Hello, first rabbit have a question

hello, I just bought a baby female lionhead bunny. shes a little over 2 months old. I've had her for 3 days. I'm going to give you all the rundown as I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.

I Got her a nice cage, living world habitat standard size. I never lock her in there though unless I leave the house, I work from home so that is not often. I have 4 cats (2 bengals and 2 siamese) that seem to be cool enough with the rabbit. They seem more affraid of the rabbit than she is of them but I dont want to risk it leaving the bunny out with me not home. (the poor thing grabs onto the door and shakes it when I do lock her in its heartbreaking)

I have a fence that I use to either her block her off from leaving my office when im working or I move her to the living room where she can run around the couch or the bedroom when I sleep. In any case she always has at least around 16sqft to run around in and a full room most of the day.

I've gotten her small pet select 2nd cutting timothy hay that I keep the wall thing stacked with always, and I blended sherwood baby rabbit food with kaytee forti diet for juvenile rabbits. When shes older I planned to switch to small pet select or sherwoon adult formula, what age should I do that? I leave pellets in her bowl at all times, shes yet to finish the bit I put in there yesterday but she is eating them and the hay. I have two water bottles hanging out for her one in the cage one on the fence.

I got feline pine litter which I've read can be bad? I'll buy something not pine when these pellets run out.

My main question is, should I not be picking her up and moving her from place to place throughout the day? I read a guide saying I shouldnt ever try to pick the rabbit up until shes coming up to me on her own. She does hop up on my lap when im on the couch. She digs at my shirt, and sits for a while while I pet her. She DOES run away from me when I go to pick her up though. Is it that serious? the guide made it sound like I'm going to traumatize the rabbit.


Thats the story. Shes a ton of fun I'm really happy I impulse bought her haha. ( I was driving down the road to meet a friend, saw a sign that said lionhead bunnies for sale, I googled them because I had no idea what that was, thought they were super cute, found out there was a rabbitry around the corner from my house and went and got one)

Hello! She's very cute!
About your questions, your rabbit will be an 'adult' in size around 6-7 months. It will be time to spay, go for adult pellets in very small quantities (I use an European brand, but Sherwood is good, I would stick with it) and introduce vegetables.

The best litter is generally wood pellets for cats. I can't really recommend a brand as I use a French one, but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

Most rabbits dont' like being picked up and it's likely to get a lot worse after her hormones have kicked in (most of my bunnies were cool with being handled as babies and not at all as adults). I personnally advocate carrying bunnies as little as possible because when they are trying to escape horrible accidents can happen - rabbits breaking their backs, getting one of their organs crushed or making a bad fall can happen in a split second and the result is often deadly. My two current bunnies don't like being picked up (and they are NOTHING compared to the previous buck I had, who had a severe case of vertigo and went berserk when his paws weren't firmly planted on the ground even at 8 weeks - he couldn't even get down on his own when he jumped on something) so I only do it out of necessity and I stay on my knees during the whole process so I'm not tempted to squeeze and can release them safely if they decide to go demon out of Hell on me.
Some rabbits are pretty cool with being handled though. And I don't think she will be traumatized by it, just... don't insist if she looks like she really doesn't want too ^^.
About the biting the bars thing, when you begin to give her vegetables, it might be a good idea to give her some to occupy her when you have to lock her. I used to do that to make my rabbits to go inside their cage and to keep them quiet while inside (for years my rabbits were in my room and I locked them up for the night as they were jumping on my bed when left free which was dangerous and really annoying - with the vegetables, they were just eating and then went to sleep without making a noise). You are right not to leave the bunny with the cats when you aren't there, though.

hey thanks for the reply. TOday shes been more sociable than before. Shes letting me go up to her and pet her, then I picked her up to take her to the office this morning and once I actually lifted her she started to run but she didnt really struggle. Of course as soon as I hold her to my chest she calms down.

Another question, I was thinking of getting hay for her locally. I live in the country and there is tons of timmothy/orchard/brome mix bales it seems. I have to imagine getting local fresh cut hay has to be better than any brand. Is there anything I should watch out for or ask the farmer? Also, how would I best store the hay? Or is it even a good idea to keep it for longer periods of time? I mean the bales are all like 20-45lbs, thats going to last quite a while. At 4$ a bale though I dont care if i have to toss the remainder every month or whatever.


Thanks again!@

Sounds like you are doing a fine job with her so far! Buying local hay is my preference as well. It can stay fresh for quite a long time. The huge bale that I get lasts about 8 months. Just be sure to store it where it is out of direct sun and gets airflow. Out of sun keeps it fresh. Airflow prevents mold.

The Sherwood juvenile food is fine by itself. I don't see any advantage to mixing it with the Kaytee.

Pine litter is ok to use IF it is kiln-dried. But many on here use wood pellets from either a hardware store (those made for wood pellet stoves) or a feed store (those made as horse bedding). A 40lb bag is only $4-$7 (depending on where you live).

I suggest getting out of the habit of carrying her from place to place. While babies tolerate that, once they become adults, they begin to resent that and it can hurt that relationship. Done regularly, it is almost guaranteed that one day she'll squirm and fall out of your arms causing serious injury (hear it all the time). I have bunny's exercise area in the same space as their cage. Then, it is just a matter of opening the door. No need to bring them to a different area. If that isn't possible in your situation, maybe it would be a good idea to establish a different way to transport her. Either a travel carrier or possibly a basket could work.

Bunnies are pretty smart. If you pick her up after petting her, she may begin to resist getting pet in fear that she will then be picked up. Coaxing her into a basket or carrier would be better. She needs to think that she is the one deciding to go somewhere.

This is the full size bale I get locally. Some sell half-bales as well.

Local hay sounds good. I have a 'hay cupboard' in the rabbits' room (no, for real ^^). The only problem I've encountered with fresher hay is mothes. I hate mothes and they got to a few of my sweaters before I noticed them. Don't worry, if your hay goes old, your rabbit will let you know by refusing to touch it - rabbits are notoriously picky when it comes to hay. Mine will regularly refuse to touch it even when it's perfectly fine ^^'

Oh my gosh your rabbit is the silliest looking thing!! :inlove:

LOL! she is silly right? I love it.

Thanks for the tips guys, I started just letting her hop her way to the new room if/when i move to and from the office. I just stand in a position to somewhat guide her to where I want. Failing that I'll do like you say and wait for her to hop into her crate then just carry that.


I found a place right down the road selling fresh hay its orchard, timothy, and clover mixed. I'm gonna pick that up for her. I feel like a fool for buying the 20$ box of pet select hay lol. Not sure why I didn't think of local hay.


On the sherwood, after doing more research I agree, getting the kaytee was a waste, good thing it was only 5 bucks. I'm going to stick with sherwood baby then move on to their pro adult. So far the rabbit eats tons of hay so I dont need the hay mixed blend. I like the no soy and other junk in the sherwood. She also seems to like it, she totally picked out all the sherwood pellets and left the kaytee in the bowl.

Very cute. You can use kiln dried pine for bedding--the kiln drying removes the phenols, but you can NEVER use cedar as it stays toxic no matter the treatment.