• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

My previous bunnies... A lesson learned

Summer&Skye

Mama Doe
As I shared photos of my first bunnies I had as a child, I thought I'd show u my previous bunnies I had before my current 4. It's quite hard for me to tell their story as it makes me feel sick to the stomach how I let them down. But I want to share as it shows how important forums like this are and how much I have learnt, and my bunnies now r living a much happier life for it, and will have a home with me for life. It's a good opportunity to thank everyone who has given me advice since I joined RU. Sadly these 2 weren't so lucky...

Sorry this is reeeeeally long but I'll start at the beginning... Almost 6 years ago now, I was moving out on my own for the first time and one thing I knew I wanted was rabbits... 2 weeks after I moved my dad passed away suddenly :cry: I'm not making excuses but I think I was grieving and probably rushed into getting rabbits as I thought they'd bring me some comfort. So I got what I thought was an amazing large double hutch off eBay (u know the kind... It was about £70, I thought it was a bargain, now I know it was just c**p) so I was all 'ready' for some cute baby bunnies to move in... A garden centre near me had always had gorgeous bunnies in unusual colours and I was convinced I'd find some there, but none took my fancy. But by this stage, I was not returning home without some bunnies, so I drove round to several places before I found a pet shop with a lovely litter in. They were tiny and I now know they were probably far too young :( A little fawn coloured one got my attention 1st as he emerged from the pile of sleepy baby bunnies and heading towards me with a stretch and a big yawn :love: I then chose a lovely dappled grey/black and white one. I asked what food they were on and he pointed at a box full of bagged up 'generic' cereal food, I don't think it was even sold specifically for rabbits. I knew this wasn't good so I took a bag but weaned them onto pellets (one thing I did right)

So, introducing baby Bobby-Jack (fawn one - my dads name was Jack!) and at this stage Oliver
3EF7132A-0E01-48AA-B398-446D4864AAD3-2378-0000021BD2FAC38F.jpg


2465B6B8-D89E-4887-B93F-8E78777CB4C0-2378-0000021BB978A19E.jpg


8395C316-24D3-4C5F-B564-16BAB6E869DF-2378-0000021BC36B7393.jpg


881CD4A1-0A27-4D37-BC82-AD55B4626812-2378-0000021BCE3E0D04.jpg


D8F2D692-EDFF-4024-8999-D4C3ACE02886-2378-0000021BC84FEFE5.jpg


Note the stone trench that I placed the hutch on!! My neighbour once knocked on my door and said he thought someone was letting them out as he'd got them from the street a few times and put them back for me :shock: It was only years later when Summer dug through these stones that it dawned on me that's prob how they were getting out!

As they grew up into 2 beautiful bunnies, rather large and way too big for that hutch, I discovered that Oliver was a girl and she became Poppy!

So here's Poppy and Bobby-Jack
7D7FB414-203D-4CF6-8718-6384055AEEE8-2378-0000021C3553BBBE.jpg


BD27597B-F17B-44CE-95E2-C8A48C576DAF-2378-0000021C3032C048.jpg


Bobby-Jack was neutered, all went well. I loved them both but I absolutely adored Bobby-Jack he was so friendly
499739EC-471D-4B6B-A07E-36C1CD6BBAFC-2378-0000021BBEF375D2.jpg


They did have a run with a hutch shelter attached to top so they did get out for exercise and they often came inside to run around which they loved.

Not long after he was neutered, I went out to feed them one morning, and Bobby-Jack was laying in the bottom of the hutch, awake and aware but couldn't move :( It was horrible. I rushed off to the vets, they said its likely he's fallen or jumped funny and broken his back (why I now HATE ramps!) and he had to be PTS :cry: I was devastated. Not wanting Poppy to be lonely I, again rushed into it and got the first cute bunny I found...

Meet Bracken
8EA0C3FF-881A-41EB-9339-9032166F15D2-2317-000002141999EA6D.jpg

Waaaaay to much fruit and veg for a baby :shock:

I don't even remember any bonding, I think I just put them together :shock: Luckily, they must have got on fine. Also Bracken wasn't neutered although it was top of my agenda...

Poppy had become quite difficult to handle and was always grumpy. I often got thoroughly scratched when putting her in the run...

