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a few lessons i have learned in rabbit owning

Crystal butterfly

Warren Veteran
wasnt sure what to put as a title but i just wanted to share my own nightmare with you lot in the hope that it will make you think before rehoming a belovered pet.

in Feburary/March last year i had 6 rabbits my parents were splitting up and i had to find a place to live i moved in with my then bf he lived in a flat meaning i had to rehome my rabbits i chose to keep Crystal and Flopsy and rehome the remaining 4 my friend took my youngest rabbit Honey and a local rescue offered to take the other 3. Sadly Flopsy passed on due to a fit (he'd had a fit previous to this but came through it ok) he was rushed to the vets where he was pts as he started gasping for breath in a dying way so now i only had Crystal, then my friend the one who got Honey contacted me and said she didnt want Honey any more so i took her back and bonded her with Crystal.

a few weeks later i came across a local breeder of Lionheads and fell in love with one little baby (Simba) and reserved him i was ashamed to admit where i got him from on here and said that he was someones unwanted pet so then came rabbit number 3 :rolleyes: a few weeks later i was in a garden centre and had a look at their rabbits there was one baby who appeared to be ill i told one of the workers and they didnt care so i bought the baby in hope i could make him better sadly he passed on during the night, i rung the garden centre the next day who then offered me a replacement so i went back there for rabbit number 4 when i got there there were 6 magpie harlequins and one orange and black harlequin i couldnt choose from them so got 2, i was told they were both female so they lived happily together. so that was rabbit number 5 now :shock:

then the breeder who i got Simba from emailed me and said that he was getting rid of stock as he wanted to start on show quality rabbits and talked me into having Lilli who was Simbas mum so that was rabbit number 6 :roll:

a few weeks later i found out that Binky and Misty the supposidly girls :roll: were actually boys :shock: they had started to scuffle, part of me thinks i should have had then both neutered together right then but instead i decided to rehome Binky :roll:

Lesson learned here:
if you buy a rabbit to bond with an existing rabbit make sure you have the space and time for 2 separate rabbits if teh bonding fails or they end up being the same sex etc. its cruel in my opinion to buy and discard because there not good enough any more! their not toys!!!!

i placed Binky on free ads and in the vets i was contacted by a girl who seemed really nice on the phone i was ensured that he would be neutered and well cared for i believed her :rolleyes: a couple of months later i was browsing the free ads and came across a local one selling baby rabbits she had a website so i had a nose about clicked on dwarf lop bucks and oh my there was Binky :shock: :cry:

seeing him on there broke my heart he didnt deserve a home like that he deserved a loving home one where he'd be loved and cared for properly :cry:

lesson learned here:
when rehoming your belovered pet always homecheck because PEOPLE LIE on the phone tell you what you want to hear, if you dont homecheck how will you know their going to a better place?

as yous know Simba and Lilli went to live with my mum and Honey sadly passed on so i now only have 2 rabbits who i will have for life now and no other rabbit will come to live with me i became part of the problem instead of helping rabbits how could i call myself a rabbit lover? my aim this year is to give my two a wonderful life and to help rescues with fundraising etc. im even considering sponsering a needy bun. it really is time i stop being selfish and start helping those who need it.

i just wanted to write this in the hope some new rabbit owners will read this and learn from my mistakes my rabbits didnt deserve a life like that i just seemed to buy and rehome :cry:

i will probably get jumped on now but i can safely say i wont reply to this thread anymore and if yous feel im not worthy to be here il go :(
 
Dont worry about it we all have done mistakes in the past, I also bought a rabbit from a pet shop, I also when i lived at home bought a rabbit to breed for my gcse's and ended up with six and giving a couple away, One of the baby's that i gave away got caught by a fox. I learnt from my mistakes and only have the 2 now who are bonded, I will get 2 more when i get my own house if we have enough space.
 
Not gonna jump on you, cuz hopefully you've learnt your lesson the hard way.

My one bit of advice would be to stop buying/acquiring un-neutered rabbits. Go to a rescue that neuters their animals and they will be able to give 100% confirmation of sex.

Amy
 
you have been very honest so i dont think you deserve to be jumped on. my first rabbit was from a pet shop and i just didnt tell people where i got her from because i was scared of the reaction that i would receive. Zola was from someone that could no longer offer him a home so in a way i helped him but he wasnt a rescue bun from a centre.

as long as you have learnt from your mistakes and dont keep adding to your clan then its all good
 
sadly these things happen you have learnt from mistakes.that is a good thing!

i have been "grounded" by oh when my ideas spin out of control sometimes it takes another to help you.
there was an ill bun in petshop which i would have bought but oh said that i couldnt i was so upset that i could not help... but i realised he was talking sense im sure if id got that bun then i would have wanted a freind it would have cost me a fortune in vet fees and i did not at time have a proper hutch to keep in so would not have given a good life. we all want to help but we have to know our limits!!! :) said petshop was reported to rspca and to council and i do not buy there anymore. this is the best way i could help that bun and the others there. as i could never afford to buy and look after them all.
 
I doubt anyone will jump on you as you've been honest and have learned from your mistakes..

good advice you've given:D
 
One of the things I've learnt since having rabbits is that there's always something new to learn. I thought I was a fairly knowledgeable rabbit owner until the middle of last year when I got Bella and Tarquin. Before them I have always got my rabbits from pet shops - I didn't realise there were rabbit rescues, even though I've been a member of the RWA for years and should have known better.

