Overall Bunny Care

[BuckyLuna12]

Hi! I have several questions about my two rabbits: Bucky and Luna. I have built them a huge rabbit condo that is 52 inches long and 26 inches wide, with four levels. I used to let them run around at least eight hours a day at my old house. But recently my family and I have moved into a new house and my bedroom where I keep my bunnies has carpet and my dad says I can’t let them run around until we replace the carpet, which may take a few months. My first question is if my rabbits are getting enough excersize just in their cage. I also feed my rabbits a handful of pellets in the morning and fresh greens at night. But I have been noticing that they are not eating alto of hay. Is there some way I could cut back on their pellets and greens so they will eat their hay? I feed them a lot of fresh greens at night and that may be the reason that they are not eating a lot of hay. But I would like your options on how I could change their diet so they will eat more hay. Lastly, I have completely bonded with my first bunny, Bucky. But Luna although, she is okay with me cleaning her cage and being near her, doesn’t like to be pet her and does not like me close to her, or to touch her. Is this just because personality or can I do something to strengthen our bond, without letting her out of her cage? Thanks you guys so much for any answers!

[Cocoa]

How much is a handful of pellets for you? How much greens? To bond better, you can just spend a lot of time right next to the cage so she adjusts to you more. One of my bunnies doesn’t like attention but is fine with me. It’s just some bunnies personalities

[Rain]

You should only feed a cup of greens per three pounds. You could try taking away some pellets and see if that possibly helps. If you try everything, it might be because of some health issue, which would require a professional’s help, or they just doesn’t like that type of hay. There are plenty of hay types, oat, orchard, meadow, timothy, etc. You could try some of those and see if it improves the hay consumption.
Rabbits cannot get enough exercise in their cages. They need atleast four hours a day of freeroaming. This is imperative for a rabbit’s good health. The most common cause of GI Stasis and other health issues is lack of exercise. There is no way there won’t be negative effects on their health if they are kept in their cages for months. You could attach a large dog pen to their cage so that they have more space. But the best choice would be to try and find a way to convince your parent to let the buns out.
For bonding with your rabbit, the best bonding happens when you don’t have bars seperating the two of you. That’s when you can lie down on the floor and have one on one time with Luna. But don’t worry, some rabbits are just not as open as others, so it’s not really her not liking you but it’s just she needs more time to adjust.
From what you’ve said, it seems you have a good grasp on the general care of rabbits, and are doing a good job with them. You’re on the right track! Just keep asking questions when you need help.

[Rain]

You should only feed a cup of greens per three pounds. You could try taking away some pellets and see if that possibly helps. If you try everything, it might be because of some health issue, which would require a professional’s help, or they just doesn’t like that type of hay. There are plenty of hay types, oat, orchard, meadow, timothy, etc. You could try some of those and see if it improves the hay consumption.
Rabbits cannot get enough exercise in their cages. They need atleast four hours a day of freeroaming. This is imperative for a rabbit’s good health. The most common cause of GI Stasis and other health issues is lack of exercise. There is no way there won’t be negative effects on their health if they are kept in their cages for months. You could attach a large dog pen to their cage so that they have more space. But the best choice would be to try and find a way to convince your parent to let the buns out.
For bonding with your rabbit, the best bonding happens when you don’t have bars seperating the two of you. That’s when you can lie down on the floor and have one on one time with Luna. But don’t worry, some rabbits are just not as open as others, so it’s not really her not liking you but it’s just she needs more time to adjust.
From what you’ve said, it seems you have a good grasp on the general care of rabbits, and are doing a good job with them. You’re on the right track! Just keep asking questions when you need help.

[BuckyLuna12]

I give the rabbits a handful of pellets each, and three stalks of lettuce or kale or parsley. Also, my parents are worried that the rabbits will pee on the carpet, but they are litter trained and I can get stains out. I think what they don’t want is pee in the carpet, or to walk in and there be poop all over the floor. I can use extra nic cubes to form a wall so they can play in an area that I can cover with towels, but how high should I make the wall? The nic cubes I have are thirteen inches tall, and I have about twenty left from making the cage. I also have two ex pens that I could add that are about forty inches long each. Should I try and make a wall, or should I connect the cages to make on large cage that they can play in? I also have another question that just came to me. My rabbit Luna would play outside of her cage all day long when she could, but my boy Bucky would only go out for a couple minutes. Now he just sits in the same spot in the cage all day while Luna runs up and down all the floors. Is there some illness that he might have making him tired? He said not old, barely two years, and he is a mini lop. If you guys have any answer for me, I would greatly appreciate them, and any tips about how to creat more play space would be wonderful as well.

