Water, Bedding, Litter, Pellets and Flooring Questions

[ilr369]

After doing lots research on rabbit care, I still had several questions that I had:

1. On one of the books, it told me that I should give my rabbit bottled water instead of tap. Is it OK to boil tap water for the rabbit, instead of buying bottled water?

2. Is bedding really necessary?

3. I’ve also read that newspaper should be put on the bottom of the litter pan. Should the newspaper be changed every time you empty the litter?

4. If I’m going to supply my rabbit with pellets, hay and vegetables, are the pellets that I buy supposed to be made of Timothy hay too? Or are they supposed to consist of other plants as well?

5. My flooring is made of cherry wood; do I need to cover it up? Or should I move the rabbit to another room? Or is the wood safe?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!!

I’ll try to answer you

1) If you drink tap water, then your bunnies can drink your tap water-> as far as I”m concerned!

2) I only use ‘bedding’ in the litter box. For sleeping on I make bunny pillows. You can buy cat/dog beds too but I make them it’s cheaper!

3) If you put newspaper in there under the litter/bedding, I would change it every time, but you don’t have to put newspaper in there!

4) Yes, you want timothy pellets, provided it isn’t a baby bunny or a skinny bunny (or has some other special requirement). If he’s a baby or skinny you can feed alfalfa based pellets. These are generally too fattening for normal adult bunnies and timothy is the way to go. For hay as well you should try to give timothy although other types are acceptable as well! Alfalfa hay should only be given as a treat (or to young/skinny bunnies as above) as well.

5) Cherry wood is not safe to eat. Any wood that the fruit has a pit, has arsenic in it unless completely dry (so really  don’t chance it). I will chip in to say that I don’t think rabbit’s chew hardwood but maybe someone else knows about that. You could also cover it up with an area rug if your able.

Again, Welcome!! Do you have a bunny yet or you are thinking of getting one?

[kralspace]

Welcome! I have wood floors, also. While my buns don’t chew the floor, I have found that pee can really make stains, both light and dark. If I could start my bunny-keeping over again, I would get a big piece of vinyl to cover much of the floor where they stay the most, especially around the litter boxes and cages.

[Gravehearted]

hi and welcome to binky bunny ilh369!

1. bottled water isn’t necessary, but I’ve found my rabbits tend to drink more when offered bottled or filtered water. i give them brita filtered water.

2. you’ll need litter for the litterboxes – but using litter or bedding on the floor of their house just confuses most rabbits about where they’re supposed to go potty.

3. for pellets, it’s important to choose plain pellets (without seeds, cereal or fruit in them) many pellets are outside of the recommended nutritional value for rabbits – and i personally use oxbow brand only. For bunnies under 7 months you’ll want to feed alfalfa pellets and timothy pellets for a bunny older than 7 months. Oxbow’s website has a store locator: http://www.oxbowhay.com/index.sp

4. I have a large plastic chair mat directly under my bunny’s cage to protect the floors. Bunnies really slip around a lot on wood floors, so I would recommend picking up some inexpensive rag rugs to put down on the floor. ikea or target should have some. i prefer them to regular carpet since the fibers are cotton.

edit – ooops forgot to answer the newspaper question.  when you bunny wees in the box it will get the newspaper wet, so it will need to be changed everytime you have to clean the litterbox.

[JK]

Even though our water here is perfectly fine I give my bunny filtered water too – a Pur water filter system.  My vet recommended it.

[rabbitsmba]

Ditto on all accounts…

Can I just say how nice it is to have found a board with such consistently correct answers? I’ve been on other boards where the advice given is SO varying and in most cases WRONG, it makes my head spin! Acurate and experienced advice regarding rabbits is so hard to find. Glad this board exists!

[Bunnies4ever]

Yes, this board is the best! I can’t believe how much it’s grown over the past year! I just happen to come across Binky Bunny by accident at the same time as I got my first bunny and was looking for advice.

[kralspace]

I would like to ‘ditto’ rabbitsmba’s comment about how nice this forum is. Not just the excellent advice I’ve gotten, but the kind, tactful, friendly way it’s given to newcomers.

Since acquiring 2 neglected guinea pigs, I’ve looked for similar forums for help and boy, the atmosphere can be quite different, almost cut-to-the quick competitive about who is the supreme knower of all piggie knowledge….lol. And asking a newbie question can get you pounced upon mercilessly. One of the piggies is long-haired, pink skinned, pink eared, pink eyed, but is also blind and deaf. When someone asked me what kind I had, I said, I think she’s an albino and yikes, you would have thought I had committed a major crime and deserved the death penalty.

