New Bun Mum

[Blue_Bunny]

HI All.

Thought id say a quick hi and introduce myself 🙂 🙂

I’m a newbie and a new bun mum, picking my blue mini lops up in a couple of weeks..

Cant wait have almost everything in place for there arrival.

 

Blue_Bunny

xx

 

[DanaNM]

Welcome and congrats!

We have tons of helpful info on this site that’s been vetted to be correct by bunny experts, so feel free to check out the “Rabbit Info” tab at the top of the page as you prepare. 🙂

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Blue_Bunny]

Thank you x

 

[ParsleyBun]

Congratulations on your soon-to-be children! 🐇

 

I made some really terrible mistakes when I got my bunnies and I try to help other new bun parents from making the same ones.

Here are my top 5 mistakes (that you probably won’t make anyway, but here they are.)

5. I did not prepare at all. The day I got them, I researched for 2 hours and what I learned in those 2 hours is what I knew when I got them. I jad no real bunny supplies other than a hutch, pellets, and hay. No kidding, they spend their 1st 2 nights with us in a small cardboard box because the hutch was not finished,  although they got to be in the hutch in the daytime. They drunk their water out of a sardine can.

4. Their cage was only 2x4ft. Some people say that that is suitable for one rabbit, but not really  and for2 rabbits it is ridiculous.

3. I didn’t spay them as young as I should have. Now they are 18 mo. and unspayed, but I will do it pretty soon.

2. I got them too young. The day I got them, they were 4 weeks old that day, and the backyard breeder told me ot was fine, so I was like, ok! I didn’t see what harm it could have caused, and though nothing bad happened, it could have snd I wouldn’t get buns so young again.

1. The other mistakes are in no particular order, but this is the one I regret the most. Muesli mix food. I sent my dad to the the store to get basically any old rabbit food that had fiber. Well, that’s what he picked, and when he brought it home I told him it looked great to me! Getting them off that food any onto healthier pellets was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a bun mom.

I hope this post was educational, feel free to laugh at me for all the bad stuff I did. May your bunnies be cute and fuzzy! 😊 (Just kidding, of course they will!

 

 

[DanaNM]

Those are really great tips ParsleyBun! And oh man, I too made some mistakes with my first rabbits, I still feel awful about some of them. You also reminded me of some other tips for young bunnies.

Young rabbits need to have a source of alfalfa in their diet until they are about 7 months – a year old, but they don’t need it from both hay and pellets. Most people find it easier to switch a bun from alfalfa pellets to timothy pellets, rather than from alfalfa hay to timothy hay. So you can start feeding them unlimited timothy hay right away, as long as they are getting a “young rabbit” pellet that has alfalfa in it. It’s really important to develop good hay eating habits for their overall health. 🙂

Also not sure if you are planning to have them together as a pair, but it’s a really common mistake for people to assume that same-sex pairs of bunnies can just stay together from birth without being spayed or neutered. Often young rabbits are mis-sexed (we have tons of people thinking they got girls and then suddenly finding out one or both are males), so that presents 1 issue of accidental pregnancies. The other issue is that when rabbits hit puberty their dynamic changes and they often start fighting. One of the most common problems people on the forum ask about involves a fight breaking out between young rabbits. So the best practice is to separate them at 12 weeks (the earliest age that a female can get pregnant), and then spay/neuter as soon as they are old enough (between 4-6 months, depending on your vet’s recommendation), then you can go through the bonding process with them. Odds of successful bonding are very high if you separate before they start fighting, but it gets much harder if a bad fight breaks out.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Wick & Fable]

In addition to Binkybunny’s RABBIT INFO section, Wabbitwiki has a great new rabbit owner primer page that’d be valuable to look at: https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/New_Rabbit_Owner_Primer

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Cinnimon&Ollie]

Hello. Rabbits are awesome!

I thought I would share some mistakes I made as well.

1. I also didn’t prepare and put her in a pet store guinea pig cage. She drank out of a water bottle. With only one toy and no litter box.
2. I only got one at first, rabbits are very social animals, sounds like you are getting two or more though so that’s great.
3. I didn’t her spayed at first took 1 year and a half.
4. I didn’t give her veggies ( at the age she should have them ).
5. Gave very little hay
6. Played with her right away, rabbits need time to get used to a new place.

I would go no less than 20 square feet for an enclosure for 2 bunnies. Some people keep them in 16 square feet but I think that is too small. Rabbits should have a litter box with no wire, it can cause sore hocks. Lots of toys to entertain, the less they are entertained the more trouble they will cause.

 

Be ready for a ton of cuteness!

[ParsleyBun]

Yes, my buns have 20 sq. ft. It would not be really ideal to have them in anything smaller unless they were getting 3 or 4 or 5 hours of playtime every single day.

[Blue_Bunny]

Thank you all for the advice.

Thanks your sharing your mistakes .

I’ve driven myself mad researching things… joining groups.

