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How much do rabbits cost?

arianwen

New Kit
I'm weighing up the pros and cons of various types of animals (for when I am not a poor student, but a real person with a job and a place to live!) and I'm trying to find out various costs. There'd obviously be the cost of adopting them from a rescue centre, but that's a one-of, expected cost.

I have searched and searched the forum, and found many posts with the words 'cost' and 'expensive' in them, and even one with vet bills, but nothing about day-to-day, month-to-month costs of keeping rabbits. So, could I have some estimates, please? :)

Per month
Food (pellets/mix):
Hay:
Toys:
Litter:
Insurance:
Annual injections:

What haven't I thought of? Any other suggestions? :) Thank you, in advance.


EDIT
This is interesting! On average, for two rabbits, it seems to come to about £400/year, or £7/week. Buying in bulk, getting bales of hay, shopping around - that seems to be the key. Well, thank you for the information! I shall lurk around the forum for more in-depth information.
 
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Welcome to the forum :wave:

I'm a student and I have a Saturday job. I pay for my rabbits COMPLETELY from my wages. None goes to me, it all goes to the rabbits. I pay about:

Per month
Food (pellets/mix): £6
Hay: £40
Toys: £5 (if that, I can't afford to buy much toys, but you can make them yourselves, it's cheaper)
Litter: £4
Insurance: None. Don't have any.
Annual injections: For two rabbits, myxi twice yearly = £60, and VHD once yearly = £30, so £90 total for two rabbits. Also depends where you live and what your vet charges.

Hope I've been of some help.
 
Food (pellets/mix): A £3 bag of Science Selective lasts me a good 2 months or more with my two.
Hay: I buy a big bale from Dust Free Hay for £25.99 - this lasts about 2-3 months, but if you have a car or a farm/horsey place nearby you can get a nice bale of hay for £5 or so.
Toys: I just buy them ad-lib.. some of the best ones are free [apple twigs, toilet roll tubes, egg boxes, cardboard boxes]
Litter: £13.99 for a bale of finacard.. if I only had the two bunnies and no other small furries this would probably last around a year. As it stands I have quite a few pets so it lasts a couple of months :)
Insurance: I don't have insurance - I have a vet fund and a credit card for emergencies, as insurance most often excludes the common ailments that bunnies suffer from.
Annual injections: I pay £19 per injection, so £38 per rabbit - thankfully I got my two at separate times, and for each rabbit each injection is a month apart so it spreads the cost :)

You forgot veggies - I spend around £2 a week on spring greens, carrots, broccoli, kale, spinach [not all at once] etc, but I use it myself as well :)
 
depends really,

i spend £3 every 8 weeks on hay!! bcus i buy bals, same goes 4 my straw
Pellets cost me £8 every 3 months, and thats to feed four bunnies!

But i spend around £45 on toys every 3 months or so, bcus i get everythign else so cheap.

i dont insure my buns but i think its around £12 a month, wasnt worth it 4 me when i have four! Vaccinations cost me £13
 
On the four bunnies i spend per month

pellets.....£3.00

veg £30.00

hay.....£15.00( used as litter and food)

Toys.....£20.00 (mostly willow balls,sisal carrots etc)

vaccinations.....£12.50 each myxo....12.75 VHD each

insurance .... not insured.

If you don't have insurance it's probably a good idea to have around £300 pounds in a little bunny account just for emergency bills...this amount should cover a few out of hours vet bills and unplanned meds etc.
 
I have one rabbit at the moment and the costs are as follows:

-Pellets Science Selective one bag per month £3.70 (this is being a little generous)
-Carefresh litter tray media £10 per month
-Russell Rabbit straw bedding £8.00 per month
-Hay meadow - £6.95 per month - I use this for bedding too.
-Timothy hay - £8.00 per month
-Insurance £11.60 per month
-Fresh Vegetables £5 per month
-Toys £5 willow toys

This is for an outdoor bun, so the cost is slightly less in the summer due to less bedding.

Just spent £30 for both injections but this was on a deal
and casturation was £63.
Hutch was £130
Run was £39.99
Carrycase I got from a freead

My spending has really gone up lately though, and the products I use I am sure there are cheaper ones.
 
Pellets £5.00 per month (Excel ones usually)
Hay £6.00 per month (massive bags) although we have a field which will be going to hay soon so free hay!!!
Fresh greens £2 per week
Straw £3.00 per month
And hand picked grass and dandelions. This is for 2 rabbits...

They have just had thier mixi vacs and that was £40 for both of them and they are due for their vhd vacs in 2 weeks which is about the same.
They are being spayed in the next couple of months so that will be £120 for the two but Beetlejuice has to have something investigated so god know what that will add on to the price...

Soooo much cheaper than my old dog though!
 
For my two bunnies...

Approx/month

£14 bunny club (vets, to spread the cost of vaccinations etc)
£7 litter (big bag of megazorb)
£3 (approx. a quarter of big bag of pellets)
£8-16 hay (1-2 bags of farm hay per week)
£3 special hay/dried grass
£2 toys (they have quite a few, so just one new one occasionally to replace chewed ones etc)
£8 veg (I grow some and they share some with us)

So about £6-7 per bunny per week, or around £50 per month for 2.
I buy bulk pellets and litter now which is cheaper
 
For 7 small rabbits. The litter isn't accurate though as we have a large guineapig cage and degu who use the same stuff.

