Hello!

[Bianca]

Hi guys,

My name is Bianca. Obviously I am new here. I have never had any experience with owning rabbits until my partner moved in with me, bringing his two bunnies. They are rescues, and aren’t keen on people. One will let you pat her back when she is in a good mood, the other has only let me touch her once. Neither like being picked up or handled at all. 

At the moment we are looking into a much larger hutch of some sort for them, because their current one is way too small. Because they hate being handled, we can’t just take them out and put them in a run or let them play in the house. So we are trying to work out other options. In the meantime I have been doing some research about toys, food, etc, to keep them healthy and amused. They do love to eat and destroy things, so this isn’t too difficult. 

I’m going to start reading through this forum for ideas about better accommodation for our rabbits – we don’t have a huge backyard and it is my mum’s house, so we can’t just set up something huge and spectacular. 

I thought I would just give a brief background story as to how my partner ended up with these rabbits, and why they don’t like people:

My partner used to work at a fodder store. One day a customer came in, and mentioned off hand that he was going to go dump his rabbits in a field. My partner asked him why, and he said that his grandchildren didn’t want to play with them anymore. Immediately my partner demanded his address and said he would come pick them up that night after work. He managed to get a small free cage off someone, which is the cage they are still in now. He discovered that the rabbits aren’t keen at all on being handled, although one of them will let you pat her – we suspect the grandchildren are the cause of this. 

So anyway, I plan to go through the forum to get some housing ideas for the rabbits, along with more toy ideas. But if anyone has any advice, suggestions, photos, etc to share with me here, that would be great too. My partner has had the rabbits for a while now and takes the best care of them that he can, but neither of us are huge rabbit experts and we would like to do the bets we can for the rabbits. They aren’t young either, but we aren’t sure of their exact ages. We do have a small amount of grass in the backyard, but we can’t set up anything permanent for them on it. We do have a dog as well, who needs lots of room in the backyard to gallop around being stupid in. I’m trying to see what space we have for a nicer set up – at the moment the rabbits are next to the aviary under the pergola. 

I might stop rambling now and see what others have to say. Later I will try to take some photos of the rabbits to share.

Cheers,

Bianca.

[LongEaredLions]

Welcome to the forums! I can’t wait to see the photos of your bunnies!
Are your bunnies housed outdoors? We recommend bunnies are always housed indoors, for their optimum health and safety. For housing, I love X-pens and NIC condos. You can check the housing section under bunny info for pictures if these types of enclosures.

[litheandgraphic]

Hello and welcome to the forums! You’ve definitely come to the right place for house bunny care!

As LongEaredLions has already said, housing rabbits indoors is much better for them — keeps them living longer, and happier!

The most common housing situations are exercise pen set-ups like this one with flooring types such as cotton towels or blankets, sheet / panels vinyl, sheet / panel linoleum, fleece, and low-ply carpet, and NIC condos like this one, made from inexpensive storage cubes and coroplast. 

Normal rabbit hutches have wire flooring that is dreadful for their feet, and thus not recommended. Additionally, the “rabbit cages” you typically find in pet stores are way too small. It’s for this reason that we recommend against either.

You can find videos on YouTube and various info online on how to construct great environments, including right here on the forums! Check the Habitats & Toys section for helpful tips! 

About their currently unfriendly disposition — it’s very likely that this was caused by the children. But fear not! With some TLC, some time and patience, a proper diet, and a few treats, I bet you these buns will come right out of their shells.

Visit the website of the House Rabbit Society and read everything there. This will help you learn everything you need to know about bunnies! That and of course, being here!

Some things you may want to consider right away:

• Bringing the bunnies indoors (rabbits do not smell and are easily litterbox trained); rabbits are prone to a whole slew of risks outdoors.
• Having the bunnies spayed and/or neutered – this will greatly improve their temperaments as well as their behaviors, not to mention it will greatly reduce the risk of their getting various cancers.
• Getting the rabbits vaccinated for myxomatosis if they have not been already, if you live in an area where it is present (Britain, Australia).
• Changing the rabbit’s diet. View the HRS diet pages for precise info.
• Finding a rabbit-savvy vet — rabbits require special vets who know about rabbit care. Click here for listings.
• Rabbits actually don’t typically enjoy being picked up. But fear not! They will likely soon learn to snuggle with you near the ground, which is where they like to be, and you will soon learn the language of rabbit affection.
• Rabbits respond more to coaxing and tempting than to chasing or force. Try coaxing them to where you need them to go with some healthy Timothy hay pellets (such as Oxbow Essentials Adult) or some cilantro, parsley, or even a tiny bit of carrot! (Not too much, as carrots are high in carbs and sugars.) This will help them learn to trust you and associate you with positive things, and it will make moving them around a lot easier.

