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"Rabbit Awareness Days"

catxx

Mama Doe
I do events for Rabbit Residence and am planning on running awareness days at in stores rather than the whole standing at a table trying to force people to talk to you and generally getting ignored, or only having the nutters talking to you (last instore I got to enjoy a 20 minute chat with the resident mad cat lady :roll: nice lady, but she did tell me lots of stories about her cats and her now-deceased poodles...).

The two shops I have approached this idea with so far have been really keen!

SO I need ideas! What would you guys like to see at such an event? Bearing in mind it's only going to be 2-3 people on the day. A raffle? A tombola? Lots of information stands? A quiz?

What would engage you if you didn't know bunnies that well or thought you knew bunnies really well but really really didn't! (I run into many of the latter...)
 
bunny toy making, always great as kids love it, they learn that rabbits need toys/enrichment, you can make the toys very hay based so bring that concept in too. Also why the kids are making the toys you have a chance to talk to the parents.

Also means that if they have a rabbit at home that rabbit gets a toy, and if they dont they can give it to a rabbit instore (if your at pets at home, or if you have your own rabbits there)
 
Having spent a couple of similar days to you, standing at a stall in my local pet store and being ignored, I decided that the next time I do this I am going to take along my laptop with some videos on it and play those in a sort of loop. I was thinking of these types of video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlkYoX4W-po

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTZAuYZLEOM

I figured that people like watching videos, and that maybe the cute bunnies would be a draw and people could watch without feeling intimidated or worrying that I was going to talk to them :lol:. It would maybe be easier to strike up a conversation about the films as well, and anyone who doesn't fancy chatting will still have taken away the message from the video.

I haven't tried this yet, but it was an idea I thought might liven things up a bit :lol:
 
What does everyone on here like??? Cute rabbit pictures. Loads of them. A picture paints a thousend words.

Rabbits in small set ups, rabbits in decent/huge set ups.

Rabbits with toys, being fussed on the ground, having their nails cut, bums checked (on the ground, or only half off it) etc etc.

Videos is a good idea.

Very good luck. What a wonderful idea.
 
pictures of really great rabbit set ups that people would want to try to copy for their own buns. There have been some absolutely fab pictures on here that have inspired me (even though I have a shed and run set up, it's not very pretty to look at). Maybe some of the ones that are painted in beautiful colours might inspire people to think about converting a shed. Videos of rabbits with lots of space interacting with each other - might inspire people who have a lone rabbit in a hutch which they think is "boring" because it never does anything. I really like the runaround information as well - that might appeal to people who can only have a hutch for whatever reason (space/budget/whatever) but they could add bits to make more space/interest for their bunnies.

ETA didnt someone once dress up as a giant bunny and spend time in the equivalent of a hutch to try and show how it really is for rabbits? That might be a pretty tall order but a human dressed up as a rabbit would certainly get the children to bring their parents over for a look
 
If it's safe to and the store agrees then I'd suggest you take some rabbits along with the set-up you took to the event you were at with me. It was nice to see adult rabbits which illustrate how big they will get in a sensible sized pen with proper food, hayand enrichment which helps people have an idea of what it should be like for the buns. Not the stark wood shavings filled pen with tiny baby rabbits in.
 
Thank you all!

We do try to take rabbits along with us if we can in a nice big pen as they are the best thing to start conversations with! Sadly (or happily should I say!) we've rehomed the trio I tended to use the most because they were so chilled out in loud shop environments! Poop!

I have thought of the video idea with my laptop, but always wary of the general public snatching it or messing with it haha! The other catch is power, the battery life on my laptop is poor and really needs plugging in, not always possible easily in shop environments.

I have lots of pictures of set ups, and a folder of "happy bunny homes" for people to flick through, almost no hutches in it, all pens, sheds, dog kennels, playhouses :)

Here's one of my set ups with bunnies at a pet shop (pen had to be that narrow due to space in the isle, sadly no larger spaces to spread out into without dogs coming visiting! It was approx 6ft long though.)
1381424_10151931917568114_560723100_n.jpg
 
Have a look at the Rabbit Care Information Facebook page. There's some pics of their stand there. It has examples of good and bad foods for bunny diets. Poop samples, hay, pellets, photos of housing, illness. I think it's good but I am biased as I've helped them out on a couple of events!
 
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