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Deapea

Member
Joined
May 10, 2011
Messages
21
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3
Location
Central, Indiana, USA
Well after a long time of researching bunny care and habitats, we are very close to adopting our very first bunny. My daughter has wanted one as long as she can remember, and we have made her wait. I needed to learn all I can to confidently and properly care for a bunny (I will be the caretaker). Originally, we were going to have this be housed outside in the barn, but we have since changed our minds and will be having this bunny be in our house as part of our family. One thing I have yet to research is the monthly COST of having a rabbit. I know he will need hay available to him at all times. I see these bags of timothy hay, sold at Walmart, but what I don't know is how fast they go through one of those. Can someone, please tell me? I could get a big bale and keep it in the barn, and ultimately, that is probably what we will do, but I was planning on starting with store bought. Also, how fast do they go through a bag of Oxbow food??

I'm just trying to calculate the MONTHLY cost of owning a rabbit. If it makes a difference, I am in the midwest of the USA.

Thanks in advance & God Bless!
 
Why not just start with a bale of hay? It's so much cheaper. Probably fresher and tastier too. I have had my rabbits for almost a year and I keep looking for ways to save money with them. I just bought my first bale of hay and I'm now using the horse stall pellets for litter after I got tired of spending tons of money on paper litter. As for the pellets, it depends on how old your bunny is when you get it and what breed it is. If it's a baby, you may want to free feed pellets and a larger breed would eat more than a dwarf breed. I give my rabbits (3-pound dwarf mixes and a 5-pound mini lop) about 1/3 cup of pellets and a 20 pound bag last about 6 weeks for three rabbits. My vet said to not buy more than they can eat in a month so they are getting fresh pellets, but I sure am tempted to get the 50 pound bag and save a little. Oh well!
 
Bville said:
Why not just start with a bale of hay? It's so much cheaper. Probably fresher and tastier too. I have had my rabbits for almost a year and I keep looking for ways to save money with them. I just bought my first bale of hay and I'm now using the horse stall pellets for litter after I got tired of spending tons of money on paper litter. As for the pellets, it depends on how old your bunny is when you get it and what breed it is. If it's a baby, you may want to free feed pellets and a larger breed would eat more than a dwarf breed. I give my rabbits (3-pound dwarf mixes and a 5-pound mini lop) about 1/3 cup of pellets and a 20 pound bag last about 6 weeks for three rabbits. My vet said to not buy more than they can eat in a month so they are getting fresh pellets, but I sure am tempted to get the 50 pound bag and save a little. Oh well!
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Well, I was wanting to start with a bale of hay, but my husband is concerned that I will be bringing bugs into the house when I bring the daily amount. He wants me to get bagged hay. The rabbit I'm hoping to adopt is approximately 2 years old and he eats Oxbow food. I am planning on keeping him on the same exact diet as he is use to.
 
Deapea said:
Well, I was wanting to start with a bale of hay, but my husband is concerned that I will be bringing bugs into the house when I bring the daily amount. He wants me to get bagged hay. The rabbit I'm hoping to adopt is approximately 2 years old and he eats Oxbow food. I am planning on keeping him on the same exact diet as he is use to.
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I've never heard of bugs in hay being a problem. Maybe someone else can comment on that. I have found a couple of dead bugs, a moth and a cricket in the hay, but nothing alive. I keep mine in the garage so maybe a barn would be different, I don't know.

Good idea to keep him on the Oxbow. Can you ask the previous owner how much he eats?
 
Bville said:
I've never heard of bugs in hay being a problem. Maybe someone else can comment on that. I have found a couple of dead bugs, a moth and a cricket in the hay, but nothing alive. I keep mine in the garage so maybe a barn would be different, I don't know.

Good idea to keep him on the Oxbow. Can you ask the previous owner how much he eats?
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I spoke with a lady at the shelter and she said he is fed 1/4 cup oxbow brand pellets in the morning, and 1/4 cup in the evenings. I don't know how much he weighs but he does not look to be very big. He is a mini-rex mix. She said he has an unlimited supply of timothy or orchard hay, as well as a supplement and mixed greens daily. From what I can tell, he seems like a very happy, and healthy rabbit, that has a very good personality. I think he will be a good fit for our lifestyle.
 
A 5 pound bag of pellets might last about a month or you could get a 10 pound bag and see how it goes, since that might save you a little buying a bigger bag. If it takes longer than a couple of months to finish a 10 pound bag, you could freeze some or buy the smaller bag so it's fresher.
 
Bville said:
A 5 pound bag of pellets might last about a month or you could get a 10 pound bag and see how it goes, since that might save you a little buying a bigger bag. If it takes longer than a couple of months to finish a 10 pound bag, you could freeze some or buy the smaller bag so it's fresher.
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Do you know how long i could expect a bag of hay to last?
 
