So we are going to be buying our first bunny. We are getting a Flemish giant and we’ve decided to just do a dog crate for the enclosure and mostly free roam. What all should we buy for the bunny? Best water dispenser? Should we get the bunny toys if so what kind? Also tips on training to use a litter box kind of situation. We have a few weeks/couple of months to prepare as our breeder just had a litter a week ago and is expecting more in the next coming weeks. We’ve done some research online but we’ve only found basic care for them and we want to make sure that our new family member will be extremely comfortable and happy.
Buying first bunny
- Thread starter Calypso
- Start date
Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:
For litter training start in a small enclosed area with his cage in. When he learn to use the litter box, you can make the area become bigger. This will make it easier to litter train him and you will have a more controlled environment.
Best for a Flemish is to use a big bowl for water. Use a heavy ceramic bowl, so he can’t tip it. My french lop often tip her water bowl if it too light.
For toys your rabbit will only need wood toys which they can chew and throw around. Myself often give branches, but if your rabbit love digging you can give him a digging box.
Best for a Flemish is to use a big bowl for water. Use a heavy ceramic bowl, so he can’t tip it. My french lop often tip her water bowl if it too light.
For toys your rabbit will only need wood toys which they can chew and throw around. Myself often give branches, but if your rabbit love digging you can give him a digging box.
You'll need quite a large litter box. I use the mortar mixing trays from home depot/lowes. They are about 20x27. I use wood pellet litter(which I've found is best at absorbing urine and controlling odor), about an inch or so deep, then top that with a layer of hay to make it soft for bunny feet.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
I use the dog and cat water dispensers for my rabbits. A dog sized dispenser would probably work best for a giant sized rabbit.
Buying hay by the bale from a farm store or farmer is cheapest. You need horse quality grass hay that has never been wet and gotten moldy(dangerous for rabbits to eat, may smell sour or musty, have white or black pieces/spots, contain a white dust, may be damp inside the bale), and the inside of the bale isn't sunbleached and yellow but a good green color(sunbleached on the outside of the bale is usually fine). I buy standlee compressed timothy bales from a farm store, but any horse quality(no mold, no noxious weeds, not too dusty) grass hay from a good farmer or other supply will work. The pet store hay is fine, just more expensive. There are also online company's that sell varieties of hay for rabbits like smallpetselect or kms hayloft.
I feed oxbow pellets, sherwood is also a good brand. The breeder should give you a weeks worth of transition pellets(the pellets the rabbit is used to eating). If you change pellet types/brands then you would start mixing the old pellets with the kind you are switching your rabbit to, by gradually decreasing the old a little each day, while gradually increasing the new each day, until after 2-3 weeks you have completely switched to the new pellets.
If the rabbit is used to being fed veggies and greens, then you can continue to feed the same ones the rabbit is used to eating, provided they aren't causing mushy cecals or upset stomach(lack of appetite, may be hunched up or belly pressing). If the bun isn't used to veggies/greens, I would wait until the bun is at least 12 weeks old before gradually introducing them. Except for grass hay, any new foods should always be gradually introduced one at a time and starting with small amounts, while you monitor for mushy poop or signs of digestive upset.
Don't buy store bought treats, except for things like willow balls, apple branch sticks, or other rabbit safe wood chews.
I would also suggest reading up on GI stasis, as it's the most common illness to affect rabbits, and most rabbit owners are likely to have to deal with it at least once during their rabbits life.
https://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
I use the dog and cat water dispensers for my rabbits. A dog sized dispenser would probably work best for a giant sized rabbit.
Buying hay by the bale from a farm store or farmer is cheapest. You need horse quality grass hay that has never been wet and gotten moldy(dangerous for rabbits to eat, may smell sour or musty, have white or black pieces/spots, contain a white dust, may be damp inside the bale), and the inside of the bale isn't sunbleached and yellow but a good green color(sunbleached on the outside of the bale is usually fine). I buy standlee compressed timothy bales from a farm store, but any horse quality(no mold, no noxious weeds, not too dusty) grass hay from a good farmer or other supply will work. The pet store hay is fine, just more expensive. There are also online company's that sell varieties of hay for rabbits like smallpetselect or kms hayloft.
I feed oxbow pellets, sherwood is also a good brand. The breeder should give you a weeks worth of transition pellets(the pellets the rabbit is used to eating). If you change pellet types/brands then you would start mixing the old pellets with the kind you are switching your rabbit to, by gradually decreasing the old a little each day, while gradually increasing the new each day, until after 2-3 weeks you have completely switched to the new pellets.
If the rabbit is used to being fed veggies and greens, then you can continue to feed the same ones the rabbit is used to eating, provided they aren't causing mushy cecals or upset stomach(lack of appetite, may be hunched up or belly pressing). If the bun isn't used to veggies/greens, I would wait until the bun is at least 12 weeks old before gradually introducing them. Except for grass hay, any new foods should always be gradually introduced one at a time and starting with small amounts, while you monitor for mushy poop or signs of digestive upset.
Don't buy store bought treats, except for things like willow balls, apple branch sticks, or other rabbit safe wood chews.
I would also suggest reading up on GI stasis, as it's the most common illness to affect rabbits, and most rabbit owners are likely to have to deal with it at least once during their rabbits life.
https://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/
My Bunny Drake
Well-Known Member
Get a large cat litter box. You can buy wood toys for him or make your own cardboard toys with cardboard toilet rolls.
