New to Rabbits, Need some advice :)

Hello

3 days ago I adopted two rabbits Mufasa (a male lionhead - told he is neutered by the charity) and Jemima ( a female Dutch) they are both around 1 year old so I was told.

I live in a flat with a large - 35 foot x 17 foot lounge/ kitchen with solid wood flooring and two rugs at either end (their new home) , I have their cage set up along one wall. I am new to rabbits and have read quite a bit about them but wanted some bits of advice.

1. Jemima previously belonged to another family so has had interaction with humans but Mufasa has not, Jemima somewhat allows you to go near her but whenever I go near Mufasa he runs off into his bed area (I wont go in there as I feel he needs a safe spot from me. I was wondered what I can do to make him feel less scared that he feels he needs to bolt off every time I go near him?

2. I have been leaving the cage door open for them when I have been about and noticed them coming up to look out but not dare taking that final step so I decided to place Jemima outside of the cage and after I had done that Mufasa then decided it was time to join her and jumped out Win. I have let them have a free roam around and first I noticed they poo'ed everywhere, so I managed to get them back into their cage (a 15 minute ordeal of me trying to herd them back)and picked up all their poo and placed it in the litter tray in their cage. Today I let them back out and noticed that now only Mufasa decides to poo outside of the cage and on both instances (over a 5 hour period with me putting them back after noticing the first time) that he only poo's in one specific spot, its a long piled ikea rug that is the other end of the lounge, he also wee'd on the rug as well. What can I do about this? Sectioning off that area is possible but it would require a bit of DIY as the lounge is large and long...

Any help would be great as I'm not 100% sure what I should do after reading SO many different articles on the net.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum

I think we need to see some photos of your lovelies

This article may help you with the bonding aspect http://flashsplace.webs.com/bondingwithyourbunny.htm

With regards to the litter training, I would say try and put litter trays where he is choosing to go- an under bed storage box with hay inside (and something to line the bottom) can work really well. I would also suggest cleaning the rug with distilled vinegar solution (first checking it won't bleach it) because that will stop anybun thinking that is the toilet and will neutralise the smells.

Hello and welcome :wave:

As far as gaining your new bunnys' trust goes, I'd sit on the floor with a book and wait for them to come to you!

I'm no expert on litter training, but when my Finx was a house rabbit I started off with lots of litter trays dotted around the room, rewarded her when she used them, then slowly reduced it down to the one in her house. Now she goes there without fail :thumb:

Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks for the quick reply

Here is a picture of Jemima http://imgur.com/OcDW1 (getting a decent one of Mufasa is far easier said than done - He's jet black with a grey mane)

Right I will try the vinegar trick tomorrow after work, Should I also place a litter box on the rug as well? (He doesn't eat there as their is no food, he just goes there and poo's)

Any other suggestions for litter training them to their litter tray in the cage? Atm all I'm doing is making sure the food is in the tray and I place any poo's I find in the tray. The problem is the tray is only large enough for one at a time, so do i buy a much larger litter tray which would take up half of their cage? God so many questions haha

Jemima is beautiful

I would place litter trays wherever they are going to the toilet. I would start with getting them used to going into the trays and then gradually you will start to find they don't use them all and that you can start to remove them.

Are they ever shut in their cage? If not, then it doesn't matter where they decide their toilet is going to be, as long as they are using a tray somewhere.

Yes, you will also need trays that accommodate them both, or two trays next to each other (such as two washing up bowls together).

She is a very pretty rabbit, and is he very cute looking too (I think he looks like a yorkshire terrier when runs around with his long hair) The problem is I need to brush him really but the chances of him letting me do that are euro million odds

Right tomorrow I shall get another tray and place it next to that one! I'll also get some more tray's for the rest of the lounge. Do I place food in the trays that are dotted about the house? Just hay or maybe some treats as well?

They are in the cage with the door shut quite a lot tbh as I'm at work, I let them out from around 6-12 every night? Should I be letting them out more? or do I do this more with time?

I have noticed that he humps her quite a lot and she humps him ( I know she isn't neutered but he is I'm told) is this normal and okay?

Just hay (and something to line at the bottom) should be fine

What size cage do they have?

It's very common for them to mount each other for dominance, however, if she isn't spayed then she is also doing it due to hormones which can unsettle a bond. It would be recommended, for a variety of reasons, to get her spayed once they are settled.

I was thinking the same think about having her sprayed, when do you think this is advisable? After the New Year so they have time to get to know their new home?

There cage is the Ferplast 120 which is L118 x W58.5 x H51.5cm not much room to run about tbh I've already been contemplating making them a cage out of those NIC cubes if I can find any to buy. I'm unsure on what to do
with regards to their space and leg room

ollyrayns said:

I was thinking the same think about having her sprayed, when do you think this is advisable? After the New Year so they have time to get to know their new home?

There cage is the Ferplast 120 which is L118 x W58.5 x H51.5cm not much room to run about tbh I've already been contemplating making them a cage out of those NIC cubes if I can find any to buy. I'm unsure on what to do
with regards to their space and leg room

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Giving them time to settle, as long as they are doing ok with each other, sounds like a great idea After the New Year should be fine. How old is she, do you know?

Ok, you're right. Not much space, but equally, bigger than some. What kind of place are they in at the moment? Are they in a room of their own? the living room? A bedroom?

