most likely getting a purebred flemish giant!

[flemish giant]

 so i found a light grey flemish giant doe on craigslist. i believe shes 4 months now. my mom said shed think about it but its pretty much a yes bc she wanted a purebred flemish that would grow really big in the first place. at first i was a little weary about getting another rabbit from a breeder bc id much rather rescue but theyre going to use her for breeding if shes not sold so i figure that since im buying her none of those babies will end up in a rescue and ill save her from a life of breeding and being kept outside and on wired bottom cages.i do have a few questions though

1.should i wait till after shes fixed to stary bonding her to peeta and polly? im prepared for the fact that they may all three end up alone. i plan to fix her the day she turns 6 months.

2. if shes let near them or allowed to excercise in the same area could it split peeta and pollys bond up? they wouldnt be in contact.

3. are flemish giants easy to free roam? if so and the bonding doesnt work out we will probably give her the bottom half of the house. 

4.when do flemishes start eating veggies and stop alfalfa pellets? i know its later but how much later? also does she need to be on alfalfa hay or would bremuda be ok with alfalfa pellets?

ill post a pic in a minute.

[flemish giant]

 here she is 

[flemish giant]

So I’m trying to get the lady to weigh her so I can see if she will be big. We want a 20 pounder. Looks like we will get her in 2 weeks if she weighs 9lbs

[jerseygirl]

Apparently it’s pretty hard to get Flemish giants through rescue anyway.

She is beautiful! Hard to believe she’s only 4 months they grow so fast.
She reminds me of Lady of S&LH’s Flemish girl.

I’ll attempt answer some of your questions but hopefully those with personal experience with Flemmies will add more.

1. If your pair are already desexed, i personally dont see a problem with introducing them to see how they fair. They may tolerate each other well if you are lucky but keep in mind, you might not get a true bond initially. Things could change as the new bun starts to sexually mature.

2. Unfortunately yes. Her presence could challenge the bond of your pair. If they have bad reaction to her, best keep new bun well away and attempt intros after she’s fixed.

3. Depends on the individual bunny really. In general, I’ve heard they can be good free-rangers. Best they have lots of room regardless.

4. Check with the breeder on her current diet. If you can, even purchase some of the feed she uses. You can then start to mix it with the brand you prefer to use.
I think Bermuda grass and alfalfa pellet combo should be fine. Bermuda grass is one of the higher protein hays but not as high as alfalfa hay. Many rabbits do well with an alternative to alfalfa hay from a young age. Again, check with the breeders advice for their diets as pets (breeder will have different diet requirements for own stock). Her advice doesn’t need to be Gospel but get it anyway. You can always research whether its sound advice afterward.

[CheriB603]

Hi! Glad to see there might be another flemmie Momma here! My Female Jo-Jo is also light gray and turned 4 months old on Aug 1st! She is approx 10 lbs. my last bun was a mini rex and the personality difference between the two are amazing! Jo is more like a puppy than a rabbit! Very calm, sweet, socialble and will do anything for food! We have had her on greens since 12 weeks which we introduced slowly to avoid runny poops. Loves everything so far! Gets along great with my dog & cat, but she is an only bunny so I’m curious to see how all of yours react. Our flemmies are the same age so it will be nice to have someone to compare notes with! Good luck!

[jerseygirl]

Glad to see there might be another flemmie Momma here!

or Flemmie Dad : D

[CheriB603]

(Even the guys are the Mommas!).

[jerseygirl]

Lol

[MoveDiagonally]

1. I wouldn’t do any bonding until after the new bunny is spayed + 1 month. Any progress you seem to make will likely be reset when she’s spayed anyway.
2. There is a chance that having her near your bonded pair, even without contact, will cause them to fight. I had this happen with my bonded pair whenever another rabbit would get to close to their habitat.

[flemish giant]

Thanks for all the advice! I think I’ll probably see how the pair reacts with her in their play area and if I see anything negative ill stop. Would keeping the pen on the other side of the room be OK? They won’t be able to see her.I really wish the girl would hurry up and email me back about holding her for 2 weeks and her weight. So she looks pretty big to y’all?

[MoveDiagonally]

In the same room would be fine and even being closer might be fine. Really it depends on how bugged your bonded pair is by it (if they are at all).

[flemish giant]

OK good. Would it be easier to bond a male or female in?

[MoveDiagonally]

I don’t really believe that any gender is easier to bond than or to another gender. Once everyone is spayed/neutered it doesn’t seem to really matter. Really the most important factor in the difficulty level of a bond is personality.

