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What's your bunny routine?

Jemadra

New Kit
I am a rookie bunny mum and am only just starting to establish a routine for me and the bunnies. They are 12 and 15 weeks old. (Poppy and Lola, pics soon) I have had Lola for 3 weeks and Poppy for a few days. (I am not sure what to do about bonding them but I posted a different thread on that topic.) How long did it take for you to establish a good routine for feeding and exercise and grooming and cleaning and etc etc. What is your routine? Do you think bunnies thrive more if they have a very definite routine or are they quite adaptable.

To be honest I kind of feel like I did when I was learning to be a Mum to my daughter Arianna 3 years ago. Going on instinct and advice from others, reading the books but disregarding most of them as they all seem to conflict, being terrified of making a mistake and cleaning up a lot of poop. I never guessed what wonderfully complex creatures rabbits are, or how steep the learning curve is. Thank goodness I have found RU.
 
I am a rookie bunny mum and am only just starting to establish a routine for me and the bunnies. They are 12 and 15 weeks old. (Poppy and Lola, pics soon) I have had Lola for 3 weeks and Poppy for a few days. (I am not sure what to do about bonding them but I posted a different thread on that topic.) How long did it take for you to establish a good routine for feeding and exercise and grooming and cleaning and etc etc. What is your routine? Do you think bunnies thrive more if they have a very definite routine or are they quite adaptable.

To be honest I kind of feel like I did when I was learning to be a Mum to my daughter Arianna 3 years ago. Going on instinct and advice from others, reading the books but disregarding most of them as they all seem to conflict, being terrified of making a mistake and cleaning up a lot of poop. I never guessed what wonderfully complex creatures rabbits are, or how steep the learning curve is. Thank goodness I have found RU.

Hi!

Personally, I think most pets like a routine because it makes them feel secure but I know there is conflicting ideas on that one:lol:.

My routine is pretty much:

Morning (6.30am)- hard food and greens, litter tray, letting them out into the run and topping up hay and clean water.

Afternoon- (3pm) hard food and clean water again.

Evening (this depends on nightfall)- litter trays, topping up hay and clean water. A little hadnful of veg and then shutting off the run and securing the playhouse.

Once a week I clean everything out from top to bottom but once you get them litter trained, theday to day cleaning is pretty quick.

You'll find a routine that works for you though.

FC x
 
I have two separate routines one for my outside buns and one for inside. The outside buns litter trays are cleaned out 6.00 am and they have their veg. When I get home from work they have a handful of dandelions, grass and plantain. At about 8.00 pm I shut them away and they have their pellets. I replenish the water in the evening. Full clean out once a week.

Indoor buns I give veg in the morning. Litter trays when I come home from work together with dandelion, grass and plantain. Evening pellets. Full clean and hoover once weekly.

They also have their treat hay baskets/trays replenish once daily.
 
Morning (7.30) Get up, sort out food, pellets sprinkled with Readigrass
Afternoon (1.30) replenish hay, water, clean trays, and switch over whoever is in the run - and give sneaky treats of apple :oops:
Evening (6.00) - pellets and fresh foods, check everyone's bums
Late evening (6.00 onwards) Let them out on the grass - weather permitting

Once a week I thoroughly clean and disinfect everything, and twice a week I groom the lionheads
 
breakfast veg, litter tray change and new water every morning at 8am

if i come home at lunch time ill give some pellets or veg leaf (just to check they are eating and top up the hay

after work at 6pm i give either a treat of a few pellets or some veg again to check i have happy eating bunnies and release them from thier prison, top up hay

11pm - 12am its bed time/pellet time and they get locked up again..hay is topped up for the night

my pair are so used to the routine they refuse to change it (unless its for extra food lol) the cage is open right now because i am home at the weekend but do they leave the room nope, not till about 7pm usually :shock: they are both snoozing in the carrier in the cage :roll:

if im late with pellets Alvin will start chewing wallpaper and pearl starts throwing stuff about.

i think my buns thrive off the routine and get very stroppy if i dont stick to it :lol::lol:
 
had to post about my pair of routine insisitent buns.... cage has been open all day... at 6.15pm they finally left the bunny room (usual let out time) :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
Morning, between 8 and 10, depending what shifts im working, Molly eats her pellets whilst I clean out her litter tray in her run, and prepare it with fresh hay and water, when she finishes her pellets she gets 1-2 hours free range whilst I eat breakfast, and feed my other pets, then she goes in her run and has a snooze.
Somewhere between 2 and 3 she gets her 'posh' hay topped up and she is then given her greens.
About 7pm she gets let out for her evening free range time, whilst I clean out and prepare her indoor cage. 9pm she gets her pellets and is shut in for the night.
If im on night shifts she usually gets some more greens at about 3/4 am.
 
