what to do

I am very new to this whole rabbit thing, I'venever had one so when I fell in love with a sweet American Fuzzy Lop atthe pet store I work at I hadn't a clue what I was going todo. so far its been really fun but also veryfrustrating. She is really good about using her litter boxfor pee and only pooping just around her cage and in it which I readwas normal, however because she's a fuzzy lop I'm having a hard timefinding a substraitI can use on the bottom of her cage thatdosen't get her matted. Another problem I'm having is thatI've let her have reign of my house wich is ok so far because shedosen't get into anything (except surprise birthday cup cakes) but shewon't let me hold her anymore. I don't know if its becauseshes afraid I'll drop her (which I've never done) or what but itsfrustrating I thought she could be a pet I could sit on thecouch with also she chews on my clothes while their on me, HOW DO ISTOP THIS... I have welts from where she's nibbled and got my skin,I've tried screaming ouch when she does it, I even flicked her in thenose (lightly) once and she still dosen't stop, what can Ido. PLEASE HELP



new member

Ash

Hello Ash,

I have a Fuzzy Lop and two other lops. How old isyours? She could be reaching an age where she needs to bespayed. Unspayed females as well as un-neutered males tend toget grumpy and nippy.

As far as the bedding, I just don't use it. Mine are littertrained and I keep Woody Pet in their litterbox, but thebedding just caused trouble for me. Also, mine didn't like itand would push it out of the way to lay down. It's mucheasier to clean the cage without the bedding in there.

Welcome aboard. This forum is wonderful. I didn't know anything when I came here!

Laura

First of all, being a prey species most rabbitsdo not like being held. Some may tolerate it, but most would ratherkeep all four feet on the ground.
As for biting, I'd suggest getting her spayed (or neutered if she turnsout to be a he) and that will probably cut down on aggressivetendencies. Rabbits don't tend to be lap pets.

carefull flicking hte nose, its a very senstive area ,not to mention what you may think lightly is enoughtocreate a hemmoridge., please dont flickno more,

shesounds like hseis going thru teenageyears which is beteen 4 and 6months , getting her spayedwill put an endto most of thebehavior ,

A rabbit isnt like a dog or catin the sense that it will justsit with you when you wantit too , they are much more independantthan that , they have tobasically come to youwhen they are ready forattention .

right now I have 2jersy wooleys and washaving the same issue , try NO substrate, nothing , maybe atowel IF your sure sheisnt ingesting any of it . Grass Mattswill aslo help , andthose she can chew on, have you bought herany chew toys orballs with bells on the inside, they like toys ,plastic key rings forbabies work well also. Lotsof Timothyhay will help also ,

I would concider havingher spayed to improve lifequality and your sanity ,it does h elp them alot withthe attitude .

Laura, thank you, However charity (her namebecause she was a mess of matts at the petstore and became my charitycase) is only about 6 months old and just starting to loose the thickcoat of baby fluff that seems like wool. My boyfriend thoughtmaybe it was because I was giving her to much room to play so now shedosen't want to be by me she just wants to play... I dunno...I'm so confused, when I got her she loved to be held and petted andstayed right at my side.. but now... and also her bitting is due to thefact that she "tastes" my clothing and gets my skin with it.Can you use no substrate at all besides in the litter box I thoughtmaybe an old rug would work... what do you think?

she has toys, she NEVER plays with them, I'vetried rolling her balls and giving her banana boxes to jump in and outof no luck, she just sits on the floor, the only thing she plays withis the sugar gliders when their in their ball... I didn't know shecould be nuetered at 5 to 6 months tho how much does it usually cost?

Small breeds like yours are considered adults atsix months of age. Mine were all spayed/neutered at aroundthree months of age. Mine ranged from $65 to $212.It depends on the vet. Just make sure your vet israbbit-savvy (knows enough about bunnies to do agoodjob). Ask how many bunnies they'vetreated.

The nipping probably means "put me down!". They'll do that when they don't want to be held.

Mine love to play with newspaper or old magazines - theyhave loads of fun shreddingit.

I wouldn't use carpet. If she ingests it, it could be fatal.

Again, Thank you very much, I heard thatnewspaper was bad for rabbits because the could ingest it, if untrue,could I use it in her cage too?

laura's correct, we often bred our AFL doesbefore 6 mo if their show career was over. She probably is feeling theeffects of her hormones, telling her it's time to find a mate.

We used wire floors with our AFL, kept the wool cleaner.

Mine never eat the paper, so I guess I didn'tthink about that. If yours doesn't eat it, it would be fineto use in the cage. Just keep an eye on her to make sureshe's not eating it.

