New Bunny mommy here - wanna make sure we're doing alright...

[SecurityStacey]

Alright, I thought I would just give ya the run down I got with my guy and make sure I haven't flubbed any of the main basics.

Bill (AKA William T. Bunny) is 10 months old - I got him a two weeks ago from the shelter. He has a cage that is 3x3 with a water botte, litter box, food dish and "house". His house is big enough that he can jump and sit on top of it - something he loves to do. Eventually I want to get him a multi level condo but that is what he has now. He always uses his litter box. He is neutered.

He has "free run" of the apartment for at least 6-8 hours a day. He has a litter box outside his cage as well and he uses that one when he is out playing. He has a couple baby toys (like a rattle ring) that he likes to throw around as well as a couple cardboard boxes (I like to put them with the opening down and put some hay under there - he seems to like his hay extra special when he has to "find" it) and he has a couple tunnels that he likes to run through. He also has a water bowl outside his cage if he wants water while he is playing. He is pretty well adjusted (he doesn't like to be picked up but I expected that - I only pick him up if absolutely neccesary.), he will come over to me and butt my hand for me to pet him and when I lay down on the ground he will come up and give me bunny kisses on my nose and is more than happy to settle down for awhile for a good ear rub.

For food I feed him an 1/8th of a cup in the morning and a 1/8th cup in the evening of oxbow timothy pellets. (btw, he is 10 months old and 3 pounds) He has unlimited Timothy hay (which he goes crazy over) and he gets 2-3 cups of greens twice a day when he gets his pellets, with a "snack" of a few greens midday. I go by the greens list on rabbit.org and change up when he is fed and give him a lot of variety, trying to stick the the healthier greens listed. As far as treats go I tried to give him a little bit of fruit - but he didn't seem impressed. He does go crazy over a piece of broccoli or a baby carrot though.

I know that is alot, I just want to make sure I got all my bases covered. What do you guys think?

 

[slavetoabunny]

It sounds to me like Bill has a wonderful set-up. Good job!

 

[Flashy]

I think that sounds great so far. My only thing would be making his home bigger, but you said you were going to do that so that's cool Basically the bigger the better for buns. His home is a fair size, but they can always be bigger, lol.

As for food, I'm not sure on how much a cup is (we don't have them over here) but that might be a bit much for a three pound rabbit, but hopefully someone else will come along and tell you that. It might be fine though

You sound like you're doing a great job Do we get to see pictures of Bill?

Is Billy neutered? have you found a rabbit savvy vet yet? Are you enjoying having him?

 

[SecurityStacey]

Ah, I added that he was neutered but your edit beat mine. Yes, the shelter I got him from nuetered him before I brought him home.

I do have a rabbit savvy vet - my best friend is actually going to vet school right now and her dad is a vet that treats rabbits, so I have an inside source there.

I absolutely love him. I had a rabbit when I was very little - but I think he was mostly kept in his cage and he was very mean because he wasn't socialized. But I saw on an animal show how you can litter train them and how friendly and affectionate they were and I went for it and I couldn't be happier with Bill!

I'm working on more pictures of him (my avatar is him from the shelter) but I haven't quite figured out how to get the pictures without the evil red eye. But I'm working on it!

 

[Flashy]

Ha ha, I'm quick and Evil like that. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

Sounds like you are all set up for a lovely life together

*coughs*With time... maybe he might want a girlfriend.... *coughs*

 

[SecurityStacey]

Flashy wrote:

Ha ha, I'm quick and Evil like that. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

Sounds like you are all set up for a lovely life together

*coughs*With time... maybe he might want a girlfriend.... *coughs*

That is already being thought of... I'm gonna wait a couple months till I can get a bigger set up all nice and ready and then I plan on taking him back to the shelter for a couple bunny dates. I love playing with him but I want him to have a "special friend" too...

 

[Flashy]

You're like the best novice bunny mum I've EVER come across Whenever you choose to get him a friend, they will be so lucky to be taken into such a wonderful home *cues the cheesy music* lol

And I can't wait for the pics whenever you manage to get them up

 

[kirst3buns]

Flashy wrote:

You're like the best novice bunny mum I've EVER come across Whenever you choose to get him a friend, they will be so lucky to be taken into such a wonderful home *cues the cheesy music* lol

And I can't wait for the pics whenever you manage to get them up

:yeahthat:

 

[tonyshuman]

That sounds really good but I do think you're feeding him a bit much. My guys (Tony and Muffin) are 4-5lbs and they each get 1/8c pellets and 2c greens daily (they're bonded, so that's 1/4c pellets in the morning and 2c greens in the morning, along with another 2c greens at night. You could also give him some other varieties of hay to be a bit more nutritious (although it's not neccessary) like oat, orchard, brome, or bermuda (not alfalfa). Also, what litter do you use?

