Hello! No current buns, but…

[Nat]

Heyy I’m new, haha. I don’t have a bunny… and probably won’t for a longgg time  But, in the not-so-near-future, I would like to consider one as a pet  Sooo, I have some questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate buns on difficulty to take care of?

2. How many hours a day do you spend free ranging your buns? Do buns in playpens have to be supervised constantly?

3. I’ve heard they are very high matenience pets. Are they really that hard to take care of?

4. Kinda a dumb question- but do you find them extremely rewarding after all of the money and time?

5. If you are not home all day, would it be best to adopt a bonded pair, or would it be okay to have a single bun?

Thanks for your time, guys.  I really appreciate your answers, and I hope that someday I can make buns a part of my family sometime!

*Note- I am not considering adopting a bun now. I have my hands full of pets right now and need some to cross the bridge (pass on) before I can take on a bun. It may not be for a couple years.  I just want to know if buns are right for me, you know, if I should start a vet fund and research them.

Thanks again!

[jerseygirl]

Welcome Nat!

Sorry I’m not addressing your specific questions…I just wanted to suggest fostering as an option for you. When the time is right, becoming a temporary foster carer for a rabbit or two would give you invaluable insight to whether they are the animal for you. Something to consider down the track perhaps. But be careful, fosters have a tendency to become permanent!

Would love to hear about your other pets.

[Nat]

Thank you for the reply!

Our family has decided not to become a foster family. It’s not right for us. If there was a sick animal that needed fostering, we would not be home around the clock giving it meds etc (now, that doesn’t apply for family pets. We would def. find a pet sitter etc to do that, but that = $$, and we can’t do that for fosters constantly you know?). There are some more reasons, but mostly the they might become permanent reason

I have a golden retriever dog, a cat, two rats, and a hamster. The rats and hamster are my personal pets. I care and pay for them. The dog and cat are family pets, more or less. My rats and hamster are nearing 1 year, so they might only be with me for another year or so. After that is when I would get a bun. The bun would live in my room (play in a playpen mostly or get some special all-room time) and, already a rule, no cat in my room. I will set up strict Shut my bedroom door when you leave! rules. Lol.

Hope that helps…

[sgregory]

actually, you wont need to strictly keep the cat and bun away from each other except at first. once they get along they can have really rewarding relationships. my male lionhead, frizzer, loves to groom the cat, and the cat looks at him with this very confused look, it’s really funny! my cat also likes to snuggle with another rabbit of mine. in fact, one of my buns only seem to like the cat!

[Barbie]

Hey! Welcome! I wanted to point out this thread to you: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aff/26/aft/108376/afv/topic/Default.aspx
The OP asked similar questions and I posted a really long reply to her questions. I copied my post here for you, and also added to it to address your other questions

———————————————————————————————

1.  I would say bunnies (for me) are a 7.  It probably depends on the person though.

I’ve had hamsters, fish, frogs, toads, and those were pretty easy… I’ve also had a chocolate lab, and becasue of his size (he can stand on his hind legs and reach the counters, and his nails scratch the heck out of our wood floors) and his activity level and his expenses (food, vet bills) I would rate him a 7.5. 

I’ve also had a horse, and she was probably an 8 or 9 too becasue of the amount of time and money required for her care (I worked at the barn part time and had to up at 4 am to get to the barn by 5 every weekend morning )  and becasue I raised her from a baby and trained her by myself. 

I think Leroy takes just as much time as a dog or horse.  Also, bunnies are MISCHEVIOUS and because of their small size, they get into EVERYTHING. However, he’s small and I can pick him up/nudge him out of the way if he’s doing something bad. And litter boxes are easier than combing the yard for dog poop or mucking stalls… so I’d rate bunnies a 7.

