Help new bunny mummy

[Ashlish]

Hi every one, my boyfriend found a bunny last week and after trying to find his owners and been unsuccessful I decided to keep him
Iv bought him a very large out door hutch ( my boyfriend would let me keep him in the house ) he’s quite friendly let’s me stroke him comes to the door when I open the cage, he seems to be eating quite a lot, I’m just not sure how much I should be feeding him, he’s quite a large rabbit.
Iv got him a run which he loves to go in and he has toys in his cage which he plays with. I clean his cage out every other day, feed him
And fresh water every day, I go out to him at least 3 times a day talk to him stroke him ect, I cover his cage over a night
Is there any thing else I should be doing? I’m aware he’s probably been under stress been lost ect so Iv tried to give him distance to get used to me and not pick him up or get to in his face, also he’s having pellets and a few dandy lions a day, is this okay?
Help me bunny mummy’s and daddy’s ??

[LongEaredLions]

His diet should consist of unlimited hay, 1 cup per two pounds of bunny of veggies once a day, and a small amount of pellets.
It would be so much better to keep him inside. Why doesn’t your boyfriend like him inside?

[Deleted User]

Does your bunny have a name? If you can bring your bun inside that would be awesome for your bunny to get to know you both better and I’m sure you won’t regret it either….. Not having to go outside to ‘visit’ your bunny and before you know it, the bunny will be part of your family and if your like most of us BBer’s, you won’t remember how life was before you became a bunny mum and dad!
As LEL suggested, keep HAY and water available to him 24/7 and offer a good quality pellet (Oxbow is a good brand that a lot of BBer’s use including myself), I would suggest 1/4 cup daily depending on his breed/size/age? and about 2 cups of veggies again give or take depending….. (just be careful that they are ‘good’ bunny veg, this info is also available on BB), for example I give my Henry lettuce (NOT iceberg), kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley and a few ‘thin’ slices of carrot (not much cause carrot is a treat food). But when you read about what food to feed your bun, you’ll see what is a no no, and how much more varieties you can offer, I only mentioned the few that I made for Henry’s dinner tonight.
And maybe a vet visit? I’m just throwing idea’s out there – I appreciated it when I first got my bun, even if I did know… I loved that BBer’s cared enough to think I may not have known and thought it was important or good for me to know/understand. Enjoy your new bun, and I wish you all the very best.

[Ashlish]

Thanks for your help guys, the problem letting him in the house is we have 2 dogs that bark every time we bring him in the house, I love all pet but obviously ideally we wouldn’t of got a rabbit due to the dogs but since he found us I just couldn’t let him go, maybe once there used to him he can come inside, Hense why I went out and spent a whole lot of money on a very large cage that’s safe and plenty of room as I couldn’t bare him been cramped up. I’m calling him a him but it could be a her im not sure that’s why it hasn’t got a name yet, with it been bank holiday the earlier I could get in vets was Wednesday so I will be taking him then just for a check up, as obviously I don’t no how old he is. As I was saying about my dogs barking, there not been aggressive there only small dogs but they are just excited to play, but I don’t want to scare my bunny, when he’s in the garden the dogs wonder up to the cage and the rabbit sniffs the dogs nose, but I wouldn’t be comfortable letting them out together at the moment
I’m trying to do the best I can do for him, today my boyfriend is making a fence, Benny’s cage is in a corner of the garden next to out conservatory so where going to have a fence across the front with a gate in, so he can have that whole corner to play in away from the dogs and also keep foxes from getting near his cage to
Hope I’m doing okay

[Hazel]

Welcome .

Like the others, I think it would be so much better if you could get him inside. You should be able to teach your dogs not to bark at the rabbit without too much trouble, have you tried clicker training? In regards to the fence, foxes and other predators will easily dig a hole under it, to prevent that you would have to dig up the grass, lay a mesh down, connect it to the fence and then cover it back up. Also, you will need a cover for on top to keep him safe from birds of prey.

I think it would be much easier to figure out a way to house him inside (and to teach the dogs to be calm).

Would love to see some pictures of your bun! Thank you for taking him in .

[Roberta]

Hi Ashlish, Sounds like you are doing very well so far… Being caught on the hop (pardon the pun) with a bunny sometimes means we have to make a few compromises. It would be great if you could eventually take your bun inside but I understand your current challenges. Is there and area in the house like a sub basement or utility room you could set up where the dogs have limited access ?… You could try supervised visits till they get use to the idea of a long eared sibling. Mean while check out the info on the home page regarding diet and housing. there is lots of helpful information and creative ideas… My bunnies have a customized bedroom with floating shelves to the window.

[Author]

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