New Rabbit

[dwayne]

Howdy everyone! Remember me? Long time no talk!! I took a break from ALL my internet forums... now I exclusively visit only 2! This one, and a mommy's group one. They put a huge foot down on internet use at work, and my computer at home went kerput... time on hubby's computer was practically non-existent... but Santa came a little early and brought me a new one! Hooray!

On to my post! We are awaiting landlord approval to adopt a bunny rabbit... and I couldn't be more excited! I can't imagine why they wouldn't give us the OK... but you never know, so keep your fingers crossed! I've been perusing petfinder.com and we found a few that we really like - all mini lops either young or mid aged, all fixed-spayed-neutered. (we being me and hubby, it will not be revealed to 3year old son till it's finalized)

Now my question is, do I have what I need for him? I went to Petsmart today becuase I saw a kickass cage/shelter (http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 8163&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026391&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1135378408442) on clearance from $100 marked to $25! We have the bigger one (36x29x21). Then I also got a small crock bowl for pellet food, a nice water bottle, 2 squishy toys (rabbit safe), a cuddle cup (http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?Nav=243&sku=821608&R=3988&enemerch=1&redirectURL=%252fShop%252fProductList.aspx%253fPC% 253dproductlist%2526Nav%253d243%2526N%253d26%25252 0101), a litter pan, (http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?Nav=234&sku=870676&R=1238&enemerch=1&redirectURL=%252fShop%252fProductList.aspx%253fPC% 253dproductlist%2526Nav%253d234%2526N%253d26%25252 0100)a hay ball (http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=149&sku=966657&redirectURL=%2fShop%2fProductList.aspx%3fPC%3dprod uctlist%26Nav%3d239%26N%3d26%2520106&PC=productlist&Nav=239&N=26+106), kritter kabob (http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=7328&sku=712213&redirectURL=%2fShop%2fProductList.aspx%3fPC%3dprod uctlist%26Nav%3d239%26N%3d26%2520106&PC=productlist&Nav=239&N=26+106), and a few chewey things including flavored salt licks to go on the kabob.

I have not yet purchased food pellets or hay, becuase if we don't end up getting the rabbit I don't want to risk not being able to return it. I plan to get a bag of rabbit litter (I dont know what it's made of, but it says for rabbits and it is flushable and controls odors... if I don't get that I plan to get Carefresh), a small bag of timothy hay, and a small bag of pellet food (any suggestions on a good variety with the right nutrients?).

Am I missing anything (besides the rabbit, that is)???

Thanks in advance!

[Slappy*McFish]

If you let him roam the house, don't forget to get a Shop Vac...at least until he's potty-trained, anyway. ;)

[sky.eyes.woman]

Go ahead and get what all you need for little FooFoo (like my name suggestion? lol) because the PETsMART return policy is pretty flexible, you can return pet food there, even if it's opened. Just save your receipts if you don't want to exchange any of the stuff instead of getting a refund. Anything returned without a receipt that is priced over $5 will be given back to you on a gift card ONLY, but if you have receipts, then you can just get your money back without getting anything else. Try another kind of bedding besides the Carefresh, that stuff is really dusty and sometimes it causes trouble with sneezing and weepy eyes. We had to quit using it in our guinea pig cages in the store for that reason. It's also a lot more expensive than the aspen shavings which will work just fine. Get the little booger some timothy hay or alfalfa too, they love that.

I think it's great you're adopting a bunny and getting it altered too...way to go! :thm:

[dwayne]

We got the A-OK from the landlords!!! I'm so excited!!! Thanks for the suggestion skyeye... we're definately goign to get timothy hay for him to eat/bedding, but I want to get something different for the little corner litter box... hmmm... maybe just shredded newspaper!!

Slappy, you're so funny! We will, obviously, let him out of his cage for a few hours when we get home from work, but he will by no means have the run of the house with freedom to deposit his pellets wherever he sees fit... eek! Actually the only thing the landlords were concerned with was whether he'd be in a cage or free-roaming!!

Now to go pick out a little guy! Oh, skyeye, they all come with names!! We will keep whatever name they already have, except for one - donnie - he's a baby, and if we get him we'll be renaming him... I have an ex donnie who, well let's just say I don't like the name :p:

[daveedka]

I've never actually kept a rabbit in the house, but have been told they tend to always "go" in the same place. this was definately true with the rabbits we kept outside when I was young. You will want to get him something to chew on. They like to and need to gnaw. If they don't have something they will find something (Like baseboard)
We always put strips of scrap drywall in the cages. the rabbits would chew the gympsum and leave the wooden frames of the cages alone. if we did not add drywall they would eat the cagesanywhere they could get to the wood.