[flemish giant]

Ok. Would it be a bad idea to being my rabbits along and see if they get along. I’m going to go look at her (if the owner replies) and if we decide against her we are gonna look at a breeder who has several sandies.

[MoveDiagonally]

I wouldn’t bring your current rabbits with you. There’s no way of knowing if any of the breeder rabbits have some illness they can pass along to your rabbits. Most breeders don’t take their rabbits to the vet on a regular basis and I’m always a fan of being cautious when it comes to bunny health. In fact, most reputable breeders I know of would never let a strange rabbit in their rabbitry for the same reason. When you bring your new rabbit home you might want to quarantine her from your current bunnies until you can get her looked over by vet.

If you’re wanting to do bunny dates then I would go through a rescue. If you’re going to go through a breeder than I think you’re just going to have to take a chance that they may not get along in the future. This is the same risk one takes when they get a baby bunny. A baby bunny may love everyone and then be the complete opposite once it’s an adult.

[flemish giant]

Ok. Do I need to keep her in another room? Can a rabbit pass anything to a dog? I may just block of the kitchen and keep her in there or maybe my grandpas room. Is 2 weeks a good quarentine period? I think that’s how long I did it with Guinea pigs. How much does a checkup usually cost at a vet? I haven’t done any checkups yet since peeta went to the vet for neutering and Polly came from a rescue where I’m sure they did a yearly checkup.

[MoveDiagonally]

My vet charges about $50 for a check up but I would just call your vet and see how much they charge. I’m sure everyone has their own routine when they bring a new bunny home. I usually keep them completely separate/wash my hands in between handling until I can get them to a vet. Once they’ve been given a clean bill of health I don’t worry as much.

Edited to add: This of course doesn’t eliminate all risk (but that would be impossible). It just allows for anything obvious/parasites to be treated before having the chance to spread. It would be much cheaper to take one bunny to the vet than have to take all 3 (or 5 in my case). 

[flemish giant]

True. Yea I’ll call around tomorrow. I’ll also check on spay prices since I learned I overplayed for peetas neuter.

[flemish giant]

I’m still not sure on when to change pellets to timothy. Is 6 months OK or do I wait till later? Also 6 months is a good age to spay right?

[MoveDiagonally]

Spaying and switching pellets at 6 months is fine.

My younger rabbits have actually been eating timothy based pellets since they were about 4 months or so because they didn’t do well on alfalfa.

[flemish giant]

OK thanks so much for the help!

[flemish giant]

So they still havent replied guess I’ll be going with a sandy colored flrmish giant. Which is OK BC the dad is 25lbs and the mom is 22.

[flemish giant]

Can a spayed female rabbit be shown? I figured out the ones I’m getting are show quality and I show market lambs so I think it’d be cool to show a rabbit too.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

No they have to be unaltered.

[flemish giant]

Oh what’s the oldest they can be before being spayed? I don’t want her to get cancer but I’d like to show her if its just a few months to a year

[MoveDiagonally]

Why do you want to show?

Showing is really only for breeders. It helps them determine the suitability of a rabbit as “breeding stock”. If you don’t intend to breed the rabbit there’s not really much benefit to showing. Beyond that, your rabbit will be placed in an area with a lot of other rabbits which puts her at risk of contracting illness and/or disease in a very stressful environment.

[flemish giant]

I want to show a female Flemish giant. So it’d be bad for me to? I was planning on showing in 4h in college. I like showing sheep so I thought it’d be cool to do.

[MoveDiagonally]

I believe most rabbit 4-H programs involve husbandry/breeding (but I’m not sure). Rabbits shows are for breeders to show off their “product” and can help them make sure they’re breeding rabbits that conform to breed standards.

There just doesn’t seem much benefit to showing a pet rabbit and to me it doesn’t seem worth the risks.

[flemish giant]

OK I won’t do it then. Thanks for the info!

[Beka27]

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are planning to bond this bunny to your other rabbit, you will be very limited on what you can do until she is spayed.

To answer your question regarding age, you could wait to spay until about a year to a year and a half with little to no ill effect on health. Past that… Uterine changes are going to begin and then it’s just a matter of time before things progress.

Behavior is an entirely different subject all together. I think with a large breed bun, some of the behavioral issues may be amplified, or at least harder to contain, so it’s likely that you’ll be more than ready to spay at 6 months and showing will be the furthest thing from your mind.

[flemish giant]

So I wish my money in my PayPal account would hurry up. I sold my D’s BC I didn’t use it and I’m going to use it to get the rabbit stuff. 50 for the rabbit, about 40 for the cage and 54 for a checkup.wish I could find a cheap place to get the pen local I don’t wanna wait for shipping

[flemish giant]

 so the owner of the first rabbit i posted emailed me back. the rabbit is 12 and 1/2 pounds and turned 5 months on the 3rd. does she sound like she will be in the 20s? heres the pic she sent me shes big!!

