Hello everyone. As of today I am a proud owner of a beautiful dwarf rabbit. I just moved to my area and thought a rabbit would be a good pet to take in and take care of, to keep me company and for me to go home to. I'm too excited to give her a home. I do have some concerns about my purchase today... I've done some research prior to taking her in, and I feel I probablu should have joined a forum sooner because of all the questions I have in my mind at the moment. My biggest worry is that her area isn't set up correctly... if anyone would be kind enough to PM me, or if you're even willing to email me, I would love any guidance I can get, so that while I'm out tomorrow I can get her what she needs to make her living space more comfortable. Thank you everyone!
New Owner
- Thread starter FalconRed
- Start date
Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:
If you're concerned about her living space, I suggest you take a look at the following links her on RO that show lots of pictures of people's rabbit set ups. You will see how very varied they are. They should give you ideas.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=83446
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=83446
I looked at it and also talked to someone a little more knowledgeable. I did have the wrong bedding, I don't know why that came with the rabbit stuff, but I have the right bedding now and she is going to do great in the set up I have now, at least for the time being 
thank you for the direction!
thank you for the direction!
Great! This forum will have lots of good info for you. Be wary of what they sell at pet stores (like the wrong bedding). Unfortunately, pet stores sell many things 'for rabbits' that are not healthy for them. This includes junk pellet food that has colorful bits in it (should be plain pellets) and all sorts of 'treats' that have seeds, honey, and other ingredients that rabbits should not eat.
flemishwhite
Well-Known Member
About 11 years ago, on a Saturday morning, my step daughter walked out of her bedroom with a cardboard box and in the box was a rabbit she rescued in the early morning hours. I went off to Petco and bought a rabbit cage and litter box. She lived in the cage, and I did allow her out of the cage into the house....Bottom line...it's a long story about all the details...but 6 months later she was a house rabbit. For the rest of her life, she never spent a day in a cage. There were initial chewing problems and also peeing...the peeing was really marking...she always mostly used her litter box. The peeing problems stopped after about 4 - 6 weeks.
OK, the story about previous one adult rabbit. Now our two Flemish Giant babies...they are 3 and 1/2 months old...and already the size of most adult rabbits! We cannot let them loose in the house unless we are present. They are way too energetic. We have four large litter boxes in the house...one litter box in their pen. They pee copious amounts in their litter boxes, but they will still pee here and there. We have leather furniture and mostly hardwood floors so it's not that much of a problem. I think it's a marking situation....based on previous rabbit experience, maybe they will stop after they've marked the house! I think neutering them will pretty much put the problem away. I want to wait a few more months to neuter them...I'd like them to become adults first.
They are such nice bunns, and obedient. When we want to leave the house or go to bed, they are easily shoooed into the pen. They eat a lot of food!
I'll look into pellets for sure as my next purchase. These pellets they sold me are brown, and I'm a bit of a health freak so I do keep a good amount of vegetables in the house if I start worrying about her diet. The bedding did the trick though. I went to Petsmart and the salesperson I spoke with owns a few rabbits of her own and she recommended the Aspen for cost and also the smell and because her rabbits loved it, and my rabbit is so much more playful, so I think the pine was making her miserable to a degree, she's running around and playing with me. She's incredibly social, I love it! But I'll definately look into a good suitable food for her. I'm thinking about slowly easing her into real vegetables as opposed to pellets anyhow. I'm not quite as worried anymore about her, not after speaking to someone more knowledgeable, this site, and changing her bedding. She has an appointment on Monday with the local vet to get checked out, so it'll be a good process. I'm eager to learn to care for her and make the best life I possibly can!
I'll look for pee, for sure. So far, she's only pooped on my floors, but it's all relatively been in the same location, which is what I was hoping for, so I bought a litter box and put it in thay corner for her so I can begin litter training. Luckily, my flooring is vinyl so clean up won't be too hard should the worse happen. I've already bought pet friendly cleaners to help with that. I'd like to let her just roam throughout the day as well, and with her size, I can easily do it, my concern, however, is my apartments rules and so on. I don't want to run the risk of her trying to eat the molding or walls (so far I'm not thinking it'd happen, but I never know) or the maintenance men coming through and bothering her or anything. So, she's going to be put in her cage while I'm not home for her safety, mostly. But that is a very promising story! Thank you!
I'll look for pee, for sure. So far, she's only pooped on my floors, but it's all relatively been in the same location, which is what I was hoping for, so I bought a litter box and put it in thay corner for her so I can begin litter training. Luckily, my flooring is vinyl so clean up won't be too hard should the worse happen. I've already bought pet friendly cleaners to help with that. I'd like to let her just roam throughout the day as well, and with her size, I can easily do it, my concern, however, is my apartments rules and so on. I don't want to run the risk of her trying to eat the molding or walls (so far I'm not thinking it'd happen, but I never know) or the maintenance men coming through and bothering her or anything. So, she's going to be put in her cage while I'm not home for her safety, mostly. But that is a very promising story! Thank you!
The largest portion of her diet should be hay anyway, a dwarf rabbit doesn't need more than 1/8 - 1/4 cup of pellets daily. Bandit weighs 3.2kg and only gets 2 tablespoons of pellets a day. Leafy greens are great, pellets are more there to ensure he's getting all the nutrients he needs. Make sure when you introduce the greens you do it slowly
If you'd like a nice overview of a good bunny diet and *how* to transition to healthy pellets and *how* to safely introduce greens, feel free to check my site. Here is the page for feeding:
http://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/feeding.html
http://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/feeding.html
