How did you get your bunnies?

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Hello!

I’m rather curious to know about how all of you got your buns; here is my story:

My family had been planning to get a puppy for about a year, but closer to the time we realised it was going to be to stressful, as we had never owned a dog before. The day we were going to see the pup, my parents decided it was best for us not get the pup, and at the last minute, we decided to get a bunny. After looking for bunnies, I found a breeder nearby, so we texted her, and arranged to pick up and see the bunnies the next day…keeping in mind that we had no equipment what so ever! On our way home from picking up Muffin and Munchie, we stopped at the pet shop and bought a hutch (as the breeder gave us a ‘starter pack’ for some extra money). This hutch took several hours to build, and remember the bunnies were still inside a little cardboard carrier! 

Luckily, they settled in quickly, and have lived about 1 month with us, and have grown loads!

I’d love to hear your stories!

Xx

[Luna]

That is quite a change of thought going from wanting one puppy to getting two bunnies! I’m glad it worked out . Well 12 years ago my sister got a cat and named her Oreo. Then about a year later she dropped Oreo off at my parent’s house so that my parents could watch her for a couple weeks, which turned into a little over a month. My parents didn’t want a cat but I begged them to let me keep her (she wasn’t exactly the friendliest cat so I knew she had little chance of being adopted at a shelter ), and they let me keep her . Fast forward to 2014 when my sister got a bunny and named her Luna. Can you guess where this story is going . My sister didn’t realize how much work is required to care for a bun, and just over a year later tried to find her a new home to no avail. Luna didn’t live at my house, but I visited her often and loved her, and at this point she wasn’t spayed and I couldn’t stand the thought of her possibly being bred out (or worse), so I adopted her in November 2015 and we couldn’t be happier!

[muffinandmunchbunny]

Posted By Luna on 3/30/2017 2:32 PM

That is quite a change of thought going from wanting one puppy to getting two bunnies! I’m glad it worked out . Well 12 years ago my sister got a cat and named her Oreo. Then about a year later she dropped Oreo off at my parent’s house so that my parents could watch her for a couple weeks, which turned into a little over a month. My parents didn’t want a cat but I begged them to let me keep her (she wasn’t exactly the friendliest cat so I knew she had little chance of being adopted at a shelter ), and they let me keep her . Fast forward to 2014 when my sister got a bunny and named her Luna. Can you guess where this story is going . My sister didn’t realize how much work is required to care for a bun, and just over a year later tried to find her a new home to no avail. Luna didn’t live at my house, but I visited her often and loved her, and at this point she wasn’t spayed and I couldn’t stand the thought of her possibly being bred out (or worse), so I adopted her in November 2015 and we couldn’t be happier!

Bunnies make life so much better! Luna is such a beautiful bun Xx

[Luna]

I agree, we made great choices! Muffin and Munchie are a couple little adorables, and Luna says thank you.

[Sr. Melangell]

I wanted a rabbit for a long time, I used to look after rabbits a long time ago, I saw Olly advertised and knew he was the Bun for me, I found out that Olly had been very ill treated and I offered extra money for him to be brought straight away to me in a taxi.

[vanessa]

You won’t like my story… I got Merlin, Morgana, and Guinevere from rabbitries to breed healthy meat for my two spoiled border collies. And I did. 36 bunnies later I picked Avalon from the last bunch of kits, Got the 3 adults and Avalon spayed/neutered, and kept them as pets. They lived in 2 “camps” in my front yard. Guin and Merlin on one side, Morgana and Avalon on the other side. Plenty of space. After 2 seasons of fly strike, I brought them inside. Merlin got EC and while he was being treated, the vet discovered a second incident of flystrike on him. He ended up very sick, and I had him euthanized. Then I adopted Lancelot from a shelter, bonded him with Guin (who had lost Merlin), and Lancelot now has EC. Today I feel very strongly about EC and flystrike. So I started off with an experience that we don’t want to discuss on this forum, but my 4 bunnies are now very spoiled well cared for fur children.

