Rabbit owners - Share experience!

[rey skywalker]

Hi all. My name is Ley and I am supporting an animal welfare effort to construct a better, well informed, rabbit/hare adoption/ownership program with a group of my friends and animal lovers. We are conducting videos about how to care for rabbits and what to expect when you get your first rabbit.

If you have observed rabbit behavior and own your own rabbit, please answer some of these questions! These all go towards building a well informed brochure for rabbit care and expectations. This includes financial responsibilities, medical care, normal or abnormal behavior, stressors, diet, physical activity, breed, housing. Please just include the experience you have with your rabbit. No personal information is required nor expected, I just want to know about you and your rabbit!

[m o o s e]

Hiya! I've been a rabbit owner for 10 years now and currently have three rabbits I can answer any questions you'd like to throw my way about my experiences!

[coffin]

ooh hello! i dont usually frequent forums like this but i figured i could help out a bit especially since the breed of rabbit i own is more uncommon!

i own a flemish giant rabbit named boo! boo is about 4 years old, and i've had him for roughly 2 years now. its been a great learning experience! rabbits are not easy pets to care for, but they're definitely worth the trouble.

boo has a large crate that's about 2 meters in size. he sleeps and eats in there daily, and it provides him a place where he feels comfortable and safe. (i.e. if he gets spooked by a noise, he'll run to his crate since he knows that's a safe spot.) i clean his cage about once a week, but it's important to note how messy it gets over time! sometimes if he's been particularly messy, i clean it once at the beginning of the weekend and once at the end of the weekend. in general, rabbits need about 3 hours of exercise outside of their cage per day. boo gets let out at around 9-10 AM each morning and is allowed free range of the house until 10-11 PM in the evening so he gets his exercise! although this is a good way to ensure your rabbit gets enough time to roam, especially if you don't have the ability to keep an eye on them 24/7, it's important to make sure all parts of the house are bunny-proofed. they love chewing on things, especially wires of any sort, and will do so if left alone. before bringing boo home, we taped down any wires we had in places he could reach so he couldn't chew on them, and made sure to get blockades to keep him out of areas we couldn't keep safe for him. personally, i like to put stuff that he can chew down for him, like bits of wood or cardboard!

for food we give him one scoop of rabbit food a day! it's important to do careful research into how much food to feed your bunny, as a lot of packages in any type of animal food tend to tell you to overfeed them. it's also important to make sure they're getting treats (vegetables, mostly!) as those provide extra nutrients that can't always be found in their base pellets. some other things i noticed about boo is getting pellets with extra treats (like sunflower seeds, etc.) lead to him getting picky and refusing to eat his normal pellets, so i'd recommend just getting plain food. fruits and raisins are very good treats as well, but only in very small amounts! too much sugar is bad for rabbits, even natural sugars. that being said, be very mindful of what you feed your rabbits. a quick google search generally provides good insight on what they can and can't eat, and it's always important to look this up before giving them anything. rabbits can't vomit, so if something upsets their stomach it leads to compacting, which is when food gets stuck inside of them and can't be excremented.

since i haven't had him for long, and he's very young, he's been perfectly healthy and hasn't needed to be taken to the vet! i would like to note that since i was taking him outside there are extra health precautions to do before that as well! it's great for rabbits to get outside and be able to munch on grass & stuff, but please check to make sure no diseases are spreading among wild animals! rabbits can easily get infected with these if they're passing around the area, and oftentimes they can be very deadly. it's also important to provide your rabbit with flea medication before putting them outside! there are no flea medications specifically catered to rabbits, but i've found that using cat flea meds works just fine. if you can, consult a vet before providing your rabbit with flea meds & ask them what brands you should use!

i can't really say much about stressors or abnormal behavior since boo has been relatively happy & healthy the entire time i've had him, but it's important to keep in mind that rabbits have prey instinct and to pay attention to what makes them nervous! using slow, gentle movements are important. it's also important to note that when a rabbit starts wriggling and kicking when they're picked up, it means that they're scared, not just that they want down like a cat or a dog. rabbits can be normalized to being picked up, but it should be avoided for the most part if your rabbit is uncomfortable with it.

that's about all the insight i can provide! i hope it helps with you and your friend's project, and thank you for the opportunity to infodump about my rabbit JDSJFDS i love him a lot

[Kazin]

Hey there! We already have a topic for rabbit owners :) You can continue to chat over there!
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3405879