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Cost of keeping bunnies

B

bobbedazzler

Warren Scout
Hi all

Newbie here .......I'm hoping to get a couple of bunnies in the next few weeks and just wondered, before I dive in feet first .... what would you say is the cost of keeping bunnies per month?

My husband is going to build a hutch/small shed and a run for them so don't need to include that outlay in your estimation.

I was thinking things like vets bills to get bunnies 'done' if they aren't already and vaccinations etc.

Also as regards hay and food etc ... what would you reckon for 2 small buns?

I realise it will be a very rough estimate but I'd just like to know what to expect.

Can you get bunny insurance? Is it worth it for 2 buns or would I be best just putting £x away each month in case of vets visits??

Thanks for any advice you can give, much appreciated.

Jo

PS/ Hoping to get a couple of rescue buns .... I believe they do home visits, what sort of thing are they looking for? Do they give advice on bunny care etc whilst they visit?? Thanks x
 
Good for you on doing some research!

Cost wise, I have 16, so my costs are a lot higher than a pair of two.

I would guess food wise (i.e. pellets and hay, for two bunnies, maybe about £10- I buy bales of hay for £5 and then they only get about an eggcup full of pellets once a day).

Vet bill wise, that's where its very expensive.Costs will vary practice to practice.

Vaccinations for me Are £18 for the myxi (which comes twice a year), and £18 for the VHD (which is once a year), but if the myxi and VHD coincide then they do a deal and you can get them both (but two weeks apart) for £32.

Neutering is £60 and spaying is £80.

On top on that, in the last month I spent roughly £300-400 on vets bills for one bunny (dental, x-rays, medication, specialist consult, emergency consult, things like that).

You can get insurance for bunnies but I don't have it for any of mine because generally I've found that I haven't had many problems where they would accept a claim.

I do home visits for my local RSPCA branch. Every rescue will look for different things in their homes and do it differently, so I would suggest talking to the rescue you want to adopt from about what they specifically look for. This is the info that any potential adopter gets from us before they get put in for their home visit. We do find different bits and bobs show up in different visits.

The Rabbit Home Visit Process…..
Before you can adopt a rabbit, or a pair of rabbits, you will need to have a home visit to assess your set up. When a home visitor comes to do the home visit there will be particular things they will be looking for and looking at. Here is a list of the majority of areas that will be looked at which may help you prepare your accommodation for the home visit. Hopefully this will give you the best chance of being successful in adopting our rabbits.
We assess

~ That the rabbits have permanent access to a minimum of 50 square feet. I.e. access to this sized area all of the time, 24/7, not just during the day.

~ If the rabbits are to be inside then they need a specific space that is theirs.

~ The accommodation is sheltered in some way.

~ There is a ‘sleeping area’ for the rabbits and that they can BOTH or ALL fully stretch out and lie together in this sleeping area.

~ That the rabbits can fully sit up/stretch up on their hind legs without banging their ears in any part of their accommodation.

~ There is a roof.

~ The accommodation is protected from rain and wind when necessary.

~ The accommodation is protected from snow/cold when necessary. Being mindful of bottles freezing and having access to extra protection when we have really cold weather.

~ The accommodation is protected from sun/heat when necessary. Shade protection from the sun is just as important as protection from horrible weather, more so in a lot of cases.

~ The rabbits can not escape from the accommodation either by jumping, digging or chewing.

~ There are no plants poisonous to rabbits in the area they will live in – usually only applicable if they will have run of the garden.

~ There are no (electrical) wires in the area that the rabbit could chew.

~ The paint or wood treatment/preservative used on any area is safe for rabbits if they have a nibble (i.e. not creosote). And there have been no harmful chemicals used in the area the rabbits will go in (such as insecticides or pesticides).

~ There are no materials that may harm a rabbit if ingested (eaten).

~ The catches/locks are safe and secure and not able to be easily opened.

~ Any mesh is small enough to prevent rodents getting through.

~ The area is secure enough to prevent any predator getting in. Foxes are a huge risk, and very little keeps out a hungry fox, so if you know of foxes in your area you will need to think about, and add additional deterrents. Cats, dogs and birds of prey, amongst other things, are also considered predators of rabbits.

