New Here, and New to being a Bunny Slave.

[Lady Ananke]

So, I have ALWAYS wanted a bunny my whole life, since I was little, but never really had the money to buy the bunny and ALL the supplies. My boyfriend and I have been talking about getting a bunny for about a year now. (We do also have dogs and cats, so I have always been afraid of that, But all my animals grew up around my hamsters). A friend of mine had a bunny, that I would always play with, and “babysit” while she was away. (I hope i’m not getting off topic here, just need to give some back story to the current story). 

So, I am in this group on facebook, for “Exotic Pets”, I’m a HUGE animal lover, (Plan to open a Shelter, but thats a WHOLE other story). This women had posted and ad, That had a picture of a cute little rabbit. It said ” RABBIT, FOR FOOD OR PET, I DON’T CARE, $8 FIRST COME FIRST SERVE”. I saw the word “Food” and didn’t even Hesitate, I wrote INTERESTED, right away. (I understand the circle of life, and animals get eaten, but in my head.. not a cute little bunny). I told my boyfriend, and he went and picked her up. Sadly all we know about her is that she is a girl. Right now, I have her in a Pet carrier (Med. sized for dogs). I was only able to afford, food for her and some little treats until I get paid again and have the money for a proper cage. 

My friend that had her rabbit, had her in a wired dog cage, with a plastic bottom, and always used puppy potty pads, So that’s kinda what I did for now. 

I plan to take her to the vet next week, and get some answers of maybe age, and if she is fixed. I don’t know if I want to fix her. 

The people who were selling her, said she was “the neighbors” and that she is “mean”. When she got here, she came right out to me, and kinda clenched onto my arm in a don’t let me go kinda way, I finally got her to eat some of the dry food, and some lettuce and carrots, and she gives me kisses on my hand, She has been very good with my other animals (and them with her). 

Anyways, I was looking up cages and such on ebay, to see how much money I’m going to need for one, and I came across beds for rabbits, and I was like, Hrmm I can make one… So I google searched how to make one and ended up here.  Writing this LONG intro (Sorry about that).

I decided to join, because well.. I have no real experience with rabbits, and I can always use the support. I’m slowly going through alot of the articles (there are alot)  but thought I would take a break to introduce myself, and my new little baby Chloe. 

Rabbit Info:

Chloe, Unknown Age. 

[Tessie]

Welcome to the forum!
It’s always lovely to have bunny loving new members! The forum is a great resource, I have learned so much in my time here.

A very sweet story, so so glad you rescued this girl, good for you! I’m sure there’s a lot for you to work out having a new member of the family, how exciting!

I’m just going to go over a few things I thought I should mention, so sorry if I tell you something you already know or have sorted.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but what kind of food are you giving her! And how much? Adults should have pellet food (not the muesli mix kind) and just a very small amount per day.
Has she got hay? Hay is the biggest part of a bun’s diet. Also you mention treats – what kind of treats? Store bought treats are usually not very good for bunnies, so you could potentially save some money there.

How big is her cage? I understand you’re still getting everything for her sorted out having rescued her in such a hurry. I’m not sure if you intend for this to be her permanent home or not. The minimum size for a bun is 2ft by 4ft. Are you saying that you’re planning on making an NIC cage? That’s always a good option.

Are you letting her run around the house? If you are don’t forget to bunny proof by covering electrical wires. -I’ve lost many fairy lights and phone chargers to the buns haha

With the vets, it is vital that you find a good exotics vet who is good with bunnies. Many vets don’t know much about Rabbits and it’s very important that you find a vet who understands rabbits well. As for getting her fixed, although it is a big expense, it is a must. Unswayed females have an 80% chance of developing uterine cancer.

I’m so so pleased you’ve rescued this little girl!
Welcome again

[LopLove]

Welcome! I don’t have much advice to give after Tessie’s post. :p With everything there is to learn, it can be a bit overwhelming, but remember that there is always an abundance of help and resources available (library, trusted vet, your knowledgeable and experienced friend, and binkybunny members) to help out and make things easier. I still get help (usually just with nail trims) occasionally from the manager of the pet store that I got her from (it’s a really nice pet store, where the manager and employees really care about the animals).