[binkiessince2010]

I got my first bunny from a friend that I met through a soccer camp. It all happened purely through chance. I had always hated soccer, but I decided to do a summer camp on a whim one day. I didn’t enjoy it, but I hit it off with a girl there. She invited me to her birthday party, where my mom called me over to look at the bunnies, knowing that I loved animals. The mom happened to be nearby, and she asked us if I wanted one because their bunny had just had 5 babies and they wanted to get rid of them. After consulting with my dad, we hurridly built a hutch and picked her up a few days later. She was the best bunny I have ever had and I miss her. I can’t beleive how easily I could have not had her and not know what I was missing….

[BunnyFriends]

Licorice was a bit of an impulse buy at the fair…. parents said I could pick one and I chose him.

2 years later after reading about the benefits of two rabbits, I decided I wanted a second. Mom was ok with that, dad was not for it at all. A year later after pestering and persuading, I got a cage for Christmas and the promise to pick out a rabbit. Phoned a purebred Himalayan breeder who had a litter of blacks ready in April that year. I didn’t want to wait so they gave us another name with a blue doe for sale. Made arrangements to meet and that’s how I got Winter.

In case you were wondering Licorice and Winter and both purebred (Dutch and Himalayan). While I wouldn’t trade them for anything, I do not support buying anymore and would adopt if I ever got another.

[Sleepy]

Our last bridge bun passed away at the end of 2015 and a few months later we decided we were ready for another. We did initially look into shelters and considered a beautiful bunny named Freckles, since she was one of the few bunnies that had detailed write ups about her and it was clear her foster mom probably loved her, but when we went to try the adoption process their site kept glitching and they weren’t picking up the phone.

We decided to just go ahead and get bun supplies anyway and wait for the shelter to get back to us, when we found a batch of buns at the store which included our two buns, Guinness and Bleu. While we were really torn on whether to wait for the shelter or not, Guinness and Bleu really wormed their way into our hearts and we thought that we wanted to ensure at least one of them didn’t find themselves dumped or in a shelter once they grew out of babyhood. At the time, we could only have one so we picked Guinness, since she had the right smug personality and seemed to want out the most.

Flash forward to Easter we’d seen Bleu still in the shop but while we wanted him we couldn’t justify getting him…so we got ‘surprised’ with him as an Easter present by our mom. It caused a lot of stress, both because of the Easter bunny stigma and the fact it was an extra unfixed rabbit that really tapped us out, but we ultimately decided to keep him since we didn’t want to shove him back to the store when he seemed happy to be here. Since at the store, he was past babyhood and had to be separated from the others in a small enclosure and he’d be alone again.

Despite the stress, it does have a happy ending at least, with Guinness and Bleu currently snoozing together in their pen and spoiled rotten compared to where they could’ve ended up. Freckles was also adopted by someone not long after.

[Boston's Mama]

I had bunnies in my teens – worked at petstores and as a vet receptionists so adopted that way through ones coming through clinic etc

Then had 10years no bunnies ( got married and started a family )
Then recently decided to get another
Went through a breeder I trusted as isnt want to risk illness as I have low immunity now
That experience was wonderful and Oakley was healthy as expected given how much I assessed their rabbitry and history
Oakley is now 5months and my golden boy ( he’s cream coloured holland lop )

Boston was a totally different story – he came from a bad breeding place – sold to a petstore – put in a glass tank with sawdust which irritated him – hay too hard to reach so I believe he was starting GI stasis ( his poop was so so tiny ) he had red swollen eyes , itchy ears and weird head movements – he was miserable. I told them he needed a vet and they didn’t listen. When I returned again to check I was told he will be seen in a week … A Week!!! So I took him to my vet and started treatment and he is now our lil boy blue

[Azerane]

Apollo and Luna’s story is fairly standard. Had been saving up for about 6 months after the loss of my previous bunny, Bandit. When the time came that I felt I had enough in reserve I got in contact with a rabbit rescue and went to visit and meet a bunch of the bunnies My heart just melted for Apollo as soon as I saw him and got to pet him. I only intended to get a single rabbit, and we technically only had rental approval for one, but I just had to have him which meant his bonded partner (Luna) had to come home with us as well