We keep our bales of hay outside under a tarp. Find an occasional june bug but nothing serious when its time to bring a new bale in. No roach or ant infestations. The store bought hay is ridiculous and they go through it so quickly. With a giant and a dwarf we went through one of the 96oz bags (the largest that could be found at about 20-ish bucks) every 10 days or so. For the same price you can get a bale that will last your one rabbit a solid 2 months. I have two giants and a dwarf now and it takes them a month to get through a bale. You can also buy the pine horse stall pellets or wood stove pellets for 6 bucks for a 40 pound bag. With one rabbit and changing a litter
pan every 2-3 days will last you again a good month if not longer. Our biggest expense is vegetables. If you feed primarily pellets though you're getting better off on your grocery bill than me!
 
Well I really appreciate your input. It gets confusing with all the stuff you see online. I needed it put in a good perspective. I did not want to get this rabbit home and realize that I can't afford it. I have spent all this time researching diet, and health stuff....and reading about different rabbit breeds...learning all that I can... I neglected the financial aspect of it. We can afford it, I just need to know everything before I jump into something.
 
Pellets, litter and hay aren't expensive. If for litter and hay you buy in bulk wood stove pellets and a bale or half bale, it's only $10-15 a month on top of the cost of your chosen feed pellets. Hay can keep for up to 6 months as long as it's kept in an airy, dry area. Which is great cost-wise, but you'll want to be very generous with it for the bunnies' tooth and gut health, so a half bale will probably last you 6 weeks. Bagged hay lasts only 2-3 weeks for me.

Of course when you start out you'll spend on buying their cage and furnishing it with toys and whatnot. And set a couple hundred aside to neuter/spay.

But maintenance-wise, what's expensive about bunnies are their vet costs if they get ill, and if you like to pamper them (or some would say keep them in optimum health), fresh veggie cost. My veggie bill for the bunnies is around $50 a month.
 
The set-up cost of owning a rabbit tends to be quite high I think, however from what I've read on the forum over the years, the actual cost of feeding a rabbit is very cheap.

I feed 1/4 cup of oxbow adult pellets daily. I buy a 2.2kg bag for $20 (it's expensive in this country). According to my bank statement, a bag lasts me 2 months.
He gets unlimited hay. I buy a bale of oaten/wheaten/meadow whatever I can get my hands on that looks good for between $7-12 A bale lasts maybe 4 months.
Add onto that the cost of litter, I buy 15kg bags of wood pellet litter, $20. I think I get about 2 months out of a bag.
I grow fresh herbs and greens for him at home so don't buy those.
So it comes out to about $24 a month for food and litter. +/- $5 depending on the costs of products where you are. This is for one bunny :)

That being said, you need to keep in mind money for possible vet visits and replacement of accidentally destroyed items. But you get that with any pet :)
 
I agree with whiskylollipop about the vet bills. I've only had one rabbit get sick in the year that I have had them, but it was about $500 for two visits, medications and tests. I think for the most part rabbits don't require a lot of vet care, but they do occasionally get sick or hurt and need to see the vet so just be prepared in case.
 
Depending on where you get the hay from you might want to put it in the freezer before giving it to your bun. Mites are a problem with rabbits. That would be the bugs you would have to worry about if you keep the hay in the barn.
 
I like the idea of putting hay in a freezer. I have freezer space, too. What would be real cool is to have one of those rectangular deep freezers that I could just drop a bale of hay into. I bet I could get one of those fairly cheap.

Vet bills...I'm not too concerned over those. I have savings. I just don't want to dip into savings for the regular care of the rabbit. I know how vet bills can add up. You can drop $500 within ten minutes of being at a vet's office. I had a cat (14 years ago) that broke his leg when he was a kitten. It was expensive....and I have a feeling that it was not as expensive as other emergencies.

Where we are lucky, with the rabbit we are hoping to adopt, is that he is already neutered. We were originally going to house the rabbit outside, in a portable hutch my husband designed and was going to build. We were planning on rolling it into our larger barn in bad weather and winter (it's heated). But when I read about some of the risks of housing a rabbit outside, we decided to keep the bun inside. Once we decided that, I started looking at rabbits in shelters and rescues. Most rescues require they are housed in the home. So the bunny we want is already microchipped and neutered. We are really excited! I just needed to know exactly what I was getting into financially. Thanks for the info!
 
Congratulations Deapea, I don't think you'll regret it. Having a house rabbit is the best! They have such interesting and varied personalities. And though they are creatures of habit, there's always something new and fun about them.
Your bun is a lucky little guy, sounds like you're already doing everything right for him!
:bunny24
Enjoy!
MA
 
yeaaaaah forgot about THAT expense Azerene! Bun will manage to find phone cords or computer cords no matter how hard you try to keep them up. Or the side of your table. Or the fish tank stand. Or the carpet in their room under the bird cage. Or poop on your pillow becasue she KNOWS she's not allowed in your bedroom but does it anyway just to irritate the ever living crap out of you!! Or always escaping out of their pen no matter what you do driving you insane!! No really rabbits are great pets and I love all three of mine... but sometimes you do want to chop them into little pieces and stick em in the crockpot.
 
kmaben said:
No really rabbits are great pets and I love all three of mine... but sometimes you do want to chop them into little pieces and stick em in the crockpot.
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lol, yeah... that is until you see their little squidgy faces and you just have to pet them instead!!! Annoying, adorable bunnies :p
 
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