Welcome to the world of bunnies! We’re here to help.

[Bianca]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

At this stage the rabbits are kept sort of outdoors. They live under a fully enclosed pergola. I don’t think we have any room indoors for rabbits, especially because this is my mum’s house and is already quite loaded with rescue pets, but I guess I will have to wait and see what type of enclosure I can get.

How long do rabbits live on average? We don’t know what breeds they are, but I’ll try to get some photos ASAP and maybe someone here could give us an idea?

And what are the risks involved with keeping rabbits outdoors vs. indoors?

Thanks again!

[TheMidnightSapphire]

Rabbits tend to live for around 10 years if in good health and cared for well nowadays

[Bianca]

Thanks! I am guessing ours are probably between 3 and 5 years of age, but I don’t know for sure. I’ll nag my partner when he wakes up.

We have had some progress this morning though – Weatherwax, the less confident one, let me touch her head with one finger a couple of times without panicking. She then got a little cranky with me, but it was breakfast time, so I can’t blame her. I too, get cranky when I am hungry. Ogg, the more confident one, was actually demanding pats! Every time I moved my hand near Weatherwax, Ogg would stand on her hind legs and look at me as if to say “Umm, hello? I’m over here!” but was very happy as soon as I started patting her pretty much anywhere. What a sook!

[JackRabbit]

Welcome! I’ll 2nd (or 3rd?) the indoor living, NIC condo, and xpen suggestions. My single bunny has a NIC condo, and my bonded pair have xpens for their area.

[litheandgraphic]

Posted By Bianca on 8/26/2014 6:18 PM

Thanks! I am guessing ours are probably between 3 and 5 years of age, but I don’t know for sure. I’ll nag my partner when he wakes up.

We have had some progress this morning though – Weatherwax, the less confident one, let me touch her head with one finger a couple of times without panicking. She then got a little cranky with me, but it was breakfast time, so I can’t blame her. I too, get cranky when I am hungry. Ogg, the more confident one, was actually demanding pats! Every time I moved my hand near Weatherwax, Ogg would stand on her hind legs and look at me as if to say “Umm, hello? I’m over here!” but was very happy as soon as I started patting her pretty much anywhere. What a sook!

Hahaha, yes, bunnies tend to get used to you the more and more positive associations they form with you. Over time, they will warm to you, and hopefully also bond to you.

As for the space issue, this is one thing that’s great about the NIC condo set-up — they are often almost entirely vertical, with various levels for the bunnies to explore, so they don’t take up that much space, width-wise. They’re probably the most space-conscious method of housing rabbits indoors.

The dangers of rabbits outdoors are aplenty: flystrike is probably the most horrible. This is when flies lay eggs on rabbits, producing maggots that eat away at the rabbits’ skin. Yuck!! Other risks involve temperature changes — rabbits are pretty good at dealing with the cold, but they don’t do well at all with any temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, 29 degrees Celsius. Another cause for alarm is potential predators that may approach the rabbits’ habitat. Even if the predator doesn’t get in, it can scare them quite literally to death. They don’t even have to see the predator to get nervous. One good whiff of it — and rabbits have extremely keen senses of smell — and they can easily freak out, which may even lead to a heart attack. 

By the way, you may want to check out The Language of Lagomorphs site — it’s very helpful for interpreting bunnies and their body language, which is their primary form of communication.

[Brandywine]

Hi Bianca,

good on you for doing your research!!!

A few things I have learnt about bunnies:

1) A hand coming down to pet them looks like an eagle’s talons
2) Being picked up is something that only normally happens when a bunny is snatched by a predator
3) Bunnies love it when you are at eye level with them – which means lying on the floor
4) They are suckers for treats!