2.  As for expenses…. Um… $40-50 per moneth? (Yearly vet check ups, at my bunny vet, are $50 + any additional meds or procedures)

I don’t buy a lot of pet store toys since Leroy doesn’t like them anyway – we do phone books and TP rolls and a cardboard tunnel for running through and the like.  Also, I save money by buying hay in bulk – I’m about halfway though a square bale of hay that I got back at the end of August (free from a good friend! bales generally run $5-15).  I use wood stove pellets ($5 for a 40lb bag that lasts me ~5 months) and newspaper (next to free) for litter.  Veggies and pellets are what’s the most expensive.  I don’t skimp on the veggies – he gets about 2-3 cups per day of 3-5 different veggies, and I buy them weekly from the grocery store ($7-10).  A bag of Kaytee pellets (5lb) is ~$13 and lasts me 3 ish months – I haven’t found anywhere to buy good quality pellets in bulk yet!

That’s not including the initial cost of the rabbit itself and spay/neuter (if you adopt, most shelters desex them before letting them go home! so that’s a huge money saver since spaying/neutering can be upwards of $200) and the start up costs of a cage and bunny proofing supplies and a boatload of toys

You can definitely find ways to spend more $ though!

3.  Well my first bit of advice would be to do your research and check out a good informative website, like BB or rabbit.org.  But you’ve already done that!  I think the big thing for you is to consider how much time you have to devote to a rabbit?  You’ve mentioned that you have other pets, so a rabbit might be adding too much.

I’m in college right now so my schedule is pretty flexible and I can spend a lot of time at home, letting Leroy play.  Bunnies need companionship and also a few hours of play time out of the cage per day.  Leroy has to stay in his cage when Im not home or when I’m asleep becasue he’s naughty   But he gets ~8+ hours out of his cage… and even though I’ve bunny proofed, for most of that time I have to be near by to keep him from getting into stuff. 

I know how busy high school is and it’s only going to get busier with college apps (if you choose to go that route) and such as you get closer to graduation.  Also.  keep in mind that dorms don’t allow pets and most colleges require that you stay in the dorms at least one year.  Are your parents willing to take care of the rabbit properly when you’re in school?

Also, as with any pet, there can be HUGE unexpected expenses – ie. vet bills and as a student or a young adult trying to find a job just ouf of high school, if you have no savings, you’re going to run into major problems. 

Oh, and keep in mind that, like any pet, you’ll need to care for them regularly… meaning you have to be home every day to care for them, and you have to either bring them or arrange a bunny sitter for vacations and the like.

—————————————-

Rabbits are a lot of work, but once you’ve gained their trust, all that work is offset by their silly antics and their unconditional love.  I think they’re extrememly rewarling pets!

I’m not home all day, but Leroy does get a lot of time out of the cage every day.  I’ve been considering getting him a gril friend, but for now, I’m going to stick with only one bunny.  A pair is double the fun, and double the $$$, but from what I’ve heard, not that much more work.  If you do want two, I’d recommend finding a bonded pair at the shelter.  Bonding is an extremely time intensive and difficult process and you probably don’t want to face that as a new bunny owner.  Also, bonded pairs are much harder to adopt, so if you are interested in a bonded pair, it would probably be best and easiest if you adopt an already bonded pari from the shelter.   As for if you have to have a bonded pair if you’re not hoe all day… single buns will do ok as long as they get a few hour out of the cage every day and as long as you spend time with him, playing with him and petting him.  (A bonded pair needs a few hours of play time out of the cage too, though!)

Hope that answered all you questions!  And sorry for the long post, lol.

[Elrohwen]

Welcome! Buns are fantastic pets and it’s great that you’re doing so much research now! A year ago I was in the researching phase and it got pretty overwhelming to read so much about an animal I had no actual experience with. Hopefully these answers are helpful.