[Tony's Mum]

Well, last summer my fiance and I broke up after six years (for the best, still on good terms!), and I moved out by myself. It was really scary and I had also just been promoted to a new office in a new part of the city so everything was all changing really fast. It was very stressful and it really didn’t help with my anxiety! After a couple of months, my friends suggested I get a pet to help (Tony is my emotional support animal lol). I’m not allowed have dogs in my house, and I don’t love cats (plus I live in a rural enough place so there’s lots of farm dogs and stuff so I didn’t want an outside animal that could be attacked or hurt).

So I did a lot of research on apartment-friendly pets; I looked at Degus, Chinchillas, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, etc etc, before I eventually decided on bunnies! I planned on adopting, found a shelter that has rabbits, got a list of bunny-friendly vets etc etc, then when I went to check out the bunnies in the shelter, my application was denied. I was told that because I rented, I would have to have lived in the same house for over a year (I’d only been there a few months), and get forms signed by my landlord etc etc. I was really bummed out, and it put my plans on hold for a couple of weeks. Then in November, I broke my arm and was forced to take three weeks off work. I was SUPER bored, and it was very depressing hanging around my house alone all day. So I started my pet research again, and found a breeder of mini holland lops that said she would have buns ready to be rehomed in another few weeks. I decided to buy one of them and said I’d get beck to her when they were ready to go. In the mean time, I decided to head down to my local pet store to look at the cost of all the bunny stuff. 

Then I saw Tony. He was all dirty and small, and stuck in the little glass cage full of dirty sawdust, and I just fell in love. I bought him on the spot. It was love at first sight! I just felt such a strong need to care for him, he looked so sad and small and lonely, and he kept tilting his head all weirdly. I’m generally such an organised person, and I had such plans to have a rabbit home all set up and a bunny picked out long before I actually brought one home, but in the end I brought Tony home in a cardboard box, and he ate out of my fancy tapas dishes for three days before I finally got everything he needed! You should have seen me trying to assemble a bunny cage with one arm in a cast…

[SeeShmemilyPlay]

I got Eve on a whim at a local pet shop. I knew nothing about rabbits and had zero supplies. After getting her, I literally just googled, “what do you need for a rabbit?” and the googling never stopped!

After heavy duty research and spending time with her, I decided that she needed a friend (also, bunny fever had kicked in.) A month after her, I drove two hours to the nearest shelter with bunnies and adopted Theo.

Then we end up where I am a year later… running a rabbit rescue, taking care of multiple rabbits that I consider all my babies, and being a self-proclaimed rabbit expert at where I now work, a pet shop (which luckily doesn’t sell bunnies.)

Talk about a life change!

[Yoyo]

^^^ thoroughly enjoyed reading the previous replies! I would like for more to post in this topic!

Me? hum… yrs ago,. when my first daughter was in preschool, her class ” mom ” had a rabbit,.. she would bring it every day,.. open its cage, and, the bun, would mill about, and lounge, as he saw fit.. the kids loved him, he was 100 % litter trained…great rabbit ambassador – I swore, she had some sort f rabbit wizardry going on lol.

Fast forward.. I have had many types of pets ( none, cold blooded tho…sheesh ).. lets see,.. chinchillas, ferrets ( ran ferret rescue, for about 15 yrs ) , cats.. dogs ( of course lol ) ..guineas, bird.. currently I have 2 dogs, 2 sugar gliders, a bird, and mah love buneh

How I came to become bun owner? … Craigslist.. lol… I was surfing it, for bird stands, and.. this goofy creatures picture caught my eye.. I actually didn’t understand what I was looking at, at first ( he has wild head hair, in the right pictures lol ).. it looked like a gigantic sized guinea pig! Turned out,. it was my future to be, heart bun tho – I love him dearly
I now wish, I had looked into buns, wayyy earlier in life!