Something that might work in the interim would be to buy a puppy pen and attach that to the front of the cage, peg a sheet over the top and allow them access to that at times you would normally enclose them in. In time you may be able to bunny proof the room they are in, dependent on the room and the bunnis, and equally, those NIC cages are great. I have a massive one and it's just fab. Are you in the UK?

I am from the UK yes and after some extensive research last night (3 hours) I managed to find these... they are the closest thing to NIC's that I can find: http://www.equipashop.com/(A(esOuvY...HYvxgoDi5LoTKbGM-g0))/Models.aspx?ModelID=951

The only problems I came up against with these are I rent my flat and I'm sure I'm not allowed animals but with a cage I can let my friend look after them for the day when I know an inspection is due which tbh is very rare, (I've been here 7 months and not had one yet) I can't very easily move a NIC made cage :/ Also how do you actually get to the rabbit's in an NIC as there isn't exactly any flaps to open/ close?

This is my lounge: http://imgur.com/f2IYg that was a couple of months ago when the weather was nice and not much has changed, the cage is where that yukka plant is on the left (the plants been moved as bunnies like to chew, They have already had a good go at the bottom leaves after I moved it ) The lounge is about 30 foot long by 15 wide, I have put plastic cable protectors around any cable I could see and put stuff in the way so they can't get behind the TV and stuff. The Desk is different to that one and has reclaimed railway sleeper legs which would be poisonousness to the bunnies until I encase them perspex (another reason I'm not allowing them out unsupervised)

The dog run thing sounds like a good idea, do you have a link to any so I could make sure I know what I'm buying?

Also I was told she was about 1-2 but the women who run's the charity has so many I'm not 100% sure she fully knows... Anyways of finding out how old they both arE?

What I did with my NIC cage was to use padlocks to create a door (I also didn't use the connectors, just cable ties). However, puppy pen panels are likely to be much easier to move and also more flexible with your space. By the way, I LOVE you lounge!

I have large ones of these (but in black) from that website. http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=774&pg_id=1917 I don't have to peg anything over the top with my set up but it would be advised in your space (you wouldn't even need to use the cage if you didn't want to, but equally you could if you wanted- as long as they have hidey holes in there two puppy pens (i.e. 16 panels joined together, would be lovely). It would also flat pack down and stand against your wall or wherever unobtrusively and could bend around whatever you needed it to. They also have doors you can open so they can get used to hopping in and out.

I agree with using the puppy pen, it'll help with litter training, as less space to need to mark their territory and will help with the bonding and so you know they're not getting into trouble or chewing anything. Plus it's easy to fold away and store.

I'd be tempted to check if he is neutered, I've seen one rabbit come in that was supposed to be neutered and nobody checked and he went home with an unneutered female and the person found babies a month later. I tend to be a bit distrustful of what people say if an animal is a certain sex or neutered. With boys at least it's easy to check lol

And while you have him you can give him a good check over and groom, he may have knots that need cutting. His breed it's important to check regularly especially if he has a skirt. He'll get over being handled, if it's for his own good :lol:

With taming, he'll come round in his own time, what I tend to do is once they are eager for food and coming to you, before you give him anything you give him a quick nose rub, when he accepts this you can try more often like if he's eagerly waiting to be fed before you pick the bowl up you give him a nose rub, (this works with his favourite treats/veg too) and see if he let's you stroke more of him, being distracted by food he would let you eventually.

I might purchase one pack and place them across the floor so if you look at the picture from just before the desk all the way across that way they can have all that area to play in while I'm at work/ asleep and when I'm in I can fold it up and let them run wild all over the place? I just need to get them to toilet trained. They will have quite a big space as the kitchen is there + they seem to enjoy running around the table/ chair legs chasing each other. There isn't much they can kill themselves on either ( my main worry is chewing a cable)

I was planning on buying them one of those cardboard castle thingys as I've read good reviews about them, that should hopefully keep them entertained and less bored. At the end of the day I want them to be happy rabbits

And thank you for the compliment on the lounge, I do love it myself, I've made my own desk and a couple of other bits of furniture which are more in keeping with the style than on the photo I have.

Your bunnies have really found themselves landing on their feet. They are very lucky

Sky-O said:

Your bunnies have really found themselves landing on their feet. They are very lucky

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Thank you I hope they feel that way too.

With regards to food, I'm feeding them Hay atm which I make sure they have an ample supply of every day or two (never without any) and I've probably been over feeding them treats. I gave them half a large carrot sliced up earlier ( iwas planning on giving them this every couple of days) between them and they literally loved that. Any thing else they need?

Regards having him groomed (as a lionhead) other than a vet doing it, I'm unsure how I'll ever be able to get him to let me + how often should it be done? I can see now he needs a bloody good groom his hair is EVERYWHERE knotted to bits (it was like this when I adopted him)

She seem to like to fight with the brush when I go to groom her, cute in a way but I'm sure she doesn't enjoy it much either

I don't give carrot other than a very rare treat ie, about once a month at the most. (Although they had two whole ones each today! Baby ones from the garden, too small to bother cooking ) The leaves are good though so if you can get carrots with the leaves (or grow them yourself ) then they make a good everyday green.

Unfortunately even though I have a mad lionhead I have the same problem with brushing. They hate being brushed sadly. I try to do it as little as possible but sometimes it just has to be done.