 

1. I have one bun and I would rate him a 5. He’s very neat, so I honestly spend almost no time cleaning up after him (he doesn’t pee or poo outside of his litterbox, so I really just have to sweep things up and change the blanket on the bottom of his cage every once in a while). I would say he’s about as much work as a cat. I’ve had dogs, and I found that they required far more time and energy. Plus, with my bun, I don’t have to be home at a certain time or anything. We’re free to leave in the evening, go to a party, and stay over at our friends’ house and leave the bun behind. Definitely couldn’t do that with a dog. I like that he’s flexible – we don’t have to be home at a certain time to let him out or take him for walks. When I was researching buns it seemed that there was a lot of emphasis on how difficult they were to care for, but honestly I don’t find Otto difficult at all. They’re not a pet you can just leave in a cage and forget about, but I don’t see them as high care pets that require hours of your time doing grunt work either. Like I said, about like cats. They spend a lot of time doing their own thing, but they also thrive on interaction. 95% of bunny time is spent just hanging out with him, and I don’t really consider that “care” – hanging out is the fun part and the reason I got him in the first place! Though I guess for people with very busy schedules, lots of pets, kids, etc, finding time to spend with a bunny could be considered tough.

2. I’m currently unemployed, so my bun is free range all day and goes back to his cage when we are sleeping. When I was working, he had free range from about 6pm to 10pm. His cage area is 4’x8′, so he has plenty of room. When he’s free range, he spends most of his time sleeping, and even when he’s awake he’s not interested in getting into things. All buns are different, and some need more supervision, especially while young, kind of like puppies. Otto is a laid back guy who has never gotten into any trouble. It helps that most of our place is hardwood, which he hates, so he mostly runs across the hardwood dining room to get to the carpeted living room and then stays on the carpet, so I know where he is and can see him most of the time.

3. I think I answered this in question 1. If you can care for a cat, I think you can care for a bun.

4. He’s very rewarding! He’s our only pet at the moment, so he’s absolutely our baby. We just love having him around. I’ve always been a dog person, but after having my first bun I know I’ll never be without them again. They take more time to bond with than a dog, but your patience is well rewarded. We’ve had him for 8 months and his personality is still blossoming.

5. Now that I’m home all day with my bun, I can tell you for a fact that he sleeps the entire day  We give him a lot of interaction in the evenings, so I don’t think he was at all lonely while we were gone because he was sleeping anyway. I also like having him by himself because it has given us a ton of time to bond with each other. Even when I get a second bun, I want to spend a few months bonding with the new bun myself before introducing her to Otto. I have a friend who adopted a bonded pair (she had singles in the past) and said that she’s bonded with them much less herself beause they’ve always had each other. Just something to think about. Both are great options though and I think all buns should have a friend at some point. Adopting an already bonded pair would take away all of the hard bonding work and the period of poop wars and having two cages, etc.

[Beka27]

Posted By Nat on 01/01/2010 08:33 AM
Thank you for the reply!

Our family has decided not to become a foster family. It’s not right for us. If there was a sick animal that needed fostering, we would not be home around the clock giving it meds etc (now, that doesn’t apply for family pets. We would def. find a pet sitter etc to do that, but that = $$, and we can’t do that for fosters constantly you know?). There are some more reasons, but mostly the they might become permanent reason

I’m not sure you understood what Jersey was referring to.  She didn’t mean taking in a bunch of rabbits that are sick or otherwise unadoptable, but rather she was recommending that you foster ONE bunny that you would be interested in adopting.  Many people have done this for a period of 2-3 months, and then at the end they decide if they want to adopt the bunny.  If buns are not the right pet for them or they decide it’s too much work, they can return him/her to the rescue and not be legally obligated to keep the rabbit.  So fostering is actually more of a “trial adoption period”.  Some of your expenses would be covered by the rescue during this time.  You would not do this right now… you would do it in 2 or 3 years when you were ready to possibly adopt a rabbit.

[Nat]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! Thats a great idea! Wow! Thank you for clarifying!  I’ll definately take that into consideration!

[MirBear]

i didnt read the long reply’s so sorry if i repeat something.. im going to try and answer this as best i can but just as a warning this perspective is coming from a 14 year old and my mom pays for mostly everything hershey (my bunny) gets…

1) i would say a 4 for me…. hershey is a very independent bunny who doesnt need a ton of exercise time, the only thing we really need to do for her is clean her cage every 2-4 days depending on how much of a mess she makes, feed and change her water 2 times a day, and give her the free time she needs… other than that she doesnt nee a whole lot.. and it might be a kinda big list but once you get into the routine its really not alot to do..