Thanks guys you've been a big help big help

Ohh i thought of another question, is there alimit to how much timothy hay I can give her she eats it all in secondsand i give her a large handful everyday

I give unlimited Timothy hay to all mybuns. It keeps their tummies running smoothly. Eachof them have hay racks and I keep them full.

Laura

Yep, unlimited hay is what they require. As forthe bedding, my bun is litter box trained so i use woodypet in thelitterbox and the rest of his 'house' is all carpeted, he never chewson it so i have no problem. 6 months, sounds like its time to getspayed, that should help a lot with her litterbox training- (Thinkaboutit, littertraining a grumpy teenager that just wants to mate, yeahhhhhhright).. good luck

While rabbits do not "require" unlimited hay, itdoesn't do any harm either- as long as the rabbit eats a minimum amountof the balanced diet provided by the pellets. If it eats so muchtimothy that it has no room for it's pellets then it will not get allthe necessary nutrients without providing mineral, vitamin, protein,carbohydrate and fat supplements.None of mine getunlimited hay or even get itdaily and do very well. The fiberquality of Purina rabbit feed (I use Show formula) now is coarse enoughhat they don't need as much fiber supplementation as used to benecessary to vent Mucoid Enteropathy and other digestiveproblems. My younger rabbits get hay more often than theadults, who get it mostly during molt and does making nests, to keepconsumed fur moving through the gut.

Members of my family raised commercial meat rabbits long before therewas pelleted rabbit feed. They fed grains, greensand alfalfahay. I heard my uncle complaining many a time about all the hard workto keep em fed. He finally quit in 1959 because of too much work fortoo little money. Recently he told me that he may have stayed inbusiness if he'd had pelleted feed, but now that he's in his 90s Idoubt he start up again.

I feed Cherry fortie diet garden, it has alot offancy stuff in it like alfalfa and stuff so when I feed her I try tolet it sit so she has to eat her veggies (pellets) too. Iusually change it everyother day unless she hasn't used it as a pottyand theres still a lot left, then I leave it for 2 days. Ialso give her a handful of hay everynight (so I can get her in her cagewithout a fight.) Is all this okay you think? Anybetter Ideas, also what fruits/veggies shouldn't you give them, all Iknow is no iceburg lettuce, she likes strawberries and applesALOT!!!!:angel: Also, do you think newspaper on the bottom ofher cage is okay? Is there anyway to get her to stop pooingaround her cage or will that happen when I get her fixed?



Thank you for all your help



Lazyacer I really enjoyed the info, especially about your father Ididn't realizehow far weve come in rabbit technology...

Most fruits/veggies are OK, it's too much thatcause problems. Carrots and most fruits (apples) have rather high sugarcontent. I always advise using restraint with them, giving as a treatin very moderate amounts, much like candy for rabbitsRabbits are creatures of habit, they can do just fine with the samediet all their life, they don't need change like humans like but willreadily eat the goodies if given a chance (Much as I will, as onelook at my ever expanding girth will atest

A friend with a pet rabbit uses a wire bottomed cage for it, with alitter box in the corner for peeing and wood stove pellets in the panunder the floor. She doesn't use newspaper or anything else in thecage, the wood pellets catch the poops and any errantpee.Rabbits don't have as much control of their rectalsphincter as most other animals do, they'll usually just let the poopsgo wherever they are when the poops are produced. While they prettymuch always pee in the same place most will deposit at least a portionof their poops just about anywhere and everywhere. I doubt you'll seemuch change after neutering.

About the wire cages I read somewhere that they are bad for rabbits feet

You do need to give them a place to get off thewire.....the bigger breeds such as Flemish will really have moreproblems due to their weight from what I understand. As longas you give them a place to get off the wire if they'd like, you shouldbe ok.

it's not the wire that causes the problems, it'sthe size of the wire. Most cages traditionally use 16ga bottom wire,this flexes too much not giving rabbit feet support. Since I'veswitched to firmer, stiffer 14 gauge floor wire I've had zero footprobklems, even in my Mini Rex, who had a reputation for getting sorehocks. I've raised Flemish Giants and Checkered Giants on wire and haveSatins on it now, none had foot problems. A friend, in BritishColumbia, has had as many as 200 Flemish Giants, English Lops andFrench Lops, all on wire floors, he claims never to have had a problem.While I have a whole stack (about 50) of EZ Mats sitting out in thebarn, none of my rabbits have needed relief from the wire floor. If ihad to use a cage with 16ga wire floors I'd definitely put an EZ mat inone corner for a resting place.