Newbie Bunny Mummy

Hi all,

I am new to owning bunnies and have tried do the very best that I can after reading on forums but still have a few questions and rather than posting all over the place I was hoping to get some advice all in one spot (please be gentle!)

So...the bunnies are 11 week old mini lops, both boys. They are litter trained, very different in size and temperament but will happily groom each other and frequently binky. They have a 5ft hutch with a run and ramp which I leave open. No foxes here but there are a couple of cats so they have full run of the garden only when supervised by myself or husband. We have 4 children of varying ages although I am the primary carer/cleaner, they get handled a lot but I balance this out with lots of time spent exploring and chilling in the bushes (the rabbits, not me )

Anyway, my questions are:

1) is this big enough? They have full garden access every single day aswell



2) One is very friendly and approachable, I can pick him up to put him back in the hutch no problem but the other, whilst being fine when held, will run a mile when anyone goes near him. I assume this is because he knows he's being put back in the hutch! I can't leave them out all day and at the moment I dread the time when they have to go back in because I spend 20 minutes finding him, coaxing him out (to no avail) and finally having to wade into spider infested bushes to retrieve him. Any tips/ideas?

3) I still have some food from the breeder, not sure what it is and have bought fiba crunch because this is the best one I can find that's local without ridiculous shipping costs etc. they have hay 24/7 and grass. My questions are: when can they start having vegetables? Different sites seem to say different things. We're feeding regular hay but is there anything else they can have for variety that's easy to come by?

4) nail clipping. This does terrify me but only because I would hate to cut too far, I have read up a lot and know the basics, do I need to start doing it now or as adults

There are more things I'm sure I will think of!

Thanks in advance and hope the picture link works

MadHatter said:

Hi all,

I am new to owning bunnies and have tried do the very best that I can after reading on forums but still have a few questions and rather than posting all over the place I was hoping to get some advice all in one spot (please be gentle!)

So...the bunnies are 11 week old mini lops, both boys. They are litter trained, very different in size and temperament but will happily groom each other and frequently binky. They have a 5ft hutch with a run and ramp which I leave open. No foxes here but there are a couple of cats so they have full run of the garden only when supervised by myself or husband. We have 4 children of varying ages although I am the primary carer/cleaner, they get handled a lot but I balance this out with lots of time spent exploring and chilling in the bushes (the rabbits, not me )

Anyway, my questions are:

1) is this big enough? They have full garden access every single day aswell



2) One is very friendly and approachable, I can pick him up to put him back in the hutch no problem but the other, whilst being fine when held, will run a mile when anyone goes near him. I assume this is because he knows he's being put back in the hutch! I can't leave them out all day and at the moment I dread the time when they have to go back in because I spend 20 minutes finding him, coaxing him out (to no avail) and finally having to wade into spider infested bushes to retrieve him. Any tips/ideas?

3) I still have some food from the breeder, not sure what it is and have bought fiba crunch because this is the best one I can find that's local without ridiculous shipping costs etc. they have hay 24/7 and grass. My questions are: when can they start having vegetables? Different sites seem to say different things. We're feeding regular hay but is there anything else they can have for variety that's easy to come by?

4) nail clipping. This does terrify me but only because I would hate to cut too far, I have read up a lot and know the basics, do I need to start doing it now or as adults

There are more things I'm sure I will think of!

Thanks in advance and hope the picture link works

Click to expand...

hiya
1. yeah I think that is big enough
3. I sometimes give my rabbits a little bit of cereal along side hay and pellet ( porridge oats/rice crispies), and also sometimes dried bread that I've dried out in the oven or ightly under the grill x
4. I clip their nails whenever they get long

Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:

The hutch and run look good and it's great you're giving them a lot of space, but the rwaf minimum is a 6x2x2 hutch with attached 8x4 run so it may be worth thinking about extending in the future. I have a shed/aviary set up and it's great for interacting with the bunnies.

Rabbits really don't like being picked up so it would be a good idea to teach him to come back into the hutch for food, or alternatively a permanent large attached run would be fine. Bunnies are most active at dawn and dusk so most likely when he is being shut away!

I'm not sure what fiba crunch is but there is a food comparison chart here: http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp that you might find useful. Pellets should only make up a tiny portion of your rabbits' diet and the large amount of hay and grass is perfect :thumb: I would wait a few weeks before introducing fresh food and start with gentle things like herbs and forage (brambles, apple leaves etc). As with all food, introduce each item slowly and on its own so you can pick up if it upsets your buns tummy. I certainly wouldn't feed cereal or toast as these are not natural foods for your bunnies.

It's good to get your bunnies used to nail clipping ASAP, have they had their vaccinations yet? If not the vet could show you how when you go or you could make a nurse appointment

Looking forward to seeing lots of photos of your bunnies!

My 1st thoughts looking at the pic you posted are that it's enough space if they have access to that all day and get let out daily also.
My concerns would be how much time they get to spend with you and the family; security - even if just cats around atm; and how you will deal with winter?

If I am honest, I suspect the hutch is a little on the small side for two rabbits and would need to be wind and rain proof in the bad weather. I love the fact they have access to a run though but wonder as time goes on, would they be tempted to dig out? Mine were devils digging.

