Rookie 'mistakes' in your early days

[racheljessica]

I'm on my first rabbit (although I briefly looked after about 10 others for a short while which my brother had abandoned at my mums house about 6 years ago..long story ) and there are only a couple of things. I was lucky I discovered RU a few months after I got her :thumb:

1. Got her from Pets at Home (Had read somewhere that only experienced rabbit owners should take on rescue buns)

2. Had a 4ft cage for the first few months (I'd read that this was the correct size for a small to medium rabbit)

 

[DemiS]

Went on the advice on a pet shop and kept two un-neutered males together. They should have been 'Ok together' because they were brothers :roll:

And when I was very young, with my first rabbit I decided to bath it I didn't dry him properly, and in the morning he was cold and dead

 

[happybun]

made, and am still making, loads of mistakes. but trying to compensate as i go along.

 

[lunar6769]

So sad about my foolishness of this but ..
Let Nibbles live free range and under the shed when he had gone doolally after myxi (stupid stupid previous owner) - and he lived under the shed in a cozy burrow (still had lovely hutch he visited for food in the day) but was dragged away by a fox one night that leapt the fence. Didn't know about foxes ability to get over very high fences

 

[huppie]

This is very raw, I am crying writing this.

I researched as much as I thought possible when I started only a year ago.

Over the weekend Huppie passed away. My mistakes?
- I was brushing her twice a day because she was having a very heavy moult that had been going on for a couple of months and was nearly finished. I should have given her laxatract as well - I didn't know. She had a sudden blockage of fur. She was peeing herself but the vet didn't recognise it as tummy problems and said to give her Metacam and see how it went. She got better (of course - she was having pain relief. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid) and the vet said to wait a little longer
- I trusted the vet over you guys, the vet (a really uber one I trust) said she didn't need an emergency visit. I should have taken her in Saturday like you all said but the vet didn't think it necessary. I took her in on Sunday. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
- It was 27 degrees and she was sitting in her cool spot. I didn't know I was meant to keep her warm. I thought the temperature was too hot for her and the cool spot would be good. She dropped temperature and never warmed up. She basically passed away from being too cold while at the vet overnight.

Thank you for this thread - I have been trying to find a way to confess all week.

I'm sorry Huppie

 

[Oompa-Loompa]

Thinking my buck was a doe,how I missed the plums I don't know
Feeding him iceberg lettuce Made him really poorly too..
Finding him all flopped out on the kitchen floor and panicking thinking he had died when he was just taking a nap poor boy :lol:
Booking him in for deplumming at the closest vet,who evidently knew nothing about rabbits and told us to starve him overnight before bringing him in :shock: The poor thing was so hungry I caught him eating wood shavings
Not using a carrier when collecting him from the vet's..he wasn't quite awake and obviously had no control of his bladder,he had pee'd all over me by the time we got home.
Taking him for "walks" around the garden using a harness. Worked fine until the neighbour's dog started barking. He freaked out and ended up nearly getting caught in it :shock: Will never do again.

And the most recent one...trying to intoduce my buck to my 4 month-old, unspayed doe in what she had obviously marked as her territory. I can't believe I actually made such a silly mistake after reading so much about bonding and the importance of introducing them in a neutral area..What the was I thinking!

 

[thumps_]

No idea that a good general vet didn't have the training to deal with bunny probs. or that much could be done for them.

Feel so guilty that all his dietary probs & therefore gut probs, refusal to drink water or eat hay was cos his tiny molar spurs hurt. Went on for 31/2 years until I found a rabbit specialist vet only 1mile away.

Still intact buck, cos he was never well enough to neuter, so only has me as companion, plus his toy rabbit for ahem... needs.

 

[areia]

i never knew bout the musli mix
never knew really why its best to neuter other than the obvious avoidence of a litter
never heard of vhd jabs
never really knew the importance of a bunny freind
never knew bout sawdust
didnt know bout the importances of poops

i had 2 piggies in there own cage, a bun on her own, then one year someone dumped there piggie and bun ( in same cage together) we never knew they shouldnt be together they were a few years old but within a week of us keeping them i found the bun dead one morning piggie died a week later we didnt know why bun died so we had her cremated quickly, i can only assume the piggie may of died due to being alone both didnt show any obvious signs of illness



i knew bout myxi jab
knew the importance of space
knew about grooming and claws, teeth and ears,

my first bun was a rex lived in huge hand made hutch built by my grandad, she was grumpy had an attitude problems* was unneautered *, made nests, fed her musli, had a thick bed of sawdust, always had loads of hay, other than that though she seemed a happy bun lived 8 or 9 years with no obvious probs, her hocks, were fine to i guess i was lucky with her

 

[SisterMoonbeam]

I was completely and utterly useless before the forum.