~ That the accommodation is appropriate for the specific rabbit/s being adopted (for example, long furred rabbits do not go on the grass all of the time, rabbits with rex fur (fur like velvet) have lots of soft places to go on)

~ That you have thought about whether the rabbits you would like are suitable for your family – i.e. is a timid rabbit or a rabbit who likes to nip suitable for a family with young children who want to handle the rabbits or is a rabbit with long fur who needs daily grooming a good idea for people who are very busy and don’t have a lot of spare time to do the grooming.

~ For people adopting one rabbit from the RSPCA to bond with a current rabbit. The new rabbit has suitable accommodation separate from the rabbit it is intending to be bonded with at the beginning as is necessary. A good idea, if possible, would be to temporarily divide your accommodation while the rabbits get to know each other and become friends.


The home visit will include a general chat with you and your family and you will be given an adoption pack with helpful information about rabbits and caring for them in. The home visitor should also be able to answer any questions or concerns you have about any aspect of owning rabbits.
If you have any questions or concerns about the home visit or how to meet any of these areas then please feel free to talk to a member of staff at the Animal Centre on * or the rabbit home visitor Tracy, who can be contacted at * or * and also contacted via *.

Is a rabbit the right pet for you and your family? Rabbits make great pets but are a huge responsibility and need owners who are going to be fully committed to them all of their lives.
Click to expand...
 
Well I have four.

Vaccs for us are £16 - so that's three of those per rabbit per year.
Neutering cost us about £50 - not sure how much our new vet charges for spaying. Obviously once that's done you don't have to keep paying out for it.
Hay - we get a bale of hay for under a fiver and that lasts us two months.
Bedding - we buy a bag of megazorb every month to two months.
Veggies - most of mine's veggies are scraps from veggies for dinner. I'm also growing some herbs this year. In the winter we buy some extra as there arn't dandelions and things around. I'd say we pay about a fiver a week for extra veggies in the winter-time.
Pellets - a bag lasts us about two months for about £5.

So my yearly total is....

12 vaccs = £192
Six bales of hay = £30
12 bags of Megazorb = £90
26 weeks of veggies = £130
6 bags of pellets = £30

Total: £472 approx for four rabbits (without neutering and spaying)

NB. Not including toys and litter trays and materials for bases (and chewed wires :oops: )
 
We have two Netherland dwarves - I reckon £10 a month is about what I spend, not including extras like toys, treats etc.

The biggest outlay is vets fees - we paid £38 each to have them neutered, girls cost more. Having read about some of the bills on here, I am dreading them being ill. I think you need to have a couple of hundred pounds set aside for emergency vet's bills.

It's great that your OH can build a hutch a run - you can probably build something of good size and quality for the same or less than buying one.
 
tintin said:
We have two Netherland dwarves - I reckon £10 a month is about what I spend, not including extras like toys, treats etc.

The biggest outlay is vets fees - we paid £38 each to have them neutered, girls cost more. Having read about some of the bills on here, I am dreading them being ill. I think you need to have a couple of hundred pounds set aside for emergency vet's bills.

It's great that your OH can build a hutch a run - you can probably build something of good size and quality for the same or less than buying one.
Click to expand...

Guess again :lol:

I think insurance is worth it's weight in gold, when Poppy got a retrobulbar abscess and needed x rays and referring to a specialist I was so glad that I was insured so I didn't have to think twice about the cost of seeking the best treatment for her. I think her bills came to just short of £600 in total, I got about £500 back.
 
GET INSURANCE! Good god - i pay around £11 a month per rabbit - think it comes to about £70 a month ish and in the last year i had just over £1400 worth of treatment. :shock:

Its amazing how much things add up and also the way i look at it you can't put a cost on piece of mind :D
 
Wow, looking at everybodies prices, I think that it depends on your vet to how much alot costs....
For example,
*for mixi and VHD jabs it is £20 (for both) at my vet.
*Neutering cost £32
*Spays cost £47 each.

However, if you are having a recue, I think most of them are already spayed or neutered before you get them.

I have three rabbits and it costs around £10 a week to keep them ...
This includes hay, straw, wood stuff (goes in cages under straw/hay) dried food, toys, fresh fruit and/or veg daily.

I get a sack of dried food and a big bale of the wood stuff and this saves alot of money.

Goodluck with the new bunnies!
 
happybun said:
two mini lops. with insurance, fancy hays and extras, not less than £80 a month and usually more.
Click to expand...

£80.00 for 2?????

I spend about £2 per month on pellets, a bag lasts over a month, herbs about £10 per month, Megazorb £6 every 2 months or so, hay 50p every other week. Plus vaccination boosters about £35.00 per year.

