New rabbit owner from NB, Canada

[mia9_28]

Hello,

My girlfriend and I just adopted our first rabbit together today. She’s had rabbits before but I never have, so I’m doing loads of research on rabbit care. We currently have a cat, 7 rats and 3 mice and now the new little bunny.

His name is Whiskey and he is still fairly young.. I’m really not sure how old. He is black and white and lopped eared. I will post pictures as soon as I get some good ones!

So far he’s hopped around the apartment, chewing on pretty much everything he can find (I keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn’t chew wires) and he even used our cat’s litter box (Mika the cat was not impressed when he found out) and had loads of fun kicking the litter around. I hope the cat and him will get along well when I introduce the two of them.

Now he is snoozing away in his cage, tired from all that hopping around!

[mia9_28]

Here are a few pictures of him in his cage! I didn’t think of taking pics of him while he was out for some reason. lol

Saying Hello!

Sitting up

 

 

Going back to sleep in his box with some fleece to keep him warm and cozy

 

Anyone have any idea how old he could be?

[jerseygirl]

Adorable! I like his name.

Welcome and congrats on the new bunny!
Did you get him at a pet shop? They often don’t know the age and often get the sex wrong also. Most times though they’ll have rabbits under 6 months and call them dwarf breeds.

It’s really hard to guess age. One clue is if his testicles have descended. So if you’re certain he is a boy and they haven’t descended you can probably guess he is under 8weeks old. If he does have them then he could be any age onwards. Lol, sorry. I know that doesn’t narrow things done much.

You could start to monitor his weight and then when it levels out, work backwards from that time to estimate his age. I *think* they seem to reach their full weight around 9 months old.

I noticed you’ve lined his cage with some bedding. If you give him a cat sized litter box with the litter/bedding in there and pop some hay on top, you could do away with lining his whole cage. You’ll be surprised at how quickly they catch on to toileting in the one spot.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Welcome to you and Whiskey! He’s super adorable! I’m in New Brunswick too!

[CinnabunMom]

Welcome to BB! He’s super cute and great name!

[mia9_28]

Thanks everyone!

jerseygirl, I’m really not 100% sure of his gender. I was told he was a male, but of course that can be wrong. I tried to look at his genitals but I really can’t tell even with the descriptions online. He doesn’t have any testicles. I’m even considering posting a picture on here so some of you experienced people could tell me! lol
Yes, I got him at the pet store. An impulse purchase of course… but he will be loved for the remainder of his life. He had been bought before, and when the pet store worker(who is also a friend of ours) noticed that the buyer wasn’t getting any food or accessories, she asked why and the person said that she was going to feed him carrots only. She also asked about the cage and the person was like :”Oh, I’ll just keep him in a box”. The pet store worker was obviously furious and forced her to buy some real rabbit food but sadly she’s not allowed to refuse to sell an animal. The person brought him back the next day… lol
Poor little guy, I’m glad that person brought him back.

Also, I do plan on litter training him, just like I did with my rats (they live on fleece with a litter box).. but I need a bigger cage first.
He is living in a two story cage (was a three story, but I removed a shelf) meant for ferrets, so he gets extra out time to compensate for that. I’m hoping he’ll learn to jump on the shelf I left in! I also put in a large hammock in case he might want to sleep in it, but I doubt he would feel safe in it, as rabbits are nothing like rats (who love hanging out in hammocks).
He’s already on a good start for the training though as he uses the cat litter every time he’s out! lol

LittlePuffyTail, if you don’t mind me asking, what part of NB are you in?

[mia9_28]

As for the cage, I’ve been thinking of either getting those storage cubes and making one of those homemade cages… or getting two exact same rabbit cages (the long ones) and stacking them up like this picture: http://allrabbithutches.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Double-Large-Indoor-Rabbit-Hutch-80cm.jpg

I would make a hole in the base, make a ladder and secure them together. Space is definitely a problem in our tiny apartment, so I thought I could maximize floor space for him by putting two rabbit cages on top of each other while not taking up much floor space in the apartment.

[jerseygirl]

Yes, I got him at the pet store. An impulse purchase of course… but he will be loved for the remainder of his life.

Haha, well that’s how I got my first one also. Lucky for you, your GF and definitely for Whiskey that the 1st person brought him back!

The cube cages are good as you can custom fit them to the space. Theres a habitat gallery of photos on this site. might be worth checking out if you haven’t already.

[mia9_28]

Well, I’m 99% sure it’s a female! Darn it.. I prefer males for some reason (male rats and cat).
I had a good look, and it surely looks like those female pictures.

As for her cage, I had a ferret playpen laying around for the rats and I never used it, so I used it to take up the corner where her cage was and it is 55 inches long and about 18 to 24 inches wide (I took off some panels due to space limitations and made a sort of rectangle/octagon). I put fleece down and gave her a litter box. I think she likes it!

 Her cage before was only 29X17.. but it had a shelf that she enjoyed jumping on. I hope she wont miss the shelf.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m in Moncton

[IsabellaRobyn]

Cute!!! Welcome to BB

[jerseygirl]

Well, I’m 99% sure it’s a female! Darn it.. I prefer males for some reason (male rats and cat).
I had a good look, and it surely looks like those female pictures.

Do you have a good vet for your rats? I think they are considered exotic pets as are rabbits. So if you have a rat vet, likely are rabbit savvy and can tell you whether male or female. Honestly, they are mistaken one for the other all the time. You might still have a male rabbit yet…

This is a site I came across recently that mentions how they’re are often misgendered. Also has some more pics to help. Scroll down to Sexing section
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/rabbits.asp

[mia9_28]

I have a wonderful rat vet about 4 hours way! haha

But I do have an okay rat vet about 35 minutes away.. and I’m pretty sure she is more experienced with rabbits than rats, as rats are not common pets around here.

Thanks for the site! I’ll check back in a couple weeks to see if it magically changed into a penis and testicles.. but I’m pretty sure she’s a female. But I could be wrong!

When I have her spayed, I will know for sure if it’s a male or female… lol

[Snowytoshi]

Posted By mia9_28 on 01/20/2013 06:58 PM

Well, I’m 99% sure it’s a female! Darn it.. I prefer males for some reason (male rats and cat).
I had a good look, and it surely looks like those female pictures.

As for her cage, I had a ferret playpen laying around for the rats and I never used it, so I used it to take up the corner where her cage was and it is 55 inches long and about 18 to 24 inches wide (I took off some panels due to space limitations and made a sort of rectangle/octagon). I put fleece down and gave her a litter box. I think she likes it!

 Her cage before was only 29X17.. but it had a shelf that she enjoyed jumping on. I hope she wont miss the shelf.

Glad to hear you found a set up that worked! 

[Author]

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