New bunny Mummy!

Good morning everyone! :wave:

I'm a brand new bunny Mummy as of Friday mid afternoon.
We named him Neo, after the Matrix (geeky, I know!) and he is a Lionhead rabbit of about 24 weeks. He still has his knackers but we will be getting him neutered either this week or next week.



I'd like to introduce you to myself and him as I hope to stick around for a while and would like to get to know everyone! hence the essay below... :roll:

He is the most chilled rabbit I've ever seen, we bought him from P@H (we are aware of the somewhat 50/50 agreement/disagreement of their livestock) as an adoption (the woman previous had 4 kids under 8 and couldn't cope - hence he has had his fur trimmed) and he is SO CHILLED! :shock:
They told us to sort of leave him be for 3 days or so, but even on the Friday that we got him, he was pushing his nose through the door asking for strokes when I put some food in for him! He has a temporary run for most of the weekend and evenings but even after day 1 he was doing flops onto the floor and binkies (that are so hilarious), climbing all over me and my partner, eating food from our hands and letting me touch any part of his body without much/any problem.

After looking at your pictures of indoor set ups, etc, I feel that we have restricted him a little but but it's what he's used to and seems happy with, although we are hoping when we are in less of a messy house and living situation that we can make something a bit less restrictive and much more roomy.
He's currently in a poppy den from P@H and he can even mini-binky inside as the roof is pretty tall and he's reasonably small!
We have ordered a puppy play pen and are thinking of getting some lino to base it with for easy cleaning and are also thinking of growing some grass for him in a plastic box to dig around in as it's not safe for him to go outside at the house we are in.

He has not had either of the jabs that they recommend and we were wondering if people with indoor rabbits bother with these? Sounds a little naive, I know, but with no more animals and not using straw for bedding, could he still be at risk to myxomatosis and RHD? What age should we start these if he does need them?

He's currently getting 20g a day of P@H nuggets and P@H unlimited hay, we give him a small amount of veg/fruit a day which could consist of a florette of broccoli, small finger sized bit of carrot, chunk of cucumber and small bit of apple or banana (we hope this is ok?!). He has a huge basket of toys and we mix these up daily/every other day. We've got some chew sticks and other random extra bits for him to nibble on but obviously we assume there is a much better quality standard feed. We bought some of those blocks that last a week - can't think of the name, but we haven't seen if he likes these yet.

We are also wanting to know how to prevent his pee from staining the hutch?! We don't fancy putting lino down, but we wondered if there was some kind of wood coloured paint or something that is waterproof we could paint at the bottom and a small way up the sides of the hutch?

I hope you can give me some info on if what we are doing is right, and any suggestions or anything else you wish to mention.

Look forward to speaking with you all!:wave:

Welcome :wave:

Can I move in it sound like he is going to have a lovely home with you

And he is so pretty, if he is asking for fuss and that relaxed I think he is happy with you too

Mrsmcarey said:

Welcome :wave:

Can I move in it sound like he is going to have a lovely home with you

And he is so pretty, if he is asking for fuss and that relaxed I think he is happy with you too

Click to expand...

Hi!

Aww thank you, I just worry I'm overlooking things, hence the 100s of questions in my post lol! Would be grateful if you could answer some if you have a few mins!

He's gorgeous and I fell in love with him instantly, HAD to have him!

I've still not tried to pick him up yet, think we'll wait until we have the proper run up and he's had about a week to settle... once he's happy with me touching his chin and belly etc, I'll go for it. Not sure what the best way is to go, just under his chest and support his feet/bum I've been told! Sounds easy in theory haha!

He is quite simply GORGEOUS. I would have had to have him too!!!

I have put lino down in my hutch. Makes cleaning so easy. Each rabbit has a 32 litre underbed storage box as a litter tray lined with hay and newspaper.

Rabbits can be vaccinated as babies so he is fine to be done now for the mixi/vhd combi. Indoor rabbits can get both these just as easily as outdoor rabbits so I would have him done.

I bought my first two wabbits (as an adult) as impulse buys from our local pet shop and have got a few from rescues since then!!!

Feeding sounds good although I would drop the banana as its very high in sugar. Leafy greens are good. Romaine lettuce, kale, spring greens and herbs. Great link here that someone posted the other day;

http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/safe-foods-for-rabbits

Cuprinol garden shades do animal friendly paint that you could put inside the hutch.

Hope you continue to enjoy lovely lovely lovely Neo x

tulsi said:

He is quite simply GORGEOUS. I would have had to have him too!!!

