Rabbit Owner Chat V.2

[Blue_Aussie]

I got a new Netherland dwarf doe! Her name is Zola. I took Echo with me to pick her up to make sure they were bondable and no joke it was love at first sight! Echo grooms her and sits right next to her. Zola was being kept outside at the old owners house so she is LOVING it inside. Now it’s just a matter of litter training her! C:

[Siddy]

Thank you guys so much, your advice really helped me with my two guys!
Since then my two neutered males the chinchilla/Rex and mini Rex have been put together five times or so. The first time was when oobi was only 7 weeks old or so and he ended up biting the mini Rex on the nose a little so I waited a very long time after that to try again. Oobi is almost 7 months old now and I tried again and the last four times have been a breeze! We’ve now graduated to time in the kitchen without a barrier between them and all they do is lay together the whole time.
Fen the mini Rex was a 4H rabbit I bought from a fair and since I’ve gotten him he’s been very timid and not very willing to try new things. You guys suggested that I get him a buddy and since he’s been being let out with oobi he is a totally different rabbit especially when they’re together. He even comes up to me and will try foods he never has!
They kinda just follow each other around,groom each other, and lay down
I guess I just have a couple questions for you guys,
How do I know when it’s okay to put them 100% together? I really don’t want to risk anything and I want to make sure they’re really ready.
My second question is that I bought c&c cage to put together a cage for them, but in the past I had a rabbit unfortunately pass from eating the carpet that covered the bottom, what do you guys use on the bottoms of your cages that is safe and will prevent this from happening in the future? We’re not sure if it was the carpet itself or the rubber on the bottom. It was very traumatic and tragic and I’m terrified of giving them a bigger cage because of what happened with my one :<
Here they are btw!! The brown and white one is oobi and the white one is Fenway!

[Blue_Aussie]

^By the sounds of it, they already are 100% ready to be put together. If they haven’t fought and are laying with and grooming each other they sound bonded. Just keep an eye on them for them first few days of sharing a pen until you are sure.

I bought linoleum to lay over my carpet under my bunny’s pens because Echo loves to chew on carpet. I’ve also used wall panel sheet type things which are great but rabbit pee stains them easily. For my old bunnies that don’t have much traction, I just lay out a blanket under their pen. Hope that helps a little!

Your bunnies are ADORABLE!

[RandomSia]

@Siddy,
We got a piece of plywood and covered it in felt for the bottom of our hutch. Your boys are super cute! ^_^

[samm.]

so, i recently became the owner of a netherland dwarf rabbit, and i need a bit of help..

my cat died. he was seventeen years old, i'd had him since i was a kid, and my father, for some unknown, ungodly reason, decided that instead of getting another cat, he was gonna surprise me with a rabbit. keep in mind, i've never owned a rabbit, i don't know the first thing about taking care of one, and i've never asked for one except maybe when i was a kid, so there's literally no reason why he went out and got one. the only thing i can think of is he seen it online, decided he wanted one, and essentially dumped him on me under the pretense of him being a gift. but anyways, the guy who he got him from won't take him back, so i'm stuck with him unless i wanna re-home him, which i'm currently considering. he's around 3 months old, and the guy my dad got him from gave him a small ziplock bag full of some sort of pellets for him, and that's it. no cage, no toys, no accessories, just a bag of food and a rabbit. i've got no clue what i'm doing 90% of the time, but i'm working as i go, and i think i'm doing a pretty decent job, but i still would like some advice from other rabbit owners!

i've heard it's better for rabbits to free roam rather than live in a cage, so he has free reign of my bedroom during the day then he gets put up at night. my family has cats and dogs, so he can't roam the rest of the house, but my bedroom is decent sized, so i hope that's okay? i've heard water bottles are a big no-no, so he's got a water bowl. should i be giving him bottled water, or is tap water alright? also, food! i've heard baby rabbits should have alfalfa pellets, not timothy, but i'm not sure if that's what the guys been feeding him or not. is this brand okay? xxx or should i go with something else, like an oxbow food? i've got a couple other questions, but those are just simple ones like 'what sort of toys do y'all recommend' and 'how do you litter train a rabbit'? lol

any and all help is super appreciated and i'll reply whenever i've got the time, thank you!!

