Breed Advice for Newbie

[dmwiecz]

I don’t own any bunnies and never have, but have been seriously considering getting one.  I’m looking for some advice breed-wise.  So far, I think I have it narrowed down to the Netherland Dwarf, Holland Lop, Mini Rex, or Polish.  Here’s what I’m looking for:

1.  Obviously something small.  5 lbs or less.

2.  A breed that’s easily litter-box trained.  I do plan to have it fixed. 

3.  A breed that wouldn’t be too difficult for a newbie like myself.  Like I said, I’ve never owned a rabbit, but I’m a very responsible pet owner.  Also, there are no kids in the house.

4.  However, I do have a 15 lb. cat who is VERY timid, so if there are any breeds that seem to get along better with cats, that’d be useful. 

I think that’s about it.  I have no intention of breeding or showing this rabbit, it will strictly be a pet, so I don’t care how showable, etc. it is.  I do tend to prefer those that are solid colors (esp. browns), but some broken ones w/ brown and white might be okay, too.  Also, I’ve heard varying things about sex…..does it really just depend on the individual or is the temperament/behavior of one sex significantly different than the other? 

Thanks so much for your help!  I’m sure there are tons of people on here who know way more about rabbits than I do!   http://www.rabbitsonline.net/images/emoticons/smile.gif” />

[jerseygirl]

Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny. Do you have any shelters near where you live? This would be a great way to go in and observe different breeds more closely. Plus, if you’re open to it, you may adopt a rabbit. The benefit here is you’ll be able to see it’s specific personality. The bunnies are usually fixed and checked over by the vet. This helps with $ and gives you a medical history. Also, the shelter workers can give a personality and behavioural history. Another bonus is the bunny may also be litter trained!
I don’t know too much about benefits of one breed over another but as to their natures I think all buns are different regardless of breed. I didn’t adopt mine and I’ve been lucky but now I would only adopt , for the reasons I’ve mentioned but mainly because I do not want to support pet shop sales of animals and I’d be giving a shelter bunny a 2nd chance.
Of course, you may want to buy from store or breeder, totally up to you!  You gotta admit the benefits of adoption are great thou.

[rabbitsmba]

It’s always hard to say what type of bunny is best because, just like people, every bunny has a different personality. However, I do believe there are a few general rules that seem to apply.

The bigger the rabbit, the more laid back and cuddly they are. The smaller the rabbit, the feistier they are. The 10 pounders are way more friendlier that the 2 pound netherland dwarfs. If you want a rabbit that will flop beside you and be a goofy friend, bigger is better.

In my experiences, lops are the friendliest bunns. I have 4 rabbits and two are lops. They are by far the silliest and friendliest of the bunnies. My netherland dwarf is a monster on a good day – oh but I love her just the way she is!

Now that’s not to say that there aren’t big bunnies that are grumpy or small bunnies that are affectionate, because there are. And hey, the angriest rabbit I have ever met was a little lop named J-Lop who tried to kill me in her basement. But these are just general guidelines.

My best advice is to contact your local shelter or rescue and foster a rabbit first. Tell them what you are looking for, tell them you are new to bunnies and you want to “test drive” one first to make sure a rabbit is right for you. This way, if things don’t work out, you are not commited to that rabbit for it’s life. And if you find a rabbit you adore, you can adopt it!

Thanks for being so smart about it and doing your research beforehand. Good luck!

[osprey]

Hi dmwiecz, and welcome to BinkyBunny.

I have a 2.5 pound red eyed white Polish dwarf, so I am somewhat biased, but if you are looking at the smaller breeds be aware that they are prone to teeth problems and they are more skittish than their larger cousins. I agree with rabbitsmba, the larger bunnies that I have known have tended to be calmer and more cuddly. Dutch bunnies have the reputation of being good for beginners, but I think it depends more on the temperament of the individual bunny than the breed. Do you have a particular reason for wanting a smaller rabbit?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Unfortunately I’ll have to agree and say smaller may equal cuter, but smaller is not easier, and had I known I would have gone for twenty pound giant off the bat LOL

Breeds of rabbits aren’t as easy as dogs, where this one’s good with kids, this one needs lots of exercise…They are more about looks, so it’s best to observe them in a shelter setting where you can get to see each personality and choose that way. Breed is no way of determining characteristics other then size and color really

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I personally think you should get a holland lop! They are small and cute. Mine is also very mellow and very friendly. I heard that holland lops are overall, very friendly, so I don’ think it is mine that is the only friendly one. As for the litter training, I don’t know If breed makes a difference in how easy it is, but My holland lop, Fern, was very quick at learning what the litter box was for. But before they are spayed/neutered they may leave a few poops around the place, mine does that, but has not peed out of the litter box since she was litter trained.

Personally I would reccomend either a mini rex or a holland lop. From what I have heard mini rex’s are pretty nice and I know that holland lop’s are nice(expreriance).
Sorry to any one that has one… but I have heard that polish and netherland dwarfs are sometimes very timid and some are high-strung. I don’t know, I think that the neatherland dwarf and polish can be nice if treated and raised properly, but for a first time owner I would not reccomed them. I got I holland lop and she is my first bunny! I am very happy I got her. good luck!

Sorry if I am saying bad things about Netherland dwarfs and polish if anyone has them, but that is just what I read on the internet.

