how do I help my hutch rabbit become a free range house rabbit- advice

[silverbunny]

hello there
we have a new to us (ie a rescue) three year old female rabbit. we want her to be a free range house rabbit, as we have had a lovely house rabbit in the past. she is very nervous, so we keep her in a penned off area in the kitchen but the pen has an opening so she can get in and out when she wants. slowly, after three weeks of living with us, she is taking food from my hand without being too scared, and then she lets me stroke her. I am a bit worried as she will only eat pellets and a bit of hay - I only give her a handful of pellets daily, and although she has a big pile of hay to go at, she is only really keen to eat pellets. I think she wasn't used to eating other things! she may eat a bit of veg, but not very much - our old rabbit used to eat anything and everything and we barely fed him (he had access to a large safe garden). I am thinking of getting her speyed - what is the rationale behind this? also, I would, once her hormones have settled down, like to find her a male to be her friend - any advice on bonding as I know nothing about this (our old rabbit bonded with my partner, who works from home and is always around. the rabbit was his best mate!). I know there are lots of questions here, but we all want her to be a happy bunny! thanks in advance.

 

[*lily*]

Hello and welcome!

Freeranging rabbits are great, aren't they!

With regards to spaying, it is well documented that a very large percentage of unspayed females will have uterine cancer as they age. Also, their behaviour can become very hormonal if they remain unspayed and bonding with a neutered male would be nigh on impossible!

Once she is spayed and healed your best bet would be to contact a local rescue to locate a suitable male. A lot of rescues will do the bonding for you so your female has the choice of her ideal friend

Keep at it with the hay and reduce the pellets, if there aren't too many pellets available then she *should* concentrate more on the hay! you could try different types of hay to see which ones she prefers.

Good luck