Hay is food, straw is bedding. Don't use hay for bedding it will cause confusion :p:
As far as rabbit food, we always just used prepared pellets and supplemented with hay. Fresh greens are always a vey welcome treat, and of course the occasional carrot (no joke)
Dave

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

Personally I have always been partial to the Dutch bunnies...Suprisingly smart and housetrainable.....We had a big Lop for years in the barn...It was a terror, even the horses were scared of it...Think rabbit from the "quest for the holy grail"-Twas a man eater...

[Dangerdoll]

welcome back, dwayne and congrats on the bunny!! I missed ya, girl!!

[wesleydnunder]

Hi dwayne. We have two Lionhead Rabbits. Both are litter-box trained. Dave is right. Once you see them go, put the litter box in that spot. When they learn to use the box, you can move it and they will go to it. That's how we trained ours. If you get a short-haired rabbit, aspen bedding will work fine. Our rabbits have very long hair so we use aspen pellets. We feed a good pellet and lots of fresh veggies every day. If you feed your rabbit alfalfa be careful; it can give them diarrea. Hay is a must. It gives fiber and keeps their molars from growing spurs. If you let them out watch out for chewing; furniture, phone cords, lamp cords, people...everything. Worse than babies. There are several good websites on rabbit care and feeding. Congrats and enjoy your new bunny.

Mark

[dwayne]

Hi everyone!!

We adopted Tony one week ago, and he is doing so great! We got him from the mspca, and he is litter box trained, and came with "instructions" on what he likes best... he's SO low maintenance and so much fun. He is a mini lop-holland lop mix... being from a pound they weren't 100% sure exactly what he was; they do know he's ~6 months old, and just about fully grown (estimate him about 3.5lbs). He came from a house with 3 boys, he lived there for a month when the family realized he was the cause of one of the boy's constant runny nose. He is very used to the loud noises associated with kids, so that's great - he is so un-skittish!! The only thing I've seen him freak out about is when our radiators start kicking on - but heck they sometimes startle me out of a sound sleep! He's not very keen on being picked up, but he will sit and stretch his legs behind him if you scratch in just the right spot behind his ears!

He has 2 litter boxes in his house (the smallest litter pans I could find - we use the corner ferret/rabbit one to hold his toys, it was just too small). Within the first hour of him being home he peed in the back part (in the wooden hutch part) so we put the one litter pan back there... I decided I didn't want him hiding back there all the time, since they like to chill out on-in their litter pans, so I got another litter pan for the cage part of his cage. He only pees in the back pan - never anywhere else. He poops 99% of the time in one or the other pan, and then sometimes I'll find stray pellets in the cage (and when he's out playing) - but honestly I don't care much about those, it's the pee that smells.

The litter pans have a layer of carefresh and a thick layer of timothy hay... every day my son drops a handful or two of fresh hay on each pan (and I put in fresh carefresh and all new hay every 3-ish days). He always has hay to eat - either from his box, or in a papertowel tube or other "toy"... he gets salad twice a day - 4 baby carrots and 4 big leaves of lettuce (romaine and green leaf)... he's definately not a fan of the carrot greens. Also when he comes out to play after (our) dinner time, he gets a small handful of pellets (treats!)... I'm going to the produce market today to get some other greens to try...

Question - he doesn't seem to drink much water. We give him fresh (cool) water in the morning and at supper time and you can barely notice how much he drinks... is this normal? He had a crock bowl at the pound, so I know he knows how to drink out of one (versus a water bottle)...

Here are a few pictures - his red-eye is just as bad as my sons!! He actually has huge brown eyes...

EDITED: use this link :D
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mommytoray/album?.dir=/c535&.src=ph&.tok=phtt.MEBv7nBeEUR

[Dangerdoll]

darn, I can't get the pics to work but I wanna see this little guy sooooooooo badc. I remember when I had a bunny, his name was Spike and I had to fight with my mom to keep him. My boyfriend at the time had given him to me as a gift for my birthday. This rabbit was supposed to be a Dwarf and turned out to be the biggest rabbit I had ever seen. Man, did he love me too..... I used to bring him all over the place and he would stick so close to me like a dog. I even brought him to the catskill Mountains and he followed me around all over, he was a great bunny. I used to sit with him on the couch at home and no one else was allowed on the couch though..... did you knew rabbits have a feirce growl? LOL, if someone tried to sit with me, he (I think it was actually a she now that I think about it) would run over to their end of the couch and scratch the dickens out of them, LOL man I miss that big guy!

