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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum HABITATS AND TOYS New to indoor bunnies.. need advice

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    • Elz704
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        Looking for ideas, we have had outdoor bunnies but recently we got 2 indoor mini lops. One male one female both from the same litter… they are both approx 3-4 months. I had originally planned to have them fixed as we wanted them as pets and didn’t want to have babies! Before I got them I had called our current vet to make sure they seen bunnies and they preform spay / neuter unfortunately the person I spoke too was very new and miss informed me. So now I’m calling around trying to find a Vet which the closest is 45 minutes to an hour away and are quoting 180+ to fix the buck and 250+ for the doe. The reason we got two was so they had a playmate don’t want lonely bunnies ?. So now I’m wondering what to do.., separate them in different cages. ( kinda defeated original purpose) Fix one?? But which one???
        My next predicament which directly impact my previous issue is we currently have the both in a standard “pet store” starter cage. My original plan was this would get us threw till spring until I could build a more elaborate hutch. For those who have indoor bunnies tell me about your set up. I don’t have any intention of having them free roaming as we have very small kids, cats and large dogs. They are brought out multiple times a day for supervised play time. Also looking for litter training info. Feed back/ advice would be much appreciated! Sorry for such a long post??


      • Mer
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          you’re going to have to separate them . They will have babies. I would fix both if you’re going to house them in the same area. They will leave territorial droppings and sprays. And can get aggressive towards one another.

          I have my rabbit free roam . You can buy xpen for dogs to allow them more space, as rabbit cages from pet store don’t allow the room for a bunny to run around and move. You will need one for each. So they can be separated.

          Litter training you need to have a litter box , I put my hay inside the box. Bunnies tend to eat and poop at the same time. If the go outside the litter box pick up the droppings and place it back into the box and soak up the pee with toliet paper and place it in the box.


        • Deleted User
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            Hi there! Welcome to BB

            So first things first, it is important to have both parties altered before trying to bond. Hormone fluctuations make unaltered rabbits very unpredictable, and they may seem to get along one minute but the next minute they are boxing each other or pulling out fur! Not a fun sight to see. Could you just take things quite slowly and get one fixed and then the other when you have the resources? It will make your life much easier to have them both done. In the meantime they need to be housed in separate cages because they reach sexual maturity around 4 months.

            I would also suggest an x pen to extend their space. You can attach it to the cage using zip ties. It will give them more space to roam about and that will make them happier. But since your rabbits are not altered, you need two of these enclosures. Please don’t let them breed, it’s not good for the doe and her litter probably won’t survive anyway

            For litter training, it’s kinda like cats. You leave the box with some hay in it and they just kind start choosing that spot as their “latrine”. Some bunnies pick up on it really fast and are good, others take some additional intervention. If they don’t seem to get the concept, sop up any pee that was done outside the box and put the towel in the box. That reinforces that it’s supposed to go in the box!


          • ThorandSif
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              I started out with a cage but quickly moved to a customized condo for our two Netherland Dwarfs. Amazon sells the wire cubes as panels and you just need zip ties to put them together. They have 3 levels plus a nice corral play area. The flooring is made from exercise puzzle mats which is slip proof.


            • Binky Bindi
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                Hi Elz!

                How exciting! Lops are just the absolute cutest!
                Definitely separate them! I personally spent $175 on my doe to get her fixed last year, which also included the extra pain medication I needed when after the spay, she didn’t eat for approximately 24 hours. Keep calling around. I know at one point I had 3 rabbits (two does, one buck) spayed and neutered and they gave us a “package deal” to get them done, so maybe see if they will with your two? If you are only fixing one, the doe is definitely better to get fixed just due to the health reasons. They develop reproductive cancers VERY easily after the age of two. However, it’d be beneficial to each one to get them fixed.

                I have three cats at home, and when I am in college I have 1 cat, 3 other rabbits, and a VERY large golden retriever. She LOVES cats, actually. My cats generally get along with her too. The best thing that has worked for me is a 4ftx4ft doggie play pen. All in all I believe I spent $65 for the cage on amazon, and it is a white plastic (which makes it a tad prettier than a wire cage) with removable panels to make whatever size you want. It gives her so much room to run around, and on days where I am studying and super busy to the point where I’m not home to let her out, she isn’t really mad about it at all because there is so much room in her pen. This pen has a swinging door on one side of it as well, so when I want to let her out (which is usually open when I am home anyway), it is easy to do so. This way is also very easy to get her back in. I have trained her with freeze dried fruits, to which she knows the sound of the bag shaking means she is getting a treat! This is much better than when she was first very small and not trained, and better for our relationship as well.

                I have her on a carpet, and over the carpet I use 2 yards of fleece fabric. It works perfectly to cover the whole span of the cage and is washable, changeable, also very fun for you and even your kids (I love changing the fleece patterns for holidays and seasons) You can also tie the edge of the fabric to the bottom of the cage bar, if need be, to keep bun from digging and bringing up the blanket (which I have never had a problem with really). I also have a tile in one corner of the cage just in case she gets too hot and a hide for her to go in.

                As for litter box, just keep putting their poops/pee (by soaking it up with a tissue) and place it in the box. When Bindi was a baby, I had another litter box outside her cage as well (just be careful because I had problems with my roommate’s cat peeing in my outside the cage box, which I would have to empty and clean every time he used. Bye to all the money I had to spend replacing the carefresh until I finally rigged a system so he couldn’t get in while I was not around. ?). Also, spaying Bindi made a HUGE difference in her litter box habits!


              • diggityd77
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                  @BinkyBindi – can you tell me what brand of doggie play pen the white plastic is? I have an x-large x-pen and while it does the job it’s not pretty in the house


                • diggityd77
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                    I have a male bunny and it cost us around $250ish to get him fixed.  I also have cats and they have all gotten along well with the bunny (I did have a dog up until he passed away recently – he and the bunny got along great).  The cats just check the bunny out from a safe distance, watch him, then go on their way.  And as others have suggested, I would recommend an x-pen for the added space it will give your bunnies; I personally have a x-large dog crate that I attached an x-pen to so when we are not at home he has more than enough room to run and binky.  When we are home, the bunny is out all the time.  


                  • Binky Bindi
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                      So sorry about that! I must not have seen the alert!
                      If you still need the pen brand, it is an IRIS 34inch 8 panel cage.

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                  Forum HABITATS AND TOYS New to indoor bunnies.. need advice