Top Tips for new rabbit owners

Hi every, I'm Sarah, mum to 2 kids & now a proud mum to a little boy rabbit who my kids have named Parker. He's roughly 3 months old & will be living as an indoor rabbit. I currently have a cage 100cm in width that was recommend to me by the pet store I got him from & a good sized run for him.

He's our 1st rabbit & we're all very excited about him & want to provide him with the best, so if anyone wants to share any top tips, advice or even recommend toys / equipment I'd really appreciate it

Hello and welcome
I have had spayed/neutered rabbits for about 6 years now, they're something I'm pretty crazy about. My top 3 tips would be:
1. Make sure Timothy hay and water are always available and fresh
2. Find yourself a rabbit savvy vet before you actually need one, because when bunnies show you they're sick it's already late in the game, and they'll need a vet fast
3. Bunny should get lots and lots of time outside of the cage, with interaction and fun things to do. I love the toys on busybunny.com
Those are just a few tips, I'm sure others will chime in with more great advice. Good luck with your new furry friend, he is too cute!

What a cutey he is!

I've put together tips for new bunny owners onto a website. You may click on it here. (Don't worry. I don't sell anything or make any profit. It is purely informational.)

Hubby and I got our very first rabbit before our kids were born. Now we are one kid shy of being empty nesters and we still have rabbits!

Here's an old post on "Five things I didn't know about bunnies".
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=57175

PS: That nose! That adorable little nose! I just want to nuzzle him eskimo style.

He is cute!!!!

If you can, try to litter train him. It'll make clean up a lot easier. One of my rabbits came litter trained, not sure exactly how he got trained, he was a farm bunny. I recently put a litter box in with my mama rabbit and her four babies[yesterday, actually] and now they're all using the litter box......she wasn't litter trained when I got her so I don't know....just try giving him a litter box?? I use pine wood chips for litter.

Congrats on your first bun!! But it's not always fun and games! You need to be constantly watching their eating patterns and drinking patterns because in 12 hours something could go dangerously wrong! But anyways if you bond nicely with your rabbit it will come to love and treat you just like another rabbit which is exactly what you want! My other tip is to study up on as many sicknesses and diseases your rabbit could get because if you can note the symptoms faster the faster your rabbit becomes healthier!! Other than that your rabbit will be a binkying rolling around loving bun!!

StormyB said:

He is cute!!!!

If you can, try to litter train him. It'll make clean up a lot easier. One of my rabbits came litter trained, not sure exactly how he got trained, he was a farm bunny. I recently put a litter box in with my mama rabbit and her four babies[yesterday, actually] and now they're all using the litter box......she wasn't litter trained when I got her so I don't know....just try giving him a litter box?? I use pine wood chips for litter.

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Pine (and cedar) shavings are suspected of emitting harmful phenols which can harm bunny's respiratory system. If using wood chips, only aspen is considered safe.

Unfortunately aspen is not sold where I am at. I am allowing the pine to sit out for a few weeks so all the smell is gone before I do use it, but its either that or newspaper shreds and they eat those.

Have you checked into wood pellets? They are very economical and work great. You can use either the pellets used for wood burning stoves (found at hardware stores) or the pellets used for horse stall bedding (found at feed stores). The pellets would be easier, and are better at odor control than shavings. They also don't get tracked about like the shavings or stick to fur.

TOP tips

1. don't mess around with his diet too much- keep him on his pellets/hay for the first week. be cautious about adding greens.
2. TRAIN your rabbit - you are the owner NOT the bunny. So get him used to being picked up, to you playing with his feet, to be pet/groomed etc. A hand over the head is good bunny discipline.

I completely agree with what Blue eyes said. Wood shavings aren't good for your rabbit and he will certainly get yellow feet pretty quickly as they don't absorb urine very well.
http://rabbit.org/the-dangers-of-softwood-shavings/

Cat litter (the wood pellets one!) works great. I'm always a bit surprised to hear people say "they don't sell it where I live". which is an argument I read pretty often regarding the possibility to buy quality pellets or litter. I only know websites which work in Europe, considering it's where I live, but don't you have online shops selling that kind of things in other countries? In France or Germany, online shops like zooplus are actually cheaper than petshops and you can find a lot of better products (plus, you don't have to go anywhere or carry anything... it changed my life when I didn't have to take the underground with enormous bags of hay anymore).

Anyway, you really should think about putting a litter tray in the cage. Rabbits aren't that hard to house train when it comes to peeing and it will prevent your rabbit literally living in his toilets which can cause pododermatitis from walking in his own waste all the time (and it's a real pain to treat). Also, it will be a lot easier for you to clean up (about that, wood pellets are also a lot less messy than wood shavings which are light and fly EVERYWHERE everytime the rabbit will jump from his cage, dig or run around... your rabbit seems quite fluffy too, so wood shavings will cling to his hair and end up in your entire house).

Also, your rabbit needs at least four hours out of his cage everyday. You'll need to make sure there is at least a room where he can run free during that time, which means secure the electrical cords and not leave anything the rabbit could eat (plant, important papers, books...) laying around when he's not supervised.

My tip for you is don't under estimate your rabbit! They are such intelligent affectionate creatures as long as they are placed in a situation where they have a chance to thrive. Also, don't give too many treats! I know it's hard with their little faces.