I need some help please

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Cate_S

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Hello, I need some help. My three year old was given a rabbit for her birthday. I wasn't told anything about it. All I know is that it is a boy, he is one year old. I'm pretty sure he was purchased at a fair. We have set him up in a rabbit hutch outside with Timothy hay and rabbit pellets ,with his water. Rabbit safe bedding and a few rabbit safe toys. I need to know what weather is OK for rabbits. We live in Kansas and winter is coming. I know he is a rabbit and they handle cold better than hot. But, the last few years we have had some pretty bad ice storms. Also, I'm the one who takes care of him. Any suggestions and getting him to warm up to me enough so I can pick him up?
I call him hopper, but my three year old named him Bunbun. Any weather tips would help immensely!
Thank you.
 
You are correct that rabbits handle cold better than heat. However, do you know if this rabbit was living outdoors before you got him? If not, he may not have had reason to grow a winter coat. If this is the case, it would be better to house him indoors.

If he was housed outdoors, it is still an option to house indoors. Many (most?) here on RO house their rabbits indoors. Don't worry. If you are new to this, rabbits can certainly by housed indoors without an odor problem. They actually do quite well indoors. The greatest advantage is being able to build a bond with him. That just isn't likely to happen when he's outdoors. Single rabbits don't fare so well outdoors either since they will spend far too much time alone.

I'm sure with a 3 year-old, you are busy enough. You aren't likely going to have time to stand out in the chill for a couple hours per day trying to bond with the rabbit. But even 2 hours per day is very little time to expect bunny to get to know you. And that would still leave him alone for 22 hours every day.

Housed indoors, bunny is nearby 24/7. Bunny being in proximity like that makes the human family familiar and part of bunny's life.

It sounds like you've got the basics down with hay and pellets (those pellets should be limited, btw, at his age). Indoors, once he's settled, you could also begin to slowly introduce greens to his diet. There is a right way to do this so as not to upset bunny's tummy. You can see that here.

Once you've browsed around this forum and looked through the following links to some of our indoor housing, you may want to consider bringing him indoors.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=87073
Of course your 3 year old will need to be taught that she should not try to pick up bunny. Most rabbit people will tell you that a 3 year old is too young for a rabbit. Generally that is true. But with your guidance, she can learn to interact appropriately. [Just yesterday I happened upon an old photo of my youngest sitting on the patio when we took our indoor rabbit out for a bit. You can see that he is sitting quietly and gently petting without attempting to pick up.]

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I agree with Blue eyes about everything.
I wouldn't put a rabbit outside in a place where there are ice storms. Rabbits do live outside in a natural state but they live in burrows deep under the ground which protect them from the cold and the mortality is very high (the life expectancy of a wild bunny is around 18 months... it's eight to ten years for inside rabbits). I am not really wild about it but some people do successfully raise rabbits outside, if they isolate the hutch really well but it's a lot of work (rabbits also don't do well with humidity or strong winds or rodents whom the rabbit and his food will undoubtfully attract, or heat in the summer, or mosquitoes, or flies which will lay eggs under their tails which can result in horrific wounds made by maggots, or their water being frozen and undrinkable). Personnally, there is no way I would go into the garden under a pounding rain when it's dark and cold to give vegetables and hay (I give hay about 7 times a day, plus one feeding time for pellets and one for vegetables) or clean the hutch, but that's just me.
Also, it's your daughter's rabbit (even if you can tell the person who brought the rabbit that giving the most skittish, less cuddly animal of the world with sharp teeth and nails and a fragile back to a 3 year old is the worst idea ever - how does this keep happening?)... how will she even be in contact with the animal if he's kept outside? She won't stand in the cold / rain / heat to pet the rabbit and will barely see him. Rabbits also need to be out of their cage / hutch for at least 5 hours a day, and you can't bring inside an outside rabbit before putting him outside again, the change of temperature will make him sick. If you need to keep him outside, you'll need a very secure run for him (rabbits dig fast and jump REALLY high).
Here I feel like I should repeat what Blue eyes said : don't let your daughter handle the rabbit on her own ever. Tell her she should never EVER attempt to carry him. She can only touch the rabbit when he is on the ground. I regularly see people lamenting about their kid who is now terrified of the rabbit who scratched them badly (they can make a lot of damage, I've got a 20cm long scar on my arm from a Holland lop who was less than 2 kilos who didn't want to go inside his pet carrier to go to the vet) or traumatized after they accidentally killed their pet by holding them too tight or dropping them.
Rabbits don't smell, they can be litter trained very easily and make perfect indoor pets if you put them into an appropriately bunny-proofed room or an x-pen attached to a cage. It's not that complicated or that costly to do and I think that after a small initial effort it saves a lot of grief to everyone involved. If you can,I suggest you try that. You can find a lot of informations on this forum, and with the House rabbit society which has a very well done website :
http://rabbit.org/category/care/housing/
 
We got several books to read when we got our first rescue--"Rabbits for Dummies" was pretty good and the library was a good source of reading material. Ours have all been indoor bunnies--less to worry about that way. I would recommend getting a neuter done soonest also. Most don't care to be handle that much although they need to accept a certain amount as the need nail trims, etc. We have had 2 out of 47 that were lap rabbits and loved being held and petted--only 2. Good luck.
 

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