advice. Anybody is welcome to jump in of course! 
Here we go:
Litter/Litterbox: We went to our local Tractor Supply and found a great deal on horse bedding, $6 for 40 pounds. They are pine pellets, is that ok to use? (Has anybody used it as cat litter? We have been buying Yesterdays News for our cat, but it is 3x as expensive as the horse bedding…) I found a nice under-the-bed storage bin at Walmart, it is about 26×18 inches that I could use for his litterbox. Should it be bigger? If I fill it with litter on one side, hay on the other, how long would the 40 pound bag last him, more or less?
Hay: Also at Tractor Supply, they have bales of Alfalfa hay, but no Timothy. The clerk said they also have bales of Coastal hay in a truck outside (I thought it was weird that it wasn’t in the store with the Alfalfa
). So I did some research on the Coastal (Bermuda) hay, and it seems that it is close enough to Timothy. However, i read several times about horses getting compactions from this type of hay. Should I stay away from it? There are two more local Feed stores where we will try for Timothy bales, but if any of you know of a place, online or local (we live in Savannah, GA) where one can buy bales for a good price, please let me know. I know it’s hard to tell because every rabbit is different, but about how much hay should I expect him to eat over the course of a month?Pellets: I plan on feeding him Oxbow Essentials, Foster and Smith ships the 50 pound bags for free
. I figured that will last him anywhere from 2-3 months (as an adult), is that about right? I know he will need a source of Alfalfa while he is growing, would it be better to feed him Alfalfa hay with Timothy pellets or Alfalfa pellets with Timothy hay?He will start out being housed in a 48×30 inch dog crate while we are not at home, other than that he will have the run of the dining room (where his crate will be) and as soon as his litterhabits allow, he will have freerange throughout the house, with supervision.
To anybody who read this whole thing, thank you very much!
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Flemmies are expensive
We use wood stove chips, they are about 4-5 bucks for 40lbs, sounds the same as the stuff you found
It works well. You’re final litter box might have to be bigger than the understorage one you’ve found, I have an giant cat box, its 16×22 and I’ll give it another couple months until she outgrows it, she’s now 5 months. But thats probably a good start 
Lady eats about 5lbs of food in 2 weeks? Maybe more, I haven’t really wrote it down or anything. She’s on Unlimited Oxbow Bunny Basics, actually she eats so much she’s not unlimited, but I do refill her bowl 2-3 times a day so thats like 2+ cups a day. Now once she’s an adult she can be limited to 1/4- 1/2 cup per 6lbs of bun, but thats still several months of unlimited pellets, which really adds up! I use alfalfa based pellet for Lady, and unlimited orchard hay I bought by the bale from dr fosters and smith because she was going through the 40oz bags weekly. I don’t know anything about bermuda hay, this has some comparisons though, and I don’t think it looks bad? http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html
Oh and salads are about 10 bucks a week.I can honestly say I don’t think the crate would work, I had Lady in a 4x4sqft xpen, and she’d rattle the bars and jump out (32in height at about 9-10 weeks old!). I expanded her pen to include regular walls + xpen, covered the reg walls in cardboard because she’s a baseboard chewer, and she now stays in it at nights and doesn’t try to pick up her cage :/ ha. Its about 4X8sqft. Shes not in it that much, she get run of half the house during the day, but still she wasn’t happy in the smaller version of her pen. Your bun might be different, I just wanted to share my experience
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Thank you Sam’s Human and Beka for your replies!
Originally we were thinking of getting an x-pen, but I was worried about him jumping out the top or our cat jumping in. Then we considered building a cage out of NIC cubes, but Hubby doesn’t like the “raggedy” look of it
How do you guys cover the x-pen to keep them from jumping out? Or are there x-pens with a top? I found one with a top on amazon but it’s only 4×4 foot. -
Right now I have an unfolded cardboard box over the side she likes to jump over (she wont jump over the other side?) but I’ve been considering buying some NIC grids to make a “lid” for the top. They’d be easy enough to connect together, and then either permanently zip tie to the xpen or possibly some of those velcro cable organizer ties. And it wouldn’t have that messy NIC look. I’ve also used a sheet, and I’ve been brainstorming for other ideas, some mesh stuff from the hardware store maybe. Really though, she’s going to be a house bun soon enough so I’m not super invested in keeping her in.
I don’t know what to do about the cat, I only have another bunny. Is the cat going to be ok with a bunny?
xpens are 4×4
2 would make a 4×8 space, unless you have wall space you can protect and include. I have 2 midwest gold ones, I’m really happy with them. -
Alright, making a top out of NIC grids sounds easy enough. That way there will be more than enough room for a ginormous litterbox as well
Our cat is a little wild, a 1.5 year old siamese. But of course we will make sure that she doesn’t bother the bunny, and they will never be together unsupervised. I’m more concerned about her jumping in the pen and eating the hay than her trying to mess with him… She has PICA, and would most likely chow down on the hay. We had a similar episode when she was younger and she ate a bunch of broom bristles, it took e-surgery and $900 to save her. So, I have to make sure that she can’t get in the pen. -
Oooh and don’t forget spay/neuter fees, it just cost 260 here to get my flemmie spayed
What about cardboard and such? Will you cat eat that? How are you going to make sure the cat and the rabbit poop in different litterboxes? Someone here just had an incident with a cat and it lacerated the cornea of their bunny, they have to pay $$ to get the eye removed
Flemmies are really best as house bunnies because they are so big, even pens aren’t big enough for full time, how is that gonna work if your cat is wild-ish? I know several people here have cats and bunnies so I’m sure its possible, I’m just brainstorming a bit. -
Thank you very much, Stickerbunny! For some reason the big bales didn’t come up for me on F&S when I searched for bales previously. It only showed me the small bags and Mini Bales. Oh well, I found it now, thank you
Sam’s Human, do you know about how long those 40lbs litterbags last you? Other than that, I think I got all the info I needed from you guys, thank you for helping me out! If everything goes well, I shall reward you with baby Flemmie pics a couple of months down the road
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