[beautifulglitter]

so, i recently became the owner of a netherland dwarf rabbit, and i need a bit of help..

my cat died. he was seventeen years old, i'd had him since i was a kid, and my father, for some unknown, ungodly reason, decided that instead of getting another cat, he was gonna surprise me with a rabbit. keep in mind, i've never owned a rabbit, i don't know the first thing about taking care of one, and i've never asked for one except maybe when i was a kid, so there's literally no reason why he went out and got one. the only thing i can think of is he seen it online, decided he wanted one, and essentially dumped him on me under the pretense of him being a gift. but anyways, the guy who he got him from won't take him back, so i'm stuck with him unless i wanna re-home him, which i'm currently considering. he's around 3 months old, and the guy my dad got him from gave him a small ziplock bag full of some sort of pellets for him, and that's it. no cage, no toys, no accessories, just a bag of food and a rabbit. i've got no clue what i'm doing 90% of the time, but i'm working as i go, and i think i'm doing a pretty decent job, but i still would like some advice from other rabbit owners!

i've heard it's better for rabbits to free roam rather than live in a cage, so he has free reign of my bedroom during the day then he gets put up at night. my family has cats and dogs, so he can't roam the rest of the house, but my bedroom is decent sized, so i hope that's okay? i've heard water bottles are a big no-no, so he's got a water bowl. should i be giving him bottled water, or is tap water alright? also, food! i've heard baby rabbits should have alfalfa pellets, not timothy, but i'm not sure if that's what the guys been feeding him or not. is this brand okay? xxx or should i go with something else, like an oxbow food? i've got a couple other questions, but those are just simple ones like 'what sort of toys do y'all recommend' and 'how do you litter train a rabbit'? lol

any and all help is super appreciated and i'll reply whenever i've got the time, thank you!!

Sounds like you're doing a fantastic job! You're doing way better than I did when I first got my bun.

A bedroom should be enough space- some people use a spare bedroom as a rabbit room, and other use x-pens, so it's definitely a suitable size.

For food, science selective, oxbow, and sherwood are the brands I've seen people using. If science selective is working for your bun and budget, I don't think there's any reason to change. Hay should be a majority of the diet anyways, so it might be an unpopular opinion but I don't think pellet composition matters too much (some people feed such a variety of greens that they go pellet-free!)

Toys can vary based on what your rabbit likes to do- my girl loved timothy twists and other toys made from Timothy hay. Another one of her favorites was an old towel that could be dug and re-arranged (just make sure to keep on top of any fraying ends!). Cardboard boxes were another big hit- just make sure they aren't eating the cardboard. Dig boxes (filled with sand, soil, paper, or other substrates) can be a good choice for buns who love to dig. If your rabbit is drawn to chewing things like baseboards, they might want a heavier chew that provides the same kind of resistance- one popular choice is the doll beds from ikea.

For litter training, you will notice your rabbit will like to potty in a particular place. Simply place your litter box in the rabbit's favorite place, and there's a good chance they will start using it. You can also encourage them by placing poop and any pee you can get in the box to give them a scent reminder. Having a hay feeder accessible from the litter box will also provide encouragement. Some rabbits also need to train in a smaller space, which you can gradually expand into their full living area when they are being successful. Also remember that spaying/neutering can often greatly improve litter training accuracy and consistency!

Only other thing I can think of is since nethies are a brachycephalic breed you might have to be extra sure they get regular dental checkups, as they tend to be more prone to maloccusion (but that's not guaranteed to happen, so don't stress out about it, it's just something to be aware of ).

House Rabbit Society has lots of great, science-backed articles for any additional questions you might have! There's also an HRS facebook group that is a great resource for information (small disclaimer that like any passionate animal group, there's some crazies, but I've always had luck getting my questions answered!)

[Blue_Aussie]

How's everybunny doing hope you all had a good Easter! I took the cutest Easter pics of my fur babies! I wish I knew how to upload them onto here!

All 4 of my bunnies are doing good, I'm super excited ego take the 2 girls outside once I get the chance. This is my first summer with them!

