LOCK? DELETE? OLD Rabbit Owners- NEW LINK INSIDE

[Lizbutt]

I'm sad to say I think my friend has lost sight on the proper way to care for her buns. When we first met, she only had 2, a male and female Holland Lop pair. She had converted a very large dog kennel into a 2 story hutch; so it gave them some hopping room and kept the litter pan away from their water and food bowls plus she used a ex-pen in the living room for them to hop. (not that they were active, both are very chill lets just snuggle together types)

Sadly in the time I've known her, she got 2 more buns. Another Holland and a Lionhead mix. Some reason she wanted to convert huge TV wall unit into a large cage for the 4. I tried to convince her to look into C&C style cages first, but only the wall unit would do since it 'used the least amount of floor space'. That was why I didn't like it since it meant the cage would be narrow.

Here is an example, the one she used looks like this but her father added doors with wire over the front. Plus added ramps and holes. The one she has is a little smaller and was split into 3 areas between the 4. The only thing I was able to convince her to add was coroplast on the bottom so it was easy to whip clean since wood is the worst for soaking in urine. x-x



Ever since she moved all of them in there, it just seems so sad. There isn't much ventilation and her cleaning habits are little to none. It feels like these are my pets that live in her house since I'm cleaning the litter pans 90% of the time. What gets me steamed is her little regard to how important hay is for buns. The amount she gives them is less then a hand-full but i always pile it in when i come over. :c

If I didn't have to rehome my guineas because of the lack of room and having a prey driven dog, I would take her newest two off her hands. I would have gone with the C&C route and let them free-roam in my room (after I bun proof) for most of the day.

Thoughts on a good way to approach her on this?

I wanted to help her build one of these C&C style cages, but she insisted on the wooden TV wall unit. Here is an example what I had in mind for her; if I had a bun this is what I'd build.

[//Kitty cat]

@Lizbutt I like the cage idea you have! C&C cages are good choices for rabbits, unlike the cages on a tall stand. I think they'd enjoy that much more.

I think that your friend is, no offense, but not very willing to give her rabbits the completely proper care. If you can't convince her to just change the cages she has them in now, I'd try emailing a veterinarian and telling them about the situation and showing it to your friend. I'm sure that a vet can agree with you about the care of the rabbits being not so great, just try to word it in a nice way so that it won't offend your friend.
Something else to try is to tell her that rabbits, if bored and hungry (which it seems they might be) that they tend to chew. If they chew on the wire of the cage hard enough it could potentially hurt them. They could possible get a hold of the wood as well, chewing it to bits. I don't know your friends rabbits, but this is just from past experiences so I could be wrong.
I recommend emailing a vet and see what they think.

@jingle bells. My rabbit used to do the same thing. While neutering does fix spraying, mounting, all of that. Neutering him is still something to consider even if he is old, but this could be a temporary thing. My male rabbits did it a lot for a week or two and then just stopped. It could be something he'll grow out of. ^^

[jingle bells.]

@//kitty cat : ok, thank you for the info! i'll keep check of it. the only thing that worries me as that he has never been aggressive or portray this type of behavior before. even though i know its not always agression or dominance, and more of a mating type thing. thanks for the reassurance and info though. c:

[Autumnlp99]

Hello friendo's!
I've got a lil lovely lionhead girl named Despair, she currently freeroams, I'm going to actually get her a friend tomorrow as she seems to get along well with other rabbits, she loves my cousin's lop very much lmao
Basically, I was wondering what your rabbits favorite toys are?
She's got a huge box maze, a bunch of wooden chews, and a few plastic cat toys with bells in them, but she doesn't seem to take interest in any of them besides chilling in the box maze, I know not all rabbits like toys, but I'd love to try some more options before giving up on toys, because why not? lmao
Thank you! <3

[Her in her litter tray]

[//Kitty cat]

@jingle bells. No problem. I bet it's just a mating thing c:

@Leafy I get my rabbit wooden bird toys to hang in her cage/ She really likes to swing them around and roll balls around. She also has an obsession with cardboard rolls lol.