[Hazel]

Welcome!

Do you know if they are spayed? Unspayed females are very territorial and can be quite aggressive, so that might explain their behavior. If you don’t know, I would suggest getting them checked out by a vet asap to find out (they can do an ultrasound). Intact females have an above 85% chance of developing reproductive cancer by 4 years of age, sometimes sooner. So considering you estimate their ages to be around 4, this should be first on your priority list.

I’m glad to hear there has been some progress!

[Bianca]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Will definitely organise a vet visit for them soon then, I believe my local vet does rabbits, so this should be easy enough.

How would you suggest transporting them to the vet? We have a couple of cat cages they would fit in. Ogg might cope okay, but Weatherwax gets pretty stressed at the idea of being touched, let alone picked up, put in a cage, and taken to a vet.

As for keeping them inside, we really don’t have the room. But I do feel they are quite safe where they are outside – the only predator around is my dog who babies them, and she won’t let anything into the yard. The only potential predator in my area is a fox, and the chances of one coming right to where I live are very, very slim. It gets hot in summer, but we have been able to keep them quite cool through the use of ice packs in the past. Their cage also gets the air conditioning from inside. I have never heard of flystrike before though, and neither has anyone else I have asked. I’ll do some research, but does it exist in South Australia? I will consider moving them inside if I really have to, but at this stage there isn’t anywhere nice to keep them, and they have lived outdoors all their lives.

funny-looking-rabbit, thanks for the link on bunny behavior. It is very interesting, and explains a lot of the behaviors we have been seeing! They did get so excited over being fed a little piece of carrot yesterday that they couldn’t find it, because they were too busy hopping around being silly!

And apparently now I have started something with Ogg. She is begging my partner for pats now too. I think Ogg at least, won’t be too difficult to get happy with being handled and interacting with people, which would make life nicer for everyone. I would love for them to be able to come out of their hutch for some free time either inside or outside (in a play pen of course!). I think Weatherwax will need a lot more work, but perhaps desexing will help with that, as someone has already said.

Thanks again everyone!

[Bianca]

Thought I would share another update, although if there is another place I should be putting updates, could someone let me know?

I decided to get my phone out and take some photos. Instantly, I had two rabbits showing off all their best moves for me, although they weren’t very good at staying still long enough for photos. But even Weatherwax was curious rather than aggressive. I then brought out a couple of small pieces of capsicum, and Weatherwax was more than happy to eat out of my hand. Ogg decided it would be more fun to steal the capsicum and keep it all to herself, but that’s probably just revenge for an earlier kale stealing incident (I stuffed a toilet roll with some kale, and Weatherwax grabbed it and made Ogg chase her all round the hutch for it!). Fortunately I had a couple of pieces of capsicum, so Weatherwax still got plenty and was very happy to eat from my hand. She still got cranky with me at times, mostly when I was paying too much attention to Ogg. I think Weatherwax is definitely territorial! But I was allowed to touch Weatherwax’s head again, without her getting upset at me or backing off at all. Ogg is now just demanding all the back/ear/head scratches she can get!

I’m keeping my eye out for a new enclosure of some sort for them – I haven’t decided whether it will be indoors or outdoors, it will depend what I can get. We are also going to give my local vet a call soon.

[litheandgraphic]

Heheheh, I’m glad to hear it seems like they’re slowly warming to you, even if Weatherwax is territorial. You may also want to look into having them spayed — it greatly reduces the otherwise high risk of their getting uterine cancer.

If I’m honest, I really hope you figure out a way to house them inside, but if you absolutely can’t, then I strongly recommend trying to find or build something that can keep them temperature regulated, very very safe and secure from any potential predators, and something that flies cannot get inside of. Also, something that has a floor that isn’t wire. Keep us updated! And share those photos!

[Bianca]

Yesterday my partner called our local vets, and they said that without opening them up to do an exploratory, there was no way of them telling for sure if our rabbits are desexed. However, they did suggest that if we could have a look at Ogg’s tummy (because she is the calmer one), we can search for a scar. If Ogg is desexed, then chances are Weatherwax is too, although my guess is that neither are. This will be a two person job, so it might have to wait until tomorrow, but it will get done asap!

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