[Swamp Hagg]

Hello everyone! I originally had my heart set on getting a couple of rats, but then I moved to a new town and am currently renting a house with a beautiful big yard full of fruit trees, and decided to get a pet to enjoy it all with me! I put an ad up on Gumtree to see if anyone had a rabbit that they no longer wanted (as I wanted to adopt rather than shop) and after one let down, I was eventually contacted by a bad breeder who was getting shut down by the RSPCA! I agreed to take his oldest rabbit, then the day before she was set to move in he asked if I could take her daughter as well – I couldn’t say no! Now I have two of the greatest loves of my life. Even though I’m new to the whole rabbit scene, I’m keen to learn how to make their lives happy, healthy, and fun for many years to come!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Swamp Hagg on 4/01/2017 6:45 AM

Hello everyone! I originally had my heart set on getting a couple of rats, but then I moved to a new town and am currently renting a house with a beautiful big yard full of fruit trees, and decided to get a pet to enjoy it all with me! I put an ad up on Gumtree to see if anyone had a rabbit that they no longer wanted (as I wanted to adopt rather than shop) and after one let down, I was eventually contacted by a bad breeder who was getting shut down by the RSPCA! I agreed to take his oldest rabbit, then the day before she was set to move in he asked if I could take her daughter as well – I couldn’t say no! Now I have two of the greatest loves of my life. Even though I’m new to the whole rabbit scene, I’m keen to learn how to make their lives happy, healthy, and fun for many years to come!

I thought about getting rats too! I think they’re awesome creatures Boyfriend was never very keen tho. 

I ended up getting my two buns after falling in love with the idea of rabbits after seeing my neighbour’s bunnies. That’s when I began the ‘can we get rabbits’ tirade and eventually my partner agreed  although I later found out he was happy to have bunnies right from the start but he wanted to get me them as a surprise. He’s terrible at keeping secrets tho. We ended up getting ours from a breeder. We couldn’t adopt as the shelter needed written permission from our landlord which we knew we’d never get. So a breeder it was. Originally wanted two girls but after speaking to the breeder on the phone she said she only had a boy and one girl left. We went to view them and within 0.9 seconds, I fell in love  We paid our deposit and then said we’d collect the bunnies a week later to give us time to get everything we needed. Ended up having to wait two weeks in total due to her schedule, and it felt like the longest fortnight ever! I was so excited and when it was originally postponed, I cried  

[Swamp Hagg]

Oh my gosh, I would have cried too! I almost did after my first let down. All set to have the little bun arrive, and an hour before the arrival time the guy tells me that he “might as well keep it”. I was so devastated ?? But we both got our happy endings!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Swamp Hagg on 4/01/2017 9:57 AM

Oh my gosh, I would have cried too! I almost did after my first let down. All set to have the little bun arrive, and an hour before the arrival time the guy tells me that he “might as well keep it”. I was so devastated ?? But we both got our happy endings!

I got the ‘need to postpone’ message the night before, I was all set to go to bed early even tho I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I just wanted morning to come! I was so upset but of course it wasn’t the breeder’s fault,  I was just so prepared! It felt like Christmas bringing them home. Happiest day ever I’ve only had them 5 months and I can’t imagine life without the little monsters! 

[Jellie]

This is a bit of a long story!

So my boyfriend and I have friends who live on a farm. They breed rabbits and the girl who cares for them always lets me visit with them and pet them. Normally they are sold as pets or used for show like 4H kind of thing. But they had an accidental litter and were going to sell them for meat. It broke my heart and I knew I had to take at least one of them.

I came home and researched buns for a few days, every morning and every night reading and watching as much as I could. I got some NIC cubes and built him a nice bunny condo. And amazon ordered everything else I’d need.

When I went back to pick up Bun, she said the farmers granddaughter had fallen in love with the buns and they were going to keep them (thank god!) but I could still have one as they didn’t want to keep them all. These poor babies live in a wire bottom tiny box with all their siblings and their mom. As soon as she pulled my Sterling out and put him in my arms I kew he was the one for me. I put him in my sweater and held him for hours. He licked my hand and didn’t potty on me once!

