Questions On Type Of Bunnies

[robertherrington]

Hi, Im new to the forunms here. I went to a flea market yesterday and found people selling bunnies for $5 with the intention of people buying them raising them, and then eating them. I couldnt handle that so I rescued the last two babies they had theyre 2 months old. she said they’d only double in size. Im going out today to pick up a hutch if anyone knows what type of rabbits they are I’d really like to know.

Thanks

Here Are Some Pics

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh my, those little darlings are so lucky that you were their rescuer! They are cute as a button and nearest thing that I can tell you is that they are albino bunnies. Instead of a hutch how about a wire dog crate? The wire bottom is actually very hard on their tender feet. Do you plan on raising them indoors like a house rabbit?

I also see in the picture that you have a cat.  I would advise that you only give supervised interaction between the bunnies and your cat.  Is your cat declawed? The reason I recommend supervised interaction is that cats can play a bit rough and may treat them like they are on the hunt and unfortunately cats can and have de-skinned rabbits.

[Sarita]

Thank you for rescuing them! I do hope you keep them inside and on a solid floor.

The second picture looks like a Rex – is her fur very short and feel like velvet? And her whiskers kind of curled up?

There is some excellent information on how to care for your new rabbits on this website – look under Bunny Info.

I suggest taking them to a rabbit savvy vet too so they can be sexed properly and altered when they are old enough.

They are beautiful.

[MooBunnay]

Hello and Welcome to BinkyBunny!

As Scarlet Rose said – these are albino bunnies. This means that being outdoors in the sunlight is tough on them as their eyes and skin are very sensitive, so they should really be raised as indoor rabbits, which is very similar to having an indoor cat. They can use a litterbox, and love to spend time with humans, and have affection from humans just as cats do. Bunnies have great personalities, and you can really get to know them from having them in your house with you! The type of cage I prefer for them is a wire dog crate with a rug on the floor of it. Since these are babies, you can use a towel instead that way its easy to shake off and put in the wash while they are being litterbox trained.

For a baby diet they need unlimited alfalfa hay, and alfalfa pellets. The Kaytee pellets with nuts and seeds and usch mixed in are not recommended, just the plain pellets are best for them. By giving them a box lined with newspaper and covered with hay, you can start box training them. When they poop outside the box, try to clean it up right away and put it into the litterbox, and they will start to get the idea, since they are so young this is a great time to start.

What other questions can we help you with?

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

They’re way too cute to be eaten! That’s so sad! Congrats on the new bunnies… it was very noble of you to rescue them!

[robertherrington]

Ok first off they will only be in the house I live in an apartment so no outdoors. I already got a hutch for free i drove two hours to pick it up. it looks like its for 1 adult rabbit. so I do intend on getting a cage big enough for both of them. what size demension is required for two adult rabbits? to answer sarita yes they have velet feeling fur and curly whiskers. When the rabbits receive out time it will be away from the cats. I plan on doing a lot of research to figure out exactly how to care for these little guys and Ill start with this site. I believe only 1 is true albino since the other has black eyes
how long do you think theyll be small enough to share a hutch built for 1 adult?

Also the hutch it to small for both of them, a litter box, and food and water bowls(at least in my eyes) so should I just put cut up newspaper on the bottom of the hutch. I probably will be able to get something new in a few weeks when I can afford it

Thanks

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

I’m really glad you’re dedicating yourself and looking to give them the best necessary care! You may want to keep them separately very soon anyway, because they may be opposite sexes and bunny reproduction happens quickly!

[robertherrington]

I was told theyre both females if thats the case wont they be fine together?

heres a pic of them in the temp hutch to give you an idea of how small it really is

[Gravehearted]

they’re such cuties, I’m so glad you rescued them from being you-know-what.
that cage should be ok for a few weeks, it will definitely be too small once they get a little bigger.
ithere are some good housing alternatives to regular cages that i personally prefer.  one idea is an x-pen, which are pretty widely available and I’m recommend getting a tallish one, maybe 36". they’re great since you can adjust them in or out depending on how big of an enclosure you’d like. I usually put a sheet or blanket underneath the bunnies.  Another idea, which has become very popular, is to build your own NIC cottage with the storage grids that are widely available in places like target or walmart.  it’s very economical and you can build a great multilevel house for your rabbits that doesn’t take up as much floor space.  There are lots of photos in the cool habitats section of the site so you can get some ideas.

