rabbit costs and advice.

[bunnycarrot1]

I need advice, I want a rabbit.

I fell in love with http://olivetreelops.weebly.com/available-bunnies.html click link he is the first rabbit on the page.

The reason I am writing is I need to know if this rabbit Elliot will be comfy in it considering he is a mix.

I am thinking of adopting Elliot the love elop.

The high school I went to has a low income vet clinic called Tufts At Tech and I qualify for this clinic.

Elliot is 4 months old and not fixed but I plan on getting him neutered and using tufts at tech as my vet.

I would be using some of savings for the neutering and I assume they do a blood test before the surgery is done.

I plan on using a paper based litter for the litter box.

food.. I plan on feeding oxbow pellets but what do I feed him when he is a adult? Do I stick with pellets,veggies and hay only ?

So if someone could tell me how much I should be saving monthly.

 

[Imbrium]

diet info:
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#greens

as I mentioned in your other thread, you can save a TON of money on the cage by building a NIC condo - they're *very* easy to make and you can customize them to any size you want.

if you're looking to save costs, the best thing to do is find a feed store!

the cheapest litter-box substrate is wood pellets, which can be purchased at a feed store for around $7 per 40 lbs. they control odor well and are very cheap.

pet store hay costs like $3 per lb... if you buy hay by the bale from a feed store, the cost is more like $1 for 7-8 lbs! for example, the feed store near me sells coastal for $10.50 for an 80 lb bale... 80 lbs of pet store hay would total around $240! at 4 mos old, you can feed alfalfa and/or grass hays... after 7 mos or so, they should only have grass hay. ANY horse-quality grass hay is acceptable for rabbits. a bale can be stored for a year or more as long as it's kept clean/bug free and dry. you can store it in plastic storage bins, unscented trash bags or bale bags. I got my bale bags from http://www.tackwholesale.com/bale-bags-c-11.html and am very happy with them - I went with two half-bale bags to make the hay easier to move around and because it allows me to stack them so they take up less space.

 

[whitelop]

Does the rescue he comes from not neuter the rabbits before they adopt them out? I would look into that.

Also, there are MUCH cheaper cages. You can get the NIC or C&C grids and build your own cage. There is a section in the library about it.

Litter- you could go to a feed store, or a tractor supply company and get pine wood pellets, or wood stove pellets without the accelerant in it. I get a 40 lb bag of pine pellets for $8. Some people manage to snag them cheaper than that too.

Food- Oxbow can be a little pricey, so if you determined to only feed oxbow then you should order it online. It works out to be cheaper every month than just buying the bags. As for hay, he'll need unlimited grass hay.(ie, timothy, orchard, coastal, bermuda.) You can also get bales of that from your local horse feed store, or go to a horse barn and ask them where they get their hay. Its a lot cheaper than buying the little oxbow or kaytee bags of hay.
The leafy greens, you'll want to introduce them slowly. One at a time, a bite at a time. For like one week you'll feed one kind of green, and always check his poop! Poop is the most important part of judging how a bunny is doing! haha. If he does well with that one kind of leafy green, then you can introduce another one. Slowly! Then once he's had a good amount of them, you can mix them together.

Leafy greens are 2 cups per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Non-leafy greens are 2 tbsp per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Fruit is 1-2 tsp per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Pellets are 1/4-1/2 cup daily. I usually split it into two feedings.
And of course, most important, hay...unlimited all day everyday!

As for saving money every month, you'll have to look up the prices of the pellets, hay and greens that you'll be feeding and do the math. I would go the ordering food over the internet route and feed store bale of hay. Thats what I do and thats what most of us do.
Good luck!

 

[Imbrium]

Leafy greens are 2 cups per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Non-leafy greens are 2 tbsp per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Fruit is 1-2 tsp per 2 lbs of rabbit.
Pellets are 1/4-1/2 cup daily. I usually split it into two feedings.

it's actually 1c leafy greens per 2 lbs (minimum), 1 tbsp non-leafy greens per 2 lbs (maximum) and 1 tsp fruit per 2 lbs (maximum)

 

[whitelop]

Thanks for correcting me Jennifer! There are so many numbers, i can never keep them totally straight.

 

[Imbrium]

hehe, np... I've typed it out so many times between RO and yahoo answers that I could cite the numbers in my sleep, lol

 

[JBun]

You'll also need to make sure that you can bring a rabbit in to this place that you plan on having the neuter done. Not all vets take rabbits, and not many vets are good with rabbits.

I'm not sure when elops are considered full grown, but a growing rabbit needs an alfalfa based pellet, one without corn as one of the ingredients is best. Oxbow is fine, it's just more expensive. Some people will switch their rabbit to a timothy based pellet when the rabbit is full grown. Oxbow also sells that. Generally a growing rabbit gets unlimited pellets, unless they have digestive problems or weight problems, then you will want to feed limited pellets. You also feed rabbits unlimited hay. I like to feed mine timothy hay. With an elop you will definitely need to find a horse feed store to get hay from, as you will most likely be feeding a ton of it, and it would get very expensive to feed those little store bought bags.

When you get your rabbit, make sure that you get a bag of transition feed from the seller. You have to very gradually switch a rabbits food from the old food to the new food. You start by adding a small amount of the new food to the old food and each day add a tiny bit more of the new food and a tiny bit less of the old food. You do this for 2-3 weeks, until you get all the way switched over to the new food. If the rabbit gets soft poops you are probably making the switch too fast. If you don't want to switch your rabbit to a new pellet then you will need to find out the exact brand and kind of food that he is getting at the place where he is at now. Make sure to feed a plain rabbit food, with no treat pieces or colorful buts in it, as it's not really good for rabbits, and can end up causing digestive problems.

 

[tamsin]

I'd suggest calling the vets and asking for the total cost of neutering a male, plus how much routine appointments are and an example of costs like treating stasis. That will give you some idea of vet bills.

 

[LakeCondo]

I switched from Oxbow to Kaytee as it's a little less expensive. It does have less fiber than Oxbow, which would be a problem if your rabbit isn't a big eater of hay. I recommend wag.com, which sells both brands of timothy [adult] pellets & has free shipping with a $50 order. Their sister sites qualify for this order size & they sell cleaning supplies, food, etc [for people], so it's not hard to get to $50, at least it hasn't been for me.