Most rabbits hate being picked up - certainly all of mine do. In the early days of having rabbits, I used to have to chase them all over the place to get them in - stressful for me and them! However, I now realise that it is much easier to adopt a routine (although I appreciate it might be difficult in your case if bunnies outdoors at varying times) and also treats. Periodically, throughout the day I do give them a treat - I toast one round of brown bread and divide into 6 or 12 small squares. (I know toast is not on the official bunny feed list, but has served a purpose and not done my bunnies any harm). They always run to me for the treat so I could always persuade them back into the Kennel/Run that way if necessary. Otherwise (and this is the routine part), they know at dusk their veggies are ready for them and that does signal them back to base for the night.

I have never had to trim their nails. Probably because they free range daily (always access to base of course). And I feed one daily ration of pellets - a very, very small handful and no more. They are gone in a flash so the bunnies do not graze on them all day and also the pellets are not lying around long enough to attract mice.

Hope that helps :wave:

Hi, and welcome to the forum :wave: you could tempt them into a carrier with food to take them back to their hutch/run after free ranging rather than trying to pick them up. They will both need neutering to avoid fighting caused by raging hormones as soon as possible once their plums appear.

1)Mine are indoor buns so I won't comment on the suitability/size of the hutch/run as those that have outdoor buns will give you better advice

2)Mine get supervised time in the garden as long as the weather isn't too bad. Getting them back in the house was a nightmare until I realised how easily bought they were. Treats were the answer for me. Avoid sugary treats shop bought treats, try strong flavoured herbs (although all new foods should be introduced slowly to avoid upsetting delicate bunny tummies). Basil, mint, lavender. This year I have my crop of flavoured mints, apple mint, banana mint and strawberry mint. Not too much, just a couple of leaves not much more than you'd take off a plant when you 'pinch out' will do the job.

3) Mine get a small eggcup full of excel pellets but I put them in a treat ball Most rabbits seem to love a treat ball, once yours recognise it you could shake it to get their attention then show them that you are putting it in their run, that way they will associate going back to their run as a good thing.

4) I hate clipping my buns nails. Always get someone else to hold them for you - an adult that you trust. I marvel at my vet's ability to hold and clip all four paws in under a minute. Little tip - get your buns used to the sound of clipping. A few days before you clip their nails, if you have rose bushes or apple trees that need pruning sit at your garden table with a long twig and cut it into smaller lengths with garden Secateurs and give the pieces to the buns. Alternatively you can just cut up dry spaghetti although obviously you don't give the buns the chopped up spaghetti. I'm not sure if it really works but an experienced bunny owner swears that it gives the bunny one less thing to worry about because it's no longer a strange and frightening sound and cutting up spaghetti can give you practice using the nail clippers before you use them on the buns a bit like nurse practising giving injections on an orange - not really a substitute for the real thing but better than nothing.

Thanks everyone, some really useful advice there.

I would have loved house buns but my house really isn't suitable with the layout, they wouldn't have any private space. my husband is one of the old school generation who believed a 3ft hutch with no run was completely acceptable for a rabbit until I educated him. I'm not worried about the amount of exercise they get, they have a huge space to explore for most of the day and the hutch & run for the time inbetween so I know they are well catered for in that respect. I do wish I had bought a 6ft hutch now though. I'd LOVE a bunny shed and have total shed envy at some of the gorgeous pics on here!!

Will they definitely become aggressive or does it depend on the rabbits? They seem to love each other so much I can't imagine them fighting :'(

Carrot tops were a huge hit today, will try the herbs out and see if that helps. Thank you so much for all your advice and suggestions. I have no doubt I will be back with lots more

They love each other now because they're young but it doesn't matter male or female once their hormones come in they will fight and fight quite nastily and you could possibly never be able to put them back together so I suggest you call your vet and look into having them both neutered otherwise you could end up with 2 single rabbits!

PrincessPomPom said:

They love each other now because they're young but it doesn't matter male or female once their hormones come in they will fight and fight quite nastily and you could possibly never be able to put them back together so I suggest you call your vet and look into having them both neutered otherwise you could end up with 2 single rabbits!

Click to expand...

This is definately the best advice and will make things much more likely to go smoothly in the future. My buns are two brothers who were neutered then rebonded and they are so close it's unreal. They can't stand being more than a foot away from each, which is really sweet.

Without measuring it, its a bit hard to tell but as long as they have 24hr access to the run it looks fine. To be honest mine hardly ever use their hutch, they are always in the run.

However you may want to consider maybe boarding up some of the sides in winter so that they have a larger sheltered area. You could even put some corrugated sheets on the roof of the actual run part.

I would be worried about predators, just because you don't see them doesn't necessarily mean they are there. So I would consider meshing underneath.

Veggies wise do you know if mum was eating them when she was feeding them?

Nails I cut as and when needed. You might find your two need doing more often as they are on grass. I've always started getting them use to it as babies, that way its less of an issue to them when they get older.

