First, you should spay/neuter your rabbit for health and behavioral issues. It makes it way easier to litter train and they are less aggresive. Your rabbit should be able to at least hop 3 times a cross the cage, lie in any direction, and stand on their feet without touching the ceiling. I would not spend the money on your friend’s cage, and invest in an x-pen or you can make an NIC grid condo. You might as well just buy the proper cage without having to buy your friends then go buy another one.

You want to use a litterbox. In my litterbox, I line it with a few sheets of newspaper, with about 1-2 inches of pine pellets and a nice pile of hay for them to munch on. I absolutely love the pine pellets. They’re meant for horses (but are fine for rabbits), and I can buy them really cheaply at the feed bin in bulk.

I clean the litterbox every few days (for two rabbits) with a vinigar water mixture.

Stay away from wood shavings. Carefresh is good to, but as with many other storebrand litters, it is expensive.

http://rabbit.org/category/care/litter-training-care/

(here’s a link to the litter page on the house rabbit society. It is very helpful for new rabbit owners.)

I agree about skipping the cage altogether and getting an xpen right off the bat.

The minimum height for a rabbit who doesn’t jump is 36 inches. If your bun is a jumper, go higher. They also come in 42 or 48 inch heights. You’re better off going higher than too short, just in case!

When I got my buns, I had no idea how high they could jump (I knew nothing about rabbits actually…..so glad I found this website.), so I just bought the tallest one and it works wonderfully. I like it because I could put hidey houses and second floors in it without having to worry about the rabbits jumping out.

You can get one at most pet stores (they are called puppy pens or dog pens though), I know they have them at Petco.

I would definitely save money up for a spayed neuter. This is really important for female buns and overall as a whole, it will be difficult to truly litter train if they have not received this procedure

Also no offense to your friend but he/she isn’t doing you a favor by selling the small cage to you. You’re better off putting that money towards parts for a bunny condo or an xpen

Good luck!!

Defiantly get him neutered. It makes it so easy to litter train them, and they are less hormonal and aggresive.

Also, rabbits are MUCH happier in pairs. They have someone to play with all day, groom, and understand them bunny style. Females work best with males.

Yes I would say definitely try to get them together and from the same litter of buns, preferably one male one female. Female rabbits that are related can love each other one moment and hate each other the next. Kind of like human sisters. I made the mistake of getting two separate female rabbits and am having the hardest time bonding them!

Hey emm_renn, congratulations on your first bun!

As far as litter goes, I use Yesterday’s News cat litter (It is recycled paper compressed into pellets). Although they sell these specifically ‘for bunnies’ it is much cheaper in the long run to get a big bag of ‘Yesterday’s News’, besides they’re the exact same thing. These paper pellets don’t do much for smell, but they have great absorption and can be composted (or just thrown away). Carefresh or the like (basically looks like really soft shredded paper) is also good.

I tend to avoid anything that contains wood or has a strong smell to it. Rabbits have very sensitive respiratory systems and can get infections from inhaling oils that are often found in wood bedding (such as aspen pellets, or pine shavings). Also your rabbit is going to nibble on pretty much whatever litter you put in there, so anything corn based (which digests as a lot of sugar) or anything that clumps should be avoided.

As far as ‘containment’ goes, I definitely think it’s a good idea to go ahead and get something where your rabbit could run around a little bit. But just make sure that it can withstand ‘bunny rearranging’. I got a metal playpen for rabbits (similar to an x-pen) to put around is cage. I thought it would be good for the cage to be a comfort/ hideout place (with food, water, litter-box, etc.) and he could have access to the pen to run around and play. That thing has been demolished and put back together so many times I’ve lost count.

I think whether you get another bunny or not should depend on their age and where they each came from. The ideal situation would be if they were from the same litter, that way they will be the same age and would have already bonded. Bonding can sometimes be super easy (as if they’ve been best friends forever) or a total nightmare (like it was for me). An older or larger bunny may be more dominate over another rabbit (getting both rabbits fixed can help with this). I have also heard that a male and a female rabbit tend to be easier to bond (not sure though). With persistence, it would eventually work out, but can sometimes be a hassle until then. Once two bunnies are bonded though it is a much better living situation for them. They constantly have company and it is pretty hysterical to watch them play together.

I wish you the best of luck! I’m sure you will have many laughs to come!

I see that you’ve decided you want to take the full plunge right away!

You have gotten some really great advice from the others here and I especially strongly agree with what they have said about putting your money towards an x-pen or NIC condo. The only other thing I would push again is to look for adoptable rabbits instead of buying from a breeder – you will be doing yourself a HUGE favor, saving yourself a TON of money by not having to pay for spay/neuter and by avoiding breeder’s high prices. And rescuing a homeless rabbit! So please, consider this option before you buy from a breeder! Petfinder.com is an awesome place to start!

Totally agree with funny-looking-rabbit.

Go to your local animal shelter or rabbit rescue, there are LOTS of bunnies who NEED homes. I adopted my bunnies already bonded from them! They were also spayed and neutered and in perfect health. I didn’t have to pay loads of money on them either (they were about $100 together, and the shelter also gave me a bag of pellets, some toys, a free bag of hay, and some blankets).

Posted By emm_renn on 10/10/2014 6:58 PM
Trust me, I have looked high and low on pet finder.com, my local SPCA shelters even pet stores that take in unwanted rabbits, but nothing has worked out. All of the organizations are about 3 hours away from where I live and they all want to make house visits which they said they would not do because of the distance and pointed me to other organizations that were also just as far from where I live. The breeder I have found is very knowledgable and is selling the rabbits for $10. I am assuming it is because they are already 3 months old and he is wanting to sell them quickly. I have had a brief conversation with him and he says he keeps his rabbits in x-pens either in his home or in his garage. Out of the many rabbit breeders I have talked to in the past, this one I feel the most comfortable with. I figured I can save up by the time he is due to be fixed. And also I have noticed that the adoption fees for rabbits can be pricy as well. Around $70-$100 and I know that is including the spay/neuter, but if I get a rabbit for $10 I would not mind spending the money I saved on adopting on the procedure.

I completely understand! I really commend your attempts to find homeless rabbits before going straight to a breeder, and on doing your research about the breeder you did end up choosing. Can’t wait to see who you choose to bring home!!

If you do end up getting two from the same litter, you will likely have to separate them briefly, but this can be done without hurting the existing bond. My lops have the same father (different mothers), were born 3 days apart but kept together. They lived in separate “cages” from about 3 months old until they were 8 months old (when we did some remodeling so they could live together). Their cages were next to each other, and they shared playtime again after spayed/neutered until we moved them back in together. Their bond never wavered. Trying to bond our single bunny with them, however, is a whole different game!

By the way, I use the word “enclosure” instead of “cage”.

I would for sure put a liter box in the cage and train them to use that. In my opinion it is more sanitary and easier to clean out. And the liter that I use is Yesterdays News it is a paper based cat liter but works great for my bunny!