Mine did like the water bottle over the water bowl but that might just be a preference type thing. You might want to give it a try and let him have his water when he wants it....

Nonetheless, congrats on your bunny, d.... sounds like you and the bunny alike found gems. Good luck with him and get those pics to work :)

[dwayne]

danger... the links don't work? if i click on the link it brings me right to yahoo photos... hmmm try this link to the album:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mommytoray/album?.dir=/c535&.src=ph&.tok=phtt.MEBv7nBeEUR

We tried 3 different water bottles, and they all dripped... I was psyched to see that he drank from a bowl in the pound. Maybe I'll try a bottle again just to see if he drinks more. Although maybe rabbits don't need a lot of water. OMG spike sounds like an awesome rabbit! I know that they have a wide range of sounds, but so far Tony's been mute!!!

[mykidsmylife]

Congrats on the new bunny!!! I had one as a teen that had free roam of my room. He was completely litter trained and slept with me in my bed at night. And get this....his name was Tony!!! LOL. I loved that guy.
Just a word of warning...if you notice him eating his droppings in the morning don't freak out. All rabbits and guinea pigs usually eat their first morning droppings. There is something in them that they need.
If your guy is eating plenty of fresh veggies and fruits that may be why he isn't drinking a lot. Veggies have high moisture content and he may be getting enough from them.
I couldn't get the picture to work either but that may be the firewalls that are up on the computer.

[OrionGirl]

The second link worked for me, though the first ones still don't. What a pretty bunny! Sigh--I want a rabbit and a skunk, and don't think my cat would forgive me for either.

[Dangerdoll]

the second link works fine, and I have to agree, Tony is a looker alright! Awesome markings! The more time you spend with him, the more attached he will become of you (or someone else in the family). They're very trainable if given the time and it sounds like you guys are fully prepared to provide that for him. What a lucky bunny!

LOL, OG that would be awesome!

[dwayne]

kids - that's funny that your bunny's name was tony (my hubby calls him the godfather, lol)! I don't think I'd feel comfortable giving him free roam of any room in my house - we have an old house with only one outlet in each room (2 in the living room) so we own stock in extension cords and power strips... too hard to make safe. He's safe when he's out in the living room (oh, did I fail to mention he has yet to take a step onto the hardwood floor off the area rug? lol!)... My mother actually suggested that maybe, since he eats more veggies than I do, that he probably gets his water from them! And yes, I knew about the eating of the late nite/early morning pellets and my son witnessed this Tuesday morning ... he thought it was great :laugh:

og - believe it or not there was a rabbit/cat duo in the shelter! They had been together since the rabbit was born and the cat was 3ish years old - their owner died and nobody in the family could take them... it's the cutest thing in the world! Give it a shot!!!

danger - yeah, we're going to try to get him to do tricks or chase a jingle ball once he's a bit more settled into his new home... I read somewhere that older rabbits are easier to train... I wish I had a picture of my old cat Winnie (rip... 10yrs old died when I was in h.s.) - she and Tony couls have passed for twins (as far as markings go)... both my brothers said that when they first met him!

[OrionGirl]

Hmmm...No. Puck still has angst against my dog--my cat's first friend was my husbands dog, Jasper. They were best buds, played together all the time. When I got my dog, Jasper quit playing with Puck--and he has NOT forgiven my dog for taking away his friend, and that was 5 years ago. He's hated every other pet to come into the house--2 other cats, and one dog. He blames my husband for the other pets--if he thought I had anything to do with it, he'd sulk and give me dirty looks for a month! He's very high-maintenance!

[Dangerdoll]

that poor guy, OG..... probably thinks no one understands.... at least Mom does! ;)

[OrionGirl]

He's very sweet to me--unless I do something wrong, like go out of town overnight, leaving him in the care of my husband. He ignores my husband the entire time I'm gone (and he's very rude about it), then when I come home, he sits on my husbands lap and glowers at me. Otherwise, he never sits on my husband. If we're both gone, it's okay and he's nice when we get back, though. He hides whenever anyone else comes into the house, too.

The sad part is that he's our sane cat--Maggie is much weirder.