I have put lino down in my hutch. Makes cleaning so easy. Each rabbit has a 32 litre underbed storage box as a litter tray lined with hay and newspaper.

Rabbits can be vaccinated as babies so he is fine to be done now for the mixi/vhd combi. Indoor rabbits can get both these just as easily as outdoor rabbits so I would have him done.

I bought my first two wabbits (as an adult) as impulse buys from our local pet shop and have got a few from rescues since then!!!

Feeding sounds good although I would drop the banana as its very high in sugar. Leafy greens are good. Romaine lettuce, kale, spring greens and herbs. Great link here that someone posted the other day;

http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/safe-foods-for-rabbits

Cuprinol garden shades do animal friendly paint that you could put inside the hutch.

Hope you continue to enjoy lovely lovely lovely Neo x

Click to expand...

Hi Tulsi :wave:

Thanks for all of the info, the banana was teeny tiny, just to see if he liked it but as it's so sugary I won't give it again except for very special treats once in a blue moon is apple bad too? I just wanted to give him a lot of variety as I would hate to be fed the exact same thing over and over.

In terms of main nuggets, are the Excel nuggets any good? As with own brand, I don't know how good Pets At Home stuff is!

Do you find the lino gets chewed? I was thinking lino may be a good idea as it's hardy, but we have just bought some hutch paint! Perhaps I can paint the whole inside of the hutch (to prevent up the wall pees) and then put some lino down on top, I was wondering the best way to fix it and I was thinking about just using some no more nails under the bottom and aquarium sealant round the edges? I've heard that that is normally animal safe

I really appreciate your help, I love getting good advice and there's nowhere better to get it than other bunny Mummies!

When I put flooring down on my bunnies bedroom I used Lino tiles , they were very cheap from BandQ and are already sticky so you just take the backing off and stick them down to the floor - was nice and easy and I could cut them to shape too! Excel pellets are higher in fibre than P@H ones so are much better as are the science selective pellets which P@H now stock too!

Congratulations - he's very cute!

I'd paint the whole thing and lino the floor. It's generally the edges they go for you you can get edging strips to give a nice neat, none chewable edge. If you did want to avoid lino, then you could paint the whole hutch and then, use some yacht varnish on the floor (it's clear so your colours would match). As they don't chew the floor it should be fine.

Once he's litter trained then the floor won't be an issue so you could pop some lino tiles down temporarily and remove later.

Vaccinations are important even for house bunnies - myxi is spread by biting insects like mosquitos and fleas and they can get inside. VHD can survive on surfaces for months so walking in a pet shop and then having your shoes in the house could transfer it. The do a combination vaccine now so it's just once a year and worth it for the peace of mind

Hello everyone :wave:
You're all so helpful it's really nice to have friendly people not slating my silly questions

Replies on a bit of a postcard to prevent another essay-like post!

Aw thanks Tamsin

I've decided to pretty much go for the paint/lino combo. The paint is a nice cream colour and will make the inside look cleaner and a bit brighter and lighter, will also protect the walls in case he does any mad wall-peeing!
Carpet Right do some reels of lino and we'd get about 3x2 of it which should do the 1.5m2 playpen and the rest of the hutch, we thought one continuous piece in both places would be easier to clean, and as the playpen needs to be as portable as possible, having a roll of lino easy to put down and take up will be beneficial - not too expensive either!

I'm going to try and get the vaccinations done this week, and the neutering done next week so he's had a bit of time to get over the fact that he's been to a vets. He's on his own so the neutering isn't as important to get done quickly (I assume).


Hi PMEBM

The stick down lino tiles are a good idea! Are they quite expensive? For 6m2 in a role it's £30 I think? As mentioned above I think one piece may work better for us but it's a really good idea so thank you
I think once I've got down to half of the P@H pellets I will buy a bag of Excel and maybe mix them together in the tub so he's got a mixture, or is that a bad idea and better to just slowly introduce them, a small amount at a time?

End of essay

Hello and welcome! :wave:

Neo is gorgeous

He's gorgeous! Geeky names are good, my hamster's called Odin Oakenshield

I agree with everyone else, still go for vaccs. My two are indoors and still get done, and neutering will hopefully help with litter training (Charlie was awful until he was neutered!)

He sounds like such a happy rabbit, lucky boy

welcome to the show :wave:

Freakinfreak said:

I think once I've got down to half of the P@H pellets I will buy a bag of Excel and maybe mix them together in the tub so he's got a mixture

Click to expand...

That would be fine, although you might want to just dip into each bag that way you can tail off the old ones and up the new ones towards the end.