[ser]

@leafy. my rabbit's not too interested in toys either, unfortunately. he has a sisal ball, 3 wooden puzzle ball things, a cat toy ball w/ a bell inside, plastic chains, a hanging bird toy, the occasional pinecone, and maybe a few other things i'm forgetting
he's mostly food driven, so i can encourage him to play w/ a toy by involving it with treats. his breeder used to stuff toilet paper rolls with hay, which i do now, along w/ cardboard boxes, and he loves it - it also encourages hay consumption, which is a plus. putting pellets in a ball will also get him to roll it around and chase it for a good while.

i'm interested in buying him one of those puzzle treat toys (like this), but tbh i'm not even sure if he'll be able to figure them out, but it's worth a try

[Polly44]

@leafy. my rabbit's not too interested in toys either, unfortunately. he has a sisal ball, 3 wooden puzzle ball things, a cat toy ball w/ a bell inside, plastic chains, a hanging bird toy, the occasional pinecone, and maybe a few other things i'm forgetting
he's mostly food driven, so i can encourage him to play w/ a toy by involving it with treats. his breeder used to stuff toilet paper rolls with hay, which i do now, along w/ cardboard boxes, and he loves it - it also encourages hay consumption, which is a plus. putting pellets in a ball will also get him to roll it around and chase it for a good while.

i'm interested in buying him one of those puzzle treat toys (like this), but tbh i'm not even sure if he'll be able to figure them out, but it's worth a try

Oooo, stuffing toilet paper rolls with hay is an excellent idea! I'll have to try that with Biscuit. I've been debating getting a puzzle treat toy as well, but i am the same. Dunno if Biscuit has the brain cells for them, lol.

My rabbit likes chewing things... cardboard, wood, sisal rope toys, so she has loads of those and then she also likes chucking things around, so she has wooden pieces coloured like an orange/melon and which slot together to form a ball shape. She also likes digging at blankets and playing with balls too. And she has one of those mineral block things that keep their teeth down....so yeah, just a few toys, lol.

[claypigeon]

@leafy. my rabbit's not too interested in toys either, unfortunately. he has a sisal ball, 3 wooden puzzle ball things, a cat toy ball w/ a bell inside, plastic chains, a hanging bird toy, the occasional pinecone, and maybe a few other things i'm forgetting
he's mostly food driven, so i can encourage him to play w/ a toy by involving it with treats. his breeder used to stuff toilet paper rolls with hay, which i do now, along w/ cardboard boxes, and he loves it - it also encourages hay consumption, which is a plus. putting pellets in a ball will also get him to roll it around and chase it for a good while.

i'm interested in buying him one of those puzzle treat toys (like this), but tbh i'm not even sure if he'll be able to figure them out, but it's worth a try

Oooo, stuffing toilet paper rolls with hay is an excellent idea! I'll have to try that with Biscuit. I've been debating getting a puzzle treat toy as well, but i am the same. Dunno if Biscuit has the brain cells for them, lol.

My rabbit likes chewing things... cardboard, wood, sisal rope toys, so she has loads of those and then she also likes chucking things around, so she has wooden pieces coloured like an orange/melon and which slot together to form a ball shape. She also likes digging at blankets and playing with balls too. And she has one of those mineral block things that keep their teeth down....so yeah, just a few toys, lol.

Just a suggestion, if your trying many toys and don't have much money, I love fosterdrsmith.com
They have name brand things for every pet and you could probably find that maze for cheap. Rabbit foods also there too!

[Autumnlp99]

Hey, thank you guys so much!! Sorry for the late reply too lol
I'm also happy to say that I did indeed get her a friend, I'll eventually post a picture, but the thing moves so much It's impossible to take a non blurry one, I have no idea on the breed, she's not even close to full grown yet either so she's being kept in a cage for now in the same room as Despair until she reaches a similar size, I don't 100% trust Despair to be out with such a smol bun, Despair seems interested in her though, not sure if it's in a good, or bad way lol
I'm going out in a few hours to go grab some more timothy hay, alfalfa hay, some food for my other critters and some bunny toys they might hopefully be interested in!! <3 <3

[Spotenya]

I really wanted a pet rabbit but they're pretty expensive. I was planning to go for adoption but there are no rabbits left.. so I have to wait for a few more months or maybe a year to see if there are any unwanted rabbits coming in. But I know Zeus my little boy gets along with most of the animals he sees, so it wouldn't be any problem with both a dog and a rabbit at home.