My routine is pretty flexible. My guys are indoor buns, so I feed them once in the morning and once at night (8am and 8pm) with veggies in the PM. I change their litter every other day. And whenever I am home, they get to run around like the crazy rabbits they are!

(By the way, you mentioned trying to find a good book! The best I have found so far, from the suggestion of this forum, is When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care. Covers pretty much anything that can go wrong with a rabbit. But my first book was Rabbits For Dummies :lol:)
 
7.30 am - let them out of hutch into run, give them their pellets, check water and clean litter trays, top up hay.

5.00 pm - give them some dandelions that I pick on my way home or a few pellets to say hello.

when it gets dark - give them their veg which I use to entice them into hutch. Lock them away for the night.
 
Best to establish a routine, as you can quickly notice if anything's amiss. Everyone has their own way of doing it though.

Mine is:
7.30am Feed greens and brocoli and top up hay, check water bottles and clean any litter trays that need doing (empty into bin bag, re-fill with cat litter pellets - easy peasy!)

12pm Handful of grass

6.30pm Veggies

10.30pm pellets and a bowl of treat hay

At the weekend, I then give the runs a good spruce and the litter trays a good clean.
 
Mine dont have a set routine as we have to change Snowdrops diet frequently depending on how she is. On a "normal" day its

5am Pellets and fresh hay
6.30am Litter tray cleaned out and floor swept (leaving the fresh hay in)
5pm Veg for Strawberry, some dried herbs and posh hay for Snowdrop. Hay changed in enclosure. Bunnies let out to free range.
11.30pm Fresh hay, pellets and water changed. Bunnies put to bed.
 
(By the way, you mentioned trying to find a good book! The best I have found so far, from the suggestion of this forum, is When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care. Covers pretty much anything that can go wrong with a rabbit. But my first book was Rabbits For Dummies :lol:)

Lol I bought Rabbits for dummies last week :oops: It's ok but not enough detail. Have been recommended the 'House Rabbit Handbook: How to Live with an Urban Rabbit'. Have you read it? Is it any good?
 
Here's mine:

7.15a, open up

7.45am change hay and water, skip out, and feed veg

6pm small handful of Dandelion Delight

9.30pm pellet time

10.00pm-ish close up
 
8am - Open up and breakfast

12-1pm - If i come home at lunch i give them a bit of something to eat just to make sure all is well

6pm - Litter trays and new hay and out on the grass for a little bit

9-10pm - Dinner time and fresh water time

Sundays is my big shed clean day :)
 
Mine dont have a set routine as we have to change Snowdrops diet frequently depending on how she is. On a "normal" day its

5am Pellets and fresh hay
6.30am Litter tray cleaned out and floor swept (leaving the fresh hay in)
5pm Veg for Strawberry, some dried herbs and posh hay for Snowdrop. Hay changed in enclosure. Bunnies let out to free range.
11.30pm Fresh hay, pellets and water changed. Bunnies put to bed.

Showing my inexperience here but, but what is 'posh hay'? and 5am? That's an early start, suddenly my little girl waking me at 7.30am doesn't seem so bad, lol.
 
Showing my inexperience here but, but what is 'posh hay'? and 5am? That's an early start, suddenly my little girl waking me at 7.30am doesn't seem so bad, lol.

Strawberry is rather demanding! lol He gets me up at 5am for his breakfast then I go back to bed untill 6.30am when I get up for work.

When Strawberry has his beg Snowdrop has a selection of Excell herbage and Burns Green Oat hay which are much more expensive than normal hay so they are her treat while Strawbs is getting veggies! The rest of the time they have normal meadow hay which she will also eat.
 
Not raining:
8am - Out in the garden/house
Dusk - Back in the garage, hay, veg, water, sweep, litter trays every 3 days for the rabbits, every 2 for the pigs.

Raining:
8am - hay, veg, (pellets if their lucky)
12pm - hay
6pm - hay
Dusk - hay, veg, water, sweep.

On raining days they will probably come in the house or I will be in their NIC for hours at a time "nature-watching" haha and giving them forced cuddles, training them with pellets :oops: :lol: 3/4 of the guinea pigs can now stand on their hind legs when I say up :oops: The rabbits tend to steal the pellets rather than listen to me haha
 
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