It's definately the vets bills that push up the cost of bunny owning. Plus the initial outlay of the correctly sized accomodation. If you strike lucky and get rabbits that never need to see the vet then they are reasonably cheap to keep :D
 
When I was looking for a rabbit from a rescue, a couple of rescues said that if the rabbit you chose was not spayed/neutered they said they'd either do it with their vet or pay for you to have it done at your vet. I don't know if your getting yours from rescue and if so they do that?
 
Oh wow, this is all really great usefull information, thank you sooo much everyone.

Sky-O thanks very much for that rspca info, its answered a lot of questions about housing that I was asking on another part of the forum.

....... please keep your replies coming, I'm really learning a lot!

J x
 
trust me, £80 is on the low side. veg would be £25+, hay is from equine supplier, megazorb, oh, it goes on and on. if i had a car, it would be cheaper as i could travel further for bargain hay etc.

and they are my babies. i over-indulge them. but i don't give them too much food. just nice, tasty hay and a few nuggets and veggies, herbs... and dandelions... and they are down from three crunchies a day to one, but there is some dried dandelion and dandelion root mixed in with their hay because i like to see matthew's little face disappear into the haybasket while he finds it...:lol:
 
Get insurance!! :D:D

I cancelled mine a month or 2 ago to try and save some money and niavely (sp) hoped for the best.

Angel has just cost me £1000 this weekend!

Needless to say I'm re-instating my insurance!! :roll::lol:
 
I spend £3 per week on willow chew toys (harry's a serious wallpaper chewer), £1.50-£3 on veggies and herbs (whatever on deals),£3.50 per month/6weeks for pellets, £3 per month on hay, £3.50 on bio cat litter per month/6weeks, £18.52:roll: for each mxyi vaccine, £19 VHD and harry cost £45 to be fixed

So about £8.50 per week for one rabbit not including vaccines or other vet bills. And i paid about £125 before i even got harry for dog cage, puppy pen, bowls, bottles and toys.

Also the cost of 2 new laptop chargers, 3 new dressing gowns, new shoes and clothes that harry 'played with'
 
Many rescues will already neuter & vaccinate for mixi and a rescue bun usually costs in the region of £40 - £50 although this varies around the country. if you are getting a pair of rescues it would be best to ensure that you get either a neutered pair that are already bonded or ensure that the rescue is happy to bond them for you before you collect so that you don't have to worry about that. Most rescues will homecheck you first. Most will ask for a 6ft by 2ft by 2ft hutch with a 6ft by 6ft run attached. The huch must be secure from foxes with high grade mesh and bolts & locks preferable to those swivel latches which foxes can open. if kept on grass the rabbits much be locked in the hutch at night but can be left 24/7 if on slabs or concrete. Rescue will advise on food/bedding/litter if you need it during the homecheck.

Otherwise....

Food
Quality pellet like science selective of Burgess - about £5 a month
Hay - depends, farmer bale = £3 and will last ages, a bag of dust free/hay experts or other quality hay roughly £3-4 but will last a week a most as usually 1-2kg.
veg - Probably around £3 a week
Willow chew toys - very popular! Around £3-5 a pop.

Vets - just to give you an idea
neutering - £35 to £135 depending on area, vet and sex.
Mixi & VHD vaccine - Mine are about £20, mixi twice a year, vhd once
Emergency vet trip out of hours - around £90 before you even starts
Dental - £20 (consious) to £160 (General anethetic)
Admittance - £150 ish a day including drugs.
stasis (if they stop eating) - around £60 including 3 drugs and subcuts, assuming not admitted.
Check up - £12
drugs - £10 - £20 ish
 
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It doesn't have to be expensive, I no longer buy mine toys, they get old catalogues, yellow pages, cardboard tubes stuffed with hay and bits of veg wrapped in brown paper etc to play with. Old cardboard boxes provide hours of fun, especially if you join them together. We made a big castle out of them once :lol: They do love their tunnels and could do with a new set really.

Feed wise, I used to feed science selective which was just under £20 for a 10kg sack, I now feed allen and page natural rabbit pellets, it's between £8 an £10 for a 20kg sack, they enjoy it just as much and it lasts ages.

Veggies, they get whatever we have, we also grow herbs so they get those too and I bring back odd carrots from the yard, I do buy bags of greens for them though when we're in the supermarket, they get their greens and the horse gets his value apples for the week :lol:

I bed on vetbed so I don't buy shavings or anything like that, I just use megazorb in the litter tray and buy a bale of hay for £4.00 from the yard and bring sections home as and when I need them. In winter I bedded them on loads of straw to keep them warmer, it's £2.80 for a bale.
 
