Whoot! I'm now a bun mum

[Casey76]

I just picked up two girls (I hope!) from the store, and they arehappily munching hay in their new home.

Now my millions of questions start...

• I bought the same brand of hay and pellets they were being fed at the store. How long till I can start introducing new food, or let them nibble at the grass? (They are going to be outdoor bunnies)
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• The hutch has a living space and a separate door to the ramp and the underneath run. When they are used to the grass, do I need to shut them away at night, or can I leave the door open to the run to let them come and go as they please?
• 
  
• Please confirm for me that with pellets, the first ingredient should be grass/lucerne/plant stuff, and not maize or wheat or cereals (I was amazed at what rubbish goes into rabbit food - it's nearly as bad as cat food!)
• 
  
• Please confirm thatI should stay away from "complete food" with "bits" mixed in with the pellets, and that a lucerne based pellet is all I need
• 
  
• At the moment I am using "paille de lin" as bedding, which is *tries to think of the English* linseed stalks chopped very small. Is is possible to teach an outdoor bunny to toilet in one area? Or will they naturally defecate all over?
• 
  
• How often do I have to completely clean the bedding pan out? (With the cats and chooks I spot clean twice a day and completely change out all litter every week)

Photos will follow later, as I haven't a clue what breed and colour they are apart from they are both dwarf and one has lopped ears - oh and that they are 12 weeks old (apparantly!!!) They will be having a vet checkup this week just to confirm age and sex, and a general health check.



KC

 

[DeniseJP]

Congratulations on your new girls... what are their names?

Denise

 

[Casey76]

The smaller with the erect ears is Apricot. The larger with the lop ears hasn't told me her name yet

 

[Flashy]

 

[Flashy]

I just tyuped a huge massive reply. Where the hell has it gone? I haven't got time to do it again right now, sorry.

 

[anneq]

"The hutch has a living space and a separate door to the ramp and the underneath run. When they are used to the grass, do I need to shut them away at night, or can I leave the door open to the run to let them come and go as they please?"

I would strongly recommend you lock them in their hutches at night-time. I'm not sure what kind of predators you have in your area, but having lost a couple of rabbits to night-time predators (never did find out what it was, but almost sure it was a fox), you do NOT want to wake-up one morning and find your bunnies gone).

Btw, congrats on the new bunnies - they sound adorable and will love seeing their pics!

 

[Flashy]

Let's try again!

First off congratulations

• I bought the same brand of hay and pellets they were being fed at the store. How long till I can start introducing new food, or let them nibble at the grass? (They are going to be outdoor bunnies)Given they are babies it would probably be worth waiting a bit longer until you introduce them to grass because it can upset their fragile tummies quickly. The pellets you can swap over quicker if you want to, although it still needs a transition like any change. The transition should take a minimum of 2 weeks. I would not introduce fresh food yet, for the same reason as not introducing grass.
• 
  
• The hutch has a living space and a separate door to the ramp and the underneath run. When they are used to the grass, do I need to shut them away at night, or can I leave the door open to the run to let them come and go as they please?I don't think the hutch itself is big enough to enclose a bunny in, over night, especially not two bunnies. They will probably be ok as babies, but as they get bigger and more hormonal they may not be ok with it. You can only let them into the run over night if you are sure they can't get out (for example, digging) and if you are sure nothing can get in (i.e. foxes as were previosuly mentioned). My runs are completely secure and my buns do have nighttime access to them and they love it given that they are most active at dawn and dusk and dawn comes well before most people get up at this time of year. If you decide it is not safe for them to have full access to the run then you will need to look at larger living accommodation and then move them in and out of the run as and when you want them to be in there, or not.
  
• Please confirm for me that with pellets, the first ingredient should be grass/lucerne/plant stuff, and not maize or wheat or cereals (I was amazed at what rubbish goes into rabbit food - it's nearly as bad as cat food!) Yup, a complete pellets based on hay is right, no other garbagey stuff in it.
• Please confirm thatI should stay away from "complete food" with "bits" mixed in with the pellets, and that a lucerne based pellet is all I need Yup, you are right with this too.
  
• At the moment I am using "paille de lin" as bedding, which is *tries to think of the English* linseed stalks chopped very small. Is is possible to teach an outdoor bunny to toilet in one area? Or will they naturally defecate all over? Rabbits can be litter trained, but it is easier when they are spayed or neutered. I personally don't use bedding per se. I use hay on newspaper for the areas they spend time (but obviously not all over the run), and the litter trays have wood pellets litter underneath hay. Some people use straw when the weather is colder.
• How often do I have to completely clean the bedding pan out? (With the cats and chooks I spot clean twice a day and completely change out all litter every week) I would say that you will probably find whatever works for your buns because some need it doing more regularly than others. I have gone through times of doing complete cleans daily, and am now doing complete cleans every other day. It's not so easy to do a spot clean, other than just picking up any rogue poos from a litter trained bun.

Also, something else to thin about is that potentially your girls may start to fight when they reach adolescence so I would urge you to have a back up housing plan so that if you need to separate them, you have a place to do so.

Also, I can't wait for pics Hurry up

 

[Flashy]

Thank god that worked!

 

[Casey76]

Photos added:

Nice tidy home:

Apricot (I knew within 10mins her name was Apricot :hearts:

2nd girly. She hasn't told me her name yet, but we'll get there eventually

Checking out the new cave:

Looking good...

Feeling at home:

:biggrin2:

 

[Flashy]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! Super cuties!

 

[missyscove]

They're adorable!
However, I don't think either of them will be a dwarf rabbit. (Unless you count the "dwarf lop" which is the equivalent of a "mini lop" here in the US."

 

[anneq]

Your rabbits are adorable - that's very comfy looking hutch - I'm sure they feel very comfortable.

 

[Nonamebunni]

they are so adorable