To be honest I am not really a fan of hutches, as they are often quite narrow and don't really allow much room to move about. In this weather the setup you have is OK because they are likely to spend a lot of time in the run but in the winter they will probably want to be in the hutch (thanks to British weather it can rain for days at a time here!) for a lot of the time so you want their main shelter to be as big as possible. If a shed isn't feasible then perhaps think about upgrading to a hutch the biggest size that you can get, but sheds can often be found at competitive prices and are easier to clean too.

I would start clipping their nails as soon as you feel it's necessary. I get terrified too of cutting their nails in case I cut the quick but I cut them regularly so they are never overlong.

Mine have supervised free range time too and Ashley is very easy to pick up so getting her back in doesn't pose a problem, however Bailey could give us the runaround all day if he wanted to :lol: we are lucky though in that he got into a routine and after a couple of attempts of picking him up he just runs back into the run as he knows that the time is up. It took a while for him to get into it but maybe yours will get the message after awhile

MadHatter said:

Hi all,

I am new to owning bunnies and have tried do the very best that I can after reading on forums but still have a few questions and rather than posting all over the place I was hoping to get some advice all in one spot (please be gentle!)

So...the bunnies are 11 week old mini lops, both boys. They are litter trained, very different in size and temperament but will happily groom each other and frequently binky. They have a 5ft hutch with a run and ramp which I leave open. No foxes here but there are a couple of cats so they have full run of the garden only when supervised by myself or husband. We have 4 children of varying ages although I am the primary carer/cleaner, they get handled a lot but I balance this out with lots of time spent exploring and chilling in the bushes (the rabbits, not me )

Anyway, my questions are:

1) is this big enough? They have full garden access every single day aswell



2) One is very friendly and approachable, I can pick him up to put him back in the hutch no problem but the other, whilst being fine when held, will run a mile when anyone goes near him. I assume this is because he knows he's being put back in the hutch! I can't leave them out all day and at the moment I dread the time when they have to go back in because I spend 20 minutes finding him, coaxing him out (to no avail) and finally having to wade into spider infested bushes to retrieve him. Any tips/ideas?

3) I still have some food from the breeder, not sure what it is and have bought fiba crunch because this is the best one I can find that's local without ridiculous shipping costs etc. they have hay 24/7 and grass. My questions are: when can they start having vegetables? Different sites seem to say different things. We're feeding regular hay but is there anything else they can have for variety that's easy to come by?

4) nail clipping. This does terrify me but only because I would hate to cut too far, I have read up a lot and know the basics, do I need to start doing it now or as adults

There are more things I'm sure I will think of!

Thanks in advance and hope the picture link works

Click to expand...

I think since they have 24/7 access to the run it is about the right size. The run looks longer than the recommended 8 x 4 ft minimum, which makes up for the fact that the hutch is a little small. I would perhaps be tempted to board over the 3 sides below the huch though, to provide another little sheltered area. Plywood is great for this, and once painted with cuprinol it's weather safe and rabbit safe. I think it'd be a good idea to cover the top of the run a little more with some roofing sheets etc, as while it's summer it's fine but once Autumn/Winter roll around it'll get quite wet in there.

As others have said, bunnies are prey animals and generally don't like being picked up or held. Does the hutch/run have a little door at ground level? After some work you can get them to come back in when you call them by rattling their pellets/treats or with the use of clicker training. It's best to have as little people in the garden as possible when you're training this, because they can get confused easily and panic if they think any one of the people are going to pick them up. If you don't have a door at ground level for them, you could train him to come into a pet carrier.

Bales of hay from local horse suppliers is a great way to give different hay. It is often so much more fresh than pets at home hay, and in lovely big stalks etc. It's also around £6 for a big bale which will last ages. I'd definitely recommend looking into that. Fibafirst is generally regarded as the best pellet type food for bunnies, but science selective and burgess excel are also great and easy to get hold of. You can get SS and burgess from horse suppliers too, often. Not sure on the exact age at which you can start introducing veg but I'd definitely second the advice about going very slowly.

I'm not too sure about nail clipping as my girls have never needed doing, due to the flooring they're on.

I'd also be concerned about predators. I'd want to make sure that the hutch and run underneath are securely attached to the other part of the run. If the run is stationary I'd want to mesh underneath really, or at least I'd want to put slabs all around the outside - foxes are everywhere and it takes very little time to dig in. I'm not sure what your mesh size is but the minimum recommended is 1 x 1/2 inch and 19g, and that's galvanised weld mesh. They recommend it that small as cat scratches can be fatal, and bunnies can get their legs caught in bigger mesh. Chicken wire etc is very unsafe as bunnies can chew through it, let alone predators.

In regards to the neutering it's something that many new owners struggle with - the notion that their cute, loved up baby bunnies could hurt each other. But it's highly likely. Hormones kick in quickly and rampage in bunnies, so I'd definitely have something to separate them when the hormones kick in. I'd also speak to a vet when you get them vaccinated (if they aren't already) to ask about the earliest age to neuter, and I'd book an appointment for as soon as possible after that date. You may be lucky and get it done before the hormones kick in which would be much easier for everyone. It can be very hard to bond bunnies back together after fighting