 

[mouse_chalk]

Flashy wrote:

You're like the best novice bunny mum I've EVER come across Whenever you choose to get him a friend, they will be so lucky to be taken into such a wonderful home *cues the cheesy music* lol

And I can't wait for the pics whenever you manage to get them up

Couldn't agree more!

There is one thing you're doing wrong.... not sending him to ME! He sounds like he has perfect litter habits! He should come and train mine lol!

As for making a bigger cage, when you get to that... have you heard of NIC grids? They are brilliant, and the best thing is you can make a really decent sized cage cheaply, and you can build it to fit into the space you have in your home

There are some threads in our Photo Philes section with pictures of different setups etc, such as:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=37295&forum_id=21

Or this one, which is very long but some great stuff in it:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15348&forum_id=21


Would LOVE to see pics when you get a chance! Red-eye is horrible lol, but if you use something like photobucket, once you've uploaded your pics there's the option to edit them and remove the red-eye, it's pretty easy to do as well

 

[pinksalamander]

I have nothing to add...... except..... CUTE!

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[SecurityStacey]

Thanks for the nice comments,

I'll cut down on the food - he doesn't eat it all anyways, he always picks and chooses his favorite parts. I'll look to getting him different kinds of hay - I knew for sure no alfalfa but I wasn't sure what else he could or couldn't have nutrition wise so I was sticking with Timothy but I'll gladly add some variety for him!

I use carefresh for litter, with newspaper under it. I usually clean it when I get home from work in the morning (at about 7am) and then clean it again sometime before I go into work (about 7pm) and it works great.

I was also reading about bonding with your rabbit and signs that he is comfortable and the signs look great! He has only been home for two weeks and he will lay down with his legs flopped out when he lays on the floor, he will come over to me and lay down next to me or have me pet his ears. Also, when I get down on my stomach and pet his ears if I stop he will come over and fuss around my hair - is that him grooming me?

I have to admit, waiting to get him a friend is a little bit selfish on my part - he is my first real house bun and he is just such a perfect little boy he is great for me to really get the hang of belonging to a bunny with! For some reason I just have this feeling that the girlfriend he will pick out will be a crazy one... don't know why....

Here a couple pictures of him - in the one you can see a bunch of cords but no worries! That was when I first got him home and let him frolic a little, but that day a gate went up around the tv (of course making it his favorite place to sit and look where he can't go!) Also... if he is 10 months will he get bigger, or will he stay this size?

 

[Faith.Dungy]

Hi I can't really answer any of your questions since I just brought home our first bunny yesterday but I just had to say what a beautiful rabbit you have. He is so lucky you rescued him from a shelter.

Breaks my heart to think of all the bunnies in shelters.

 

[tonyshuman]

He is a cutie! And it sounds like you've got it figured out and he likes you. If you like carefresh and don't mind changing it twice daily, no problem. I prefer the more pelleted litters like wood stove pellets and yesterday's news. If you can't get him litter trained on carefresh, you may want to try another litter.

I think his breed might be a Tan, which is a really rare breed, and you'd be hard pressed to find one in a shelter. However, you never know! I'm not sure though, because his body type isn't quite right for a Tan, unless he's quite young (he looks younger than 10 mo if he is a Tan). Tans have a much more "hare-like" body shape: leaner and longer legs. I'd ask what breed he is in the Rabbitry section and they can give you an idea. Size is based mostly on breed, so knowing that can give you an idea of how big he'll get.

 

[SecurityStacey]

tonyshuman wrote:

He is a cutie! And it sounds like you've got it figured out and he likes you. If you like carefresh and don't mind changing it twice daily, no problem. I prefer the more pelleted litters like wood stove pellets and yesterday's news. If you can't get him litter trained on carefresh, you may want to try another litter.

I think his breed might be a Tan, which is a really rare breed, and you'd be hard pressed to find one in a shelter. However, you never know! I'm not sure though, because his body type isn't quite right for a Tan, unless he's quite young (he looks younger than 10 mo if he is a Tan). Tans have a much more "hare-like" body shape: leaner and longer legs. I'd ask what breed he is in the Rabbitry section and they can give you an idea. Size is based mostly on breed, so knowing that can give you an idea of how big he'll get.

He is actually already litter trained with carefresh - and I don't mind cleaning it - with him supervising of course!

The shelter told me that he was an American tan / mini lop mix... but they were really just guessing I think. I'll swing over there and see if they know though.

Thanks!

 

[Maureen Las]

That is one gorgeous rabbit... I cannot see any mini-lop in him whatsoever. we have a female at our shelterthat looks similar except she is a mini-rex.

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree, not mini-lop. The body shape isn't right. I said Tan because of the unusual coloring. I've never seen a black-top, tan-underside bunny except for the Tan breed. I could be wrong of course.