[Dangerdoll]

LMAO!!! That must be a pip to live with! Who woulda thought pets could have such attitudes, LOL

[Slappy*McFish]

The second link worked for me, though the first ones still don't. What a pretty bunny! Sigh--I want a rabbit and a skunk, and don't think my cat would forgive me for either.

I've always thought it would be cool to have a red fox for a pet.

[Dangerdoll]

I have a family of them living just beyond my back yard, slap..... I "think" they're red's..... I just know they have a weird smell and there are quite a few of them..... heard them mating this past summer.

[OrionGirl]

There's actually a farm of domestic foxes--I think someplace in England. They were intended to be farmed for fur, but were bred for better behavior (true foxes are very nasty when raised under fur-farm conditions, as would be most any animal, I think). By selectively breeding the tamer, more firendly foxes, they eventually ended up with foxes that were essentially like domestic dogs in behavior--very puppy-ish their entire lives, friendly, etc. Think lab pup, and you're pretty close. The only problem? The selective breeding ignored the coat, and the resulting kits have a mottled fur, red, blue, black and white, looking nothing like a wild fox, more like a merle australian sheppard. I don't know if they continued breeding them or not, but I think this variety of fox would make a fantastic pet. True wild foxes won't--they just are too unpredictable and prone to killing small furry 'friends'.

Skunks, on the other hand, have been domestically bred for a long time. They need to be descented and payed/neutered (apparently a skunk in heat makes a cat in heat look pretty mild). They are easily socialized, box trained, and friendly. The biggest problem is that most states don't have any legal recognition for them as pets, and vaccinations are hard to come by. So, if your pet skunk bites someone, no matter what the provocation, the skunk is most likely going to be confiscated and killed, just like if it were wild and potentially rabid.

[Dangerdoll]

I remember when I was about 5 years old, my mom and her friend had taken me and my sister to this park in the mountains to walk through the trails and during our walk, we passed a lady who had a skunk on a leash. The woman let us pet the skunk but said not to put your fingers in it's face, so like any other 5 year old would do, I did and sure enough, that sucker bit me. Nothing too bad though, sort of like a ferret's playful bite.

[dwayne]

quick question ... Tony has been chewing on his bed (we've never seen him lying in it, but he does rest up against it, maybe for warmth?)... the outer fabric has tons of teeth marks/holes, and a little of the stuffing (looks just like cotton fluff) was hanging out - still safe? Or toss it?

he's doing great! He's such a joy to have around! He doesn't keep his litter pan in the same spot - so he tends to pee in the corner (on the sheet we have covering the bottom... the corner litter box was too small, but I found out today that they makea bigger one, so I'm goign to see if I can find that one tomorrow and give it a shot - I may have to modify it a bit, since Tony pulled the smaller one right off the cage walls! He's such a trip though!!!

[saltyc]

Do you have anything around for him to chew on??
My family raised rabbits when i was a kid-they would chew on the wood boxes that were their beds, and any wood they could reach in their pens-the 2x4's underneath, the plywood walls...If you get him something like that, it will help.
Rabbits chew in order to wear down their teeth-otherwise they literally will grow out, circle up, & cut their mouths. I saw this in one with an offset bite-the teeth didn't come together right, so they never wore off...
I don't know wether to tell you to go & get a chunk of wood for him or what...

[dwayne]

Ooooh Saltyc, thanks! Yes he has a ton of chewing materials... as a matter of fact he has 4 large wooden "crayons" about 6" long and hmm, 1" diameter, and one of them is almost completely gone, hahah! He also gnaws on 2 radishes and 10 baby carrots every day, and a few other wooden nick-nacks in his cage... i never thought to get him a clean 2x4 (well, smaller than that though) from home depot...

My husband thinks that maybe we need to put more hay besides what's already in his cage - we currently fill his 2 litter boxes up w/ fresh hay day and nite... but I never see him eat the hay from one of the boxes... perplexing.

[saltyc]

you can also just take a stick of firewood, hack off the bark & use it.

[dwayne]

you can also just take a stick of firewood, hack off the bark & use it.

I went to petsmart last nite and got a new corner litter box that has hooks to hold it aginst the corner, and he seemed to enjoy the new box (but got kinda angry that he couldn't move it LOL!!) I also got him a Nut Knot Nibbler (http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444180 7883&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026394&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1136996706047) and he seemed to enjoy that too...

So we'll see what happens. Hubby is working at home today and the cage is right across from his desk, so I'm sure I'll get an update in a little while!