Question: what do you guys find to work best as a haystack/box/feeder for your bunnies? I just am not happy with my hay racks and the bunnies just make such a mess when I simply toss a handful into the litter box. Any suggestions are appreciated! C:

[Luzien]

How's everybunny doing hope you all had a good Easter! I took the cutest Easter pics of my fur babies! I wish I knew how to upload them onto here!

All 4 of my bunnies are doing good, I'm super excited ego take the 2 girls outside once I get the chance. This is my first summer with them!

Question: what do you guys find to work best as a haystack/box/feeder for your bunnies? I just am not happy with my hay racks and the bunnies just make such a mess when I simply toss a handful into the litter box. Any suggestions are appreciated! C:

There are ome tiny Barrel thingens made from wood with small parts cut out, like slow hay Feeder for horses, some you can stand up in the cage some you put in and the rabbit roll them around to get at there hay(hay bll shpe grass feeder)....
or thoe tainless steel ball rack with hanging iron hooks that you can hang up from the to of the cage or put up with unique design holder at the cage sides where the hay rack can move freely around its hold...^^^i think i did see one by amazon and vova (stainless steel hamster grass dispenser holder ball) with two of them you can use one for hay and the other for fresh green and grass

im aways for things where your pet has to work a little to get there food...like those wooden puzzle toys for rabbit or this pole thingens with holes at different places, where you can stick carrots and apple slice and such partly in and they have to get up at some of the parts to chew on them or to pull them out...or stainless steel

There are some nice ideas for rabbit cages and rabbit runs for inide and outside on pinterest


anddid you not have a question about bottom of cage?
why not build one from wood, put on animal/baby friendly waterproof colour to protct wood, and then put on i wood shaving or straw/miscanthus pellets (last i did like)
also a flat bigger low walled open roofed box with sand or natural soil in one corner of cage or rabbit run , can give your rabbit a place to digg^^

[Blue_Aussie]

^ahh thank you for the ideas! I do think I’ve saw the wire hay balls I’m just not sure it’d hold enough hay for what they’d need to eat all day because I have a pair in each pen. But maybe I’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work out I can use it to put their veggies in. I don’t want them having to work for their hay as they need to eat so much of it to keep their teeth short c:

Hmm, wasn’t me with the question about the bottom of the cage. I simply laid down a sheet of linoleum and put an exercise pen on top of it so they can’t ruin my floor c;

[nervousdog]

@ Blue_Aussie :
I personally use hanging wire flower baskets as a hay rack ! They're a dollar at the dollar store and I hang them above my buns' litterbox . However, it's still pretty messy . A large cardboard box with a couple holes cut into it might be less mess ! But would need to be replaced occasionally . A similar hay feeder made out of wood instead of cardboard would probably do well to keep things less messy too ! .


It been a while since I've mentioned my bunnies in the thread !!


We are finally out of our temporary living situation and I was able to make a rlly nice pen for the rabbits and take the time to bond them ! We've changed Leila's name to "Dandelion" because we figured her old name was attached to all the bad vibes of her heavy neglect . Dandelion also matches Volkswagen's name in the sense that they are both puns ! Volkswagen Rabbit and Dandelion the lion head LOL
They have been enjoying being able to run around more freely and get chances to stretch their legs . At this point Dandelion is bigger than volkswagen !! I haven't weighed them recently, last time I did she was lighter than him by a pound . Dandelion turned a year old sometime in February .
Volkswagen's birthday is coming up !! Two more days ! He was born on the 9th of this month . When we go to the store today we are gonna pick up some bananas ( his favorite food ) to celebrate . He is going to be turning 4 this year . He is growing so old it breaks my heart . I know that rabbits live 10-12 years but he is my first pet that has a longer life span ( I used to own rats who have a lifespan of 2-3 years ) . He has moved around with me when I left South Carolina and moved to New York . With me when I moved in with my boyfriend . He's just been with me through a lot so him getting older makes me sentimental lol . He is such a handsome boy and I'm still as obsessed with him as I was when I first got him 4 years ago . My naughty, rude boy ! Everyone always says "he hates me" or "he is so mean/evil" and while I can't help but agree that he is ornery and pushy, I still love him so much . 🎉