Is just one bunny okay? and types of hay?

[littlemisslacie]

Hi guys! My bf and I just got our first pet--3 month old Netherland Dwarf named Lacie We adopted her about a week ago and shes come along so well! She was launging at everyone and biting everyone before--we havent even had her a week, and she lets us pet her and cuddle her. So we're off to a good start I think


I came home and started looking on Google for general stuff about bunnies and I saw tonnes of forums saying that its cruel to have just one bunny and that they need to be bonded. Is this true and what is everyone's opinion on this?
We spend a few hours with her and are around her a lotbecause she roams free around our bedroom everyday. Should we look into getting her a friend? Or will she be happy and healthy as an "only" child?


I also had one other question. When we got her we were told to feed her the hay cubes till she was a year old and then switch to loose hay. We bought Alfalfa cubes and she didnt eat them the first few days so we bought her Timothy ones hoping she would like those. We put two cubes of each in her cage and she ate them both! Is it bad for her to be eating two different types? Should we just keep heron one and if so--which one does everyone recomend? Her stool is normal since eating both.


Thank you in advance for anyone who takes the time to read this and to answer! I really appreciate it! ANY advice is very welcome!
--Lyss <3!

 

[JadeIcing]

littlemisslacie wrote:

Hi guys! My bf and I just got our first pet--3 month old Netherland Dwarf named Lacie We adopted her about a week ago and shes come along so well! She was launging at everyone and biting everyone before--we havent even had her a week, and she lets us pet her and cuddle her. So we're off to a good start I think

Congrats! Netherlands are my fave!!!!! I need pictures. No I demand them.

I came home and started looking on Google for general stuff about bunnies and I saw tonnes of forums saying that its cruel to have just one bunny and that they need to be bonded. Is this true and what is everyone's opinion on this?
We spend a few hours with her and are around her a lotbecause she roams free around our bedroom everyday. Should we look into getting her a friend? Or will she be happy and healthy as an "only" child?

Some bunnies are just fine alone others need a friend. Some don't want a friend. Do you plan on having her spayed? It would be best health wise. She is still young and hormones have not fully set in. So I would wait a few months and go from there.

I also had one other question. When we got her we were told to feed her the hay cubes till she was a year old and then switch to loose hay. We bought Alfalfa cubes and she didnt eat them the first few days so we bought her Timothy ones hoping she would like those. We put two cubes of each in her cage and she ate them both! Is it bad for her to be eating two different types? Should we just keep heron one and if so--which one does everyone recomend? Her stool is normal since eating both.

Uh loose hay is fine. Since she is young alfalfa hay would be great for her.

Thank you in advance for anyone who takes the time to read this and to answer! I really appreciate it! ANY advice is very welcome!
--Lyss <3!

 

[JadeIcing]

Oh and welcome to the forum.

 

[littlemisslacie]

Thank you very much for such a quick reply!
I will definately be spaying her -- I work at a veterinary clinic so she will be getting great health care
All the vets here said it doesnt matter if she has a partner or not so I wanted to geteveryones personal opinions and stories to see how their's reacted and whatnot.
Thanks again!

Oh and I haven't learned how to post pics just yet! But ill figure out soon! haha

 

[JadeIcing]

Welcome! Weekends are slow on here. So I try to keep an eye out for things like this.

AWESOME! I wish I had an in like that.

I have 8 rabbits of my own. A trio, a bonded pair and 3 singles. One of the singles does NOT want any other rabbits near him. It all depends the bunny.



littlemisslacie wrote:

Thank you very much for such a quick reply!
I will definately be spaying her -- I work at a veterinary clinic so she will be getting great health care
All the vets here said it doesnt matter if she has a partner or not so I wanted to geteveryones personal opinions and stories to see how their's reacted and whatnot.
Thanks again!

Oh and I haven't learned how to post pics just yet! But ill figure out soon! haha

 

[Spring]

Hi there! Welcome! Congratulations on your new one, seems like she is fitting in quite nicely!

For hay, my guys prefer the loose hay rather than hay cubes. It's more fibrous, so better for their digestion to! Usually loose hay is my main hay source, then if I want to give them a treat, I'll give them the hay cubes.

