Hi, new to indoor bunny ownership

[Andresmommy]

Hey everyone! My name is Lana we just recently added a new addition to our house. Andre the Flemish giant a Flemish Giant/ Satin Rex mix 16 week old buck. To our house of me, my husband, our 2 year old daughter, a son due any day now and our 18 lbs dsh cat Avalanche. Andre is currently 6 isn lbs at his last vet check two weeks ago.
He is what I assume a typical young bunny would be, he's full of trouble an spunk. He and the cat have bonded really well they chase each other and snuggle. He's still learning to trust us.

My only grrr with him is in his cage he doesn't cause any trouble but half the time decides not to use his litter box. If he's not in his cage he chews the carpet but is 100% box trained.
He has toys a plenty to chew on!!!!!!! He only plays with them in his cage when he's bored. I have heard of spraying chili powder water on things you don't want them to chew, I wonder has anyone tried this?

Otherwise he's going to eat us out of house and home!! He goes through one-two flakes of hay his size a day plus twice the size of himself in fresh vegetation and about a cup of pellets everyday!! He's sure a growing boy.

 

[Lokin4AReason]

welcome to the forum ...

 

[Blue eyes]

Welcome to the forum! At 16 weeks his hormones are coming into full swing. This alone can cause bunny to forget good potty habits. HOrmones can also cause excessive destructive chewing. You may need to keep him on solid flooring and off carpet until he is neutered and settles down. You wouldn't want his hormonal habits to become permanent.

Please do post some photos of your new bunny!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Chilli did not work on my buns. I am Asian and therefore a hardcore chilli lover (lest you doubt the fieriness of my spice arsenal lol) but -everything- spicy I tried, the bunnies simply licked off with enthusiasm.

Then I tried mayo. Mayo worked.

With children around the house, I wouldn't spray spicy stuff on anything, you just know they will end up touching it and then their eyes or something. Some people think white bar soap works too, but I've never tried it.

 

[Andresmommy]

He only chews behind our recliner and neither of the kids will ever be back there. We have to wait another two months to neuter him. He currently is cryptoric and they want to give him time to hopefully drop it on his own so they don't have to go dig for it. The vet asked me if I really wanted to neuter him being that rabbits are higher risk under general anesthesia. But with two small children ans how big he will get I can't risk it. This is the only picture I have of him on my phone right now

 

[Blue eyes]

I would run from any vet that tells you that. Neuters by rabbit savvy vets are quite routine with minimal risk.

 

[Watermelons]

Rabbits have the ability to suck their balls in... If your vets think bunnys are high risk maybe they dont even realise they can do that too... Likely he could be neutered any time

 

[Andresmommy]

I've never seen or felt the testicle down. While his dropped one is quite prominent. Its not just this vet. I have been told by a few vets and techs as well. They do everything they can so monitor them but they have more issues with rabbits than cats or dogs because of their heart rate. He did add onto that that because I have a young healthy bunny that was a better chance of things running smoothly. I've known this vet for a long time. Their office is not one to sugar coat even small risks associated with procedures.

 

[Klelia_Jerry]

Hi, Lana! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:the only way I know of to stop carpet destruction is to cover it or block off the area. A rabbit is going to be a rabbit. We have a new puppy and he's finding all kinds of stuff to terrorize in the back yard that the other two don't bother.