I was thinking of rescue bunnies but I've just found a breeder who lives 6 doors down from where I work and has a litter born at the beginning of April (ready to leave mum at end of May- which will give hubby time to build them a palace) and they're just gorgeous ..... min lops. Obviously they will need 'fixing' when they're older (6 months I believe??) which according to my local vet (where I take my birds) is £90 each!!!! But only £30 each rabbit per year for their jabs.

Would pet insurance cover the ops for them??

I'm thinking that pet insurance is definitely the right way to go ..... those of you with insurance, which company do you use? I've done a quote with petplan (pretending I already have the buns) and its £18 per month for both with a £55 excess.

Really want to make sure I'm aware of any/all possible pit-falls - so I can be safe in the knowledge that I can afford to care for them properly.

Thanks for all your in-put, this site is great!

J x
 
I have one netherland dwarf at the moment. We live in Australia so the prices may be a bit different but I will convert them to pounds (should be interesting to see the differences in how much I pay to how much most of you in the UK pay).

Vet bills
- Vaccinations ~ $30 = 19 pounds
- Spay ~ $150 = 90 pounds
TOTAL - $180 AUD = 109 pounds

Food
- Oxbows Rabbit T, lasts 2 months ~ approx $15 per month = 9 pounds
- Hay, buy by the bale and split between her and 5 guinea pigs ~ $1.50 a month for Charlee's share = 0.90 pounds
- Veggies, buy $30 worth per week and split between her and the pigs ~ $20 a month for Charlee's share = 12 pounds
TOTAL - $36.50 = 21.9 pounds

Bedding
- Litter, buy in big bag and split between her and the pigs ~ $5 a month for Charlee's share = 3 pounds
- Fleece & newspaper - after initial costs of fleece, there are no ongoing costs
TOTAL - $5 = 3 pounds

Start-up
I spent a fortune getting heaps of toys and different bibs and bobs before I brought Charlee home. The following are the bits that I can remember right now :lol:
- Sea grass matt - $4 = 2.4 pounds
- Toys - $75 = 35 pounds
- Bed - $20 = 12 pounds
- Food bowl - $6 = 3.7 pounds
- Water bottle - $10 = 6 pounds
- Cage - free because it is made up of pens I already had, and corflute I already had.
TOTAL - $115 - 69.1 pounds

Think that's it. The frightening thing is that I have only had her for 3 months :roll::lol:!! Let's see..thats $410 I have spent on her, or 247.5 pounds!!
 
bobbedazzler said:
Would pet insurance cover the ops for them??
Click to expand...

No. Insurance doesn't cover routine things like neutering / spaying and vaccinations. :) xx

Before you fall for two 'cute baby bunnies' please bear in mind that.....

Male / female pairings usually work best - gets fiddly to gauge when you have two littermates in terms of when to get them done etc.

If you go for two males or two females you have to be aware that there is a chance they will not get on or fight when hormones kick in. Fights aren't always something a rabbit will get over - they may fight and never be able to live together again and if you read around the forum you will see that some fights can be very serious.

You will have to be prepared to put up with hormonal behaviour for a while before they can be 'done' - spraying in boys, general feisty behaviour and possible aggression or phantom pregnancies in females.

Also; check the breeder out fully. What's their accommodation like? Is mum being bred over and over? Why are they breeding? For money or for the love of the breed?

Whereas with a pair of neutered / spayed bonded rescue buns' you have the reassurance that they are already living together happily and don't have the worry about the 'ops' to cope with.

I would say rescue all the way tbh. You have the back-up too then if you need help and advice. Not all breeders will offer this. Just my two-pennorth!! :wave:
 
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One thing you may wish to consider is that if you buy the bunnies from a breeder you will have to ensure the bunnies are properly sexed, then separate them when they get to the age of sexual maturity (otherwise you will have a litter of unwanted babies), then take the bunnies to a vet to have them neutered (it can be a risky operation) and then when the bunnies are recovered you will have to re-introduce them to each other (called bonding). Bonding can be difficult, there is no guarrantee the bunnies will like each other. If they fight, you will end up with 2 bunnies living separately and alone.

This is just one of the reason why it is preferable to get a pair of bunnies from a rescue where they have already been neutered and bonded.
 
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