New Mommy to Sisters <3 <3

[Mona83]

Hey fellow bunny owners

I decided to adopt a bunny for my daughter (9) for this christmas.

She loves pets but since we live in a apartment we are pretty limited with our choices.

I knew that I wanted to adopt them from a breeder so I searched for local rabbities. We decided to go take a look at them this sunday and of course I adopted the a pair of girls that I just fell in love with.

I have never owned a bunny but I have owned hamsters. Hopefully I will get some good advice and tips from other owners on this site.

Mona

 

[Mandyyy]

Welcome!
Let me start by saying, I have had many pets growing up from Hamsters, Rats, Bunnies, Mice, ferrets… you name it I probably had one at some point.
Hamsters are NOTHING like Rabbits. Rabbits are a lot of work, time and money. They need daily veggies, vet checks, and other things most “caged” pets don’t really need. They are also not much of a kids pet. They don’t like to be held much, and sometimes kids get discourage with that.

Rabbits are great though as pets. They are very affectionate, smart, and they can get very attached to you. My Bunny Nava comes when I call her and when someone new walks into my room she HAS to great them.

This site is awesome for bunny information though, so look around. I owned rabbits about 5 years before joining this site yet I still learned a lot more from being part of this site.

Congrats on the new bunnies too! If that’s them in your avatar pic, they are ADORABLE! I bet your daughter loves them!
Ps: Personal opinion, they are much better then hamsters. Haha.

[peppypoo]

Welcome to the forums! There’s lots of great information on the site, and we’re always happy to help new bunny owners too .

Like Mandy said, bunnies are very different from hamsters! In fact, they can require as much (some people might say more) time, effort, and money as a cat or a dog. How old are the new bunnies? Keep in mind that you will need to have your rabbits spayed at about 6 months, or else they will start fighting…yes, even though they are siblings. Also, it’s extremely common that even breeders will mix up the gender of a rabbit, so it’s important to get them fixed just in case you have a boy and a girl. Not to mention that it’s so much healthier for them!

[bunnyfriend]

Welcome!!

I hope you enjoy getting to know your new bunnies and learning how to take care of them. Sorry I have to give the “spay importance” speech When your bunnies reach 6 months old they will have to be spayed. Unspayed females have an 85% chance risk of developing uterine cancer at a very young age (as well as ovarian and mammary), spaying eliminates this. Once they hit sexual maturity (around 4-6 months old) hormones will kick in and they will most likely be aggressive towards each other, however after they are spayed and the hormones have died off they should be able to form a true bond with each other. Unspayed rabbits are aggressive, have more behavioral problems, are not good companions, and can be impossible to litter train. Spaying will make your rabbits healthy, happy (and litter trained) companions for your daughter.

Rabbits are completely different than hamsters. It’s true that they require lots of time, money, and work. They also are not really cage animals, sure they can have cages ( at LEAST 8 square feet minimum for one rabbit) (my rabbits have free roam 24/7 of about half the house) but they need at least 4 hours of exercise outside of them. They can easily be 100% litter box trained (most do it on their own). I do have to caution that rabbits do not like being picked up (and it can be dangerous for them) or to cuddle, but they make awesome pets. Whew. Sorry that was long Good luck! This is definitely the right place to be for information!

[Mona83]

Thanks for all the good info. Those are my babies in the profile pic

I did put in some time and thought on this big decision. From what I have learned so far I feel pretty confident that I can give these little ones a great home. My daughter does understand not to pick them up. So far I have let them choose to explore a bit (supervised of course) on their own by leaving the cage open for a bit. They do seem very friendly and curious more and more each day.

The one thing I dont know much about is spaying them.

Info on that would be greatly appreciated.

They were born on 9/18/2011

I do have to agree that these bunnies are way more fun than any hamster we have had.

[FrankieFlash]

Welcome! well I like to share with all the new people with babies like I have that I thought my bun was a girl when I got him and right about 3 months of age or so… he “manhood” dropped and I had a he not a she. So that’s always a possibility and in that case you’re definitely going to want to get them fixed. I thought the price would be outrageous but I live in a city where everything costs a lot and to get my bun neutered is around 130. So he will be in the next month or two. I know spays can be a bit more expensive because it’s more extensive. But I’ve heard on here and my vet confirmed that having your bunnies spayed/neutered lowers health risks. Especially cancer in female buns. Also you probably haven’t seen there “full” behavior and when that comes I think your mind will change like mine. About 2-3 times of catching him chewing carpet, etc I was convinced to have him fixed. I’m just lucky mine doesn’t spray *knock on wood*

Anyways, hope I was helpful! And we’d love to see more pics

[FrankieFlash]

ahh so many typos. Please ignore, I’m at school and easily distracted.

[peppypoo]

I’m glad to hear that you put thought into providing them a good home! What are their names?

For more spay information: http://www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

It’s kind of a long link, but it has great tips and information on how to find a good rabbit-savvy vet in your area too.

[Monkeybun]

I see shavings int hat pic, do you have plans to litter train them? If so, you don’t need litter covering the floor of the cage, just in the litter box. And if you want to use shavings, only use aspen, as cedar and pine can be harmful to your bunnies.

[bunnyfriend]

They will be ready to be spayed in the end of January to March, depending on what your comfortable with and what your vet says. A big thing to make sure is that they remove both uterus and ovaries. If one of them does turn out to be a boy then they “should” be neutered as soon as their parts drop, which will probably be in January but could be earlier. And the link Peppypoo provided is a great, it tells you what to ask your vet and how to find a rabbit savvy vet.

[Mona83]

Ok so I have some homework to do!
Im going to ask around and try and find a good vet. I am trying to litter train them. I am following most of the tips on this site.
So far they are using the box pretty well. They have made themselves a kitchen and bathroom corner in their pan..(i find this fact both hilarious and gross)

I am trying to get them to be as free as possible in the future. Im taking it slow with them now since we just brought them home sunday.
So far every day they do something new

Thank you guys so much. I appreciate all the help since I am a 1st time bunny owner and no one I know owns one.

[Mona83]

I have been trying to upload pics but its not working for me :-/

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Upload to another site like photobucket, then take the direct link and paste it into the box that pops up when you click on the little image box (in add reply, not quick reply)

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Its very common (and perfectly safe!) for bunnies to use their bathrooms as kitchens! To start, you’re going to want to invest in 3 or 4 litter boxes, and put 2 in their pen. Take all the shavings out of the cage, and just have them in the litter box, no where else. I’d leave the bottom of the cage completely free at this point, although later once they’ve learned you can add a fleece and see what they do (on of my girls pees on them, the other doesn’t). Until you get the sexes verified by an exotic vet, you should probably separate them, to be sure they cant reproduce.
Rabbits also need much larger space (even as babies!) than pet store cages can supply, a good set up is a cage made from NIC panels, an exercise pen(xpen) or a xl dog kennel. I’m not sure what you have, so I’m just throwing that out there
And I agree with the above, rabbits are nothing like hamsters They are much more like a cat or a dog in terms of pet needs
And welcome!!

[Author]

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