Hello!

[ScampiBunny]

Hi, I’m new here and also a first time rabbit mother Here’s a little background:

I took a mini lop from a moving family with intention of finding him a home.  Two unsuccessful weeks later, I’ve decided to keep him and named him Scamp. He is very gentle and I’ve even had the privilege of being licked a couple of times after petting him.  I’m not sure how old he is and living in a cage all his life, he seems reluctant to explore.  He is also not as active as most rabbits seem (from reading and searching online).  He eats and drinks fine, but won’t eat hay.  Any suggestions?  

The pads of his feet are also very dirty, will those go away on their own?  I’ve had him about 3 weeks now and he will be going to the vet soon, just trying to save enough (i’ve just paid the first installment of my tuition ).  Anyways, I’ve posted some pics.  The second picture is him in his cage with his favorite stuff animal.  Which is actually one of those draft protection things put under the doors that I bought for my dog, but Scamp pretty much claimed it and my dog Rascal didn’t seem to mind.  Scamp loves to cuddle with it.

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[Hedi]

 

Hi and Welcome! You have come to the right place for questions. lol We are quite a chatty group and talk about anything and everything.

What type of Hay have you given to Scamp? There are several kinds- Timothy, Alfalfa, Burmuda grass, Orchard Grass, Oat Hay. Alfalfa is pretty much only for young buns and nursing moms.

Timothy Hay is the staple for the most part. Given unlimited most buns eat it fine. Bermuda grass, Orchard Grass and Oat Hay are a little more sweet and may be more interesting to your bun.

We’ve talked on here about "dirty feet" before and I think its usually from newspaper or the type of bedding used. I know someone on here will have an answer for you so I will defer that question. lol

I love that your bun is happy with a stuffed animal. My rabbits each had a little stuffed bun but it wasnt all that interesting to them. Other great toys if you havent seen/read it already are:

* Empty Toilet Paper  & Towel Tubes, plastic slinkies, caps off laundry detergent bottles (thoroughly clean them tough if it smells like detergent they wont touch it), any cat  (or baby) toy that jingles. My buns all have baby rattles or keys they like to pick up and throw.

A great chew toy you can make for your bun is to buy plan popsicle sticks and soak them in the fridge in 100% all natural apple juice overnight. In the morning wipe dry and place in cage. If you can drill a hole in them and hang them all the better. Most buns love the tast of apple and will chew on the sticks. Great for keeping teeth nice and trim. 

[sevyn]

Hello ScampiBunny, and welcome to BinkyBunny! Congrats on the decision to become a bunny mom, and I hope your experience with bunnies is a good one!
Hedi was right to warn you that we are a very chatty group, and a lot of the members here are very nice and knowledgeable. We’ll likely answer any questions you might have in no time!

Anyways, I’ll offer you what words of advice I can, though I am fairly new to informed bunny raising myself and can only really speak from my own experiences:

For one, I wouldn’t be terribly concerned about his exercise habits so long as you are patient and give him plenty of opportunities to explore. I rescued my bun from a neglect case and, although she was withdrawn for the first little while, she soon came out and is now more active than ever! So long as he is properly nourished and in good physical shape, he should likely come around more when he is more familiar with his area.

I see you’ve got him quite a number of toys and have discovered the joys of NIC cubes — well done! It looks like he is well-set up and very happy. If you really feel he is not getting enough exercise, what I do to cheat and interest my bunny in some of her toys is either (if possible) load them with treats like raisins, or lightly submerge them in apple juice. As Hedi said, most buns love apple juice, though take caution to only use the natural, unsweetened kind. Mine is also a big fan of a cardboard box I set up for her filled with shredded paper and cardboard scraps, which I can also coax her to show more interest in by tossing in a raisin or two

Also since I was a witness of this myself, I would also like to mention that my bun had a problem with dirty feet for a little while when I first got her (all her owner used for bedding was newspaper, so her feet were very near black when I got her.). I gave her a couple weeks to get used to me, then I gave her a small bath to try to clean her up a bit. If you really feel a clean-up is necessary, use a little bit of mild, soft soap (I used oatmeal-based shampoo for small animals and miniature breeds of dogs) in a small amount of lukewarm water – being immersed in water typically freaks bunnies out , so don’t use very much – and try to rub his feet clean. (This is a rough job for one person, so it helps if you can have a friend help with holding your bun down and offering them comforting words.)

Anyways, I hope those tips help at least somewhat. Best of luck to you, and keep us posted on how he’s coming along!

[Scarlet_Rose]

A warm welcome to you! It’s great to see another new poster here! Thumbs up with the cage too! say I noticed your splash guard around the edges, what did you make that with, is it covered with contact paper? It’s neat to see what other people have done with their cages too.  I used plexi glass for my splash guards and my local hardware store just happened to have them in pre-cut squares that fit the NIC panels nicely! Carefully drilled holes (or you can melt them with a hot ice pick), hung them with notebook rings (you can also use zip ties too) on the outside and voila!