[BuckyLuna12]

Also a handful of pellets for me is about a half of a cup, and my rabbits both weight six pounds.

[Rain]

Sitting in the same spot and not moving much is a sign something’s up. How are his poos? Are they big and abundant? The average bun should have about fifty plus poos a day. Much more, but atleast fifty. Is he sitting in a hunched position, with his ears flattened against his body and grinding his teeth? These are big signs of illness too. Get him to exercise more, that should help.
For veggies, three stalks each? Or one of each? I’m not sure, but I think kale is not supposed to be given daily because it was originally said that it’s too high in oxalic acids, but then people started saying it’s actually not. I just don’t feed it at all. Parsley is known to make some buns pee a ton, for example, mine. Check Bucky’s litter box and see if he has a lot of soaked litter or not. That could also be causing issues. Six pound rabbits should have a fourth of a cup of pellets. I think half a cup could be giving them extra weight, which could also be making them eating less hay and being lazier.
The cage should be high enough that they can’t jump over, and can periscope without hitting their head on the roof. I personally would just add xpens because I’m lazy and not the crafty type, lol. And they are usually pretty tall and make the bun feel more free without bars on the top. Fourty inches long sounds fine.

[BuckyLuna12]

I can’t tell which rabbit is pooping these, but there are very small poops scattered around the cage, but my guess would be Bucky because Luna always poops a bunch in her litter box. Bucky is a mini lop, and I can’t tell if his ears are flattened against his body, but he isn’t grinding his teeth. He might be in a hunched position but I can’t really tell… How would I go about getting him to exercise? And for clarity, you think I should connect my two ex pens onto my main one so they can have more running around space? Should I always keep them attached to the cage or should I take them on and off? Also I forgot to add this before, but Bucky has
an infection on his back, and has had it for a while. When I was bonding Bucky and Luna, they fought a lot until I spayed Luna. One time she had bitten him in his back, and it got an infection. He has had it for a couple months and it’s been slowly getting worse. I took him the vet that neutered him and she proscribed medicine to rub on it. She had lanced the pimple like infection bumps, but now 5ey are spreading and my mom and I try to lance them, but somethimes they are not ready and it really stresses out Bucky when we have. The vet that we had taken him to was not in expert in exotic animals, and the closest exotic vet is two hours away. Should I continue to try and lance his infection on my own, or should I take him to the vet? And is his infection making him sick/lazy ? Thanks

[Deleted User]

I think you really need to bring him back to the vet if the infection is getting worse. If a localized infection is not properly treated, there is the potential that it spreads and causes systemic infection.

[Sirius&Luna]

If rabbits are in pain, it often causes them to stop eating, making them go into stasis, which is a serious condition. Small or misformed poops are a good warning sign of stasis, as is sitting hunched and not moving. It really sounds like he’s in pain and has an infection that needs treating.

I really don’t think trying to lance an infection by yourself is sensible or safe, and is probably very traumatic for your bunny. He needs painkillers and antibiotics.

[kurottabun]

The infection could definitely be a factor why he doesn’t seem interested in moving. It may be hurting or irritating him. It’s best to get him treated since it’s already been a couple of months and still declining.

[Deleted User]

I noticed in an old thread you had poop issues with Bucky and everyone told you to get it checked out. Did you ever end up doing that? As gross as it is, poop issues with bunnies needs to be taken very seriously. We’ve mentioned reconsidering his diet too the last time. Bunnies are delicate. You need to take everything that could be wrong as something serious. GI stasis can kill. and anything can cause stasis really. If a bunny is sick, take them to the vet. don’t do it yourself.

[BuckyLuna12]

Thanks you guys! I will defiantly take him to the vet and get him some medicine to stop him from hurting!

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