My boys will have a big run plus free  free roaming in a secure garden….that is  one thing i have made sure they have enough space to run and binky about and be hopefully happy bunnies. 🙂

looking for a savvy rabbit vet also. then will get them vaccinated and neutered have things in place to separate prior when /if needed. pick them up this sunday….. super excited..

I’m shocked at the amount of unhealthy treats and food advertised for rabbits that are made of ingredients they shouldn’t have… one i saw was made of sawdust… 😯

Thanks again for your lovely  advice.. will post a pic of the boys .

xx

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Welcome to the forum! Do share pics once you get them ^_^

It’s so good to see people do their research! Broadly speaking: most “common knowledge” about rabbits is wrong. I sometimes invite people who want to get rabbits, and they’re always surprised that rabbits shouldn’t be eating whole carrots. They’re also surprised that rabbits are NOT low maintenance. They need a lot of attention, and their vet bills can be higher than that of a dog.

 

Yes, the stuff that’s sold for rabbits is often unhealthy. It’s because keeping rabbits as real house pets only caught on in the 80’ies. Before that, rabbits were mostly used for meat and fur production. Some of those industry standards have stuck: most hutches are fine by farming standards, but far from enough to keep a house rabbit healthy.

The wrong foods are also a remnant of industry standards. Those cereal-laden pellets or muesli mixes are what you’d use to fatten up a rabbit quickly, never minding their gut health. Seeds and nuts are also foreign foods for rabbits, but they give their coat a nice sheen.

And then there’s just sheer dumbness: who on earth thought that rabbits would enjoy yoghurt? I’ve never met a bunny who ate those yoghurt drops 😆

 

Our bridge bunny Breintje came to me when I met my boyfriend Bas, who kept Breintje in his student dorm. The university switched to a radically new form of teaching, it meant that the students would be working in project rooms from 9:00 to 17:30. Bas hated leaving Breintje alone for such a long time, so he asked if I wanted to take him in.

I was completely unprepared, but I learned as time passed. Sometimes I had a nasty shock: rabbits can look like they’re ill while doing perfectly normal things. The first time that Breintje flopped contently I thought he’d keeled over dead! He wasn’t happy with me rushing over to check on him, while he was just getting comfortable… 😆

A sleeping rabbit also looks weird: they keep moving in REM sleep, so they look like they’re having a seizure. You’ll see twitching ears, rolling eyes and a shaking body if they’re fast asleep. I recorded Breintje during one of his longest naps: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4X5UJGxF9VQ You can see him pull crazy faces 😆

The reverse is also true: rabbits can be very ill, but will keep trying to act normal so they don’t stand out as easy prey. This is one of the hardest things about having rabbits. You should always closely watch their intake and output, any change in the litterbox can tell you something about their real health status.

Also learn their daily routine to spot health issues before they escalate. I was very attuned to Breintjes rhythm: if he wasn’t begging for food around 18:00, I knew that he had gastrointestinal issues and he needed his meds before it got bad.

 

There’s a site that I always found really helpful for understanding bunny behaviour: language.rabbitspeak.com It also helps you to bond with your rabbits.

The basic mantra of rabbit-human bonding is: they’re prey animals, so don’t act like a predator. If your rabbits are scared, try things like closing your eyes and releasing tension in your muscles. Also: no predator would eat or groom themselves while waiting to pounce. Sharing a meal together is an excellent way of becoming friends 🙂

Lots of info here, I hope that it’ll help you ^_^

[Cinnimon&Ollie]

I don’t know where you are located but RHDV2 is spreading rapidly. It is a rabbit disease that kills tons of rabbits. I wouldn’t have them outside because of this. In some areas, there is a vaccine for it. There are cases in America, Candia, the Uk, and Australia, that I know of, there may be more. As for the vet, I would check out House Rabbit Society, they have a rabbit savvy vet list. The unhealthy treats and food are crazy. I only get science selective supreme treats because of that or make my own. In case you need help finding good pellets some good brands are, oxbow and Sherwood. Can’t wait to see the pic!

[prince dorian the bun]

I did a ton of forum lurking and research, so was pretty prepared, but finding a good vet took a lot more work than I thought, I though my old vet for my cat could do it. I did find someone before any emergency, but it’s about 45 minute drive away. So good on you on doing that research first! Oh and photos when you get settled!

[BZOO]

Does your local shelter/rescue adopt out fixed buns?  That might be a place to start for a rabbit vet.

Our local shelter does a lot of rabbits, so I was fairly confident in getting Walter neutered there, though there was a “glitch”.

First time I took him in, Theo said he’s a she and needed more weight.  Ok, whatever.  Got more weight on… he’s always be slight.

Took him back, expecting a spay, nope, he’s a he!  😁

First vet was apparently up late the night before?

Walter had a REALLY rough first day after his neuter, but then it was all good.

Because of the long wait, he and his “sister”, Boo, had a good long pre bond thru their cages, so the official bond went quickly.

Good luck with your new boys, congratulations.

Can’t wait to see pics.

[DanaNM]

Oh yes, of course we all want to see pictures once you have them! Blue mini lops sound so adorable!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Bladesmith]

Welcome to the world of bunny slavery!

[Author]

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