I brought him home almost 2 weeks ago and my life has been better ever since. He lights up my life. I feel bad because I do have a dog also, and he’s my baby too and I love him dearly. But for some reason this little bun brings me so much joy and happiness. It’s like my heart fills up about to explode. I’ve had depression my whole life and I wish I’d had buns sooner.

My sister had a bun that I ended up taking care of for the last few months of his life. I didn’t know anything about rabbits and I did lots of things wrong because that’s what I was told to do. I had the best intentions but he ended up getting very sick and passing away young. Even though we weren’t that close for very long it really devestated me when he passed. I still feel guilty and so I want to do everything I can from now on to be the best rabbit owner ever.

I hope to get involved with some of my local rescues to help do what I can to make lots of buns lives better.

Sorry I went off on a ramble, I just love buns so much, especially my baby!

[foreverfluffle]

The first bunny in my life was Theodore, a brown and white mini lop. He belonged to my uncle’s friend who was going on a trip to Aussie, and he recommended I look after him. I was eight, and it was for two weeks.

I was eight years old when I was given Marshmallow for Christmas. He was a REW Netherland dwarf, and I loved him so much. We had many adventures together, and he was such a fearless little dude! I didn’t realize back then how different he was from most rabbits. He was always happy to be picked up and carried, I took him for walks outside everyday, and often didn’t put his leash on because picking him up was just so simple. He was happy on the trampoline, and being pushed around the garden in a dolls pram. I loved Marshmallow so much, and I feel life would have been a lot less bright without him. Sadly, one heartbreaking morning my dad called me outside. There was a big hole in the wire of his hutch. He was no where to be found; and I never saw him again. I don’t know what attacked his hutch. Our property was fenced so I really don’t think it was a dog. There was no blood.

After Marshmallow, there was no bunny in my life for four more years. Last year I brought home Aurora, the SPCA in my city often doesn’t have rabbits, so I got her from trademe. She is a fawn mini lop, born on a leap year. I have taken her to a rest home once for the residents to pat; she really loves attention and cuddles. I would like to leave home next year if I can save enough money, but here it’s not safe for her inside; I have five boisterous siblings running around most of the time. My sister also got a rabbit last year, we were told he was a girl, but he definitely isn’t as we discovered. Charlie is black with a white nose, and so affectionate, he loves to lick. My sister really doesn’t look after him and he would have died of dehydration multiple times over if it wasn’t for me. I’m seriously considering getting him neutered so I can look after him and Aurora together in the same hutch; they both love each other; when one of them is having a run they always make lots of visits to the others hutch, and when we thought he was a girl we gave them lots of play dates.

[Wicket the Ewok]

After researching and looking at this website for a few months, I got my bunny, Chewie, or Chewbacca at a pet store a few minutes from my house. He had been there for a while since no one wanted to buy him because of his “helicopter ears” (His one ear has since come down and he is a lop.) Fast forward a few months, Chewie is a happy member of the household. After he is neutered, we plan to adopt a girl rabbit for him from a shelter.:

[JosipTheBunny]

After researching a lot we got our first bun Josi last June. We got her from a breeder, because we don’t have rescues or shelters with bunnies in my country otherwise I would adopt. We feel in love with her (he was still a he back then ) and in September, when we knew we were moving in a bigger apartment we got Bobi. As usually we only went to look at bunnies in a pet store. But we fell in love instantly and got him (also as a company for Josi). He was so small (definitely under 2 months so I was angry that he was taken away from his mom so early) and cute and we just had to get him. After 2 months Josi and Bobi were successfully bonded. A month ago we went again just to look at the buns in the store (almost every time we go to shopping center we also go to pet store to look at the cute buns there). We got home with Cofi. He is currently with us in our bedroom. The other 2 are in the living room, because Cofi is not yet neutered.

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