When you’re looking for general piggie information, you don’t usually run across descriptions for a mutant that results from breeding wrong types together, much less be able to buy them from a petstore. I received several replies about how I obviously knew nothing about piggies or I would know about this “lethal” type of pig and all the problems they have. No one elaborated on anything except my ignorance, nor gave me any advice on how to deal with her, or make her life better. At least I did now have the name ‘lethal’ and could do the research I needed to help the poor girl out.

But the experiences on those boards made me really realize what a special group of people inhabit this cyperspace and how united we all are in not showing how much we know (or in my case, don’t know), but in helping others learn. And you do it in such a kind way! Thanks to everyone.

Kathy

[Bunnies4ever]

Ditto kralspace! I couldn’t have said it better! I truly believe that the information I’ve learned on this forum has really attributed to the health of my buns. I started out with 1 bun and now I have 4 and I love all of them!

[kimberleyanddarren]

yes this forum is excellent!
i think maybe the writer came from a hard water area maybe so that the water there isnt very good? i give my bun tap water and he gets on fine with it – im drinking it so! lol
bedding isnt necessary but i do have some towels and stuff so that there is something cuddly and warm. i dont use newspaper on the bottom of my litter pan, i just have the litter in there and rince it out when i am changing it i dont have any problems!
i dont think your bun will start eating your flooring, maybe scratching and the odd chew but nothing like giving him a chunk of it, monitor him and see if he bothers with it, its likely he has more important things to chew like chair legs and cupboards! lol
as far as pellets go its the fibre in it that is important they dont really need to be any specific ones as long as your bun likes it! just make sure to have plenty of hay, i believe its 19% fibre.. im not sure though maybe someone can correct me?

[ilr369]

I’m thinking about getting a rabbit and already did lots of research on them. Thanks for all the answers. This site is very helpful and informative!

[skunklionshow]

My own “formula” for my bunny litterboxes is:  newspaper layer on the bottom, then aspen shavings, and cover completely w/ carefresh.  It doesn’t get stinky as fast as just carefresh.  The bunny floors of their condo is cardboard covered w/ rag rugs.  In their bunny bed is another rag rug.  I’ve never had an issue w/ chewing the wood floors.  However, pee stains are hard on wood floors.

I was wondering w/ the “albino” piggie…..White cats are a genetic mutation, all white cats.  They are frequently deaf, as an effect of this mutation.  It is more likely to occur in white cats w/ blue eyes or just one blue eye.  I’m just wondering if it can be similar in other species.  Aren’t “albino” people more prone to blindness and/or deafness?  I thinking that’s true.  I know w/ people the incidences of blindness or some type of sight impairment is very common due to the lack of pigmentation in their eyes.

[kralspace]

That’s what I had always heard about albinos, but they told me in no uncertain terms that there is no such thing as an albino piggie.

I still don’t see the difference in a mutant in any other species, such as the cat, or certain dogs that with that coloring seem to inherit the deafness, and seeing problems. She’s a precious little mop with legs, I’ll have to take some photos of her. Her only requirements in life are a bowl of pellets, fresh hay and a soft blanket. Her legs were covered in open sores when I got her and it’s been so rewarding so watch her heal and now she walks with full range. Her and her buddy were doing the popcorn thing this evening and it’s so nice to watch them enjoy themselves.

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

ilh-369- I just wanted to tell you that I’m glad you’re researching rabbits before you get one — too many people make the mistake of buying/adopting a rabbit without proper knowledge about the amount of care they require! Too many rabbits end up abandoned because of this. It’s great to know you’re getting informed before making a decision!

[skunklionshow]

That’s right…I wanted to say not a mutation but a recessive gene….Sorry I have dissertation brain defects!  W/ white cats, I know that they have the genetic makeup/ properties for colors/patterns….for example they can be a silver/black tabby.  W/ the white cats it just comes out as white on white tabby, but the genes would show for silver tabby.  Kinda crazy.  I know w/ Phoebe’s litter she had 2 silver tabbies and 3 all white kitties, 1 of the white ones was w/ blue eyes.

The albino people thing…I think the eye sight is due to loss of cones or rods…I can’t remember which.

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