I then got my puppy Alfie and having them come in the house became less practical and I was struggling with Poppy. Little did I know I could have had her neutered. She was prob raging with hormones, especially putting an unneutered male in with her. And she was prob confused at this sudden change in partner. This is where I deeply regret how I dealt with it and totally let Poppy down. My friend had been saying she'd like some rabbits so I asked if she wanted to take Poppy and Bracken. It was by no means an easy decision but I thought I was doing the right thing for them. I told her she could take the hutch and run and everything and I didn't want any money as she would need to pay for Bracken's neuter ASAP so she agreed and we were all happy. However she did not get him neutered, Poppy had her 1st 'accidental' litter. She separated them, kept one of the babies and continued to breed them :censored: I was furious but was there was nothing I could do. When I visited they were living in awful conditions, they weren't clean, the hutches were wet and as they were all living singly they were all in small hutches. One permanently lived in the run with tiny hutch attached. She also fed them on cheap food even tho I'd told her pellets were best. I don't remember but I'm thinking they wouldn't have had a great hay supply either. Obviously I knew things weren't good but at that time (before RU!) I didn't know the importance of all those things either. I know ur prob all thinking I should have done something but it was hard. She did spend time with them, they ran around the house and she kept on top of Bracken's grooming. She is a really nice caring person, which is why I felt so confident that they were going to a good home. Well probably needless to say they didn't live very long lives :cry:

I hope u won't judge me for how badly I let them down. If I could turn back time and do things differently I would. I look at these pics now and still feel a huge knot in my stomach. I hope you will all see that I wanted to show how much I have learnt since then, thanks to RU and am now the proud owner of 4 gorgeous, happy and healthy bunnies and I will never ever repeat the mistakes I made with Bobby, Poppy and Bracken. I hope they're all happy playing at the bridge together now :love:
 
How lovely of you to share your story!
Must have been really hard for you!

The black magpie bun is gorgeous, one of my fave colours, we have a choc and a blue magpie here,

I'm sure a lot of people have 'horror' life experience with bunnies, before they learnt more
 
How lovely of you to share your story!
Must have been really hard for you!

The black magpie bun is gorgeous, one of my fave colours, we have a choc and a blue magpie here,

I'm sure a lot of people have 'horror' life experience with bunnies, before they learnt more

Thank you! Iv actually just welled up reading ur reply! She was absolutely gorgeous and I so wish I'd kept her. Now, having Heidi, who was worse than Poppy before she got spayed, I just wish I'd known that was an option. It's only recently that iv learnt that females should be spayed, I always just thought it was unnecessary. I should also have let her grieve and more carefully chosen a new NEUTERED mate for her. They may have been in poor health to start with if they were weaned to early but Poppy could still be with me now if I'd have done things differently :(
 
That was pretty brave to post that - and must have brought up some horrible feelings of guilt!

But you know - you did what you thought was best at the time - and that is ALL anyone can do. The important thing is that you did care...it wasn't as though you stopped caring and couldn't be bothered - and you've learnt from the experiences.

When I think back to when we got Bobo and how we got it so wrong (cage that was WAY too small - but what was advised by pet shop, giving him a whole carrot straight off when he was still so young, giving him far too much watercress and him getting sick from it) - my flesh creeps! So glad for RU - just reading and reading and reading soon put us (and Bobo) right! And we are still learning! It's all we can do really - love our bunnies, give them the best life we possibly can and accept that sometimes we are going to get it wrong but with the help of sites like these - we are going to get more right than wrong!

Try not to beat yourself up for the things you should have done - it's what you do NOW that counts! You can't change the past - you can only learn from it...!:thumb:
 
That was pretty brave to post that - and must have brought up some horrible feelings of guilt!

But you know - you did what you thought was best at the time - and that is ALL anyone can do. The important thing is that you did care...it wasn't as though you stopped caring and couldn't be bothered - and you've learnt from the experiences.

When I think back to when we got Bobo and how we got it so wrong (cage that was WAY too small - but what was advised by pet shop, giving him a whole carrot straight off when he was still so young, giving him far too much watercress and him getting sick from it) - my flesh creeps! So glad for RU - just reading and reading and reading soon put us (and Bobo) right! And we are still learning! It's all we can do really - love our bunnies, give them the best life we possibly can and accept that sometimes we are going to get it wrong but with the help of sites like these - we are going to get more right than wrong!

Try not to beat yourself up for the things you should have done - it's what you do NOW that counts! You can't change the past - you can only learn from it...!:thumb:


Thank you. It was hard to post this as I wasn't sure what reaction id get but I can't feel worse about it than I already do so I wanted to share the story to show what I have learnt through RU. I thought I knew a lot before but clearly I knew barely anything about the correct way to keep rabbits. I am proud of how I care for my 4 now and I am constantly looking at ways to improve things and getting inspiration from people on here. But having Heidi kind of increases my guilt over Poppy as I took Heidi on knowing she was aggressive and difficult to handle yet this is part of the reason for rehoming Poppy. I so wish I could go back and make things right for her the way iv done for Heidi :cry:
 
They were beautiful bunnies. :love::love:

You know better now and did your best at the time. Not one person on here could say they were perfect with their first bun, we learn as we go with everything in life.
 
Back
Top