Well, pet stores very often mis-sex rabbits and people are shocked when one of their rabbits has surprise babies.  I can’t imagine people selling rabbits for the other purpose care much about sexing them correctly either.  Rabbits can start to reproduce as young as 3 months old, so it’s very important to make sure they really are both girls!  It’s not always easy to tell – but you might try this article with photos to double check both bunnies yourself: http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/sexing.htm

Once your bunnies hit puberty, you’ll know.  They often become humpity, grumpy and more aggressive. That is when you want to get them spayed or neutered. It is extremely important health, behavorial and happiness wise for them to be fixed.  Once you’re a bit closer to then we can help steer you toward a vet that knows how to properly care for rabbits, since rabbits are still considered exotics when it comes to care.

 

[robertherrington]

I like the cubes. Could anyone point me in the direction of cheap xpens or tell me exactly how those cube things work and what type of storage things i need?
Thanks

[osprey]

Target, Walmart and some other places sell the cubes for building book shelves.  You can find a pretty extensive list of places to get the cubes here http://www.guineapigcages.com/where.htm

[robertherrington]

thanks

[Vinnie D.]

Those wire cages are actually pretty easy to modify. You can use bolt cutters or a hacksaw the cut down those wires and then attach an extra cage to it. I added a second floor to Nel’s house like that. Though you’ll always want to cover the wire. Cardboard is an easy option since you can just throw it out. I personally use something called “magic carpet” which is soft plastic covering intended to protect an animal’s feet in a wire cage. It comes in interconnecting lengths, so you can fit it to any size floor, and it’s easy to wash off. Actually found it in the hamster supplies of the local pet store.

And on a rant. ARGH! How can people EAT rabbits? That’s disgusting. I’m not a vegetarian but I draw a firm line before eating PETS. You don’t go eating a Labrador do you? Not to mention Lagomorphs are distant cousins of Rodents, so it’s not too far from eating a rat. Gross.

[Sarita]

It sounds like the breed then of your rabbits are Rexes (they could be mini or standard but it’s impossible to tell how large they will be). They are beautiful and I can tell you are going to be a great rabbit parent too.

Rexes are very prone to sore hocks (so definitely no wire bottom cages) and they are also prone to becoming overweight when they are older of course so once they reach adult hood you will really want to reduce the pellets and feed lots of grass hays and vegetables. Rexes are a wonderful breed and you will enjoy petting their velvety coat.

[Deleted User]

I just bought some of those cube things at Fred Meyers today, for 18 panels it was 13.00, which is an ok price. For flooring I got a throw rug that was the perfect size for the unit, and then I got my zip ties and closers at dollar tree. WAY cheaper than an outside hutch and I am can build it to the size I like.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Great way to shop! Even better that it cost less than a hutch, plus the cubes are better too (IMHO) !

[Deleted User]

what is imho, it took me a while to figure out what rotflmao meant. (it sounded like someone tryintg to puke when i said it out loud)

[osprey]

IMHO == In My Humble Opinion  :-}

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh Medina, sorry, it’s the text-tekkie language. I’ll try to be more careful. ROFLMAO is (Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Arse Off)

[MooBunnay]

o my goodness Osprey you are using teen text abbreviations that I haven’t even heard of. I feel old. I’m only 23 and I’m behind the times! I would have nevvver figured out IMHO, hahahaha

[Deleted User]

MooBunny you are only 23? I thought I was the youngest one on here at 24. I don’t feel so alone now. You are very well informed when it comes to rabbits. Were you involved in 4-H at all?

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Ha, don’t worry. I’m only 21, and I had no idea what it meant, either! I’m very anti-internet-abbreviations. I believe in being articulate! Not meant to be a stab at anyone who uses them, by the way! Everyone on this board is pretty good with their language skills!

