Overseas Military…Bunny Worries in Germany

[Deleted User]

Okay so my husband and I are stationed in southern germany, and we recently purchased two bunnies from the local "zoo" store. The german sales person in the store was really pushy and we had already fallen in love with the bunnies and so we didn’t want to leave. The sales lady wouldn’t let us buy two males or two females (even if I was planning on spaying) so now we have a male and a female, and the pet store said we have to breed them once, b/c it is bad for the female to spay before she has had a litter.  I am thinking this is false information??? Any one know?

They also made us buy vitamin drops for the water which is in german, a salt lick, awhite chalky bar thing to put in the cage and then special food. I read one post already about the salt lick being a mistake so I wanted to check on the other stuff. The bunnies are an english spot and a lionhead. I provide them with hay 24/7 and the pet store said to provide pellets all the time since they are both young, the male is 8 weeks old and the female is 11 weeks old. We are not currently feeding any fresh food b/c the pettore said no fresh until 6 mo. or older? I am just looking for some straight info. And I appreciate any help I can get. Also when does the male reach sexual maturity I am hoping the age difference will allow me to spay before a litter…But as mentioned I  am not sure since the store said I needed to breed them once???

 

Thanks alot

Ashley, and the bunnies Astrid and Levi

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi Ashley! Wow Germany! I don’t think we’ve had anyone on the board that is living there. Welcome!

I am really puzzled about the notion that you were informed by the pet store that you "have to breed them once."  You are spot on that it’s false information, in fact it’s a cartload of fertilizer. Female buns have an 85% chance of getting uterine cancer and my land, you can have two boys or two girls but it is often harder to bond them. It is rather interesting to hear about cross-cultural notions of animals.

The vitamin drops are unnescessary so long as they get a balanced diet, the salt lick and the chalky bar thing (I’m guessing is a mineral or limestone block) a definate no, bunnies get all the vitamins and minerals they need from pellets, hay and veggies, not to mention it makes them very thirsty.  I am also thinking those vitamin drops are not very tasty for your bunnies. 

Hay is great 24/7 they need to keep their gut moving and need to forage constantly. Is it alfalfa or timothy hay? Unlimited pellets shoudl be offered to them from six weeks until adulthood, for your spot (Is it a dwarf?) should mature around 12-15 months and your dwarf lionhead around 9 months of age. There is some great info here on diet for young ones through adulthood here:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

Binky Bunny provides a great visual with adult diets here too:

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=60

Veggies should wait until 8 weeks of age (your two qualify, again mystified with the six months), start with one veggie at a time, start with simple and gentle ones like parsely, kale and carrots to see if there is any adverse reaction if not, add another. One thing about the unlimited pellets, if your bunnies seem to be getting too tubby, you may need to switch to less pellets, and l imit the amount of alfalfa hay.  Have you found a rabbit vet to perform the surgeries?

Are you housing them seperately? Males mature as soon as 3 months old. As for when they can be altered, most vets will wait around 4 months for females and males around 5 months old although it can be done at 3 1/2 months or when the testicles descend.

Here is info on finding the right vet;

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

Altering your bunnies;

http://www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html#age

A lot of info is available here on Binky Bunny under Bunny Info and another good place to look is http://www.rabbit.org. Of course ask away here too, we’ll be glad to help! It can be overwhelming to look for info on the web so don’t be shy! We’ve got lots of info stashed away in our heads!

 

[MooBunnay]

Hello! Congratulations on the new additions to your family!

Yes – the whole “have to breed once” is just plain false – I don’t know why they want people to breed them – but I would definitely advise against it as it is very hard to find bunnies good homes. They bunnies can have a litter as young as three months old so you will want to keep them separate until they are spayed or neutered.

As far as diet – mine are quite healthy (and most are) when they have unlimited hay, about a quarter cup of pellets, and a couple cups of leafy veggies each day!! No need for fancy/chalky/salt licky type things

Check out all the informational links above, and definitely let us know if you have any more questions!

[Gravehearted]

welcome to BinkyBunny! You’ve gotten great advice from Moobunnay & ScarletRose – there’s absolutely no reason to breed bunnies before spaying them.

Two of the volunteers from our local rabbit rescue are a married couple from Germany, but I am not sure which part.  I remember him specifically mentioning a friend in Germany who is a vet and is fairly forward thinking when it comes to rabbit care and spaying / neutering.  I will email him to see if he has suggestions for a vet experienced with bunnies.

[Beka27]

welcome!  i’d love to see pictures of your babies if you have any!

the only thing i can think about the "breed once" thing is… more bunnies equal more trips to the local pet "zoo" store.  or is it possible that the pet store takes in the babies regularly, then turns around and sells them again?  just the fact that they wouldn’t allow you to take two females with you makes me wonder.  could you have just bought one to begin with?  but regardless… i would not keep them together at all until they’re altered.  more than once i’ve been told by pet store people that a certain animal is a certian age… and it turned out to be completely wrong.  if you have limited rabbit experience… you may not know exactly how old they are.  they may be older than what you were told.  and then all of a sudden… surprise!

