Hi!

[napoleon]

`Hi!We just inherited a lop eared rabbit over the weekend. Wehave several pets, but this is our first bunny. I'm not surewhat type of lop ear we have though, or how old he is. He ispretty big, about 12 pounds and very friendly. He came with ahuge rabbit hutch which is outside shaded by trees. I wouldjust like to know if anyone knows what type of bunny we have so we canproperly take care of him. So far, we have been feeding himrabbit pellets and timothy hay and he has had an occasional carrot andbroccoli. We have pine shavings inside his shelter in thehutch and an ear of Indian Corn to chew on. He did have awater bowl, but he kept knocking it over so we got a water bottleinstead. If anyone knows what kind of bunny we have, pleaselet me know. I'll attach a picture...his name isNapoleon. Any other advice for a newbie rabbit owner is muchappreciated!

 

[pamnock]

French Lop. He appears to be fawn in color.



Pam

 

[Snuggys Mom]

Aww, I love French Lops!

You may want to consider an alternative bedding for the hutch. Wood shavings can cause health issues:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html

 

[Michaela]

Hey there and welcome to RO!!:welcome1

Aww what a cute bunny!

Yup, pine is not good unless it's kiln dried, but aspen is a safe wood.Also, rabbits shouldn't be housed on wire flooring, could you getboards to protect the feet?

Have fun!:happydance

Michaela, Ebony:bunny5 and Pebble:anotherbun

 

[napoleon]

Thanks! Now I know we have a French Lop.

As far as the wire floor, that'show the rabbit hutch came. The hutch is 6 feet by 3feet. He does have a house that's21/2feet by1 1/2feet that he can gointo. Plus he likes to lay on top of it. That iswhere the pine shavings are for bedding, which I will takeout. Should I cover the whole bottom, or is his house goodenough for him to get off the wire? Thanks for theadvice.

Also, I have read conflictingadvice on food. Some say to feed fresh veggies everyday andothers have said only a couple times a week because they can getdiahhrea. Which is true? We have been giving him alittle fresh broccoli everyday, but he had a carrot the other day whichhe loved. He seems fine so far. I was going to goshopping today for dark leafy veggies, but I don't want to get too muchif he doesn't need it every day.

Do rabbits like toys? If so, like what?

 

[Michaela]

Wire bottomed cages are a bit of a controversial issue, some people use them and others are against them.

Personally I am completely against them, but it's your own choicereally, but I think everyone agrees they should have places where theycan get off the wire to rest their feet, you could completely cover thewire (what I would do) or just put a few boards down, But I see he hasa house, that will help.

Food is another controversial issue lol. I feed veggies daily, they getmore veggies than pellets, along with unlimited hay of course. Theynever have messy poop. But veggies must be introduced gradually.

There is a lot of information on this in our 101 sectionhereandhere

Toys, YES bunnies love toys!!

Here's a link to our 101 section which has great toy ideas, the best ones can be made at home

ToysandIdeasand accessories

 

[napoleon]

Thanks for all the info, Michaela! You're very helpful!:thanks:

One other thing, we also have aguinea pig named Bindi. I have heard guinea pigs and rabbitscan get along. How would we introduce the two? Wehave a pet play yard for the pig, should we put the 2 of them in thereto get acquainted?

We also have a cat and a dog, butthe cat dominates the house and doesn't even like the dog so we willmake sure the he isn't around when the rabbit is inside. Thedog won't be around either since she's a Golden Retriever and is ahunter.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Weetwoo_89]

Your bunny is a real cutie. When I was little, I had one just like him(her?).

 

[Michaela]

napoleon wrote:

Thanks for all the info,Michaela! You're very helpful!:thanks:

One other thing, we also have aguinea pig named Bindi. I have heard guinea pigs and rabbitscan get along. How would we introduce the two? Wehave a pet play yard for the pig, should we put the 2 of them in thereto get acquainted?

We also have a cat and a dog, butthe cat dominates the house and doesn't even like the dog so we willmake sure the he isn't around when the rabbit is inside. Thedog won't be around either since she's a Golden Retriever and is ahunter.

Thanks again for all your help!

It's not problem, I'm happy to help

Guinea Pigs and rabbits do get along, but shouldn't be housed togetherpermanently for many reasons, their food requirements are different,guinea pigs need high amounts of Vitamin C, so a rabbit pellet isn'tsuitable for them, but a rabbit can't get all the nutrients it needsfrom a guinea pig feed.

Also, GPs can pick up infections from rabbit urine, often the rabbitwill hump the piggie, and I've also read that rabbits can getfrustrated as GPs are not affectionate back to them - the rabbit willgroom the GP but it won't be returned.

BUT they can be together for supervisedplaytime.:brownbunny:bunny24I've never introduced 2 before asI've never had a GP, so don't know a lot about that, you could make apost in the main forum about rabbit/guinea pig playtime and maybesomebody who knows about this will see it.

 

[napoleon]

Just a little about me and my family:

My husband and I live in atiny little town in Iowa, USA. We have 4 children ages 15,14, 11 & 2. Our pets include one 10 year old catnamed Lobo, a 4 year old Golden Retriever named Hannah, a 75 gallontank of various tropical fish,an 8 month oldguineapig named Bindi, a garter snake named Irwin (Bindi and Irwin aretributes to Steve Irwin, who is my oldest son's idol) and our newestaddition is a French Lop bunny named Napoleon. (my daughter named himafter Napoleon Dynamite) We used to have dwarf hamsters, butwe stopped keeping them after the last one died...my kids get so brokenhearted when an animal dies and dwarf hamsters' life span is so short.

Napoleon is our 1st bunny and so far I have learned a lot on thissite. Normally I do research before I get a new pet, but hewas dropped off at our house unexpectedly four days ago (hutch and all)by his previous owner who no longer wanted him. He will getlots of love at our house!!