Per month
Food (pellets/mix): A&p pellets £6
Hay: Depends we get a bale for £4 which lasts ages, with use as bedding too is lasts 2 months, but we also buy them some other hays for variety. Between £10-£15 a month
Toys: Not a monthly cost, but I'd say a £10
Litter: £6 bag of megazorb
Insurance: none, but I used to pay £8.50 for each rabbit when I just had two.

Annual injections: our vaccs are £14.50 for myxi each and £10.50 each vhd, but we get a multi pet discount on the vhd.
 
Any animal can cost a lot of money especially if they are ill etc.Insurance won't cover everything so you have to check what you are covered for etc.It can be expensive but that is part and parcel with having a wonderful friend who is part of the family who will love you unconditionally and who you will look after and love unconditionally too.Have you had pets before?Some people don't realise how much responsibility they are and if you go on holiday and things getting them looked after.All the best.
 
You can spend as much as you want on rabbits.

I dont have any of my own but always have foster rabbits here. These are my costs for an average pair of rabbits

Per month
Food (pellets): A 3kg bag of SS should last 2 rabbits just over a month at £5.50 approx
Veg: approx £2 or £3 a week
Hay: A bale costs me £6 which will last me at least 2 - 3 months.
Special hay: Extra special hay for putting in a rack for eating £5 - £10 a month. This is not essential if you are able to puchase decent bales of hay
Toys: You can spend as much as you want, and also make them yourself to keep your costs down.
Litter: don't use this as I use a litter tray filled with normal hay from a bale with some paper at the bottom.
Insurance: Don't have insurance although would have money put by for this. some people put by £10 - £20 a week until they have a reasonable amount in an account for this.
Annual injections: approx £45 a year each myxie needs doing every 6 months, VHD every year. Depends on the charges made by your vet.
 
Per month approx-
Food (pellets/mix): one bag of SS, £5.30, Vegetables £25
Hay: £16
Toys: none! They have cardboard loo roll tubes and apple tree twigs from my friends garden.
Litter: free newspapers from my mum and cheap hay from jolleys £4
Insurance: haven't got any
Annual injections: £120 for 4 rabbits (used to be £160 until I found vets for pets were cheaper)

Addition costs, treatment for Hobbes abscess £140. Hutches £260. Indoor dog crate for emergencies £40. Vet bed £10. Plastic tunnels £20. Damage to washing machine caused by rabbit nibbling £65! Spaying and neutering £200 for all 4.

My cat hasn't cost me nearly as much! :lol:
 
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Any animal can cost a lot of money especially if they are ill etc.Insurance won't cover everything so you have to check what you are covered for etc.It can be expensive but that is part and parcel with having a wonderful friend who is part of the family who will love you unconditionally and who you will look after and love unconditionally too.Have you had pets before?Some people don't realise how much responsibility they are and if you go on holiday and things getting them looked after.All the best.

I have - I've currently got three rats. They're incredibly cheap to keep - so much that I don't even notice how much they cost, to be honest - and utterly adorable. Yes, they chew things, and pee on me, but that's all part of their charm. As for responsibility - definitely. I think I underestimated it before I got them, because I'd had no experience of animals before. (I'm 21, and they're my first pets.) For instance, I travelled to Wales to see a friend, and took the rats. While I was there, one of them seemed to have a cut on his nose, so I got him an appointment at the nearest vets within the day. (Including the hour driving around rural Wales, totally lost.) I'd do utterly anything for them, especially when they're ill.

I'm on incapacity benefits, so cost is a very high factor for me, because money is difficult. Knowing that I'm able to afford them is probably the most important, because once I have them, I'd do utterly anything to make sure they're happy, loved, healthy and safe. I won't be getting them until I've got some kind of regular income... which could be years away, actually. :( But that's because I've got chronic depression, and that's a whole 'nother story!

Thanks so much for replying, and definitely for checking that I understand the responsibility involved. It's really nice to have people care. :)
 
I have - I've currently got three rats. They're incredibly cheap to keep - so much that I don't even notice how much they cost, to be honest - and utterly adorable. Yes, they chew things, and pee on me, but that's all part of their charm. As for responsibility - definitely. I think I underestimated it before I got them, because I'd had no experience of animals before. (I'm 21, and they're my first pets.) For instance, I travelled to Wales to see a friend, and took the rats. While I was there, one of them seemed to have a cut on his nose, so I got him an appointment at the nearest vets within the day. (Including the hour driving around rural Wales, totally lost.) I'd do utterly anything for them, especially when they're ill.

I'm on incapacity benefits, so cost is a very high factor for me, because money is difficult. Knowing that I'm able to afford them is probably the most important, because once I have them, I'd do utterly anything to make sure they're happy, loved, healthy and safe. I won't be getting them until I've got some kind of regular income... which could be years away, actually. :( But that's because I've got chronic depression, and that's a whole 'nother story!

Thanks so much for replying, and definitely for checking that I understand the responsibility involved. It's really nice to have people care. :)

Yay, another rat lover :) :wave: If you're on incapacity benefits can you get free treatment at the PDSA etc?
 
Hi,

I have 6 bunnies & 6 guinea pigs. The cost is spread with my o/h.

On average i would say...

Per month;

Food - large bag of museli - £8.99
Food - guniea pig - £11.99
Hay bale - £6.99
Bedding - £6.00
Litter - £8.00
Toys - £40-£50
Injections - i am unsure, never really added it all up

I dont have insurance.
Veggies are bought weekly around £5.00

:)
 
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