It really just comes down to individual bunnies. My trio thrives on having the company of other rabbits, but on the other hand my two singletons are fine by themselves. I've been bonding off an on for 9 months, and haven't made too much progress since the two are quite stubborn and independent.

I wouldn't call it cruel at all to keep a single bunny, since although they are quite social creatures, some are much much happier being by themselves. Not everybun is a fan of other rabbits, some are quite fine with their human companions!

 

[littlemisslacie]

Wow you must have your hands full with 8 rabbits, are they all the same breed?
Lacie has a stuffed animal that she always lays with haha. I was surprised to see that rabbits actually like stuffed animals.
Working at the clinic is definately convenient.. If I ever have a problem she can just come in to work with me We don't have very much bunny clients though, mostly cats.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Definitely no reason why she can't have loose hay! It may be slightly more messy for you but I'm sure she will eat and enjoy lots more

As for the friend-thing, I don't think it's neccessarily 'cruel' to keep one bunny alone, but some buns do need companionship. Our 2 bonded pairs are so dependant on each other, and I really couldn't see them being single. However, we also have a giant (Checkered), Dotty, who lives alone upstairs. She has free-run of all of the upstairs during the day and the bedroom at night. I can honestly say I don't think she *needs* a friend- she is very people-friendly and will spend all her time cuddling with us and sitting at my fiance's feet while he works in his office etc. For her, at least for the time being, she doesn't need a friend. I personally think all bunnies are different, and you have to judge what you think they need as best you can. To see a bonded couple though, is so, so cute as I'm sure many people will testify.

There's much more I could say, but on my side of the pond it's well past my bedtime lol!

Oh and welcome to the forum!

 

[littlemisslacie]

So she doesn't have to stay on cubes? Even though shes so young she can be on loose hay?

and is Timothy or Alfalfa better? Is one better than the other or is it personal preference?

Thanks for all the help guys!!

ps spring your bunny is adorable!!

 

[tonyshuman]

I know of some bunnies at the shelter that would NOT be good with other bunnies. They do not want to share their people with another bunny! These bunnies will not allow another bunny anywhere near them or to share any of their things. It's perfectly normal. Single bunnies often bond very closely with their "people".

I think it's perfectly fine to keep her single, at least for now. It may happen that she is lonely, but it sounds like you are well on the way to having a very good bond with her, so she may not need rabbit company. I had Tony single for almost a year when I thought he might like some company, and I personally think he is happier now than when he was alone, but he would still have been happy if I hadn't found Muffin. My personal bond to him may have suffered by him bonding to Muffin--he doesn't seem to see me as his mate anymore, which is fine, because he would run circles around my feet which was a bit annoying at times.

Benjamin came to us as a single, but he wanted bunny interaction (we could tell by the way he responded to the other guys on the other side of the gate and his stuffed animal friend), so we got Frida to be his buddy. There are some bunnies that absolutely will not tolerate the presence of another bunny as well. I think the personality of a bunny as far as social interaction doesn't come out until after they have been fixed and their hormones have died down (2+ weeks after a spay, 4+ after a nueter). We knew Ben wanted a buddy since he was still cuddling with his stuffed animal (that had been the target of some pre-neuter humping) in a non-sexual way weeks after his neuter. He and Frida are inseparable. Tony and Muffin are a bit more independent of each other, but they are happy together.

Sorry, long-winded answer, but to sum it up: it depends on the bunny, and I don't think you can tell at this point, it will have to wait until after her spay to see if she wants a buddy. Your Lacie is adorable. It's actually good to feed more than one type of hay, but loose hay is better as a regular feed and cubes should be more of a treat. The cubes have very short strands of hay that aren't as coarse and fibrous as loose hay. At her age, timmy or alfalfa or both is fine, and other types of grass hay are fine too.

 

[littlemisslacie]

Sometimes we rescue rabbits at work so if I were to get another one it would be from there.
If I brought Lacie in and she got along with one of those rabbits does that mean she would "bond" to it? Or would there be a chance that they would get home and hate eachother? haha I guess what Im trying to say is will you know right away? Or do you kind of need to do a trial at home to see how they are together for a little while?