2) as for out of her cage time hershey gets about 2 hours of continuous play time every day normally, (sometimes she gets an hour or so more and when ever i go outside she comes with me… on a harnes) we dont have a play pen for her yet but when she is out in the house she needs to be watched over so she doesnt chew cords…. i suggest if you choose to have a pen for your bunny that for the first week or more you watch over her/him to make sure they cant get out or so if you accidentaly for got to bunny proof something that the bunny doesnt hurt itself.. after the first few weeks i would suggest checking on it periodicaly but it should be fine for the most part…

3)as i said in my first answer they arn’t that bad to look after.. as long as you work their needs into a daily schedual and dont look at it as a chore.. it can be kind of fun

4) Absolutly! bunnies are soo much fun! they are funto watch jump around and binky ( in case you dont know a binky is kinda like a jump in the air where they do twists and stuff its cute) some bunnies will just be content with itting on your lap or beside you and love to be petted.

5)if you have a bonded pair it would be ok but just remember thats twice as much mischif that they can get into and twice as much work and expense.. if they are not fixed then the bunnies may start to fight and that would be bad! personally  i would recomend a single bunny as is ive lived both ways and two bunnies was soo much work espessially when the younger bunny hit puberty ( one was a year and a half and the other was 8 months) i ended up selling the older bunny because 1 she wasnt frendly toward people and 2 she didnt get along with hershey

my bunny would rather play with my cats and the neihbors dogs than another bunny anyways…. so i would also consiter introducing your cat to the new bunny if you get a young bun.. (older ones might not have been introduced to cats and dogs and might get scared.. and that can kill them)  if you get a young bunny it will give you a chance to introduce your bunny to larger animals so it wont be afraid of them.. younger bunnnies are not as afraid of large animals and would go sniff it rather than run and panic…

 

if you need any mor information on anything specific you can always open up a new subjuct

[Elrohwen]

MirBear, I just wanted to comment on your last point about introducing buns to dogs and cats. A lot of young bunnies are actually quite scared of new things and require just as long as adults to come around. In my personal experience, my young bun was quite nervous for months until he began to trust and become socialized. I think now he would have a chance of being introduced to another animal safely, but when he was young he would have certainly been scared. I think an older bun has as much chance as a young one of getting along with pets – it’s really in the personality of the bunny and the other animals and how they’re introduced.

[MirBear]

also the cost of a bunny isnt too bad… hershey has not been to the vet soo when i talk about cost i mean food (pelets) food (fresh fruits and veggy’s) shelter, toys, hay, treats, shavings, (if you use them) and also the start up cost is very high! te cost of the bunny it can be up to $150 (if you buy a pure bred registered bunny) or as low as free (people who accedentally had baby bunnies because the were uninformed or people trying to sell their bunnies) i payed $20 for my pure bred lion head (she doesnt have papers or a mane so they didnt charge much) that wasnt bad and the food / treats / toys / leash we bought her alltogether came to about $30…. now heres the big startup problem…. the cage! tiny little store bought cages are way over priced! $200 for a cage that wont even give my bunny alot of room to run around! i suggest http://www.kijiji.com or ebay depending on where you live… if you live in canada or the states its probably best to use kijiji if your looking to buy a bunny or the shelter!! everyday animals get stuck in the shelter.. it would be a nice thing to get you bunny from a shelter… personally i look on kijiji…. kijiji has cages acseorries animals everything you could need for great prices or even free. ebay would be great if you were looking to get a cage…. it would be better to build a big outdoor hut! then you can insure that you bunnny has enough room

[MirBear]

that is soo true.. im only speaking from my past expirence with bunnnies and if i said anything that you have a different oppinion one its soo great if you guys say it because even im learning…. from my expirence my baby bunny loved my cats immediatly but my older bunny was extreamly scared of them

[Nat]

I would adopt from our local humane society or SaveABunny.org (I think thats what it’s called).  Sometimes Petco has a bun or two *from* our local humane society (not bred in those inhumane disgusting farms where animals are bred to make money for pet stores). They come from foster families and have a paper or two about their personality  One time I fell in love with a white, orange and black speckled bun at Petco but of course my mom said no.

