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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
- This topic has 16sd replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 10 months ago by
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Hello
On Sunday my flatmate came home with a rabbit. We weren’t planning to get one but he was unwanted by his old owners and had been dumped on a friend of ours and my flatmate couldn’t resist bringing him home. He’s only been here 5 days but we have already totally fallen in love with him and I’ve done loads of research but there are a few things I’d like to hear about from people who have experience as I’ve never had a rabbit before.
First to introduce him
His name is Max. We think he is just under 2 years old. I don’t know what breed he is but I think he’s a bit of a mongrel as he has a mane, but he doesn’t look like Lionhead rabbits I’ve seen pictures of. He is quite big – about the size of a large cat.
He is neutured and housetrained already which is lucky, although he did wee on my flatmate’s bed the other day! We are wondering if this means he is likely to do it again?
He spends a lot of his time under a desk in the lounge, he seems to have decided it’s ‘his spot’. He is happy for us to come and stroke him under there but he doesn’t come and hang out with us. Will he come out more as he settles in?
He has some chew toys he really likes but we are not sure how to play with him. He seems to get playful sometimes – he nibbles on us and does this little jump where he shakes his head, which I read means he is in a playful mood. But we aren’t sure what to do to play, we don’t want to scare him by chasing him around and he seems to ignore toys if we try and give them to him.
He has lots of hay and we’ve given him veggies every day. He had a bag of pellets with the stuff we got with him but he didn’t eat any all week. I read that they don’t like stale pellets so today we bought a new bag and he has eaten some so obviously the old ones had gone yucky. I read that we should mix new food in with his old food gradually to get his stomach used to it but as he’s not eating the old pellets I can’t do that, so we just gave him a very small amount today and will gradually give him a little more so he doesn’t have too much at first. Does that sound like the right idea? Also I have no idea how much he weighs so I can’t work out how much to give him, does a handful per day sound about right for a big rabbit?
He seems to like being stroked, he lies down with his chin on the floor and his butt in the air and lets me brush him. Sometimes he grinds his teeth together like he’s munching food, is that a sign he likes it?
Sorry for writing so much! I just want to make sure we are doing things how he would like it. It’s so different to having a cat or dog which I’m used to. We are loving having him around, he has so much character and is so adorable. I’m hoping he will get more affectionate over time but for now I’m happy to go lie by the desk and give him a stroke
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Hello and welcome
First and foremost thank you for rescuing the little guy. He definitely is a mongrel with lionhead and lop. I personally LOVE his mutton-chops.
The weeing on the bed could be a territorial thing which he may grow out of or he may not. You’ll just need to see. I’d suggest not putting him up there though until he’s more comfortable around the flat.
Rabbits are naturally curious and he will come out of his spot as he becomes more accustomed to the going ons around the place. However, he will probably make that spot his ‘safe haven’ and often return there if something spooks him or he can’t figure things out. Every bun has a different style of play in them. My Dono loves the jingly toys while my girlfriend’s bun loves willow balls. As for my main Maryann, her idea of fun is to have me try and catch her. She will find a place to hide and continuously thump there until I come and catch her. The jump is a binky and a sign of happiness but maybe not playfulness. If he nips you, hops a few feet away and then stops and looks at you, he probably does want you to ‘chase’ him which I would do by approaching him on your hands and knees – staying at his level. A very few buns enjoy the chase game but most of them don’t like it.
You should be fine feeding him just the new pellets. The main thing you want to mix food with is when changing diets – for example a rabbit that has lived on mixed pellets to straight pellets. I can see in the photo that you have a few slices of apples in his food dish. This is a bit much for a bun. A rabbit should only have fruits as a treat, and a small amount at that. The high sugar can throw off the balance of bacteria in their digestive tracts. If he has been getting a lot of fruits in the past, this is when you want to do the mixing of foods, slowly reducing the amount of fruits and increasing the amounts of pellets, greens and hay. The idea is to give a bun about a quarter cup of food for every 4 pounds. I’d say giving him a third to a half cup should be fine for now. When you take him to a vet, they’ll be able to give you a better weight.
The teeth grinding during the pets is called ‘tooth purring’ and yes, it means he’s vbery happy and enjoying the pets. It sounds like you have a real champ there.
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Thank you for your reply. I gave him the apple when he arrived on Sunday. I have since found lists of what foods they should have and haven’t given him any apple since. We have been giving him broccolli, carrots, watercress and asparagus, and this mixture of dandelion and oat grass which he loves. We are going to try and get him some different things because I’ve read they shouldn’t have a lot of broccolli and carrots.
I totally agree when you call him a ‘champ’. We have been calling him King Max because he has totally taken over and turned us into his servants. We just can’t resist constantly pampering him because he’s so cute. Every time we get used to it he does something new, like he just came over and nosebumped my feet for attention which he’d never done before
And yes his mutton chops are awesome! -
Hello again everyone. I thought I would give an update on Max now he has been here nearly three weeks. He has settled in really well and I think he is very happy here. He does those half-binky headshakes a lot, and yesterday I saw my first proper binky which made me so happy, and today he’s done it twice more. It’s a bit weird to see and if I didn’t know what it was I would think he was angry or freaking out but I’m pretty sure it’s a binky
He’s become a lot more sociable and doesn’t hide under his desk as much any more, although he still goes there to chill out and nap. We have stopped putting him in his cage at night and totally taken the door off so he can come and go as he pleases, he goes in to eat and use his litter box and other than that he is ‘free range’. At night we just shut him in the lounge and he has been really well behaved and not made any mess, except covering the carpet in hay every night, but no poo at least!
He has really become more and more fun as he’s gotten more at ease with us. He likes to play by picking things up and throwing them and he especially loves pulling plastic bags around. He also likes to hop onto our beds and try to burrow under the blankets and things, and race from room to room for no reason whatsoever.
I did a lot of reading about rabbit communication when we got him and I think it has paid off because we know how he is feeling about things we do and I think he appreciates that. He has become a lot more forceful about getting us to pay attention to him. He will charge at me when I walk into the room and sit right on my feet, and has a habit of getting right in the way when you are walking or trying to do something so you absolutely can not ignore him. Yesterday when I was sat at the computer he jumped up into my lap, and when I carried on with what I was doing he hopped on top of his cage so he was eye level with me and just sat watching me. Also whenever we go to give him his pellets in the morning he runs circles around us because he is so excited which is really funny to see!
I brush him a lot because he’s shedding and his mane gets a bit tangled if it isn’t brushed for a couple of days. He seems to love it and will lie flat for absolutely ages grinding his teeth, I am always the one who gets bored first I think he would let me do it all day if I wanted. Afterwards he always does lots of headshakes which I take as him saying thank you
Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to you all for your advice and for saying nice things about our new ‘baby’, lol. I am really enjoying having him here and I think he is too. We are going to try and get a harness and lead for him soon and see if he wants to go outside as we live in a flat, but there is a church over the road with lots of grass for him to walk on and nibble.
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