 

[JadeIcing]

littlemisslacie wrote:

Wow you must have your hands full with 8 rabbits, are they all the same breed?

2 netherlands, 1 polish, 1 holland lop, 1 dutch, 2 I have no ideas, 1 lionhead/lop/wooly mix and one flemish giant who passed away. I currently have2 foster rabbits. 3 guinea pigs, a blue tongue skink and a leopard geckh and a pom (dog).

Lacie has a stuffed animal that she always lays with haha. I was surprised to see that rabbits actually like stuffed animals.

Some do some don't. Keep an eye she doesn't chew it.

Working at the clinic is definately convenient.. If I ever have a problem she can just come in to work with me We don't have very much bunny clients though, mostly cats.

Very neat.

 

[littlemisslacie]

Perfect! Thanks for all the answers everyone.. it definately put away some of my nerves about feeding her two different types of hay!
Thanks for the stories and your personal experience! I guess I still have a few months beforeI have tothink about it again



Oh and I thought of another thing! When we let her out of the cage we have a hard time getting her back in. She'll come over to us and lay with us but as soon as we go to pick her up to put her back in (our cage is raised and you cant take the legs off lol) she takes off and runs away. Any tips or suggestions?
We're thinking of trying a harness and leash but we dont want to limit her exercise because right now she runs laps all the way around our upstairs floor, and she wouldnt be able to do that if we had to leash her.
She isn't interested in treats just yet, so until then we aren't sure how to lure her over.. any ideas? haha

 

[Spring]

Bonding can really be a hit and miss.. for me, I brought Pebbles on three seperate "Speed Dates" at the shelter, and she seemed to prefer Georgie... brought him home, and she goes all Brat Bun! So I mainly just do casual play dates with her and Georgie off and on for some bunny interaction.

You could try carrier training her. I do this for Bruno (the big sweet guy in my avatar). I started by putting treats in the carrier for him, and when he would go in, I would transport him where I needed him to go. Now I just have to put a few oats or a tiny slice of appleinto the carrier and he'll hop right in.. then I can just move the carrier around instead of stressing him out by trying to catch him! Works great for him!

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

For the hay you have already got a lot of great advice.

My netherdwarf storm seem to like being alone but he loves to be with me. I have had him on 15 bunny dates and he attecked everyone of them. Not just chase get a way from me but attacted. Like if my mommy let me get close enough I would kill you.

So for now we just have storm and I spend plenty of time with him most days there are some days where he is caged all day but he has a huge cage so thats not a issue.

I think you should let your bun be the jubge if they want a friend.

 

[SOOOSKA]

Welcome to RO Lyss and Lacie.

Your bunny is really sweet.

Can you build a ramp that goes up to the cage? That's what we did for our Daisy Mae. I have a picture on photobucket that I will dig up to show you.

What part of ON are you from?

Susan

 

[irishbunny]

littlemisslacie wrote:

Sometimes we rescue rabbits at work so if I were to get another one it would be from there.
If I brought Lacie in and she got along with one of those rabbits does that mean she would "bond" to it? Or would there be a chance that they would get home and hate eachother? haha I guess what Im trying to say is will you know right away? Or do you kind of need to do a trial at home to see how they are together for a little while?

If they don't fight then you could try and bond them, but you should get Lacie spayed first, because sometimes they can get along and once they reach maturity can break the bond, start to fight and possibly seriously injure one another.

Lacie sounds like she is in a great home though! Good luck!

 

[SOOOSKA]

Here's the pictures of the ramp we built.

Or another idea is to get a set of those Doggy stairs. We got a set for Buttercup when he got older so he could climb up on the sofa.

Susan

 

[littlemisslacie]

Yeah were definately going to wait till shes spayed. One of our friends has bunnies for sale so after that I think we'll take her over there and she how she is, and we might come home with one of them after a few playdates! haha

We were thinking about the ramp idea too! Your bunnies look very spoiled! especially with their tent! ahaha very cute!

 

[JadeIcing]

Her bunnies are very SPOILED!