Thinking of getting another rabbit.

[Smelly]

I'm going to try to learn all that stuff again like when I was 11 and in 4H.

Sooooo... this one (or two!?) is going to be indoors.

(I'm sure the following questions are adressed in other threads but finding all of 'em is a pain)

There a site that shows how to build a great cage forrabbits? I've seen lots of awesome custom ones.Never built one myself because I always bought pre-made hutches for mylast rabbit Smelly.

Mice! My neightborhood suddenly got mice a while ago becauseof some construction a block away. I think the problemis gone but I'm not absolutely sure. I haven't seenone for like a year. What kind of problems may this bring?

One or two rabbits? (I haven't had to think of this in a long time and forgot)
I'm not at my house much of the day due to college and I'm about to geta job. I'd likely want the bored rabbit to have a friend tobe bored with (I'll leave the TV on for them ). Bothfemale? What?

The smell! Smelly was named Smelly for a reason. Hesucked at grooming himself. Best way to keep a room thatdoesn't smell like rabbit? lol

Best toys? Smelly hated toys but my future rabbit(s) might not.

Best breed? I know it's subjective but what are amoung thehealthiest? Smelly lived 11 years and from what I could tellhe was some kind of Harliquin-something mix (maybe a bit of Hair inhim, he was a "meat" rabbit for the first few months of his life ownedby a crazy guy that swung a club at passing cars).

Tell me anything and everything. Besides taking care ofSmelly (RIP) which was an outdoors rabbit I have forgotten just abouteverything not basic lol.


I'm sure this info is somewhere and I missed it. But, I post anyways.




EDIT: Oh and how would I "train" a rabbit to pee in a spot?Smelly always pooped and crapped wherever he sat. Then he'droll in it....... lol

 

[Spring]

The search tool is very valubable and helps cutdown on the repeated posts. Just put in a keyword and you should get uplots of information .

For the cage, depends on the style you like. Do you want wood, or woodand wire, or a cube cage made with grids, or more of a pen. There'slots of sites with all different cage designs/ideas.

Here's a few websites you might want to check out. You could also lookat the cage only thread to give you some ideas of a cage you might liketo build?

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=6755&forum_id=1&highlight=Catnip

The most common indoors cages I've seen are Grid cages (Link bellow), home made wood ones, dog pens/crates, ect.

Grid cages

http://www.morfz.com/nic.html

This is a guinea pig one, but it gives you an idea about the material, ect.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/

Here's a nice cage that I sort of like

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/a/rabbitcageidea.htm

If you like, I can find you more cage resources. Rule of thumb, the bigger the better!

About the mice, this shouldn't be a problem. Just keep the rabbit areaclean, food sealed, hay off the ground and the cage secure and youshould be alright.

To tell the truth, rabbits are very social, so if your not home formost of the day then you really need to think thisthrough.Even if you got two rabbits and aren't home, it mightbe too busy for you totake good care of them properly. Bondedrabbits entertain each other andkeep each other company, butthey stillneed human attention.What will you bedoing in 10 years? Will the rabbits be part of it? Will you have enoughtime with studies from college and work?

I've hardly ever had any smell from my rabbit and she's kept indoors.Only when she pees outside her litterbox or leaves a cecel pile is theonly time I smell rabbit odor (other then hay and her bedding, thatis). If you dump out the soiled litter every night, wash out where shegoes to the bathroom with vinegar/water every few days and clean upthere shouldn't be any odor at all.

Some of the favourite toys at my house are paper towel tubes with hayin them, towels to bunch up, cardboard boxes to shred, newspaper, catjingle balls, crumpled up paper and willow sticks.Myrabbitdoesn't like store bought toys for some reason.

There really isn't (to my knowledge) a particular 'healthiest breed'.Depends on the rabbit and the care they recieve. All rabbits aredifferent.

Can't really say everthing about owning a rabbit just in onepost, it takes time. Youshould read the sections on this sitelike the Rabbit 101 section, ect. There's lots of valuable informationthere, some of which was mentioned above.

What worked for me to litter train was pretty easy. I just put it in aspot where she went to the bathroom, and any messes out side wherepicked up and put in the box, or soaked up with a papertowel and put inthe box. If it pees where it shouldn't, just rinse it off with avingegar/water soloution.

 

[Haley]

Lots of questions!!

Spring did a good job thus far!

Please read up in the Resource Center, Bunny 101 :http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=17Itssorted according to topic, so very easy to find info! AndasSpring suggested, the search on this site works great!

Anothergood source of info iswww.rabbit.org they also haveasearch option...with loads of good info.

Heressome cage info:http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11792&forum_id=17withexamples of RO member cages and condos!

Hope this helps a bit!

Haley

PS. where are you located..we can help you find some rescue buns if youre interested!

 

[Pipp]

Awww, I'm so happy to see thispost. You're a greatbunny person, Iwashoping another little rabbit would benefit fromthat.Smelly's legacy willliveon (hopefully without the odor -- which really is unusual!)

Please let us know how it goes!

sas and thegang of fur :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Smelly]

I must suck at the search here. Probably worded the things wrong and gave up too early. :wiggle

Thanks for the info peeps.

 

[Pipp]

Actually, the search function is being worked onat the moment, the index is being rebulit (which seems to be takingforever), so it's not working properly.

Hopefully it will be back up to snuff soon, though.

Meanwhile, as noted, check out the Resource Center, a lot of info there...

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=17

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=10

Sorry 'bout that!



sas:? et al :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Smelly]

Won't have money for like a month. I want rabbits NOW! :elephant:

 

[Haley]

^^^ That raises another issue with getting a new rabbit: expenses!

If you dont have enough money to purchase a rabbit now, how will youpay for expenses such as food, hay, greens, and vet bills? Inmy experience, owning rabbits can be very expensive..just make surethat if you do adopt, you start building an emergency vet fund so thathe/she is able to receive proper medical care.

Please keep us posted

-Haley

 

[Smelly]

My parents buy the food and pay for the vet mostof the time. I commute to college so there shouldn't beproblems on that side.

I took care of Smelly for years and years. Another 2 (whenthere used to be 4, mine, my brother's, sisters, and parents) shouldn'tbe much of a problem. Just gotta refresh myself on the basicsand indoor care. Smelly had his own bubble of stuff I did forhim. Wanna try different things this time.

 

[tofuhead]

This is just my general opinion. Itook on another rabbit because chechi seemed bored and lonely at homewhen im away at work and going to college everyday. But irealized that in case of an emergency I seriously didn't have the fundsfor it. I didn't realize that vet bills can go up to a $1000.Also when rabbits are injured or have an infection they healdifferently than cats and dogs. Their infections seem to bemore severe. I also realized that if you have female rabbits you HAVEto get them spayed or else they are most likely to develope urinarycancer within approx. 5 years. To spay a rabbit costs a pretty coin aswell. All I have to say is that they are high maintenancepets and deserve the attention of an owner that is there for them a100%. It doesn't lessen my love for rabbits onebit. I think as pets they are unique and spirited companions.But as an owner you have to be financially prepared, have all youremergency vet info handy, and research research research into theintricate workings of a rabbit's health. As you can see Ilearned quite a bit the hard way sigh.

 

[Smelly]

Worse comes to worse my aunt's husband is a vet. :colors:

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

But is you Aunt's husband a rabbitsavvy vet? It is critical to find a rabbit savvy vet becausemost other vets are unaware of the special care rabbits need. Certainantibiotics and medications are deadly to a rabbit and certain gasesused to put animals under are not safe. Non-rabbit savvy vets oftentell you to fast a rabbit before a surgery which is a definite no-no!