New member looking for advice before getting a bunny!

Hi I'm Lyn, 38, 3 kids, about to do something totally lifechanging and leave my husband..! feeling is mutual, no love left between us, so nicely amicable!

I'm looking at a house to rent today, and have been giving some serious consideration to giving a loving home to a house bunny.. my kids are 8, 12 and 14 so able to help with the care of one now

I did the obligatory oohing and aahhing at the bunnies in p@h yesterday along with my 8 yr old lass, had a look at some of the hutches, and just generally priced up and sized up what I would need etc.

I'm pretty sure I'm after a Ferplast 140 which I have found online for £110, and as far as I can gather, I'll need a nice soft pod for a house for bunny to sleep/hide in, tunnels, chew toys, hay, sawdust, mineral lick, and have researched what pellets/fresh food it will need. I also already have an awesome vet so neutering/jabs should be no hassle

So main questions really.. how to choose a healthy bunny? should I consider an already trained looking for a good home rescue bunny, or should I respond to an advert from someone local looking to sell babies, or should I indeed get one from p@h?

If I get a baby from wherever, how easy are they to train to use a litterbox, I presume I will need several? and have read that they are a good way of stopping bunny from shredding the corners of the carpet (which wouldn't be good in a rented house hehe)

I also have a 13 yr old very placid dog with no urge to chase, I'm aware that I'll need to be careful in introducing them and I'm not to leave them alone for a long time. I have the necessary baby gate to keep the dog out while bunny is roaming the living room.

any advice? I hope I don't come across as a complete muppet, I'm hoping the timing will be right - I'm looking to order a cage asap when I move into the new house, I thought it might be a nice distraction for the kids, and a nice companion for me when the kids are at their dads. I'm going to be at home all day until I manage to get on some part time college courses, and am hoping to train as a seamstress so that I can work from home

Still reading? here have a sweetie hehehe :wave:

hiya :wave:

bunnies prefer company so a bonded pair would be best. i wouldn't go to pets at home/petshops etc. get a pair of rescue buns, give them a chance at a forever home. chances are they will already be neutered/spayed, vaccinated etc etc.

rabbit need a hutch of minimum 6 ft x 2 x 2 with attached run of minimum 6 x 4, so indoors will need to be the equivalent. people use the mesh storage cubes to make the cage the size and shape they want. also, dog crates with attached runs. there are lots of pics on here.

being indoors i wouldn't use sawdust. it is bad for bunnies anyway. i use pet blankets. and then megazorb and hay in the litter trays. they litter train easily.

food wise, hay is the most important thing, about 90% of the diet, with a small amount of pellets, not mix, a day. about an egg cup full. and then a selection of veg and herbs. all introduced slowly one at a time if they are not used to them. oh, no mineral licks, not good for them!

is your vet a rabbit/exotics vet? they are specialists in rabbits. what area are you in? someone on here will beable to tell you the closest one. also find out your nearest emergency 24 hour vets before you might need it!

vaccinations i'm sure you have read are myxi twice a year/6 monthly, and vhd once a year.

er....have i forgotten anything???!

i will post pics of my set up for bisc and matt just for an idea. one min.....

here you go...........









you will love having rabbits! they are amazing...but quite prone to problems! very delicate. but amazing. i would always choose a pair over a single rabbit as they love company and watching them groom each other and play and hop together is amazing.

any more questions ask away, everyone on here is so nice.

i think it is great aswell that you are researching before getting them. so many people don't! i can tell you will be a brilliant bunny mum! :wave:

eta: this cage is their 'base', they have the run of downstairs aswell. i am home all day but if i wasn't i would make the cage bigger. :wave:

eta: the cubes are cheaper than cages aswell and alot bigger!

also, my two get to play outside in the garden in the nice weather aswell. (supervised of course!) :wave:

wow many thanks for the fast and detailed response!!

thankfully I love all my pets (I keep weird tropical fish as well as 2 rescue dogs - 1 is coming with me now, and I'll seek a companion for him once the kids/Bunny is settled) hence taking the time to research before taking what p@h were telling me as gospel.. mineral licks obviously have a high profit rating I'm surprised that they told me that bunnies like to live alone, and that buying 2 together (despite them being on offer if u bought 2) was 'asking for trouble' as they are likely to fight.. !!

