It's been a loooong time!

Hi everyone,

It has been a really long time since I was last on here. I used to post often back when I had bunnies..My mini lops..Fudge, Blackie, Millie and Thumper.
Millie and Thumper were rehomed, Blackie passed away after an op to sort a blockage in his lower intestine. And Fudge my baby lived a full and wonderful life to the age of 9. She had dental problems from a few months old and we got through it all. A week before her 9th birthday she had a large absence on the root of her teeth causing her a lot of pain. She had deteriorated drastically and both myself and her vet decided that the best thing for her was being pts. I chose quality over quantity of life.
She had lived a great life as an indoor bunny, she lived with cats after a failed bond with another bunny, she ruled the roost. She was an amazing rabbit and one I will never forget.

Anyway, I went on to have 3 amazing children and now I'm looking to add to our family with 2 new bunnies. My friends bunny had a litter and I agreed to take 2 of them. Hoping for a male/female couple. They are English spots. One will be a self and the other a charlie.

It has been about 5 years since I had Fudge and I feel so out of touch with owing bunnies. I know the basics but can anyone give me a refresher of what I need for them, best foods on the market now, good websites for buying from. I remember the hay experts but any other recommendations would be helpful.

They are going to be outdoors and I am having a custom hutch built for them (once lockdown is over) in the meantime I was going to get the 6ft hutch from pets at home with a permanent attached run as a temporary home until I can get my hutch made. I have a decent sized garden they can have free roam of once I get my fence finished (again after lockdown)

They will be my first outdoor full time bunnies so any advice on that would be great. They will be indoors every now and then for a few hours.

My friend has them on science selective junior and of course unlimited hay. Not sure of best bedding for outdoors as never used any for fudge apart from blankets etc as she was indoors and free roam. They are almost 4 weeks old so unsure of the sexes yet.

They will be vaccinated and neutered/spayed, dewormed and flead.

I just cannot think of what I need I will be getting them hopefully end of may.

Any way, nice to be back and to almost be a bunny parent again! Will be having a nosey at the threads to see what info I can gather over the next few weeks. Feel I have forgotten soooo much.

Xx

P.s sorry for the massive post*

Hello, and welcome back :wave: I remember you from my early days on the forum. I’m sure everything will come back to you, and I will try to remember to reply with more tomorrow!

hello. I'd recommend timothyhay.co.uk . Foraging is pretty popular. Bunnies need 2 lots of vacs nowadays - filavac & novibac.

Exciting to be coming back to bunny ownership! I really like English spots

Welcome back! I would have a look on the Rabbit Welfare Association's website for lots of excellent advice. The hutch you mention is very popular. English Spot rabbits are quite big and the best food to start with is the food they are used to eating at the moment, so no drastic changes. Brother and sister usually make good bonded bunnies but you might have to separate them around 12 weeks or so for a while until the boy can be neutered. Then the girl can be spayed at 6 months. Hopefully if the Vets are back to normal! Hope it all works out well.

Hi and welcome back

Hayandstraw.co.uk is another popular supplier for hay. Don't forget you may have a local horse feed supplier who can supply hay and straw cheaper than the online companies as there is no postage to pay.

Whilst our buns are indoor buns, if they lived outside, I would use straw in for their bedding, not sawdust or woodshavings.

Make sure they can't dig their way out of the run!

Science Selective pellets are the brand we use for our buns, as ours are older they are limited to how many they can have.

Lastly (for the moment) remember to get them neutered as soon as possible to stop any accidental litters. I think the male can be done before the female.

I hope you and your family enjoy the new additions

Richard

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk

I agree with the advice you have been given already. If you have space, I would go for a shed or a playhouse with attached run rather than a hutch, my bunnies are indoor bunnies but when I did have outdoor bunnies a shed was much easier to spend time with them, clean out etc, and gave more space. I would floor the shed or hutch with non slip vynil floor or rubber stable matting and use litter trays with newspaper or wood pellet cat litter in with hay on top, or hay in racks at the end. Makes it much easier to clean out and makes litter training easier

My rabbits prefer Timothy hay but baled hay from equestrian feed suppliers is cheaper. I buy from dust free hay and hay box at the moment, they also like the sweet green hay from nature’s own. I feed my rabbits apple sticks and also fiba first sticks instead of pellets.

Hey :wave: Lovely to see you back again, and how exciting that bunnies will be joining your family again I completely agree with the suggestion of a shed for them. After investing in various pieces of rabbit housing (including some purpose built), I have now got a shed and having the ability to sit inside (regardless of the weather!) with the bunnies makes it so much more enjoyable! You really do get to spend more time with the rabbits enjoying them, rather than rushing about in the wind and rain trying to feed/water them without getting soaked or blown away in the good ol'british weather! :lol: x