If you got an
Easter Bunny, below
is a checklist for you.
Rabbits are not low
maintenance nor
inexpensive
companion animals!
Bring your rabbit in the
house to make him or her part of the family like a cat or dog and enjoy his company for many years
- up to 10 or more!
A young rabbit who is not spayed or neutered yet will be the most challenging to
train and care for in your home. It is why many cute
"Easter Bunnies" are relinquished, abandoned or dumped by their
new family every year.
Here's what you need to do:
Have a sense of humor, a
lot of patience and then...
Rabbit-Proof Your
Home
-
Cover
electrical and phone cords with tubing
-
Keep
Household chemical, cleaners and other toxic chemicals in a latched cupboard
-
Place
toxic plants out of reach (and this includes most houseplants)
-
Keep
the toilet lid down to avoid drowning
-
Latch
& close doors and windows (rabbits can jump)
-
Remove
items from the floor that should not be ingested
-
Install child
gates on doorways into rooms that aren’t “bunny proof” Note:
they will chew right through a plastic gate eventually so
try a wood or better yet, a metal gate instead
Temperature
Housing
-
Large Cage
or puppy x-pen with solid floor (if you have a wire cage
cover the floor with a solid wood board, hay or towels at
the very least to prevent a condition called "sore hocks."
Rabbits do not have pads on their feet like cats or dogs.
Cages with wires were originated with those breeding rabbits
to be slaughtered within 12 weeks of age.
-
The "cage"
should be large enough for rabbit to stand up in, stretch and hop around -
get the biggest cage you can find!
-
A good alternative is a puppy pen
(x-pen) about 24" to 36" high with several 2 foot
wide wire panels. There are lots of creative housing
possibilities. See the
Bunny Digs page for ideas!
-
Bedding:
Timothy hay or straw or a Quiet Time kennel pad for
older or disabled rabbits in one corner.
-
Locate the
rabbit's home in a spot where there is activity – absolutely not a damp basement, garage or
attic!
-
Get
your rabbit out for exercise everyday for a few hours! Or provide an area around their cage where
they can run - put an x-pen around it. Many
people let
their bunnies have the run of the house like a cat or dog.
Food
(Also see
Rabbit Diet)
-
Rabbits have about 17000 taste buds
compared to humans with 10000 so they
have very good taste and enjoy variety!!!
-
Hanging
water bottle or heavy crock water bowl – change water everyday and twice
a day is best. You can get crocks that attached to the side of a
pen, too.
-
Timothy
hay is absolutely necessary for digestion.
-
Alfalfa
pellets - don't provide unless the rabbit is under 1 year old, sick or
disabled. Instead, buy the following:
fresh Timothy Hay and Timothy Hay based
pellets.
-
Fresh
veggies including carrots and carrot tops, broccoli, radish tops,
romaine lettuce, beet greens, turnip greens; mustard greens and small
amounts of parsley.
-
Fresh
fruit slices (small bits) as long as rabbit isn’t overweight
such as apples (not the seeds), pears, or peaches/nectarines
-
Salt
wheel
-
Chew
toys like safe wood blocks, organic apple twigs, etc.
-
They
can nibble on your yard if it is free of pesticides
and poisonous plants
-
Never, ever feed
a rabbit popcorn, cereals and other human treats - they can cause serious
digestive problems possibly leading to death. For
6 pages of information on rabbit diet see
Rabbit Diet-
There is information on diet, a diagram of the digestive system and lots
more!
Litter
-
See page on Critter Litter
-
Litter
pan – natural litter like timothy hat, newspaper based, even wood stove
pellets
-
Do not use cedar chips or clay kitty litters
since they can cause a blockage if ingested
-
Do
put timothy hay in litter box since rabbits will graze on in one end and
will not eat soiled hay.
-
Rinse
pan with white vinegar to control odor and it sanitizes, too. Change
once a day or at least every other day.
-
Litter
box train your rabbit. See
the HRS web page on
Litter
Training
Hints
from the Hare Salon: See
Grooming a Rabbit
Fix
those Rabbits!
I cannot stress this
enough. If you have a male and female rabbit pair:
-
A female rabbit can have a litter every 31 days!
-
Females can become
pregnant the same day they give birth. You do the math! Okay, I'll do it
for you: with only 2 bunnies in each litter in one year that
will equal 288 rabbits. Rabbits can have up 4 to 6
bunnies per litter.
It is
a scary thought and scarier in reality! See your vet about when to spay or
neuter, between 4 and 6 months old for both males and females depending on the
breed.
See
Too
Many Rabbits
for more information on how to sex a rabbit.
Photo
Credit: "Rugby" from
San Diego
HRS.
