looking into getting a rabbit

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Lynke

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Hello everyone :) I am new here so please forgive me if this is in the wrong place. Me and my boyfriend have been discussing a rabbit for a long time now and we finally feel we are in a place to get one. We are hoping in a month or two. I have some questions despite research.

Could anyone link to a great care sheet I could print out? Id ideally like it to include the changes of diet with age.

What's the best brand of food? I don't mind ordering online. I already order special food for my rats X3

Is a fleece liner okay for a rabbit? I like to use them instead of bedding for my rats and was wondering if its okay for rabbits too?

We want a dward rabbit, would a cage 2'wx2'hx4'l be okay? Id like to make it out of those storage cubes... anyone have a link to were I could buy them aswell as a tutorial? Oh and bunny would be free range once training is complete so please keep that in mind with cage size :D

Should buns have a yearly checkup along with their initial wellness visit and whenever I suspect somethings wrong?


Sorry for all the questions ^-^
 
Many answers to your questions can be found in the library section. Then you can use the search feature for others.

I also would suggest looking at the breed information. For example Dutches are small though not dwarf & are known to be pretty laid back.
 
Okay ill be looking in the libreary. Sorry if I wasn't supposed to post this. And we are not sure on breed yet, we just know we want a small rabbit. We will probably adopt so breed depends on what is available when we are ready. I also heard rabbits personality varies and is not dependant on breed, did I hear wrong?
 
You're ok where you posted. Rabbit personalities do vary. Some breeds may trend s certain way with regards to temperment, but it really is different with each rabbit. If you can spend some time getting to know a rabbit before you buy it, then that would be the best way to find out it's personality. Adopting a rabbit from the humane society or a rescue may be a good way to go, with one that spays or neuters. You will be able to spend some time with the rabbit before you pick one and having the rabbit fixed already when you get it, will most likely be cheaper then you having to go to a vet to get it done, and you won't have to deal with the hormones.

The library section on here has a lot of info, and the house rabbit society website is very helpful too.

http://www.rabbit.org/

There are varying opinions on food. I feed sherwood forest rabbit food, a lot of others feed oxbow. Some people get food at a local feed store. All ages of rabbits should get unlimited hay. I always feed unlimited grass hay and limited pellets. The best and cheapest way to get hay is at a local horse feed store. I get a 50 lb. bale of timothy hay for $13. Buying small bags is too expensive. Some rabbits have very sensitive digestive systems, so new foods should always be introduced in small amounts and then gradually increased if there are no changes in the rabbits poop. When you introduce new pellets or veggies, this is what you want to do.

Fleece is generally seen as the best fabric to use with rabbits because rabbits like to chew and fleece doesn't have the strings that other fabrics have, that a rabbit could injest. You always will want to make sure that whatever you use in your rabbits cage is going to be rabbit safe if it can get chewed on. And make sure to use a rabbit safe litter like aspen bedding, carefresh, newspaper pellets, pine pellets, kaytee soft granule bedding. Alot of us use the pine pellets cause you can get a big bag cheap at a feed store or you can get wood stove pellets(w/o accelerants added) at a home improvement store for usuall $4-8 for a 40 lb bag. DO NOT use cat litter and cedar or pine shavings. Clumping cat litter kills rabbits, regular cat litter and cedar or pine shavings can cause respiratory illnesses.

Alot of people make the nic cages from the cubes. Xpens also seem to work well. You can look in the library section for different NIC ideas. Here's a link for a tutorial and a nic design that I really liked. If you decide to go with NIC cubes, Sears seems to have the best price at around $17 for a box of 23 panels I think. There are some out there that don't work well for rabbit cages as they have really big squares in the panel. I think it was Target that sells those ones. One thing though, about NIC cages is that they won't work well for a baby rabbit as they can get their heads stuck in the squares, so you would need a cage with smaller bar spacing until the rabbit grows up.

http://rabbitcondo.com/lara-and-harrels-deluxe-wide-rabbit-condo

Do a ton of research. It will help you avoid commonly made mistakes. And if you have questions about things then just post it and someone will chime in. good luck with your search.
 
great sites to check out while researching:
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Deciding_on_a_rabbit
http://www.rabbit.org/index.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/spay-neuter.html
http://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/Default.aspx
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=75235&forum_id=48 - first aid kit info
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/ - rabbit savvy vet listings
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=53690&forum_id=93 - great litter box system; I highly recommend the grid even if you don't want to build the whole thing (check 1/3 of the way down the first page)

info on bonding if you decide to get two:
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/matchups.asp
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

cage info:
http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm
http://breyfamily.net/bunnycage.html
best deal on grids for the cages: http://www.sears.com/stor-floor-sta...p-00913332000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1 (to get the sale price, you need to order online... but you can do site-to-store to avoid outrageous shipping charges)

here's my condo:
http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x465/mareimbri1/DSCF0411.jpg

instead of or in addition to a NIC condo, you can do an x-pen set-up.

best deal I've found on playpens (wait for the price to go back down to $34 - it jumps up significantly at times, but always ends up going back down!) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H8YTJI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

if you want a playpen higher than 30'' (like if you want to be able to put big cardboard boxes in there and such), I have these in the 48'' model - http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?sku=31313 ... however, they're suddenly only 10% off (the jerks!) - I'd wait for the sale to change again (as it does on a regular basis) so that they go back to 40-44% off or shop around for a different one - the prices at 10% off are WAY too high!
 
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Thanks for the help guys ^-^ it seems I have a lot of reading to do. I'm very exicted to add a bun to the family :D I'm glad I didn't rush into it though, hopefully by febuary ill feel knowledgable enough to start looking through rescues. Thanks again for all the info and links, ill be sharing them with my boyfriend as well.

Honestly though I wish we were ready now. Everytime I go to my vets office with my rats they have 3-4 bunnies for adoption... I met the cutest little man named charlie X3 if he's still their when we are ready to adopt I'm just gonna whisk him right up.
 
Rescues are great bc they can eliminate the hassle of spay and neuter. You also don't need to investigate a breeder's practices and ethics bc these are poor homeless bunnies and not a breeder.
 
We do try and adopt all of our animals. Not for cost or because I'm against breeders (I think a ethical breeder who benefits the breed is wonderful) but because were I live their are so many abandoned pets and not enough people to love them. We are supper excited to soon be adopting a wonderful bun into our lives. I have been scanning the libreary a lot as well as checking out other sites, heck I've even begon planning the cage!
 
cage building is SO much fun, especially with NIC since there's an endless number of ways to design a cage! if you want any design advice, run into trouble building the cage or just want to show off your work, feel free to start a new thread for it in the "housing and environment" section :D
 

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