The learning process doesn’t seem to end, but it’s a lot of fun. You get to be a greater bunny slave as time goes on. So while I can understand and support the rush to get her the essentials, know that you’ll probably be trying to increase the quality of her life forever, so make sure to slow down and relax occasionally. She looks like she’s in good hands with you!

Have you thought of a name for her yet? She sounds (and looks) so sweet.

[Bam]

Congrats to your new bunny, she looks adorable! I love agouti rabbits, they look like wild rabbits.

I became a rabbit-owner by accident and I didn’t know the first thing about bunnies, luckily after some time I found the Binky Bunny forums and I’ve learnt so much here. Whatever stuff you are wondering about, just ask away, the people here are really kind and helpful!

You can without hesitation use a dog-crate for a bunny-cage, there are great examples in the habitat-section of the forums. There’s no need to buy an expensive rabbit-cage in a pet-store, there often too small and impractical and way too pricey.

[Lady Ananke]

@ Tessie,

Thank you  
I haven’t gotten her hay yet, the walmart I ran to last night didn’t have any. I got her some Timonthy hay treat balls untill I could make it to the pet store today. And I bought her the “Wild harvest, Adult rabbit Advanced nutrition diet, with seeds, fruit veggies and pellets” , for her “treats” I got Romaine lettuce and carrots.

Right now her “cage” is a Dog Travel carrier, I would say it’s at least 2ft by 4ft, but that is just temporary until I can get her a cage. (I’m not sure what an NIC cage is, but we plan on making her a large indoor 2 or 3 story hutch ).

I am letting her run around my room, with supervision (My dogs are still getting used to her, she seems to like my husky )

And, Im doing reserch on vets today Hopefully I can find a good one.

@Loplove

Thank you for the welcome! I plan on going to the pet store today, Where i used to get all my hamsters They have tons of exotic animals. (Ferrets, Sugar Gliders, Bunnies, pigs hehe) , and yes. We named her Chloe. She is doing amazing, im hoping to get her a bigger set up soon

@Bam

Thank you! and Now I know what kind of rabbit she is We didn’t know anything about her, just that she is female. and “aggressiveand mean” (Which she isn’t, I just think the people who had her were mean to her). I feel so bad for having her in a dog carrier (It just feels to small for me) She has room, but not alot. I plan on getting 3-4 Wire dog cages and putting them all together as one large cage. Only able to afford 1 at a time, but in 4 months, she will have a nice sized sleep area

[MoveDiagonally]

You can see examples of NIC cages in the habitat gallery:
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/GreatHabitats/tabid/229/Default.aspx
They’re under the “cubes” section. There are also lots of other great examples of indoor habitats.

If you can take back those pellets I would. Any mixed pellets with seeds and dried stuff in them are not good for rabbits. It’s like eating candy for every meal, everyday. You’ll want a plain timothy hay based pellet. For more info on diet check out these:
http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/
http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

For wal-mart brands one of the only good ones is Purina Fiber3 Rabbit Chow. Only that one though. The other Purina’s are not very good.

Hay should be unlimited so you’ll want to make sure to keep a good supply of that.

Sounds like you’re well your way to becoming a full fledged bunny slave! Welcome to the club (and forums)!

[MoveDiagonally]

Some other good pellet brands/lines for rabbits are:
Oxbow Essentials Adult, Oxbow BeneTera, Kaytee Timothy Complete Adult, Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Adult, Sweet Meadow Timothy Pellets, Zupreem Timothy Naturals, and Zupreem Nature’s Promise.

These fall a little outside of the recommendations but are still good:
Oxbow Natural Science, American Pet Diner Timmy Rabbit, Purina Fiber3 Rabbit Chow, and Sherwood Maintenance.

(Note these are very specific lines. For example “Kaytee Fort Diet” is not good but “Kaytee Forti Diet Pro Health” is good).

