Hi and welcome
:wave:
So I'm getting 3 babies in 3 weeks time. 1 nethie and 2 dwarf lops. I have a million and one questions.
I have bought a 5ft triple hutch with ladders up to each level. Should I lino the floors to make for easier cleaning? How do I attach it best?
If you can lino the floors you'll find it a lot easier to clean out. In mine I used bathroom sealant and put some on the floor of the hutch before pressing the lino down on top. Then I went round the edges with the sealant.
Also what do you use in your hutches, bed area, litter tray etc. Should I put different stuff down on different floors?
Do I use one litter tray or one on each floor. Also same question with water bottles and food bowls?
Yes, litter tray/s, hay racks (they need lots of hay all the time so you could have these on each level), bed area stuffed with hay in the colder months, and maybe some toys etc to throw around.
With 3 bunnies you may want to have a litter tray on each floor, especially whilst they get used to it all (you will probably find that at first they don't manage to get everything in the trays).
I only tend to have one large water bowl, but it's up to you. I don't usually bother with food bowls, and just scatter feed their pellets on the floor or in their hay.
Where do you store all your bits like straw, hay, food etc. In the shed or outside storage box/bin.
I store mine in the shed. I did try with an outside plastic storage bin, but found that the rain dribbled in and spoiled the hay, so now I use the bin for other things and keep the hay nice and dry in the shed.
Do you constantly watch your buns in the run or are they safe enough for you to be inside while they are outside?
How do you work them being in the runs when we have constant rainy/snowy days?
It's recommended to attach the run to the hutch so they have constant access all the time. I would say this is especially important if you have 3 rabbits in the hutch, as strictly speaking your hutch isn't big enough on its own (the RWAF advise that a pair of rabbits have 44 square feet at all times). If you have a nice heavy wooden run with a secure top, you could place it on patio or mesh underneath if it is going on grass, then attach it to the hutch using the Runaround system (
http://www.runaround.co.uk). By doing this, your bunnies would be as safe as they could be, and you wouldn't need to supervise them and they can then take advantage of the run whenever they want to.
In answer to your question though, if your run is secure (with a lid and on mesh or slabs) you can leave the rabbits unsupervised as long as you provide places in there for them to retreat to if they get scared. If it's an open top/bottom run I personally wouldn't leave them unsupervised at all as I think the risk of escape or a predator getting to them is too great.
What would you say are the cheapest way of providing toys. Do you buy specific bunny toys or homemade ones?
The cheapest way is to make your own from old loo rolls, cardboard boxes, apple sticks etc etc, but you can also buy bits that they will love. Tunnels are always good. You'll also find that some of the best 'toys' are things not intended for rabbits at all! They seem to love those little plastic kids' stools and kids' plastic tables too. I wouldn't bother with many of the toys marketed at rabbits (like the wooden coloured chew things) as in my experience they just ignore them. They do love the willow toys you can buy though.
Where do you get your straw etc from? A shop? Farm? Order online?
I only tend to use straw in the winter, to line their bedroom with as it's a good insulator. Some rabbits will eat it, and it doesn't really give them much nutritional value, so I try to avoid it wherever I can. I use hay for most things (litter trays, in the bedroom for them to sit on, in the hay racks). They need this all the time to eat. I buy it in bales from my local equestrian supply shop. This is the cheapest way to buy it if you can store a bale. You can also buy lovely hay online from The Hay Experts and Hay for Pets (and many others).
What do you do when there is a thunder storm, fireworks etc?
Thunder storms I just leave them to it. They might not like it, but as long as they have somewhere to hide away they should be fine.
With fireworks, I do get a bit panicky as it's such an unnatural noise. Last year I did leave them all outside but I did regular checks on them when there were fireworks going off nearby. I just wanted to make sure they were all still comfortable as a couple of mine get very stressed sometimes. Some people bring them indoors around fireworks night, but you do need to make sure that if you do this you have them in a cold room, otherwise when you put them back out the temperature change is too much for them.
Sorry I have so many questions and I hope someone can help. Just want to be organised.
Questions are good :thumb:. It's great to see someone doing loads of research before bringing their bunnies home.