[Sarita]

Well, I don’t understand the breed once thing – that doesn’t make sense, I do understand that once females have a litter their risk of uterine cancer decreases – it does not go away, it just decreases. Only spaying will eliminate the risk of cancer. Hopefully Gravehearted’s friends will be able to advice you on a good rabbit vet in Germany.

You can get the male neutered when the testicle drop – usually between 3 1/2 months to 4 months.

[Deleted User]

Wow, thanks for all the info I really appreciate it. Yeah I found out that the military vet on base here does rabbit spaying but I found a list of questions to ask and I am going to double check that they are a reputable vet with actual bunny experience.

Yeah, the German zoo store wouldnt let me buy one bunny, they said one bunny would get lonely and become depressed and die. When I went back to get more food they told me that when my bunnies have a litter they would take them from me and give me store credit, and so now I feel like I understand where they are coming from with their "policies". Anyway I took out the salt lick and what was left of the mineral chalk thing. I am having some trouble finding food for rabbits here that is just pellets. Any suggestions of a brand I can buy online and a website maybe for bunny food products like pellets.

Also. My Lionhead rabbit is always covered in the bedding from their habitat and I am using some kind of wood shaving stuff (kleintierstreu) It is in german. I change it often just in case it is pine to avoid any kind of poison to my bunnies. Any suggestions for a better bedding for long hair rabbits. Any one use the carefresh…Does that stick to the bunnies too?

I am not sure about the age thing I think the store was a little unsure about the bunnies ages so I am taking them to the vet and hopefully they will be able to tell a little. If the male bunnys testicles drop are they visible, because I think maybe they havent dropped yet.

 

Thanks again

Ashley

[Sarita]

Can you get Yesterday’s News or Feline Pine?  Those are pelleted type litters and they would be less likely to stick in the long hair.

Glad you found a vet that has some experience, that’s great.

The testicles may be visible but some rabbits to "suck" up their testicles.  I would suggest having the vet verify their sex too – although I have a feeling these people at the pet store may know how to sex rabbits due to their "policy".

Here’s a link from American Pet Diner w/ a retailer in Germany with a website:

http://www.americanpetdiner.com/intl_locations.html#Germany

And Oxbow Hay

http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks so much for that website it looks awesome! Yeah I am hoping the vet can help and hopefully soon enough, cause I think the one bunny is definitely getting close to her maturity and I do not want to add to the bunny overpopulation.

[Deleted User]

I wasn’t sure about the pellets, since I am lining the bottom of their cage with the bedding, and I thought if I were a bunny I wouldnt want to step on the pellets since they are kind of hard. I just want them to be happy, and I don’t imagine Astrid is happy covered in wood shavings either though.

[MooBunnay]

A good way to keep your bunnies comfortable is to give them a litterbox for their litter, and then just use a inexpensive rug or carpet for their flooring. Younger bunnies are usually fairly easy to start litterbox training, there are some links at the top of the page. Then you can put the litter into their litterbox, and put some hay on top of that, and then they won’t get all that litter stuck to them, and they will have lots of places to lounge other than the litter box itself. This is how all of my cages are set up, and if you look at some of the pictures in the “habitats” section of the photo gallery here, you can see how the litterboxes look. Its also a great way to contain their poops so that cage cleaning is as easy as dumping out the litterbox!

[Deleted User]

I think I will need to go to the store and simply  buy another litter box because I am observing them and I think that one bunny is using the litterbox and the other is not using it.  It is just a slow process right now, but I think they are slowly getting it. seems like as soon as I clean out the cage they get confused again, even though I try to leave some pellets in their litterbox and keep the scent to some extent. I always put the cage in the same order as before, like not rearranging. though the other day they moved everything around, so I am not sure should I follow their lead and put their cage together how they move it? It is crazy at first they have such unique personalities that I am still learning to understand

[angoralvr]

Hi. I have an English angora so I know a thing or two about how much long haired bunnies can track their litter! I cannot use the care fresh or any of the other litters like it with Henri. He tracks those around worse than anything else. I have tried several different kinds of litters since I got Henri and I found that the pelleted litters work best. I am using one called celsorb right now. I have heard others on the site talk about using stove pellets. I think I might try to find those and see if they don’t stick to him even less.

[Deleted User]

Cool thanks a lot. I am going to try out the pellets if I can find them here locally. If i cannot find the pet store version I will hit up the German Hardware store and look for stove pellets. If I have any luck with them I will let you know.

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