1. 4ft hutch
2. No intention of neutering
3. No intention of bonding
4. Fed muesli
5. Never heard of EC or VHD
6. Didn't know there was a vaccine for Myxi
7. Planning to let her temporarily share a large run with another unneutered female and 2 guinea pigs (until said rabbit tried to eat her lol)
8; Fed Fidget a whole carrott when she was a tot
9. Bought from a breeder



I am so thankful (as i'm sure Fidget and Frankie are too :lol that i found this forum and all the help i have received!

Now i have a neutered, happily bonded male and female pair that eat a small handfull of pellets a day, lots of veg, live in a mahoosive shed soon to be accompanied by permanent access to a 6x6ft aviary, fully vaccinated and panacured (although fidge has suspected EC ). And i have a rescue bunny reserved

So the myself and the bunskis would liek to say a big, big thankyou to everyone here!

 

[BunnyBekkie]

As admitted to Bunnymadhouse & Mopsmum the other night, Squishy was a bunny shaped food bin when she was young. We'd feed her anything she fancied. Mum even gave her prawn crackers once!! :shock:

 

[happybun]

:wave: yes, this forum is really the place to learn, as well as to 'share'. the advice, practical help and affection demonstrated here is really impressive.

 

[fluffiebunnie]

I had rabbits over twenty years ago. I always had a single bunny, in a tiny hutch and no run, no vaccinations, no neutering, only meusli food, not enough hay, water not changed daily... I didnt really make an effort to see the bunny either.

I was a teenager and liked the idea of a rabbit, but lost interest... one male rabbit turned quite nasty as it used to lunge and growl at me .. I thought it was just nasty.. but if only I had known about neutering and pairing and space.... the bunny might of had a happier life...

I always feel guilty about the three rabbits I had years ago...

Ben, Sam and Rex.... I am so sorry

 

[Bunnyaddict]

I feel so guilty for how I kept my bunnies as a kid - like most people I thought it was accetable for small hutches, museli, kept with a GP, not much free time, very little veg & hay

Thank god I've learnt so much since being an adult & starting to have bunnies again

Our first housebun Roscoe in 2002 changed all that & began a love for rabbits like he would never have believed When we first picked him up from my sister's friend as a stray, Mark said right lets go buy him a hutch for the garden - I had other ideas & into the house he came Look what Roscoe started

 

[HS]

We had two single buns when I was a nipper - fed the wrong things, kept on their own, but they did have the run of the whole garage and the garden when we were at home.
Same when I got mine - lots of space, but fed on the wrong things. Muesli mix, not enough hay. No vaccinations.
I lost a bunny (my beloved Flopsy) to stasis as I didn't realise how serious it was. Then lost a bun to flystrike, which is completely unacceptable.
I discovered RU about 5 years ago and the bunnies' lives are good ones now I think. Certainly my vet always compliments me on their condition. Couldn't have done it without this place though, and the dustfree hay, vaccinations, good food etc., not to mention the advice when they are poorly.

 

[PomandRi]

I never had buns as a child so was a completely ignorant adult.

We found Mizz living under my car and decided to keep her when we couldn't find her owner. It was a very, very steep learning kerb!

I think the silliest thing we did was to put her on the trampoline for a runaround! Obviously, it took her seconds to leap off and we then spent the rest of the day trying to recapture her!

 

[sidereus7]

1) Bought from a pet store
2) 3' x 1' cage (per the pet store worker's advice)
3) Fed muesli mix and NO hay
4) Fed treats from the pet store (sugar galore!!)
5) Did not have a vet!

Eventually, I got all this stuff right! To my credit, my original bun Jack got to run around the house 24/7, and he was actually in very good health. The only problem we had with him was when his urine came out as a pile of crystals. Sadly, I never took him to a vet and I just researched it online. I read that it was an unbalanced diet, and just changed his diet. I'm very lucky in that it went away with simple dietary changes (as this is NOT what a vet would recommend), but I can't imagine the pain he was in.

I would just like to give an apology to all "starter buns" out there. But I hope all these buns know that as the first bunny in our lives, you also hold a very special place in our hearts. xxx

 

[Daisylop]

My first bun was a birthday present from a garden centre from the children.
When he stopped eating carrots and his mix [:roll:] I thought he'd gone off them,never thought it could be his teeth
Fed little hay
used sawdust in his hutch.
I got him neutered so he could have a friend but put HIM into HER hutch [without neutralising],luckily they were def "love at first sight" bunnies and Daisy didnt mind -although after Fluffy died I tried bonding Daisy with Loppy,did the same again and boy did Daisy mind this time!!!!!:shock::shock::shock:
Hopefully I'm a lot better now

 

[lilbun]

I've made numerous mistakes, some with terrible consequences.

The worst ones are:

Not realising foxes will come into the garden in the middle of the day

Using a piece of drainpipe as a tunnel for my young rabbits. I didn't realise they had outgrown it and came home to find my 2 beloved rabbits wedged, face to face, both dead

 

[happybun]

that must have been awful. i am so sorry.

 

[lilbun]

that must have been awful. i am so sorry.

It was. The guilt never goes away you just have to learn from it and make sure it never happens again xx