[osprey]

I agree that people tend to write coherent, readable entries here on BinkyBunny.  Some of the non-bunny boards that I read have posters who treat message boards as if they were texting their friends and write huge runon sentences, never use capital letters or punctuation and use all kinds of abbreviations that just make it really hard to parse what they are trying to say.

Don’t feel badly about your ages.  I am over twice as old as some of you guys, and I can tell you that many of these abbreviations were in use long before the large scale roll out of the internet.  Alot of these have their roots in the first text message boards on USENET and services like GEnie, when you dialed up to a bulletin board server and could post text only messages.  Things like LOL, IMHO, YMMV (Your Milage May Vary) and my all time favorite TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) have all been around a long time.  The "leet" speak stuff is newer, stuff like "w00t" and "pwned" and such.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Rachel, no offense taken. : ) I am actually 33 and have some limited knowlege of abbreviations, which as Osprey mentioned, have been around a long time. I caught myself using IMHO but will duly note that well, not everyone knows what that means. : )

[Gravehearted]

it depends on where I’m typing, i try not to do too much net slang on here. but get me on im and it’s a whole different matter.

[MooBunnay]

medinaserpa – I actually did do 4-H when I was younger, however, I was in the “poultry” group and raised these fancy looking show chickens that were all poofy and white. I just looooooved my chickens when I was little. I’d walk them around in strollers, and make them “salads” out of vegetables and flowers and popcorn! All of my bunny knowledge I’ve developed in the past year, I got my first rabbit – Juli – last year, and was so concerned about taking care of her that I bought 3 books, read them all, and then *yay* found Binky Bunny! I also worked with 3 different rabbit rescues volunteering, so I absorbed a lot of knowledge by doing education events for the rescue.

Speaking of abbreviations – I have to start using TANSTAAFL, hahahahha thats a great one!

[skunklionshow]

I feel like an old hag…I’m a gen x-er, but so incrediably techie challanged!  I didn’t even get a CD player until I was in college!  I’m in my 30s now and still just as techie challanged.  I don’t know what any of those abbreviations mean.  I have to call my nephew to translate for me.  It takes me like 3 hours to send a text message. OMG–ISAL (I think I made that one up–I’m such a loser!)

[osprey]

I can proudly say that I have never sent a text message from a phone.  I have done the email->pager thing (hah, pagers, remember those?) and the IM->text message thing, but never the phone->phone text message.  My carrier probably charges like 15 cents a letter anyway.

[BinkyBunny]

Well, I think I could be the oldest of all! The big 40! Ewwww. Did just recently get my haired dyed to wash out that gray again! I only know a few things like BRB, ROTFLMAO (eh..did I get that one right?)

Anyway, for forums, I think it’s best to keep the the IM type stuff to a minimum because we can read and type at our own leisure, so there’s really no need for it like in IM’s. I understand there you it’s basically like speaking and you don’t want the other person to have to wait. But on forums it’s so much easier to read when it’s not loaded with the quick IM SPEAK.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Ah, Jen. You know what sucks? I’m only like half your age and have to dye my hair to cover my grays too! So think of yourself as 40 years young, hahaha.

[BinkyBunny]

digmexnow…Thank you for that!  And what’s with the actual gray hair – it’s a different texture too!  Harder to deal with – ho hum, oh well, go with the flow.

OH, and to everyone, I just wanted to make sure you all know that IMHO, LOL, ROFLMAO etc are all okay!! When I say keep things to a minimum, I mean that full blown IM language like gravehearted was talking about when she IMs. It’s almost like a dictation language, but if you don’t know what it is, then you don’t have to worry about using it.  No one here actually does.  There was only one person whose posts got a few complaints because they were too hard to read due to too much IM language.   So, IMHO, go forth, and LOL all you want!

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Yeah, it’s grittier feeling, huh? I don’t even care enough to try to understand. Mine are getting nice and shiny again, though, so it’s time to dye it!

[Author]

Messages