I'm loving that cube set up, what do I need to search for to find them online? also what do you line the bottom of the cage with? I'll have a mooch about on here too, home made looks the way to go!

Cheers for the info on what you line the litter trays with.. as I'd have been asking that next hehe

Hmmm 2 bunnies eh? I might just have my arm twisted.. in for a penny, in for a pound as they say!!

My vet is awesome ..

http://www.lansdownvets.co.uk/index.html

mind you, they've had plenty of money off us recently, my 13 yr old dog had 2 grand mal seizures out of the blue, and we had to rush him there out of hours, he's now on medication with regular blood tests and is slowly bouncing back to normal bless him!! the vet nurses there are particularly good, one rang us the next morning to see how he was and offer advice any time we needed it especially that day as we were obviously very shaken from seeing him have such a dramatic fit.. twice! they are excellent, and I see from looking through the vets that 2 of them are small animal surgery specialists too

aw, your poor dog. glad he is on the mend now. my rabbit bisc has been having regular blood tests recently aswell. worrying aren't they.

i got my cubes from b&q but i don't think they sell them anymore. i think they do on ebay...type in 'mesh storage cubes' i think. there is a shop online that sells them aswell.....but i can't think for the life of me what it is called!!!! will have a think............

i have put lino down for the base so it is easy to clean.

i know alot of people on here don't like pets at home and i ahve heard some bad things about them. but i think some of the stores have got alot better.

i know some people on here keep a single bunny because it is inside, but after keeping a single one myself, and then bisc and matt together, i could never keep a single one again!

you say two bunnies but you will become addicted! :lol:

Welcome to RU:wave:

Rabbits do love company so I too agree it would be better to get an already bonded pair. There are at least 33,000 rabbits in rescues looking for homes, and rescues do have already neutered, vaccinated and bonded pairs available.

You seem to know almost everything, Salt/mineral licks are no good since your rabbit should have suffiecient vitamins from food anyway.

I'd be tempted to buy some vetbed and a snugglesafe too just for if you ever have an emergency bunny illness. Vet bed can also be used as normal in the base of the cage or enclosure, mine covers the floor of my house :shock:.

Oh Megazorb is available online if you have no shops that stock it near you! or you could use Carefresh, however it is alot more expensive! :wave:

I think you'll be a fab bunny mummy!

Hi, I wouldnt bother with the cage. They are very expensive for the amount of space the bunny gets. You can pick up a dog crate on ebay much cheaper and they will have much more space.

Mine is 48" and was only £15!

You can also bunny proof a room to give them more space. I will post some piccies of my set up later when I have finished work.

I don't know if you are near a Costco, but they have the storage cube panels in there. Only £13 a pack. We have a massive indoor cage from Germany, but if I'd seen the messh cubes first, i would have got them as you can make it exactly the right size and shape.
Claire

My bunny room...





I use the NIC grids to block off any areas they are not allowed in and to protect the skirting boards as I rent. I have covered the floor with lino and cheap rugs.

You can have a dog crate, NIC cubs or cage the choice is yours really, or even a puppy pen if you let the bun free-range most of the time.

Here's a good site for cages:

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/rodents/cages/rabbit_cage

i remembered the shop...........!

http://www.shopfittingsonline.co.uk/acatalog/Display_Shelving_and_Cubes.html

also, there are some on amazon aswel.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=mesh+storage+cubes

:wave:

oohh fab! cheers for all the links/ideas. I'm giving lots of thought as to what would work best, and where to get my bunny/ies from will post with updates on progress, in the meantime I'll be an avid reader and digest as much as I can so that I can be a good bunny mummy

I do have a question tho... the house that I looked at yesterday, despite having a front and back garden has no grass in sight.. I can make a pen for bunny to run around in and play with toys on concrete (while supervised of course) but no grass. I can grow him/her a pot of fresh grass to eat, and if i've read correctly bunnies like basil and coriander? I should be able to grow that too, but the lack of running about on grass bothers me a little even though I'm looking to predominantly keep them as house bunnies? It does have a garage that won't be used, so am considering a large play area in there too any thoughts/suggestions?

Well not end of the world obv grass is nice for buns to munch and play.
I would stay away from rex rabbits as this would be hard for there feet.