[Lady Ananke]

@Move Diagonally;

Thank you. I don’t think I can bring it back because I opened it? But I’ll save it for in case of emergency food and go buy her some new food at the petstore. 

[Deleted User]

I know this is gonna sound annoying, but if you can – pick out the bad stuff (everything except the pellets) or as much as you can. The pellets on their own (without the ‘junk’) should be ok till you can purchase your next bag. And if you can, try and choose from the list MD provided above – super good for Chloe! And don’t feel bad – the amount of ‘stuff’ I bought Henry cause it was labelled ‘for rabbits’ and had to throw out cause I found it (thanks to my BBer friends) to be either bad for him or not nutritional. With her house, have you thought of making one? (only if your that way inclined). We did, and I’ll be honest – I did it to make it fit into my space better and look nicer as his set up is in our kitchen/dining room. & it was super cost effective. Admittedly, I drew up a picture and some measurements for the space I had in mind and my hubby (not super brilliant or handy – Sssshhhh!) did manage to pull it off. At first I thought “it’ll do for now” thinking it wouldn’t last long, but bugga me – it’s still going strong. Oh, and I have to admit, Henry is free range, so it really wasn’t anything too special. But just a thought to help you keep costs down if you know someone who is handy? Not sure if I was helpful, but wishing you all the best Lady Ananke.

[Lady Ananke]

@andhenry

I went to the pet store today and got some Pellets, I actually planned to pull all the rest of the junk out And yes, we planned on making a “Nic” (i think that is what it’s called) house. I just have to figure out where to buy the cube things from. I’m going to make it 3 by 2, then 3 stories high to fit in my alcove area in my living room  

I have never done anything like that, but I googled some “ideas” and I found a really nice one, and it says it costs them about $50 to make it, that is as much as one of those small cages so i’m like 😮 YES I NEED THAT! hehe

[Deleted User]

Good on you Lady Ananke! I too had never heard of the ‘NIC’ and only know about it thanks to other’s posting pic’s. Where I live I doubt you can buy it? But I’m sure you can online? Anyhow, the home made one’s ‘can’ (depending on who’s making it? Ha hah!) be super cool. A bit of untreated pine here, some fence wire there – too easy, NOT! Gotta laugh! As I said, it was just a suggestion on the chance you or someone handy was up to the challenge. At the very least, I hope you got a chuckle at my suggestion, especially that we gave it a go, and as I said, my hubby ain’t that handy! (I did have a pic on my profile – but took it down from the shame of it all after seeing everyone’s fabulous ‘condo’s’, lol!).

[MoveDiagonally]

AndHenry – I believe some Australian members found some grids online at one point. If I remember they are still quite a bit more expensive down under than in the states.

Lady Ananke – You can find usually find grids in the US that are reasonably priced at Kmart, Walmart, or on Amazon. Sometimes at Bed bath and beyond or hardware stores. But be aware that some grids are larger than others and can be a bit hazardous for bunnies. For planning, each grid is 14″ X 14″. The minimum recommended size for a single rabbit would be 3 X 2 grids which comes out to about 8.1 sq ft total. You want to make sure that your bunny has places he can periscope (stand on high legs” in his condo. There are some really nice looking ones in the habitat gallery. For flooring I see a lot of people using the same vinyl tiles I used for mine. They are really inexpensive. They are 39 cents a sq ft at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMaster-12-in-x-12-in-Chaucer-Newport-Select-Solid-Vinyl-Tile-5683/100128792?N=aq27%3FNs%3DP_REP_PRC_MODE%257C0#.Uses2PRDsuc

[Deleted User]

MD – My son is in New York (freezing his little butt of while we are enduring a ‘heatwave’!). I can just see him when he gets home – here’s your souvenir and it turns out to be NIC grids, ha ha ha hah!

[Lady Ananke]

@AndHenry
Hehe, I bet Im going to feel the SAME way when mine is made

@MoveDiagonally

Thank you, I’m looking online right now hoping I can find some in bulk, or at least a little cheaper :/

[Author]

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