It sounds like your bun has some motility limitations and that may not exactly be from age, it could be from the conditions he grew up in as well.  I think the vet will be able to give you more guidance in that area.  I’ve noticed now that my two are 6 years old, they are slowing down a bit, just to give you an idea if his is due to age.

The dark pads on the paws should correct itself on its own, just be sure to keep an eye on them to see that they don’t crack open.  For softening them try pure Vitamin E oil, you can buy it in liquid form or just put a pin prick in a soft gel and gently sqeeze some directly on, or for more control use a Q-tip.  This might also help get some of the soiled stain off too. Otherwise it sounds like you’ve got a great set up for him and I am so happy he has found a home with you!

If you’ve got any questions please do not hesitate to ask away!

 

[BinkyBunny]

You have gotten wonderful advice (well, what else could I expect from some of the smartest members around!) I just wanted to wish you a warm welcome to BinkyBunny too, and say you are wonderful to become the new loving human companion for scampi.
With patience, he’ll come out of his shell.  I agree that a vet should be able to find out if his motility issues are just due to his previous  living conditions or if they  are a result from something else, like arthritis, or??. I know at the shelter, one bunny was thought to have hip problems, but after a month of running around, all symptoms disappeared.

Being that he’s not yet neutered, how are his litterbox habits?.

[ScampiBunny]

Thank you all for the welcome!

Scamp is currently on timothy hay and will only eat them if he runs out of food, like late evenings. I read somewhere that not giving pellets twice a week and just unlimited hay might be a good idea? I will try out the other varities of hay anyways. I also love the popsicle idea. I think I’ll hold off a little while longer on the bathing, he hates to be picked up and maybe a little more time will make him trust me more. He definitely loves to be petted and brushed.

He likes to just sleep during the day with the exceptions of eating and drinking even though I leave the cage door open. He is most active around 9 pm to depending on when I go to sleep. I don’t know if it’s because for the first couple of nights, I let him run around very late and just gotten used to that. Is it possible that he might change his sleeping habits? He definitely moves and runs around so hopefully nothing is wrong with him. He has a fascination to the “forbidden places”. As soon as he decides to come out, he will dash across the living room and into the bedrooms and bathroom. He will going to the vet in a week or two. I’ve got a few I’ve called and will just need to be choosing the right one (all are experienced thankfully).

I used those target cubes with coroplast bottom. He luckily doesn’t chew it . The decorative border are just .10 cent scrap booking paper I found and contact paper on top Thanks for the vitamin e tip.

When it comes to his litterbox habits, he is excellent when in his own area/cage. He leaves poos outside the box but the majority are in thebox. He nevers pee outside the box, when in his own cage. On the living room floor, he leaves droppings, i guess for territorial purposes. It’s most common around the front door and where all our shoes are. He almost acts like a dog ‘you won’t let me out so i’m doing it right here by the door’ lol. I live in an apartment so the door is kind of right there. He pees around there too. Never in the middle of the living room though or anywhere else. Except for a poo or two sometimes. I do plan on getting him neutered though.

Although there seems to be a littel jealousy from both my dog and him, they seem to get along fine. Like if i was petting Scamp, Rascal would interfere and try to get my attention. And if I was petting Rascal, Scamp who would be lying down next to me would sit up, turn sideways and look at me kind of funny. I’m not really sure, but I feel like those eyes are saying ‘what do you think you are doing, hmm?’ I always supervised when they are together.

[Hedi]

A good tip to get the bun urine out of the carpet. We bought a container of the Oxyclean. You mix it with very hot water and pour onto the spots. You dont really need to scrub it or anything. As it dries the area will come out nice and clean.

 

Another cheap toy idea is a paper grocery sack. If you open it and lay it on the floor your bun may go in it as well as move it around. We keep a grocery sack in our living room stuffed with phone books, scrap paper and toys. When they come downstairs they all take turns looking thru the bag to find something good to play/eat. Quite funny.

[Scarlet_Rose]

You’re welcome ScampiBunny! A word of caution though, while it is true the ideal bunny diet does not involve bunny pellet food (according to most sources), if you are to eliminate them altogether you will need to provide him with fresh vegetables and hay. A strict hay and water diet is usually reserved for bunnies who are very obese and need to lose weight. Pellets do provide a bunny with all the nutrients they need so the vegeatables step in for this role and you will need to be sure to provide plenty of leafy green vegeatables on the bunny approved list and be sure that at least one that you feed a day contains vitamin A, which is an important part of their diet. I encourage you to check out the Bunny info Diet on this Web Site.

[Author]

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