 

[flemish giant]

ok i dont see the pic and i dont know why.

[flemish giant]

ok i fixed it.

[Roberta]

She’s beautiful… If she is 12.5 pounds already and not yet 6 months I would say she stands a good chance of hitting the 20’s, the other Flemmie owners would probably have the best idea.

[flemish giant]

I know!!! I really hope my mom likes her. I don’t like how the owners holding her though. Is that a standard way to hold a Flemish BC I can see it kicking up and breaking its back.

[CheriB603]

I have a Flemmie who is 10lbs at 4 months, but she doesn’t look as big as the one in the picture – that’s a big Flemmie!
I know a lot of Flemmie owners hold their buns in a “baby” pose. I have done this while hubby trims nails. She tolerated it pretty well ( was only for 2 or 3 minutes) but she definitely didn’t LOVE it! Good luck! Would love to see more pics as she grows!

[flemish giant]

Can they break their backs like that?

[Sarita]

I would not hold a rabbit like that off the ground. Large rabbits are very muscular and not easy at all to hold. I find it is best to do everything at ground level.

[flemish giant]

OK. Are rabbits usually OK with a leash and would I use a harness or collar?

[Sarita]

Harnesses, leashes, collars are not at all recommended for rabbits. They have very fragile bones which can be broken with very little force. Rabbits really do not like being restrained like this either.

[flemish giant]

Then how do I get her into the car?

[Sarita]

I would put her in a large dog carrier.

[MoveDiagonally]

With a pet carrier.

How do you get your other rabbits into the car?

[flemish giant]

We I borrow my friends with mine I guess I’ll have to go get a bigger one then. How big should it be

[Sarita]

Most of the hard sided carriers like on Petsmart will tell you which size per pound of pet so look there and see – you want a size that would suit your rabbit when he/she is full grown.

[flemish giant]

OK will do

[flemish giant]

Are does worse than bucks considering temperament? I’ve heard to get a buck if u get a pet but Polly is sweeter than peeta so I don’t know.

[MoveDiagonally]

Personality determines temperament not gender especially when we’re talking about a rabbit that will be spayed or neutered. I would choose a rabbit based on it’s personality instead of it’s gender.

[flemish giant]

Yes but won’t she be going through her teenage years now?

[MoveDiagonally]

Getting a rabbit before they are matured and their personality and hormones have settled is always a gamble of sorts. This is true for both genders. Neither gender is more likely to be one way or another and it will all depend on who they become as they mature.

[flemish giant]

OK thanks for clearing that up!

[flemish giant]

So how big of a litter box do y’all think she will need? Will a standard work or is she way to big? Also I was wondering if anybody sells like troughs for rabbits? I’d like to be able to givemy rabbits more water BC they run out while I’m at school with 2 small bowls full.

[flemish giant]

Also. Is she too young too keep on tiles? I can probably put a mat in the laundry room and then she can have the laundry room and kitchen as long as she poops only in the laundry room. I don’t want her to get spayed legs though.

[flemish giant]

Anybody?

[MoveDiagonally]

1. Water Bowls - If they’re running out of water the simplest solution would be to give them bigger bowls. You could also get a bowl with a water reservoir. 

2. Litter Box Size – Big enough for her to be able to lay down in it. Remember that unless the person that you are getting her from has been litter box training her she will likely not have any litter box habits. 

3. Splay Legs – From what I understand splay legs are largely genetic so being on tile shouldn’t cause too many problems. I would put down something for traction as that’s usually a bunnies preference. 

[CheriB603]

I just got a huge, low, storage container for my flemmys’ litter box (it’s about 20 x 26 inches and about 3 inches high) but you can find “giant” litterboxes for cats online (search Amazon). I found that most pet stores don’t carry the huge ones. Not even for cats.

[flemish giant]

OK. I’ll see if the normal one works if not is there anyway I can take her to tractor supply or pet smart and let her try them out? I’m guessing no since a leash wouldnt work.

[Beka27]

I like Cheri’s idea. A low “under-the-bed” storage box is going to be the best option for a litter box. I wouldn’t even bother with a cat box at all.

[CheriB603]

Right, Beka! Under bed storage box is exactly what I have.

[flemish giant]

Well I just got her and I think for bow the normal will work as long as she doesn’t tip it over or anything. We will see. If not I’ll get an under the bed storage container. I’ll post some pics when I get home this site never let’s me upload from my phone.

[Author]

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