Bella is a sort of rescue rabbit and through joining my local forum I found Sooz and realised what was happening out there. She told me about RU and since then I have learned more than all the years before that put together.

I was hoping Bella and Tarquin would live happily together and fell in love with Tarquin and when the bonding didn't work luckily I was able to keep them both and they're both happy and have a good life. I do know though that I could easily let things get out of control which is why I don't look at the Rabbits in Need section any more. I can give my two a brilliant life, but more than two and I know they'd start to miss out. Maybe I'm hiding from it but I can't read about all the bunnies and piggies needing a new home as I can't take any more in. I hope I can do my bit by donating things to my local rabbit rescue now and then instead.

I learnt my lesson with guinea pigs when I couldn't stop adding to them and ended up with nearly 30 at one point. They all had a very good life, though maybe not the attention from me that I'd have liked but they had each other and all lived in groups of boys or girls and were well fed and housed, but I'm now down to eight and that's a manageable number and I won't go above that.

Life is all about learning and not making the same mistakes. I think coming on here is very brave and people should not judge as we've all done things that we've learnt from and wouldn't do again. Reading your post I can quite easily imagine that I could have got into the same situation.
 
We all make mistakes.

I think its whether we learn from them that counts and you have by the sounds of it :wave:
 
I think you have been very brave and selfless, hopefully as you intended people will read and learn. Nobody has the right to attack you for being honest and you have clearly learnt a few things and are willing to share. x
 
Well Done! Good advise you have given. It is so easy to get wraped up with the quantiy of rabbits around who all deserve a good home. It is so much easer to take on more than you can handle than to realise your bounderys and say no. The biggest help is knowing the right information to give. Your local rehome centers and rabbit rehome website to give to people who need to rehome their pet. Local RSPCA numbers for reporting cruelty or neglect.

This is a fantastic website for getting help and advice. It is a shame that people are sometimes worred about peoples well intentioned but harsh replys.

I would ask everyone to think carefully on how they respond to peoples posts when they see things they disagree with. It is easy to give your opinion but not so easy to be tactfull. lets try to help each other and not frighten peope off!
 
Well written, that must've taken some guts, so respect to you and well done on de-blinkering yourself! :thumb: One of the hardest things to do is to step back, look at one's own actions and realise you are not doing things in the best way.

I can understand to some extent how you feel, Bobbin was from a breeder and although I have the excuse that I didn't know any better at the time I still feel guilty about "purchasing" him :?

With regards the re-homing, you trusted that girl, you just did not realise what was necessary to ensure he went to a good home :( That is not your fault, but good that you have learnt and have warned others.

xx
 
i could easily get into the buying more and more rabbits, they so adorable i can see how easy it would be to do..... thankfully for me my house is too small and we have to go to scotland atleast once a year, can only fit one carrier in the car with a dog too :lol::lol:

if i could find the space i would have tried to adopt jubilee but i know itll never happen :(
 
I dont think anyone is going to have a go at you x

I didnt think through properly what I was going to do if Buu and Beau didnt get on, well I knew I would keep them both but now its happened ive had problems at home since then so things are different from how I thought they would be and the little plan I made just incase when I adopted Buu wont work :roll: :lol:

I cant have two seperate hutches with attached runs because I cant afford to rent somewhere with a big enough garden for three runs, I cant get another hutch and run so they at least each have one until I move because postage on them is so expensive and I would order one and then find somewhere to live so never get to use it so would end up spending about £300 just to give it away :roll: I cant have them as full time house buns at home now, Buu is hiding in my room today :roll: so they are both going to be outside on their own until I move. And I just cant find anywhere else to live :cry:

To be honest I have been put off trying to bond Buu and Beau with other rabbits when I do finally move out because I am going to struggle with more single buns if it doesnt work out and I feel terrible and like I shouldnt even have them :(
 
We all learn from our mistakes so don't be too hard on yourself. I think it was very brave of you to be honest and hopefully if people read this they will realise how easy it is to get caught up in it all.

My flopsy came from a pet shop as I didn't know rescues existed:oops:

I am glad my oh keeps me grounded and says no more than 2.

Don't be too hard on yourself. You have been very brave to say what you have.

Sending hugs to make you feel better.:D
 
As you say ...lessons learned ...

we go through life learning . Its how we hopefully become better people.

well done for posting what you have ...it may make other people think.:D
 
i feel the same way about my bunnies having babies.
the first litter was planned, and yes they all had lovely hueg accomodatio and i cared for them brilliantly, but that dusnt make it okay. after i realised the mistake i had made, i got their new baby that i kept neutured, and booked a appointment for dad. unfortunatly he dug out hsi run and made a second litter, which was NOT planned, and yes all bunnies went to forever homes but i just was compelled with guilt that i may have stopped a rescue bun from being adopted.

all my bunnies n now fixed and i will never ever ever ever ever breed again, i wouldnt change what i did because i cant regret not having my beauty domino, but i wouldnt do it again. so i have also learnt a lesson. xxxx
 
That took guts to do. You have been really honest and I think that anyone who had a go would be very petty indeed. It is really easy to get carried away when you are compassionate and want to do the best, but sometimes it isn't the right thing to do.

Thanks for putting it all in perspective for us for when we are in P@H and feel sorry for the bunny in the corner. We need to really think it through.
 
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