Bunny Advice and Help Needed

[EssMargie]

Hello, I used to be on here as EssMarg (I think that was the username, but I left, but now I’m back. I have a 4 year old mini rex name Esmeralda, and a 3 year old rex name Marge.

I need advice about how to take care of them.

At first I only had Esmeralda, then bought Marge a year later. At first I could afford to take really good care of them and buy them all kinds of things. Now money is a lot tighter. They get treats, hay, and pellets, but I can’t buy them the great bunny produces I could. Which leads to some problems. We put down new carpet, and all the barriers we had down had to be taken up. Does anyone know of any good, cost friendly things, such as gates, that can be put down. Baby gates are waaaaaay to expensive.  

Marge likes to eat her potty and I can’t stop her. I’ve had to replace the potty three times.  How do I stop that?

Marge is constanly having a blow out. I’m surprised she isn’t bald yet. I don’t know how to help that.

How often should I groom them?

 

[Sarita]

I am moving your question to the Care Section….

[Stickerbunny]

How often to groom depends on the rabbit breed, long haired require more grooming than short, etc. Powder is constantly shedding, so I brush him every couple of days and pet the hair off him daily (just kind of pluck the loose patches and run my hand over him to remove the loose stuff).

For cheap barriers try NIC grids. I have a couple of things I use besides baby gates – I have a plastic “door” to a kids toy crate that is tall and I arranged so the doors can’t be opened, which works great since they can’t jump over it. Just throw a weight against it and they can’t push it either. Get creative. Anything they can’t chew, can’t jump and is solid works across doors even if it doesn’t look pretty. I also have baby gate _panels_ instead of full baby gates, so I can take them apart and put together whatever I want, they click together and pull apart really easily… I got them free, but they are about $60 at BB&B and they are enough to block off the living room, bedroom, laundry room and have some left over. If you check craigs list, often you can get baby gates, NIC grids, etc really cheap.

If she eats her litterbox, you could make one yourself out of a sturdier material. Any container works. Try to get something not porous though, since you really don’t want the pee seeping into the material and smelling up the place.

For veggies… get the cheap stuff. Cilantro at my store is $0.88 a bunch and the buns love it, parsley is cheap too, etc. You can also start a little indoor garden with wheat grass and herbs on a windowsill… saves a lot of money that way!

[Sam and Lady's Human]

She eats the plastic? What else does she have in there to chew? Buns like heavy pieces of wood too, maybe that would help her to not eat the plastic?

[mocha200]

For money here are some things you could do to reduce the price.
Hay
Go to local farms to see if they have any bales of hay they would sell you. You can go on cregs list and search for “hay” to see where it is sold near you.
Veggies
Go to your food store and ask if they will give you/give you it at a cheaper price, there old veggies that they normally throw away. Most of the time they are still good for bunnies they just don’t look the best to sell. If you mention you want to give them to your bunny they may be more apt to give you some. Also now that spring is coming up stores should be caring seeds soon. Even if you don’t have the room in your yard you can plant things in pots. Herbs grow good, and if you have bigger pots you can even grow some lettuce.
Pellets
Just give them a high quality timothy pellet such as Oxbow or American Pet Diner. You can’t really get cheaper with pellets. Rabbits only need 1/8-1/4 cup a day anyways so 1 bag will last a while.
Litter
You can get a 40lb bag of wood stove pellets or Horse stall bedding for $5-$7! One bag with two bunnies lasts me a while. You can get horse stall bedding at feed stores. I am not sure where to get wood stove pellets because I don’t use them, but I am sure others could tell you.
Barriers and Gates
I have a cheapo plastic baby gate that has wood around it. Its about $18 at walmart. We already had it from when we babysat so I didn’t have to buy it. I don’t really like the baby gate anyway because Lulu can chew it so it now has a big hole. What I use most of the time is a card table. We have two of them and what I do is pop two legs out for the table to rest on and then I stand it up so that the table is on its side. ( I hope that makes since. If not, tell me and I will post a picture) It fits perfect in a door way with only a little bit of a gap on each side and it is very tall. Also check cregs list as others have mentioned.
Brushing
I brush my rabbits 1-2 times a week and try to brush them every day or every other day when they are shedding. Also, when I am petting them and a see a clump of fur that is loose I will gently pull it out

[LBJ10]

Where were we? Hmm, I think it was Home Depot. There were baby gates there (the tension kind) for $11.

[EssMargie]

Thank you all. I’ve gotten some wonderful tips, and I have plans to put them into motion pretty quick. Yes, Marge does have wood in her cage. But she’ll chew on anything that will give to her teeth. I have to really watch her.

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