I would also reccomend Dutch, they are supposed to be nice, although they do not come in solid colors.

[RabbitPam]

Hi,
Mine was a mini-rex and I totally agree with Moonlight Wolf. It seems that many people here are quite happy with their Holland Lops as well as their M. Rexes. I now know that I will have trouble setting up and cleaning a space for any bunny that gets to be bigger than about 6 lbs. There also is nothing like rex fur for softness. My rex trained himself in his litter box immediately and was only leaving poopies around outside the box. Very, very sweet and social, but that was just him. He was my first and a truly wonderful pet. If you adopt a bunny that’s already speutered, you won’t have to worry about the difficulty of surgery, teenage aggression, the cost or illness. Go visit some shelter bunnies and you’ll find you have a preference pretty soon. You’ll be drawn to certain ones.

I have read/heard that a Dutch can be a bit (what’s the word for it Markus?), stubborn? Willful? They seem to not be as laid back for a mid-sized bun.

Bottom line is that a bunny will ultimately find you – you just think you’re picking him/her out.

[MooBunnay]

I have several different bunny “breeds” but they are all from shelters. For me, that is the best way for me to get a bunny because at the shelter I was able to sit with a ton of different bunnies and find out which ones got along with me the best. I have two netherland dwarfs, both are skittish but very sweet. I have a hotot who is my little princess and she adores pets and attention. I have an english spot and he is a big goofball, but fairly skittish, and I also have a red eyed white lop, who is adorably sweet but probably around 6-7 pounds.

I also have to agree, the bigger, the snugglier and cuddlier, but that is not a hard fast rule. You may have some big ones that are skittish or small ones that are cuddly, thats why you purchasing a rabbit from a breeder makes it less likely that you will get a bunny with a personality that matches what you want – it is much easier to meet the bunnies and interact with them to find out what they are like.

[Beka27]

any breed can be littertrained. it sounds like you’ve done some research which is great, so you know that fixing the bunny is very, very important to achieve that. the only bunnies that would be much harder for a new rabbit owner would be the longer-haired breeds (lionhead, fuzzy lop, angoras, and some others). if your cat is very timid, chances are good that he would be scarce around the bunny anyways. with proper introductions, cats and bunnies can usually interact without a problem.

i will second (third and fourth) what has already been said about bunny size and rescuing from a shelter. in a shelter you can interact with adult, altered bunnies to get a true feel for their personality. they are *usually* fixed and littertrained already. Petfinder is a great source to search for rescues in your area. narrow the search by “rabbit” and see what comes up. there are sometimes smaller “rehome rescues” in the area that you may not even know exist. i would not rule out larger bunnies, they do tend to be a bit calmer and cuddlier. that might be preferable for your first bunny experience. you could always get a different breed later on after your first bunny, or even as a companion for the first.

is there any specific reason you are attracted to the smaller breeds that we might have missed? please explain…

[dmwiecz]

Wow!  Thanks for all the advice.  Just to answer your question….I’m more interested in a smaller breed 1) because I don’t have space for a very large cage.  I’ve read that the cage should be at least 4x the size of the rabbit (or something like that)., 2) I’m thinking my cat might feel less threatened by something that’s quite a bit smaller than him, and 3) just the cuteness factor (not that larger ones aren’t cute, too but in looking at different pics of bunnies, I tend to like the smaller ones better).  Thanks again for all your help.  Sounds like the consensus is that I should just go hang out with some at a shelter and not worry about picking out a specific breed. 

[Beka27]

what are you planning in terms of a cage? if you build one from NIC grids, you can actually configure it to fit all kinds of spaces. the smallest size i personally recommend is 4×2 feet. petstore cages are much too small, even for a small breed bunny. this is in addition to at least 3-4 hours of outside playtime per day. i’m not completely sure about the cat thing, because i don’t have a cat… but my guess would be that it doesn’t matter what *size* the bunny is, only what the personality is like. if you have a small but feisty bunny, that might frighten your cat more than a large, laid-back bunny. does that make sense? like i said, take a look at petfinder, you can find virtually any breed, size, color…

personally i have a mini rex who is THE queen bun. she’s very small (just over 3.5 pounds) but feisty, opinionated, and smart. i adore her. i also have a lop who just passed the 5 pound mark. he’s a scaredy bun, but also very, very sweet. people say that when you find the right bunny, he/she will PICK YOU! you might end up being attracted to a bunny that you might not have considered, which is why it’s great to go and meet a bunch of different buns!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’d say four times the size of the rabbit would be the smallest possible cage…seriously they need much more room. Check out the cool habitats section on this site for tips and ideas…you can build up to save space but provide a larger cage.

[dmwiecz]

At least in the short-term, I was going to see if I could use the cage that I used for my cat when he was a kitten and I was away from home.  I can’t remember the exact dimensions, but it’d be plenty big and has a shelf perch on a 2nd level.  My only concern (and I’ll need to pull it out of the closet to check on this)….does anybody know the maximum distance between the bars that would be safe for a dwarf/small bunny?  Obviously I don’t want him/her to injure themselves or be able to escape. 

In the long-run, I’ve been looking at the PetWerks cages.  They’re expensive, but look pretty nice.  Does anybody know if they can be purchased anywhere else other than the http://www.leithpetwerks.com website? 

Thanks again for everyone’s comments! 

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