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What have we done?!?

:oops: :oops: We have just become owners/parents to two little lop babies aged about ten weeks. We have spent what feels like gazzillions of pounds on two hutches (the first one is too small, made of plastic and cost £89 !!!) the second one is a double decker made of wood and seems impossible to keep clean properly as the urine soaks into it. It doesn't smell and we've bought some plexiglass to cover the bottom decker floor, but they kick all their bedding and poos out through the bars of the hutch.

We love our bunnies - Misty and Jessie but we are feeling a bit overwhelmed and anxious by the difficulties involved in looking after them properly. It's worse than when I had my first baby - at least then I had a weekly check up to see how he and I were doing.

I have a nasty feeling they are going to turn out to be fuzzy lops. They are quite fluffy now and Misty is getting poo stuck in her fur - it isn't runny but it is sticky and we are doing our best to keep her clean.

I think we are going to have to cover the bottom of the hutch with litter trays and hopefully that will help keep the hutch clean. We've tried newspaper - they pull it out try to read it and then eat and shred it! They eat all the hay we put out as a layer above the wood shavings (it's got wee on it, surely that's bad for them?) and they just kick wood shavings out along with the wee and poo.

I heard somewhere that you can get bunny wet wipes - any idea from where?

I also read that they need ages brushing every day - where can we get hold of a suitable brush because the one we got with our starter pack seems too soft to do any good - no hair comes off with it at all.

We want to do the best for these little scraps but at the moment I seem to be bombarded with loads of information from everywhere. Somewhere it said give them pineapple to help dissolve furballs but elsewhere it says not to give little bunnies anything except hay and pellets - we're feeding them complete mix -is that wrong? I've also given them about two or three dandelion leaves a day - is that a problem?

Help!!!
 
First of all calming breaths! You've come to the right place we will soon have you sorted :D

A good way to keep floors clean is to line them with lino, which needs to be well stuck down to prevent them pulling in up. You can get this from most DIY stores as a big sheet or as floor tiles (which often have sticky backs). To prevent to bedding getting kicked out so easily cut a piece of perspex (clear is best) about 3-4 inches tall and the length of th emesh window. Make holes in each corner (careful not to split it) and fix this along the bottom.

Babies have fluffy coats compared to adults so you may find they lose some of the fluffyness as they grow up. You really want a comb rather than a brush, I find a cat flea comb is good for grooming.

What complete mix are you feeding? Some are more complete than others. Pellets can be a better option, easpecially if your buns only eat parts of the mix and leave others. They look boring to us but according to bunnies taste just as yummy. Plenty of hay is essential, thats a really important part of their diet. Dandelion leaves are fine but they are still quite young so its especially important to introduce new foods very gradually.

Welcome to the forum!

Tamsin
 
Welcome to Rabbit Ownership.... :lol:

Good idea with the lino I use it and it keeps the buns cool in summer, warm in winter, and easy to clean. Your bunnies are still young, so as Tamsin has said, they still need time to grow into their adult coat which should be easier to care for. A slicker brush is quite effective too, but make sure you buy the soft version.

You can buy excel junior pellets for young rabbits to help them on to the adult food. With greens slowly but surely is a good method, and probably cut down on the dandelions for now as they do have a diruetic affect. Plenty of good quality hay is really important at this stage.

Good luck, and yes, welcome. :D
 
Lino! We will be off to B&Q first thing tommorrow. We're feeding them Russell rabbit, but they do seem to leave the 'cigar' bits as a last resort. They eat loads of hay though. They don't want to eat the Tomthy hay we've put in the hay rack but they eat the Meadow hay like mad. We cover the hutch upstairs and downstairs in it and its mostly gone by morning - it's like magic - you wouldn't think such little bunnies could eat so much without exploding!

Thanks for the tips, I feel a bit better now. I was feeling like a really bad pet owner - we really should have thought this out a bit more before buying them and been better prepared. But they are soo cute and clever. It's hard to believe they are so young they can do so much. Throwing their toys all over the hutch and chasing each other about. I particularly like the way they throw their ears over each other like a friendly arm.
 
Oh my!! I cannot offer any advice to you but I just want to welcome you to the forum as there are lovely people here who will help you through anything! ':wave:
 
Hello Mistys Mum well these are the joys of having rabbits! and in time you will be handing out advice too so don't worry and any question just ask however silly they may seem ask!

Next thing is PICS we want Pics!

It's good that they are eating lots of hay some bunnies really arent in to it and it's such an important part of their diet.

Lokk forward to forumising with you!

Kara :D
 
:wave: Hello Misty's Mum. This forum is great as there are many knowledgeable people on it - I've learned loads.
 
Hello and welcome Misty's Mom :wave:

Can't wait to see pics of these two :D

You'll find all the help and advice you need here :thumb:
 
WAIT, WAIT WAIT!!!! If you are going to change their pelleted rabbit food, do it gradually over a period of 10 days or so. A sudden change in diet could cause problems. Mix in a little of any new pellet food with the food they are getting just now and gradually increase the new pellets whilst reducing the amount of old type pellets. Dandelions are not really a good idea at this age as Lazylops (Annie) suggests, but the occasional one or two shouldn't hurt. If bottoms are becoming sticky, you'll have to check them every day, twice if you can and if there's any poo stuck there, better to remove it thoroughly as it might attract flies which can be a real problem. Any baby wipes like Pampers etc. will be fine to use as a quick clean up method. You are soooo lucky that they love their hay, give them as much as they will eat.............and more! Hay is REALLY important!

Look forward to seeing pictures of them, we love pics!

There's also a really good website at www.houserabbit.co.uk
 
All good info above but one thing has not been mentioned ...it is hard to sex babies and if you got them froma store they do sometimes get it wrong. It may be a good idea to get the vet to check them over ..and for them to get used to him especailly if you are going to hav e them neuterd...if they are boy and girl this is very important. Iy is better to spay a doe anyway as the chances of uterine cancer is very high ans it stops hormonal fighting the same as bucks.
Enjoy your bunnies
 
No one has mentioned vaccinations in this thread yet.
But with the very high risk of Myxomatoisis this year I would get them done when they are sexed.

Good luck and has been said before ask away we will all answer your questions no matter how silly them seem. Until in a short while you are answering other peoples for them.
 
hi, and welcome.

you'll soon get into a routine, everyone has to start somewhere!

Looking forward to piccies :bunny:
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:

I know what you mean by feeling overwhelmed, when I first got my two in Feb of this year I thought to myself, my god, what have I taken on but within a few months I'd calmed down and got into a routine and I would just die if I was without my to babas now.

There are some fab people on this forum and were always here to give advice when needed.

With regards to the litter tray antics, I find that the younger the bunnie the longer it takes to litter train but they will come round eventually, the best thing to do is see which corner they seem to be going and put a litter tray there, theres nothing wrong in having more that one litter tray in their either and another tip is when you're cleaning out the litter tray always put a bit of the dirty litter back in the tray aswell as more clean stuff as this will remind them that this is where they should be going !!

Good Luck
Steph
 
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