I think I would try introducing the bun (after it is settled in) to the cat so that s/he could free range in the basement. Or upstairs. Would you guys think I could intro a bun to a golden retriever (70lbs)? I swear Casey is like a BFG (Big Friendly Giant) but…. she does chase after wild squirrels and rabbits. Would it be safe to put the rabbit in a bunny burrito and have the dog on a leash and let them sniff? I’ve heard miricle stories of dogs/cats and buns being BFF’s and I would LOVE that  but….

[Beka27]

Some dogs and some rabbits can get along, but supervision would always be required. An issue with retrievers/hunting dogs (as well as other kinds of dogs like terriers), is that it is in their nature to go after small animals. It is going to depend on the individual dog, and with training supervised visits could be possible, but since he chases animals outside I would not be very confident that it would work. Even if he was okay, the rabbit might be very frightened and that’s not good for them.

[Nat]

Yes… I didn’t think it would be the best idea.  I still may try the cat though. She is indoor so isn’t… uh… “skilled” at hunting (gulp)… She’s never even seen an animal other than the pets, squirrles and birds she watches through the window. Heh. Omg I could get into this time were the squirrel was holding a nut right outside the sliding glass door and Snickers was just staring at him making clicking noises it was so cute … but I wont get into it haha. I don’t think Snicks could do much damage except be scared of the bun, heh. My friends cat stares at her GPigs all day when they’re in their cage but is terrified of them when they are out.  And she hunts!

Okay I started to rant sorryyy!

[Elrohwen]

The best way to introduce your bun to any animal is to have the bun in a cage and the other pet on a leash. From a dog’s reaction you can get a pretty good idea of how they will react when the bunny is out of the cage. A dog that gets very tense and excited and tries to get at the bunny will have a very hard time ever being comfortable around an un-caged bun. But a dog who just lays down and doesn’t react will have a pretty good chance.

I agree with Beka that terriers are typically horrible with small animals (though of course training will help, but they typically have very strong instincts). Hounds can also be bad because they bred to chase and kill animals. Some retrievers are actually fine with small pets because their instincts involve retrieving dead animals for a hunter or simply finding the animals, killing them. So you might have a chance – just take it slow and make sure your dog is unreactive at one stage of training before moving on.

Cats seem to have a better time as buns can often be close in size and have as much attitude as a cat. However, if a cat swipes a bun with claws out, absesses can develop. For that reason, I’d even supervise a cat with a bun at all times, in case the bun did something to annoy the cat and the cat reacted with claws. Many bunnies don’t seem to understand predator body language well and can continue to annoy and pester cats until the cat feels it doesn’t have another choice. Just read Katnip’s stories about how her buns walk all over her cats 😉 at least her cats just run away and don’t react.

[Nat]

Well my cat would obviously scare the poor bun to death if she swiped at him/her but the cat couldn’t hurt him/her because she is declawed (in the front).

[Monkeybun]

I would like to change a bit of what MirBear said about cages… don’t buy a regular cage. Build your own if you can, or just use a play pen as their cage. Store bought cages, even if used, are nowhere near enough space for a bun to stay if they can’t be running around all day. And I definitely do not advocate an outdoor hutch, too many bad things can happen to buns outdoors, if a predator gets close to them, they can literally be scared to death even if the predator can’t get into the cage. Not to mention things like weather, and of course, you don’t spend as much time with them then.

[Nat]

Yeah I’ve been considering C&C cages, and they look good. I would def. have an indoor bunny, hutch or not 

[MirBear]

thanks monkeybun…. now that i re-read my reply i would of changed that too,…. also my buns cage doesnt have an attached run and is fully inclosed and insolated (similar to a dog house). and yes store bought cages are WAY too small but they work great for baby buns that are smaller and can get into smaller spaces and therefor a little more trouble if kept in an open run. building an indoor cage is a great idea.

[Author]

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