Thinking about owning a giant breed...

[tinfoilxtouch]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the board and justintroduced myself in the newbie thread. Right now I have fivebunnies... a Mini Lop, a Holland Lop, two Netherlands, and a Jersey/Lopmix. I love all of them and really feel capable of handling a couple ofmore babies... I'm just getting a little tired of the "pet shop"breeds. For someone who has owned rabbits for about a year, would aFrench Lop or other giant breed be a mistake? I live in a one-bedroomapartment, so I'd need a hutch/cage large enough, but also suitable forbeing indoors. What are the typical space requirements?

Also, where in Southern California / Orange County would I find a giantbunny? Obviously there aren't many people raising the fellas.

Thanks

 

[JadeIcing]

Ok My 2cents is not good. I have 4 in a onebedroom apt. 3 dwarfs and a flemish giant.Thank god I havelarge bedroom and living room.

My apartment is converted to a bunny playground. Not the mostattractive or "People friendly" but oh well we dont get vistors often.

The amountof space needed for thebig buns takesabit of space. They need room to stretch out.With the otherbuns you have you would be taking space from them and that wouldn't befair.

I will be taking pictures of my set up as soon as I borrow my moms camara. I'll post them than.

 

[naturestee]

Giant bunnies need giant cages. Withthe number of rabbits that you already have in a small space, I don'tknow if a giant breed would be a good idea. The smallest I'drecommend is an XXL dog crate. I think they're 48 inches longor so. Bigger is better. Many large breed and giantrabbits are kept in dog exercise pens or in huge cages made out of wireshelving grids (NIC cages). Other people simply bunny-proofan entire small room and let the bunny have the whole thing.Smaller cages like the dog crates are okay, but the rabbit needs to beout for exercise a lot (at least several hours a day) to make up for it.

In addition to the cage, the bunny would need space outside of it torun and play. Although they have a reputation for being lazy,giant rabbits do giant binkies! They need enough space to runto get up to top speed and do their crazy binkies without smacking intoa furniture or a wall at every turn. With all your otherbunnies, do you have much floor space left in your apartment?

Also, are your other bunnies spayed/neutered? Are any of thembonded? Since rabbits can mate through cage walls, accidentallitters can be a real problem. And if the flemish is a boyand impregnates one of your smaller girls, she could be at risk forhaving kits that are too large to give birth to without surgery.

Sorry if I'm being a bit of a downer, but a huge rabbit in a smallapartment, especially with five other rabbits, is a very bigresponsibility. If you have room for a massive cage and stillhave room for the rabbit to play in, as well as time for all of yourrabbits to get exercise and attention, then a giant bun might be apossibility for you. I live in a small three bedroom housewith two pairs of rabbits (three dwarfs, one dutch) and two kittens andI don't see how I could squeeze a flemish giant in here without feelinglike I was neglecting him.

 

[JadeIcing]

:yeahthat2!

All of those things are very true. Samantha binkes take alot ofroom.Also in your welcome thread it said you areexpecting babies. Not a good idea.

 

[JimD]

When I had 7 bunnies their resided quitecomfortably in the bunnie room (aka the extra bedroom 8' x10'). Half of the room was cages and the other half was their indoorrun. All of them averaged around 4-6 lbs with the largest being a dutchmix.

Last September we brought home a New Zealand black named Tootsie.Tootsie is a little over 10 lbs now. She literally takes up half of thebunnie room (eliminating the run). Her cage is under a 6 foot banquettable and the expen comes out another 2 feet. This is enough room forher to live in (6' x 4 & 1/2 '), but not enough to allow her tohave some good exercise. Her new lining area with be 4' x 3' withaccess to a 10' x 4' run.

 

[jordiwes]

Ohhhh, look at some of the giant babies at this shelter near you:

http://www.bunnybunch.com/shelterfostermain.html

 

[tamsin]

Maybe if you let her have the bedroom and youslept on the couch Have you meet an adult giant bunny in person? I'mwondering if you realise quite how large they can get. Really you needan absolute minimum area about 6'x4' with access to a larger area forexercise. If you're going for a crate you'd need to put two or threetogether to make a big enough space. A giant rabbit is about 3' long(1meter) laying down and they're not as agile so need more room to turnso the standard 2' width isn't big enough.

All the rescues I know only rehome them as totally free range house rabbits or to live in large converted sheds.

They also have more health problems and their life expectancy is about half a normal size rabbit (only 4-6 years).

If you're looking for something a little different there are lots ofnormal sized breeds that are stunning lionheads, rexes and tans aregorgeous! Do you have any shows near you? that's a good way to see thedifferent breeds.

 

[flemishr2cool]

As a Flemish Giant breeder I can at leastcomment on the Flemmies. Overall an adult Flemish Giant will not be anywhere near the activity level of your smaller breeds. They will not bejumping off of furniture, climbing walls, running circles for the heckof it LOL. I have kept Flemish Giants inside in a 48" by 32" Cage atnight and then during the day they just layed out on the floor. NowDon't forget a baby Giant is still a baby and has the normal activitylevel a rabbit should have. Also Checkered Giants are also a littlemore high energy than a Flemish and French Lops have a more energylevel as well so they will require a little more running room. Unlessyou go to a show Flemish Giant breeder to buy a Flemish Giant it isunlikely you will find a Flemish Giant over 15 pounds at a pet store orin a shelter. Flemish Giants are very laid back and usually do not mindhaving a few other bunnies running over them. But they will still needto be a spayed or neutered because in the event of a territorial fightI'm pretty sure the 15 pound rabbit will do some damage to the 5 poundrabbit. I've never had two flemish Giants fight before though. Theyusually just lay across the room from the other flemish and stare ateachother.

ssdssd

 

[flemishr2cool]

Also on the comment of Health Problems and LifeExpectancy. I raise both Flemish Giants and Mini Lops and the averagelife expactency for everyone in my barn is 8 years. This is for theintact show and breed rabbits. We had a Flemish Giant, new zealandcross intact female live to be 13 years. And as far as health problemssore hocks can be a common health problem in both Giant breeds, rex furbreeds, and overweight rabbits. Sore hocks are generally caused byexcessive pressure on the hocks and a loss of fur on the hocks. So fora large breed that spends a lot of time on rough surfaces because ofpoor housing or travelling in carriers then yes they would develop amyth of being sore hock proned. But they are no more proned to anyother health problems than anyother breed large and small. I have thesame number of Giants come down with colds as I do Mini Lops. Andbroken backs often result from being dropped or being in a small cagewhere they run in small circles and can hurt their backs that way. Ipersonally in 6 years of breeding Giant have never had a rabbit breakit's own back.

 

[tinfoilxtouch]

flemishr2cool, thanks for the input. Hearingthose things from a breeder gives me something to think about. PS... Isee you're from Minnesota. My family used to live out there, and Istill visit quite often. Might actually be moving back in about a year(in which case, there will be many more rabbits on their way)